Find the difference!

it is one of the intrinsic problems of music, especially "long" music: music forces you to listen, you cannot close your ears, and so if you don't like it or it bores you or disgusts you, to the point of experiencing it as a violence. And that is what many feel with contemporary music.

Going to a contemporary art exhibition is less tiring. But art has less repertoire... how should I say, it is very difficult to provide artistic training, to show all of Titian's paintings to a student. But it is easier to make that same student listen to all of Beethoven's symphonies. If one could succeed in creating this basic training, then going to hear a concert would be easier

Piccinesco wrote:

I'll throw it out there as a "provocation" that probably everyone, or almost everyone, has thought about but hasn't expressed: are there "pastimes" that take precedence over others because, after all, they are easier to manage? There is a (for me) substantial difference between going out to see a film (which in some cases presents itself as a complex work) and attending a music concert as it is understood in a serious context. A film can be understood despite its complexity and without having to study the subject, the screenplay, and follow the shots. A musical work is something else entirely; something always escapes those who (like me, for that matter) do not have the necessary means to decode and consequently fully understand the meaning, not to mention the language of the latter. It is a feeling I have.

For other reasons, I was thinking just these past few days that the films being produced are accessible to everyone... but music is not. Even in the world of cinema, there are products of different quality, from masterpieces to trash, but the meaning of films packaged up to this day reaches everyone. So, using a "metaphor," the world of cinema seems to have chosen "pop"... why should composers have different needs than directors?

Reading the posts quickly, I found myself in agreement with what Oracolo said, but the problem, besides being one of convenience—having things at your fingertips without lifting a finger—is also strictly linked to school, culture, and social image.

Personally, having gone to listen to the orchestra several times, I can tell you that if I were to rely solely on listening, it is better heard in a recording than live. In a recording, one can catch nuances that are not easy to hear live. An orchestra's recording is, in my opinion, many times more "detailed" compared to listening to it live. We don't struggle to say the same for other genres, whether it be pop, rock, jazz, or whatever you like: it is a fact that a CD sounds much better than a live concert where there are acoustic issues, where singers are not perfectly in tune, where the sound production itself uses inferior technologies compared to those used within recording studios, etc. etc. In addition to all this, speaking always of classical music, we must also remember that on the tube [YouTube] you can find the same concerts played by different orchestras, conducted by different conductors, some historical...

Regarding scores, the same argument Oracolo made applies. Why go and buy the sheet music if for the same composition I find at least 5 different editions on IMSLP? (I will tell you that, barring rare exceptions, I am still fond of the bound book rather than loose sheets that will inevitably get mixed up around the house).

The problem, therefore, in my opinion, lies in the models that this society provides, and there are several, especially during adolescence where the foundations of future character are laid. The "Cool" model (recognized by a fairly large statistic) is the handsome kid who wears designer clothes, smokes cigarettes, stays out late at night (not to study but to hang out), is good at playing soccer, has a modified scooter, goes to the disco every Saturday to blast his ears with 135 dB, etc. etc.

The "good boy" model, on the other hand, is the one who studies, who at most when going out goes to eat pizza with friends and then a quiet pub, returns home at 1:30 AM at the latest (at 14 years old, what do you expect??), has passions and cultivates them with dedication, etc. etc.

The problem is that kids follow the first model much more than the second; therefore, we should now move to considering how the elements belonging to the first model look at those of the second...

Studies classical music? He's an idiot!

Good at school? Good for him, in the end he'll have more pieces of paper to wipe himself with. I'll be a bricklayer but I'll earn more than him (given the current state of things, this might even be true).

Returns home at 1:00? Think what an imbecile, he's missing the best part: women, alcohol, and the disco.

With this kind of mentality, it is normal that contexts unsuitable for these people, such as the theater, are destined to draw their last breath. Today's youth only think about going dancing or playing soccer, and women about being TV models; these are the highest aspirations in life... easy money. The theater of yesteryear has become the disco of today. The influx of people has all shifted there. The healthy entertainment of the theater is today replaced by these environments that teem with prostitution, drugs, and alcohol.
Pertanto I believe that the problem, the real one at the root of everything, is due to a socio-cultural factor.

With minds like these, it all ends. The world stops and begins to regress.

Well, but there is cinema and then there is cinema! Sokurov's Russian Ark, Tarkovsky's Stalker, Lynch's already mentioned Inland Empire, Greenaway's films... it's not as if understanding is just around the corner

....in fact the classic "Battleship Potemkin"...

TheSimon wrote:

The problem, therefore, lies in my opinion in the models that this society provides.

In your opinion, Italian or global society? Because that is the whole point ... in relation to music

Lynch is finished, and the question often returns: is it necessary to ask the director (sometimes even the screenwriter) for instructions to understand a film even minimally? This can then be linked to certain contemporary music, which is the antithesis of other music that, despite being complex and sophisticated, is assimilated almost immediately and is also enjoyable, unlike other music that seems like an exercise in technical prowess; there (at least for those who do not understand it, even when trying) it remains and does not go beyond the skepticism of a person who out of politeness (often) applauds, but in the end understood nothing. I have spoken about this often with a friend (also about "poems", I don't like the term, I prefer writings; poetry makes me think of something high-sounding and I am very critical from this point of view, both towards myself and towards others, and how many sites are there that publish "poems", even by people with degrees in literature or philosophy, and then when you go to read them you think (at least I do) "but all these terms are 'outdated'", untrue if compared to the way the person in question speaks and writes, not credible from certain points of view, they seem redundant, sometimes forced, the writing syrupy, and often the texts are too long, extremely long, when synthesis (which I lack, but for texts it seems that paradoxically I succeed a bit in the intent; in music, if a piece is too long I must reduce it for the sake of flow and tension, which is low or doesn't hold) would be quite a powerful tool. Just yesterday I read some poems submitted for a competition; the 3 winners were long, too long for me, and personally they did not give me the impression of being deserving to the point of winning; instead, among those highlighted, there was one that in my opinion deserved it: concise, with decent metaphors, even if I didn't understand the meaning 100%—this perhaps left others a bit hesitant too, but (in my opinion) the author was on the right track), if you have to ask for a manual to understand something, it is double the work; it's not even a pleasure or something that ultimately leaves a mark, but it could be tiring. Linking back to what Simone wrote, I think with a certain anger about when in middle school we had the weekly music hour, and we practically never opened the book (which I still have); opening it years ago, I thought "is it possible that a subject like this cannot be taught in school? They are wrong."

I believe the problem is at a global level, even if some states still cherish certain "traditions," which is why orchestras are still holding up in those places. But if stereotypes do not change, it will be difficult for them to last long there as well...