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Classical Music Image Problem - Korean Dance Team Twerks to Dvorak
Lucy Van Pelt:Everyone talks about how "great" Beethoven was. Beethoven wasn't so great.
Schroeder: What do you mean Beethoven wasn't so great? Lucy Van Pelt: He never got his picture on bubblegum cards, did he? Have you ever seen his picture on a bubblegum card? Hmmm? How can you say someone is great who's never had his picture on bubblegum cards? Classical music, in today's society, has an image problem. It doesn't have the appeal and mass-marketability of the easy-to-digest, aesthetically pleasing songs and music videos of 2014. To up the marketability of classical music, Korean dance team Waveya created a music video for part of Dvorak's Symphony No. 9. Beware; video doesn't have nudity but lots of butts so it's probably NSFW. The goal of this is not to compromise on the quality of the music, but to give it relevant visuals that bring forth the emotions from the music while appealing to the tastes of today. B-Classic is also accepting fan music videos which I presume will be played at the B-Classic festival, which is scheduled for mid-late June in Belgium. Do you think classical music suffers from an image problem; is the reason less people listen to it than pop is because it's not modern enough, or is it due to some other factor such as accessibility? Do you think that this is a good idea, and do you think that it will be effective? Is the benefit of classical music is its lack of adherence to trends, or does adding trendy pieces to it enhance it? |
I've actually heard some things on like our local classical music station when I've listened that more and more people are starting to go out to orchestras and listening to classical music than in the past 10 or so years. I think classical music does deserve more recognition because not only is it beautiful but some of the composers have made some really powerful pieces, one of my favorite composers is Shastakovich and basically all he makes is really powerful pieces. I don't think classical music needs to be promoted or modified in any way to conform to pop culture so that it becomes more popular, the whole point of classical music is that it's classic and not like anything that we have today. It's a beautiful and easy way to escape from modern times and fall back and feel like amazing. I know any time I listen to Bach or Beethoven I lay back and close my eyes and imagine myself sitting there listening to this piece as they're writing it and it's just a great experience that I can't get with listening to "Let's take a selfie" or whatever else. Classical music is a novelty item, and as time goes on it will start to become more popular again.
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I think the tastes of the masses are just changing. When I was in high school, I noticed that what a lot of my fellow students looked for in music was a quick feel-good that didn't require a lot of time or deep thinking in order to enjoy. And I'm not trashing music that provides those things (okay, maybe just a little, but I can recognize that that's due to personal preference, and not because of any inherent inferiority to other types of music).
I don't like the idea of attaching modern trends and gimmicks to classical music. I feel the music should be appreciated for its own beauty and the emotions it stirs up, not for whatever dance moves or pretty faces are attached to it. |
I definitely agree that there's an image problem in there with classical music - it all feels so old and outdated and irrelevant today. When obviously it's not, but try convincing someone who's got that image in their head otherwise.
That said I really don't think that what I watched is, or should be, the way forward for it - or any type of music. You can only sell something so far on its video; the fact of the matter is that it's the music that matters more. So when detached from its video it'd just go back to having the same worn feel that it has now; because no matter how it's presented in a video it's still the same music. Like how a music video doesn't make a bad song good, it doesn't make an old piece of music new and exciting. I also don't like the nature of that video in itself - I feel a music video should say something about the music, not... about the butts of the people who are dancing in it. haha. I feel like what classical needs is more mainstream exposure. Not strictly going straight for the radio but as background music in TV shows, on adverts, playing in shops, whatever. Get people hearing it even if they're unaware of that - and then gradually start bringing it onto the radio and just take it from there. It'd be a long and slow process but I could see it working; it just needs to be re-introduced very slowly, one step at a time. I don't think adding unrelated eye-candy to it will do anything in the long run. |
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