The End of Yet Another Era (only slightly OT)

[David Spanovich]

Welcome to the board, David. I remember you posting on the previous board(s), and I always enjoyed reading your enlightened comments. I'm looking forward to more of the same!

Hi Henry, many thanks. I've actually been posting here all along as "Ortho_Fan" but decided to drop that name, and signed off on it, a couple of months ago. In order to re-register under a new name, I basically hacked my account by substituting a bogus email address for my real one, as well as entering a new password I could never remember. (I'd do the same for Phonoland--I'm tired of using Joe-DS-- but I'm a moderator there, and all of the records would have to be changed. Also, I don't what to confuse the very few number of people who still post there.)

...So what's to become of our treasured resources---the great orchestras, opera companies, and schools of music (turning out ever more accomplished graduates to compete for ever-shrinking numbers of openings)? I shudder to think.

I wonder about that too. Since they've cut back on--or eliminated--funding for music education in many public schools throughout the US, a large number of youngsters will never have an opportunity to develop a taste for classical music, opera, etc. That's where I came to appreciate it--that, and old cartoons and classic movies that were still shown on local TV. And, of course, operas and symphonies were regularly broadcast on PBS--and several radio stations--at any given time. (There's one classical radio station left where I live.) When my peers were buying their cassette copies of the latest ELO album, I was buying Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto #1, on LP.

DS

(Okay, I also bought the ELO albums. I still hum "Telephone Line." )

[New Owner]

My Dad has this giant tub of old CD's in his closet. We've nicknamed it "The Coffin", because it's the size of a coffin and feels like it's got a dead body in there He's also the person who thought Betamax would win over VHS .

[transformingArt]

I have stopped buying digital music on iTunes due to a couple of reasons :

1. I bought a copy of the Elgar Violin Concerto with Menuhin playing to save some wear on my 78s. There was a problem with the first movement - a massive chunk of the music was missing and replaced with digital clicks and some type of interruptions. iTunes was good about it and refunded my money.

2. The final straw - I bought a copy of "The Broadcasts of Richard Crooks" on itunes. Firstly, no broadcasts were on the album, they were just Crooks' 78s (all of which I have). The disks that were used as the source were obviously filthy and you could hear the needle jumping out of the grooves all over the place. The whole album was affected and I made a complaint to iTunes - they refunded the cost of ONE track, not the whole album. They didn't read my complaint, and just sent me some cookie cutter response.

My other problem with downloads is that you really get no information (matrices, etc) and no programme notes.

That's precisely the problem I can see on iTunes download and the things.

Speaking about the Crooks recording - it's really horrible to hear this travesty. As far as I remember, the source material for this track was an LP from the late 60s that was issued by either Murray Hill or EJS. Apparently, some of the music available on iTunes are directly dubbed from old LPs by some unknown people with a genuine indifference about the contents. Most of the time they don't get the pitch right, the source material is in a horrible state, and yet iTunes is charging us for a dollar or more for these!

[Henry]

...So what's to become of our treasured resources---the great orchestras, opera companies, and schools of music (turning out ever more accomplished graduates to compete for ever-shrinking numbers of openings)? I shudder to think.

I wonder about that too. Since they've cut back on--or eliminated--funding for music education in many public schools throughout the US, a large number of youngsters will never have an opportunity to develop a taste for classical music, opera, etc. That's where I came to appreciate it--that, and old cartoons and classic movies that were still shown on local TV. And, of course, operas and symphonies were regularly broadcast on PBS--and several radio stations--at any given time. (There's one classical radio station left where I live.) When my peers were buying their cassette copies of the latest ELO album, I was buying Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto #1, on LP.

DS

That's it in a nutshell, David. Cutbacks in or elimination of music programs at the public school level have already taken their toll; this sad effect cannot be reversed. Back in the day, the Lone Ranger radio programs always used classical music excerpts; in fact, there's an excellent book on the subject ("The Mystery of the Masked Man's Music," by Reginald M. Jones [Scarecrow Press, 1987]). All the influences you mentioned got absorbed at an early age, and became essential formative influences throughout life. Absent those, new generations are at the mercy of pop culture, and they are really getting cheated.

Fortunately, where I live we do have several classical music FM stations, in Philadelphia, Trenton, Wilkes-Barre, Harrisburg, Bethlehem. (Eat your hearts out, New York City and Boston!) When I drive south, there is public radio in the Carolinas, and to the north there are Syracuse and North Country Public Radio. So all is not lost---yet.

[Valecnik]

And what happened to high school marching bands? Most any 12-18 year old will recognize a song by Madonna or Lady Goo Ga but finding a student who can name a Sousa march is not so easy...