Nicole Knox

Music 111

The demise of Classical music in our society

Whether or not classical music is truly dead has yet to be seen, but in my opinion it is

definitely dying. A slow death is still a death in my book. I guess if I were looking at it

objectively, I would see classical music’s decline as a slow but fatal disease. We all know what

the disease is, and that there is no cure, but we can’t seem to turn away from watching the

inevitable. It would seem everything is geared towards the shrinking of the art form and its

presence in everyday modern society.

So, do I agree with Mark Vanhoenacker? No, I can’t say wholeheartedly that I do, but

then does that make me lean towards the arguments of William Robin? Again, as an outsider I

can’t say that I am convinced. Vanhoenacker makes the strongest and most relatable case to my

sensibilities. Like I said previously, dead is one thing, but dying is something else entirely.

William Robin tries to make a case for the genre sustaining itself, but it can’t maintain itself

without growth and that would take a revival. There unfortunately doesn’t seem to be any of

those just lying around.

I sympathize with Mark Vanhoenacker’s stance and point as I think back to the

contributing factors. Classical music is a relic of a dying age as oppose to its more modern

contemporary cousins. Ilike many others, grew up listening to the pop sounds of my day, and

was only forced to learn classical music while learning to play instruments in public school. Now

a days with all the cut spending on music programs kids today don’t even get the education I got

about the music in some cases. So where else would your average everyday person run into this
Nicole Knox
Music 111
genre of music? The movies of course. Soundtracks and background music to your favorite scene

is probably the only time you encounter it. This definitely doesn’t bold well for a sustained

presence in mainstream society.

Growth and a pipeline to the future is necessary to keep something alive. If you can’t

grow, you can’t reinvent yourself, or be popular. Popularity in art is how it survives. Creating a

pipeline is infusing new young minds into the process. Teaching kids young the art form so that

they can one day carry the torch into tomorrow. Without it being passed down from generation to

generation, it will begin to dwindle, until it is no more. And that’s when it will well and truly die.

I think we are at an irreversible stage right now.

Everything is being phased out, which is hard for me to understand. So this is what I

think about the future of classical music. It is not dead but destined to die. It is as inevitable as

the sun rising every morning. With the flame of culture dwindling for this genre, and no new

blood being infused into the art form, its future is all but written. And I see no turning back now

that the wheels are turning in that direction.