by Feed your head with a play by Pamela Olson

Created on: March 04, 2009

I'm Going Extinct, I'm Going Extinct. Oh, I'm Not
Classical Music's place in meeting the expectations of unlimited choice, and living with the contradictions of diversity in a niche society.

Joining the grammarians, major league baseball and Jews' fretting of I'm Going Extinct, there has been crying about the demise of classical music. Especially strident has been the bewailing from the K-12 public schools that they used to justify dropping music from their curriculum. The facts about music, especially classical music, say public school K-12 made a big mistake. Neither music, nor classical music, was or is going extinct.

Yes, classical music is an acquired taste. Many have acquired it, and many continue to do so. In 2000, more than 36,000 classical performances were just in America. That is up 10% from 1999. That is up 10% from the previous decade. Up also 10% from the 1990's, in just 2001, 32 million classical concert tickets were sold. Reflecting people's schedules, single-ticket sales to classical concerts are up. Orchestra revenues are up.

There has been a 50% increase in college students majoring in music since 1992. Answering that demand, in 2002, the National Center for Education Statistics added three new classical music majors to its existing music majors. Music pedagogy, conducting, and piano and organ joined the existing music, music history, music performance, and music theory majors.

54% of households play a musical instrument. Brooster Kim plays flute. That was in 2003, the last year so far the Gallop did this poll. That was the highest percentage ever. In alignment with that trend, the Music Teachers National Association reported that the 25-55 year-olds are the fasting growing group of piano students.

12% of all the sales on Apple's iTunes is classical music. www.classicalarchives.com had a member survey that revealed that half its subscribers are under age 50. Reflecting today's youth, the all-female classical quartet calling itself Bond, has not only a lot of talent in their recordings but a lot of skin on their album covers.

In The Federalist Papers, James Madison treatise on factions describes the inevitability and productivity of America's intensely competitive special interest groups. Today is no different. We continue to have accelerating fragmentation due to the continuing breaking down of barriers and ever expanding freedom of choice. These continue to be powerful forces and desires that remain the seeds of still unexpected, or against the

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>