OK, so I’ve written before about classical music checking in with reality and just giving the general public some of what they want, in order to rebuild trust in our institutions and their missions. By meeting people halfway we might start to discover each other, hopefully until they become part of us (first), and then vice versa. Cum bai ya is not a bad song; because generosity is the building block of peace. Share music, food, dance, and laughter, and strangers usually become friends. However, a business model cannot grow by giving away its products; unless it is a charitable org., which is why CutTime® is leading this idea.
This idea is the genuine opening up, or feeding of classical music to the rest of the world. It is the fulfillment of the promise of the public domain. This is not unlike what theater, ballet, and even museums have been working at for longer than American classical music presenters and major orchestras. How do we make the fine arts real for people who avoid the fine arts? Most musicians double down on the special, exceptional, and authentically European traditional experiences for the people who can afford to keep it funded. And frankly, I wouldn’t change the established tradition much. It maximizes the potential impact of the music to be heard deeply by the most people. Instead, I’d create whole new menus (series) featuring spicy sauces, and so-called purple cows, and take them where classical purists wouldn’t come anyway.
It should be obvious by now that it’s not enough anymore just to make new public come to us; we have to offer new ways that show how anyone anywhere might access humanity’s legacy to itself; to build new associations that unlock this golden treasure. Casual classical for the wider public has been noticeably absent from traditional presenters who might do it best. The adoption of smoking laws during 2000s made possible the Classical Revolution movement that briefly established itself worldwide in response to this vacuum. Yet CR favors an organic, slow-growth policy: it is not a bold solution to scale up.
The traditional institutions still resist any glasnost (opening); often led by musicians who don’t want to see hard-won talent and money “wasted“ on a casual audience who might be talking, drinking, laughing, blabbing, eating, or generally trying to ignore the un-namable discomfort of trying to party with friends around classical music. It seems surreal. I’ve seen people have all kinds of reactions to a first experience with LIVE classical music in a bar: it’s just that foreign. (Perhaps moreso with me leading and hosting.)
In my experience, people will fall into three categories. Around one third will love whatever you do, while an opposite third will hate whatever you do (and usually leave or talk louder). The third in the middle, however, will depend on what we say, play, or do to entertain and engage: and that’s who we should work hardest for. What do we lose for trying to confront and comfort people with the fact of classical music? No one has ever gotten rough, and we’ve learned how to quickly calm hecklers. Adversity became our friend. And party noise became part of the setting we power thru with sound reinforcement. Because we believe everyone everywhere deserves our most lively and dramatic music, we would let deter or stop our spirit, no matter what. Can’t hear the music? We just laugh and carry on! Playing in noise is a sacrificial act of love that proves we really want to share this. It is agape or radical empathy.
This model might be enough for enterprising ensembles to live on at the start of this new cultural age. As long as people find participatory paths into instrumental music, they will grow to enjoy some regular new classical, and maybe some traditional concerts near them too. We might saturate our city while there is this soft vacuum of curiosity for practical information of how anyone practically uses classical arts. I’ve learned some techniques to draw out and test methods cheaply; eggshakers being only one impressive opportunity to include audience members from their seats in the actual music-making. Idea-generation means breaking some sacred eggs temporarily.
Dumbing classical music down? Looking at one side of this coin, yes; that is what it amounts to. Except for the shockingly dramatic irony (paradox) that for many newcomers, these are exactly what might bring them into classical music. As opposed to classical product (refined concerts), these are classical process (experiential, understanding).
The most successful classical institutions will naturally be the loudest, saying that we should only ever keep preserving the artistic integrity (and highest sourcing) centered around the classical art, the artists, and their most authentic forms (pure). But it ignores the fact that art centered around the audience can become another, equally valuable extension of the art form. Afterall, commercial (popular) and folk music have always served this purpose, no? Yes. There exists now a huge spectrum of music, from the raw to the refined, serving a gamut of purposes, from private to social. And with the granular process of all culture fragmenting before our eyes, it’s indeed surprising to notice this empty space for experiences serving up symphony with enthusiasm, humor, and minimal participation.
So, CutTime® has evolved to feed into that void with exciting musicians playing and hosting heart-on-sleeve in cities across the nation. CutTime ensembles will tour, with and without its founder (me), spreading the ideas for introducing and popularizing symphonic music. There might even be a touring CutTime orchestra that reinvents how full scale concerts can draw future audiences. Laughs, mixing movements like Beethoven did, demonstrations and excerpts, audience games, onstage seating, videos, dancers, poets, spot interviews… Doesn’t sound like a symphony concert at all, does it? That’s the whole point.
The dumbing down is also the smartening up of classical and esp. symphonic music. New York Times Music Critic Edward Rothstein in 1993 was correct to say that the American Symphony Orchestra League report “Americanizing the American Orchestra is content with a musical culture determined by demography.” He was off in his final conclusion that “In bringing the racial politics of the streets into the concert halls, it may very well Americanize the orchestra into extinction”, when he could have written “into evolving.”
Can you imagine what would happen if say an additional 10% of this country carried around a classical earworm in their heads? They’d want a regular dosage of this music just as they do songs. But we don’t give them the choices, do we? We need musicians to serve everyone, to provide everywhere possible unforgettable musical memories that matter, ones that bring both laughter and tears. We should build toward an equal mass of casual classical events just like jazz, rock, and other. It’s competitive, but there are no reasons why various musical choices can’t work in rotation in public and private venues, inc. homes.
Once classical has fully engaged that ecosystem, the meaning of classical music might shake off tired old stigmas. The musicians simply need to pitch the music joyfully, interactively, and humanely, as if to family and friends. Learning a handful of music secrets (like counting, phrasing, and silent beats) can unlock this potential.
Thanks for reading and sharing. It’s time we cut classical music loose!
- Rick Robinson (Mr. CutTime) (Revised Sept. 2022)
