People // Joel T Johnson // Blog

Allow me to divert from blogging my bass playing trek to the road to get something, though still music related, off my chest. When I was in school I would attend a number so-called "classical" music concerts. Often it was as a member of the regional youth philharmonic orchestra selling lemonade during intermissions to raise money for our European tour. We would snicker at the occasional uncouth person in the audience who would unwittingly applaud between the movements of the symphonies and concertos. Proud of ourselves that we knew better, that we knew the difference between movements and pieces. Shame on us. It was pointed out to me recently that in the nineteenth century and earlier, silence between the movements was not the convention. The conductors, performers and composers, when present, wanted and welcomed praise and recognition from their public at every opportunity, final movement or not. The music was for the purpose of enjoyment, not an opportunity to show-off one's knowledge or ability to read the program. Silence between the movements did not arrive until very late in the 1800's. It was how the rising industrial upper classes would identify and ostracize middle class invaders of their concert halls. Only those with enough education and sophistication to know the difference between a movement and the larger work were welcome here. It began as, and remains an elitist practice to this day. Meanwhile, art administration laments that they cannot meet their budgets even with… "a grant from Mobile Corporation" They leer at the lines of people paying $80 a pop to see "Outkast" and wonder what went wrong that the once-in-an-age-genius of Mozart is so ignored by the masses. Certainly the middle class being handed their hats and cast from the upper class world of classical musical is not the only cause of poor concert attendance and a dwindling interest in fine arts in general, but it sure as hell didn't help. Arts administration needs to get off its high horse and welcome the masses back into the concert hall. It's too late for most but that's no reason to give up on the next generation. There's a number of ways to do this and many orchestras are taking steps, such as casual dress Friday concerts. Somehow, someway reintroducing applause between the movements should be one of these measures. Music is for enjoyment, at least it should be. There's no reason in the world not to allow or encourage this… Unless you still need to believe you are better than others. The rich can still have their private little world. There's always chamber music.