In 1979 French sociologist, Pierre Bourdieu wrote a book called Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste”. He studied people’s tastes in a wide range of items, from theatre to food to beauty and concluded that what people liked corresponded precisely with their socio-economic circumstances. Music turns out to be the key. “Nothing,” he found, “more clearly affirms one’s class, nothing more infallibly classifies, than taste in music”.
Some musicologist opined a few years ago that there had been so many composers and so much music written that there could no longer be a single melody that sounded unique. This silly observation appears to have re-inforced the determination of the (classical) music gatekeepers – conductors, music directors, music professors and musicologists – to sniff at melody and give us cacophony. For decades the idea of the recognisable tune you can hum as you leave the premises, has been regarded as passe (my I- Pad doesn’t do acute accents). It’s a class thing, used to make us all feel unsophisticated – if you don’t like the sound of twenty-five rats fighting in a cardboard box you are socially inferior.
Thus every classical concert has to have an eight minute-or-so piece by a modern composer that reflects the discordant tastes of the musical elite. While they are doing this, audiences shrink. Average audience age moves up inexorably to the 80s? Will the hugely talented young players out there be able to make a living in the future?
Pop music has a different problem. I know about this because it is played at ear-piercing volume in my gym. All too many pop songs seem to go on for three minutes using I and V chords only and with a percussion sequence sounding exactly the same in every song, regardless of the words or the singer. You would have to do a Google search to discover what they are singing about.
Were we to have an Epicurean government (lord help us!) I would demand melody and clear diction.
I think it is sad to see classical music in such a sad financial situation. It is a self- inflicted wound. The “anything goes” attitude of the music Establishment is not a bad thing. If you want to write melodious, programmatic music you are welcome, and you are treated politely. But the young people who come out of the conservatories have been encouraged to write in jingle – jangle manner, and this is now standard fare. Fine, if the audiences actually liked it. But themajority don’t. It’s about hard- wiring of the brain. If you doubt what I am saying, listen to 90.9FM in DC or Classic FM in London. These are commercial channels that give the audiences what they want to hear – and it is not the output of the modern composers.