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The Muppet Show, Season 2, Episode 26. Opening number: Dr. Teeth & The Electric Mayhem perform a wildly up-tempo version of the Polonaise In A Flat by Chopin. Before, Sam The Eagle is excited that Chopin's Polonaise In A Flat is to be performed as the opening number until it's revealed that Dr. Teeth & the Electric Mayhem will be subbing for the planned concert pianist:
by James Hogan
Classical music is not dying--if you believe Fred Child, that is.
Fred, who hosts American Public Media's "Performance Today," gave a talk Monday entitled "The Death of the Death of Classical Music," part of WDAV's 30th Anniversary Celebration this week. He listed many successful orchestras, stunning classical CD sales figures, and the like, all the while encouraging his audience that classical music was very much alive.
But, he added--and no one in the room disagreed--the way we see and hear and perform classical music has changed dramatically, and it must continue to change if classical music is to remain viable. Fred went on to point out several new ventures in classical music and played a YouTube video of The Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela playing Bernstein in London. Here's the clip:
This orchestra is vibrant--so vibrant, the audience can't help but clap along during part of the piece and jump to their feet in roaring approval at the conclusion. This is not your father's orchestra, so to speak. (The audience clapped! During the piece!)
Now this is a risky proposition, but I say we could use a few modifications in concert audience protocol for the sake of keeping classical music alive. First thing to go would be those awkward silences between movements. Yes, yes, sometimes those quiet moments are appropriate, but haven't you ever felt desperate to clap at the end of an exciting movement? And isn't it terrible when that thrilling music is met with deafening silence, at least until someone in the back coughs or there's a smattering of creaking music stands?
Perhaps an outlandish suggestion such as this will touch on a nerve (and feel free to comment!), but it's one change concert audiences can afford to make. Bernstein's Mambo was meant to break silence in half--not to be received by it. Let's apply that rule to other music, too.
WDAV's 30th anniversary has special significance for me, and not simply because I work at the station.
I've been here in one position or another long enough to be considered a "veteran," but many of my co-workers, such as Ted Weiner and Rachel Stewart, have been here even longer. Even our most youthful music host, Jennifer Foster, who started as a student announcer, has been here longer than I (although she has left and come back a few times).
But I'd have fond memories of WDAV even if I'd never had the privilege of working here. My first recollection of WDAV traces back to my last night as a single man.
WDAV's 30th anniversary has special significance for me, and not simply because I work at the station.
I've been here in one position or another long enough to be considered a "veteran," but many of my co-workers, such as Ted Weiner and Rachel Stewart, have been here even longer. Even our most youthful music host, Jennifer Foster, who started as a student announcer, has been here longer than I (although she has left and come back a few times).
But I'd have fond memories of WDAV even if I'd never had the privilege of working here. My first recollection of WDAV traces back to my last night as a single man.
After graduating from the University of New Orleans, my wife and I stopped in Charlotte to get married at her parents' home before heading to New York City where we both had jobs lined up.
I can remember settling into bed in my future in-laws' guest room the night before the nuptials to the reassuring strains of classical music coming from a bedside clock radio, then hearing some dulcet voiced announcer identify the broadcast as coming from the MacMillan Building on the campus of Davidson College - just before signing off for the night!
Within a year we were back in Charlotte to stay, and listening to WDAV faithfully. In fact, it would be more than five years before I had the opportunity to come work for the station, but in all that time I remained a faithful listener.
These days not only does the station not sign off at midnight, we now broadcast from another building altogether : the still fairly new, state-of-the-art Samuel W. Newell Building, still on campus but right on Main Street in the heart of the bucolic college town of Davidson.
I've advanced professionally during my years of working here, but what's more rewarding is how far the station itself has come. WDAV now offers 24 hours a day of classical music presented at the highest possible standards to a large, appreciative and diverse audience. The program schedule reflects the range and scope of classical music, and the partnerships we've cultivated with the arts community in this region serve to integrate the station into the fabric of life in the Carolinas and beyond.
WDAV has also continued to provide my family, which now includes three children and an ever-changing number of pets, with countless hours of pleasurable listening.
None of this would have been possible without the loyalty and generosity of listeners. So this anniversary is as much of a milestone for them as it is for the station. On behalf of all of us who have the good fortune to work at WDAV, thanks for making it all possible.