Zebediach! How's it going? Great to find you here, hope things are going well.
Just wanted to make a few comments about cultivating younger audiences. I had the good fortune, like many here I'm sure, of being exposed to classical music at a young age. A recent study concluded that children under 3 who were exposed to adult conversations (meaning complicated vocabulary, not explicit material
) increased their odds of succeeding in college by 50%. So while these children obviously didn't understand what was said, in some way they were subconsciously formatting their minds. In terms of learning complex systems like music and language, the earlier you start the better. Of course this doesn't mean that learning is impossible after this time. But in our instant results culture we are often not patient enough to let learning take its course. "What we want is to see the child in pursuit of knowledge, and not knowledge in pursuit of the child." G.B. Shaw
My point is that I believe the experience provides the education. And the value in education is not to score high on a standardized test or to be groomed into a valuable consumer of classical music and BMW's. Creating your own contexts and connecting things for yourself is important. Those in outreach are realizing that young audiences are looking at Beethoven in the context of the pop music they are familiar with. Several years ago at Rice, Eric Booth, author of
The Everyday Work of Art and consultant for Juilliard's outreach program gave a talk. I inquired whether the best orchestras in this country should really spend their valuable time and talent playing the theme from Disney's Mulan. His reply was that yes they should because film music fits into the comfort zone of many people's contexts. And while you've got them in the seats, find a bridge that connects Mulan to other, less familiar musics. Instead of lecturing about new music to 5th graders, find a way to bridge the familiar to the unfamiliar.
As you let them integrate the new into their current context, you create a much stronger bond in their minds, and yours. This type of learning requires more creativity from teachers and students, exactly what the arts should cultivate.
Using the diversity of musical styles to enrich audience experiences and context will ultimately be more valuable than trying to compete with pop music for market share.
Enjoying the thread and looking forward to more responses!
Carl[/i]