Originally Posted by cobragamer

Get the the children out of the streets and behind a horn. That would be a great idea exept classical music has such a bad reputation of being boring most people will have to change thier mind sets

Originally Posted by siarr

I hear you, Joe! And events like the recent visit of the NY Phil to China and North Korea are encouraging. But these high-profile happenings are few and far between. I was fortunate to have played with the Brevard Festival orchestra at the White House in 1963 for one the Mrs. Kennedy's Young People's concerts, which was subsidized in large part by the state of North Carolina, under the leadership of then-Governor Terry Sanford. It was given for the benefit of disadvantaged kids in the DC area, and President Kennedy came out and personally welcomed us all and spoke eloquently about the great advantages of music education. There was a lot of hope and optimism in the American musical community then. But, I guess we must do what we can, even in our current anti-intellectual atmosphere. The sad part is that if the public were exposed to good music in the same way they're exposed to olympic sports, I'm sure they'd start to catch on and get excited. Remember the popularity of the film "The Competition,"some years ago? There's certainly as much action and drama in a music competition, both on and offstage, as in sporting events. Anyway, maybe that's a topic for another thread...