by Ryan Kok

Created on: April 28, 2009

John Adams, one of most well-known and respected composers living today, once said "There are a few dark days I feel like I am panning for gold in a river that has given it up." The debate posed above must definitely be a valid one when even famous composers of classical music will at times question their craft. And yet John Adams has created some of the greatest music ever put forth by an American composer.

But, that being said, I would be willing to bet that the majority of people reading this have never even heard of a famous living composer named John Adams. For that matter, that same set of people probably couldn't even name a single living composer, despite the fact that composers are as plentiful as ever. Those same people are probably the ones who assume classical music to be dead. They misconstrue their lack of knowledge on the subject and assume that because they hear very little about it, classical music must be dying off or dead. And yet every major city in the United States has a symphony orchestra. Every major city has an opera company. Nearly all major universities have a music program, and you can bet your life's savings that the students there sure aren't studying rap music.

Those facts alone should be enough to dissuade the average naysayer, but there are many reasons as to why some people might still incorrectly assume classical music to be dead. Two reasons in particular stand out: the complexity of 20th century classical music, and the onset of "popular music".

Classical music as we know it as actually referred to by scholars as "western art music". "Western" is because it is a creation of western Europe and its descendants (Americans). And "art music" is because it is music for the sake of art. And like other forms of art, it evolved and became consistently more complex over time. But during the beginnings of the 20th century, this evolution began to cause a bit of an uproar. Classical music began to grow so complex that listeners started to not always find it pleasing to the ear. Through careful examination and analysis of the music, one could easily see why the music being written was still of excellent quality, but the average listener and concertgoer was not typically a music conservatory scholar capable of such analysis. Composers sought only to improve upon their beloved art, but in the process of seeking ever-increasing complexity and challenging norms, those composers ended up alienating a vastly large number of listeners. Composers

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