Classical Music and younger audiences?

[JenWo]

How old are regular users of this forum? Classical music is great and I always wonder how younger audiences can be engaged in listening to it... Or is it just prejudice that only older generations listen to classical?

[gryphon]

Hi and welcome to MD

I think we have quite a wide age range represented on MD................Of the Mods we ae a little more senior but I'm quite sure that many of us a have the taste for some classical music..............

As for young people and classical music .............that is a difficult question.

Some young people are very happy to listen to classical music................others do not el it is something they ae comfortable with, they feel that listening to it will attract unfavorable peer pressure and so avoid it openly.
For others they feel that it does not speak to them and so will have little interest in it.

Having said all that ..the media is a strong motivator...without realizing it many young people identify with designer brands and the marketing tools of many of these is classical music and I feel there is the key !

[Tiggi]

I'm fast approaching middle-age, but started listening seriously to classical music in my early twenties. The trigger for me was the use of Beethoven's fifth in the movie Conrack, in which Jon Voight plays an inspirational teacher who opens the eyes of his young, underpriveleged, under-educated charges. He gets the kids to listen to the fifth symphony, and challenges their prejudices against it.

Griff's response is spot on regarding Classical music being uncool in the eyes of the young. Also, music is being comoditized by the use of MP3 players and single songs seem to stretch the attention spans of many younger listeners. Therefore, complete Classical works of 40 or 50 minutes' duration won't hold the attention of the casual listener.

I don't listen to enough Classical, and I love it, so I fear that it will become an increasingly minority taste.