I solemnly promise that we don’t always pick each other’s brains about our columns, but I feel the need to add my two cents’ worth to Joe Inscore’s recent column about appreciating music. (He started it.)
Imagine life without music for just a few seconds. To me, that’s nearly unbearable. We’ve only recently gotten some long-needed repairs made to our stereo system so that we can, once again, listen to our heart’s content to the hundreds of recordings we have. Like Joe, we have some of just about every kind of music … except heavy metal. I can’t stand that stuff.
Imagine never hearing your favorite hymns or whatever your favorite kind of music is, except maybe in your head.
Some people may not get a whole lot of enjoyment out of listening to music but most of us do, and often in subtle ways we barely realize. We listen to it in our cars/trucks, we hear it on TV, in the stores, when we go to movies. Sometimes, like it or not, we hear it blasting by our houses, rattling the windows and floors.
Many emails come across my desk every day from colleges receiving big funds or huge donations for certain programs, most of which aren’t arts programs. The arts are the first to get the hatchet in public schools, private schools, and universities when funding gets cut or donations drop. The effects of that are being felt all over but it seems to me maybe more in the South than anywhere else.
When I was younger I remember having a plethora of music teachers to choose from for piano lessons and even a few for violin. Even in small towns, there were always plenty. That’s not so much the case anymore. Pianists and organists in churches all across the area are in short supply, often unable to find a substitute if they have to take a Sunday off. Strings teachers are nearly unheard of because orchestra programs in schools are expensive and most districts won’t even bother.
Because band programs boost athletic programs, they will ever be with us. I wouldn’t think of bashing them, but you don’t hear of many 70- or 80-year olds who still play band instruments (yes, I know there are some, but they’re rare). String and keyboard players tend to go a little longer on their instruments. But what will happen when those skilled musicians pack up their instruments or pass away?
How do people find musicians for their weddings or formal parties? Most don’t anymore. Even many churches are resorting to “canned” music or electric guitars and trap sets, as are many arts centers for their musicals or other productions. It’s difficult to find real live orchestral musicians and keyboardists these days, and then there’s that pesky business of having to pay them. Trust me, after years and years and years of paying for lessons and expensive instruments and maintenance, they usually don’t want to perform “just for grins.”
A little digression here, but this is on my mind, too. Composer extraordinaire John Williams just had a birthday the other day. He’s 85. How many more years will he turn out music for TV and movies? There are some other composers for those media who are quite good, but John Williams good? Jaws, Star Wars, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Superman, Raiders of the Lost Ark/Indiana Jones, Home Alone, Jurassic Park, Schindler’s List, E.T., Harry Potter, The Book Thief … and I’ve barely scratched the surface! I’m so glad he will leave us such a wealth of his work to enjoy.
Even if up-and-coming, genius composers get great music down on staff paper, who will play it? Are we headed for a world where there’s ONLY “canned” (or electronic) music unless it’s performed at halftime for a football game?
Please, folks, whenever you can — give, give, give to fine arts education! Encourage your children to take lessons on piano and other acoustic instruments. That is, if you can find teachers.
I’ve noticed that some TV shows (Grey’s Anatomy comes to mind) use pop music rather than subtle background music. Talk about annoying! Or is it just me? The last thing I want while watching characters in a dramatic show — often having a conversation I can’t even hear — is loud, electronic music with lyrics. No. Just no.
But that’s what the mute button on the TV remote is for, after all, that stuff you don’t want to hear.