Money, commercial music, trends in schools, and the 'death' of the symphony orchestra.

by Victor Gomersall

Music and Money.
In the past, many composers experienced poverty, and struggled to earn a decent living from their compositions. So arose this old joke: What's the difference between a musician and a pizza? A pizza can feed a family of four. 

Mozart was fortunate, in the earlier part of his career, to have a post at Salzburg under the patronage of Archbishops Schrattenbach and Colloredo, at a comfortable 150 florins a year. When he later chose to become a freelance in Vienna, his commissions fluctuated, in some years he became affluent, but in others he incurred large debts and he became quite poor.

Today, would-be 'serious' composers of contemporary classical music are likely to have a similar challenge.  Some turn to academic formulas or methods to write their music, and rely on university support and government handouts to survive.  Others, particularly those who have a natural talent for composing a good tune, probably turn to the lucrative pop/rock market in order to make ends meet. So the best tunesmiths are lost to those of us who like our classical music to be tonal and to contain good tunes. 
B Soliman The Gramophone Debate Forum

Commercial Music Today.
The 'music industry' today includes a huge variety of people, goods and services. Many rock and pop musicians become rich and famous if they succeed in getting  recordings into the hit parades. Appearance is almost more important than the sound of their voices, as evidenced by the video clips which are an essential marketing requirement today. They are supported by teams of sound engineers who use sophisticated electronics to 'process' the sound of their voices, and film crews who glamorize them by putting them in exotic costumes in exciting places, and then enhance the images during editing,  and skilled marketing executives who manage their publicity, tours, and recording assignments.

The pop, country and rock products of this music industry swamp TV channels and radio stations with their kind of music. Hotels, restaurants, clubs, shops, and shopping malls all have powerful PA systems pumping it out constantly.  If you go on hold on the telephone  it is injected into your ears. As you wait for your plane to take off, it pours down from above your head. The internet is full of downloadable rock and pop, which fits snugly into the vast memory of devices like the iPod. It is no wonder that people in general, and children and young people in particular, never have the opportunity to hear any other kind of music.
The insidious menace of piped music      

Trends in Schools.
A frequent complaint coming from the organisers of amateur youth orchestras regards the lack of string players. Very few school students seem to study the violin any more. Why is this?

Many schools have turned away from classical music. Instead of orchestras, they have concert bands and show bands, which employ woodwinds, brass, electric guitars and percussion, but no strings. Instead of Mozart and Beethoven, they rehearse movie and TV show themes, rock musicals, and the latest pop/rock country music. And the music teachers themselves are more likely to be rock musicians than conservatory-trained music graduates. Perhaps the aim of the school authorities is to appeal to the popular taste of the students, in order to gain their attention. It is easier to teach them something they pretty well know already, such as the latest pop song, than it is to teach unfamiliar music, such as Beethoven's.   If you can't beat 'em, join 'em!

As a result of all this, our children, the adults of the future, are being denied any knowledge of an important part of our western culture. Most importantly, they are being denied the joy and pleasure that comes from experiencing the best music in the world - our inheritance of classical music.
Dumbing Down: Or The Banalisation of Culture

The death of the symphony orchestra.

For many decades, most symphony orchestras around the world have depended on sponsorship and government funding to keep them financially afloat. Ticket sales alone don't usually cover the cost of paying award salaries to 70 or 80 musicians in the large orchestras needed to perform works by Mahler, Wagner, Beethoven Berlioz and the like. And as government budgets come under pressure from so many competing demands for funding, orchestras tend to suffer the biggest cuts.

To make matters worse, audiences are declining. Reasons for this might include: 

• The lack of classical music education in schools has diminished the number of young people interested in symphony orchestra concerts.
• The attempts by orchestra managements to entice young people might be backfiring. For example, if a concert contains some rock or crossover music, why would a rock music enthusiast spend $100 on a ticket that also has (boring) classical music in half the programme, when his $100 could be spent on a 100% rock concert? And why would a classical music lover attend such a concert, when he has to suffer the pain (to him) of rock in half the programme?
• There seem to be several vested interests promoting contemporary classical music (new music), and succeeding in getting at least one such work played at every single symphony orchestra concert. Most of this music follows some abstract mathematical formula in its construction, (serial music), or employs the 12-tone scale (atonal music), or employs ludicrous gimmicks like vacuum cleaners or tape recordings of traffic noise. There are no good tunes. For most traditional classical music lovers, this is just painful, un-listenable noise, so they stay away from such concerts.
• Recording companies are making far fewer live recordings these days, and they are cutting out contracts with symphony orchestras, thereby reducing yet another source of revenue for the orchestras. This is due to the lack of public interest in buying CDs of Contemporary Classical Music, simply because the public doesn't like it! Instead, the record companies sell re-issues of older recordings of the great classics, digitally remastered, and at budget prices.

So it seems that the Symphony Orchestra is an endangered species.

Adelaide Symphony Orchestra to be cut from 72 to 56 players