Classical music faces a rocky future

Written by Aubrey Cox

Classical music, one of the oldest, well-respected, and formidable art forms, is dying a slow, preventable death.

As popular music evolves, the classical genre has been subject to many changes. Now, the classical music industry struggles with an older audience, unable to attract younger generations which often view it as racist, classist, or elitist.

The musical landscape has always been a volatile and changing one, fickle to popular opinion and social circumstances. Hip Hop recently overtook rock as the most listened-to musical genre in the world, a genre that has itself undergone a shift towards trap flows and autotuned choruses.

With the advent of platforms like TikTok and Spotify, tech continues to create waves in the fluid music sphere. As music becomes more accessible with streaming platforms at the forefront of consumption, it is also functioning parallel to a culture of virality where trends dictate the charts.

Under this model, the time-old tradition of classical music is continually falling to the wayside. As the following grows older, around 41% of listeners of classical music are age 55 or older according to a 2018 poll, the violins and violas are struggling more and more to be heard above the heavy booms of 808s and hi-hats.

Harpsichordist and musicologist, Dr. Christopher D. Lewis, gave a Ted Talk regarding the problem in 2019. The academic proposed that the problem was based less on the actual music, and more on the industry surrounding it.
“In terms of addressing the future of classical music we still have to address that issue that has quite frankly plagued this genre of music for a very long time which is that relating to image,” explained Lewis.

“‘Snobby’, ‘pretentious’, ‘elite’, and even the word ‘expensive’” were some of the terms Lewis’ students used to describe classical music, and the sentiments are widely held. Much of this is attributable to Western education, which leaves students lacking the understanding of classical music required for its appreciation.

Jacob Unruh, a violinist at the University of Denver’s Lamont School of Music noted how important early education was to his own comprehension and enjoyment of classical music.

“Even when I played it as a kid, I wouldn’t say I understood it. It wasn’t until I started studying music theory and approaching it in an analytical way that I started to appreciate it,” said Unruh. “I feel like those who don’t have that are predisposed to dislike it.”

Paige Newman, a flutist at the Lamont School of music, explained that despite the necessity for a classical music theory education for classical music education, the culture of the genre makes it difficult for new students to pick it up.

“There’s this stingy barrier between classical music and every other genre that doesn’t need to be there,” said Newman.

This barrier was not always there, however. Nowadays, classical music performance is accompanied by a number of social stigmas. Oftentimes, newer audiences are turned off of the genre because of its formalities, which did not exist in the time of Mozart. This elitism leaves outsiders ostracized without the specific knowledge of when to clap and how to conduct oneself at a performance.

Cavan McCullough, a classical saxophonist at Lamont, reiterated this perceived elitist sentiment, explaining how the instruments themselves work to perpetuate the class divide and keep lower-income children from learning classical music. For respect in the industry, there is an expectation to purchase top-notch equipment, which can often set one back a few thousand dollars.

“The culture around it is almost spending as much money as you can, and it makes it less accessible to everybody,” said McCullough.

Unruh, who plans on opening a violin studio later in life is dedicated to tackling this inequity. His dream is to use profit to fund a collection of violins that can be checked out by students for little to no charge, opening the door to countless children who may be curious to learn, but who lack the necessary funds to break in.Still, the problems of classical music run deeper than expensive equipment.

“I think the biggest problem is accessibility in general because it goes beyond classism. It goes into racism, sexism, and homophobia, and all of the -isms, all of the discriminatory prejudices,” argued Newman.

These issues have been embedded in classical music throughout history. Women have been notoriously typecast into specific roles deemed more feminine in the male-dominated industry if they are able to break into the industry in the first place, which is why audiences are far more likely to see a female representation in the flute section rather than the tubas. Additionally, less than two percent of musicians in orchestras are African American, with the sense of elitism leading many to more diversity in genres like hip-hop and jazz.

Though blind auditions have made a positive impact, the industry remains heavily dominated by white men. Some believe that a paradigm shift is on the horizon for classical music in which it begins to appeal to more diverse perspectives.

“I don’t think classical music will die. I expect it to be reborn, to find a new audience, to reconnect with our wider culture, and to become a truly contemporary art,” writes American music critic Greg Sandow on the ‘crisis’ he sees in classical music.

Professor Mitch Ohriner, who teaches various music theory courses at Lamont, believes that there is value in classical music, just as there is with any kind of music. However, he is skeptical that fusion or evolution is the outright answer to the challenges the genre faces.

“I don’t really think that the things we study in classical music theory have too much relevance in something like hip-hop—there’s no reason to think that they would. They are music created in very different cultures. But just the idea that there is something in the music that you can really delve into, that’s really important.

For Dr. Ohriner, it seems that classical music needs other genres, like jazz and hip-hop, more than those genres need it. And he would be right to think so. According to Statista, hip-hop and pop, two genres that borrow heavily from one another today, dominate the younger generations. For ages 16 to 19, 48 percent of consumers list rap as their favorite genre; with 20- to 24-year-olds, the number jumps to 54 percent.

Jinny Park, a former adjunct professor at the Lamont School of music believes the shift towards diverse perspectives must come from within. Instead of studying known greats like Bach and Beethoven, Park argues that a wider array of composers must be accepted into the classical canon.

“Redefining canon will take a lot of time-consuming work because it requires original research, archiving, performance, and recording of the classical works that have been overlooked,“ explained Park. “archival projects of underrepresented composers and performances provide the first step.”

At Lamont, a planned restructuring of the classical music theory program will offer students the chance to act on the diversifying solutions offered by Park and Ohriner. Instead of six required theory classes, students will have the opportunity to replace one with an elective of their choice, allowing them to pursue a musical interest supplemental to their classical education. The change will go into effect during the Autumn 2021 quarter.

Kristin Taavola, a professor at Lamont and the chair in charge of the committee executing the change, hopes that the new policy will allow students to expand their own musical horizons and allow classical music the connections and room it needs to flourish during the modern age.

“Lamont has a lot of students with different interests,” said Taavola. “Sometimes I have students who detest popular music and are here for classical music, and other times students say ‘why am I learning classical music if I might not have a job doing this?’ so the idea is to allow people to choose what they want to do as opposed to enforcing older traditions.”