Quote:
Originally Posted by Romanee /img/forum/go_quote.gif
What's your perspective/background that you're so blase? Not music/violin/classical/Stradivarius/master violinist - oriented?
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My background in classical music is playing the french horn for about 12 years in more orchestras than I care to mention. I've played under some great conductors and I have had the pleasure of accompanying some serious musicians also. Chris Garrick is the most serious violinist that I can remember playing with with myself in the orchestra, but I have attended other orchestral concerts and heard some of the worlds great orchestras. I do have at least a vague idea of what serious playing is and what it sounds like. I myself generally stop at buskers who are any good, and I think I would have stopped for this.
The issue I was taking was with the degree of shock the author was displaying over the event, constantly re-stating it. It just seemed over-written. I mean, the article was generally pretty good, and maybe I am being cynical, but it seemed too surprised that people didn't stop. I know it's careless to refer to the "general public", but using that term as a cover-all it's fair to say that a good majority of the "general public" aren't that interested in classical music. If you aren't interested in classical music, then no matter how good the guy on the fiddle is, you're not going to be grabbed. As an example, I am not particularly interested in hip-hop, I don't hate it, but it's not for me. If you had one of the world's greatest turntablists [sp.?] spinning records in an obscenely clever way and busking with it, he could be as talented as Joshua Bell or even more, doing incredible things with his decks, and I probably wouldn't stop. Just not my cup of tea.
Would it be as shocking then? Probably not. Would it be as shocking if, say, Arturo Sandoval took his trumpet down to the subway and did exactly the same thing (presumably with the same results) or would it be any more surprising if Courtney Pine did it with his Sax? It's strange how a greater value is attributed to the classical music, purely because that art form is seen somehow as "higher". There's a fantastic book "what good are the arts?" by John Carey, that covers this idea of the value of art, and the points in it ring very true in this instance.
Reading this back, it seems almost confrontational, and I don't mean it to be, as your initial question clearly wasn't.