What's everyone's opinion on the above?

Used to love Vanessa Mae when I was little, til I realised she wouldn't be half as sucessful if she wasn't a young, "exotic" and beautiful musician....with her electric violin. Hmmm....

It might be music and it might be trendy - but is it classical?!

I'd only buy a Vanessa Mae CD for the photograph on the cover!

Hi Mars,

She isn't alone and we have her and mates to thank for attracting many young people to classical music at all. It allowed them to identify with credible young musicians and celebrities in classics.
Same with Nigel Kennedy of the punk hairstyle and unconventional dress 20 years ago although he is a supremely accomplished musician. The Kronos quartet similar. These players have matured with time. I don't know if I feel the same about Vanessa - she may mature into an excellent concert violinist. She certainly raised the profile of the violin and particularly the electric violin that seems to be catching on.

Meanwhile your taste grows more discerning and you move on.

My opinion? It's a good idea. If it helps some break from chart music, they are enriched as a result.
How about that?
Franchonard

ps "I'd only buy a Vanessa Mae CD for the photograph on the cover! "(woodwind) ABSOLUTELY!!

QUOTE (Franchonard @ May 30 2005, 10:37 PM)

She isn't alone and we have her and mates to thank for attracting many young people to classical music at all. It allowed them to identify with credible young musicians and celebrities in classics.

I conducted a survey in my school last year to try and find out whether so-called 'cross-over artists' and generally classical musicians who are perceived to be 'trendy' would actually convince anyone not already interested in classical music to go out and buy it. I asked 140 people aged between 14 and 17 who were not interested in classical music and only 6 people said that these artists would have any effect on them at all. To be honest, most people who aren't into classical music don't even know who people like Vanessa Mae and Bond even are, and those that are interested in classical music find them an embarrassment to the genre.
I feel very strongly about this (which is why I conducted the survey), and I know people will disagree, but I think of music as a primarily aural experience and therefore what the artist looks like/what clothes they are wearing has no effect whatsoever on the music they produce. Surely all the prancing around on stage with strange lighting and smoke effects only distracts from the music, which is surely the most important thing? And if this is the first classical music young people are exposed to, it's hardly likely to send them back for more. The girls in Bond may be very pretty, but they're hardly going to be the next Yehudi Menuhin.
I seem to be in a particularly ranting mood today. I don't mean to offend anyone.

I feel very strongly about this (which is why I conducted the survey)

Then this may have affected the way you worded the questions, which then led to the answers you wanted...

what the artist looks like/what clothes they are wearing has no effect whatsoever on the music they produce.

But it must affect album sales, otherwise the record companies wouldn't keep insisting on sexy photos on the covers and posters...

Don't worry, I agree with you really, but the fact is that classical audiences are dwindling significantly, and the only way promoters can hold onto them at all is by flashy marketing and phenomena like Classic FM. Personally I would listen to Radio 3 any day, and find Classic FM trivialising and irritating: "hey! realx along to this great bit of Mozart - perfect for a perfect summer's day" etc etc. But what can you do? This is how things are these days and there's not a lot we can do about it.

Actually I disagree with you about the Kronos - they do play cutting edge music and I find them quite inspiring and exciting, whereas Nigel Kennedy, although he's a good player, totally irritates me with his "groovy cats" talk - aarrrghhh!!

Don't worry, you're not being offensive - just expressing a valid viewpoint.

Violinia

Well said, hgirl. There's no evidence at all that people who like Vanessa Mae or Bond will then go on to listen to "real" classical music. Unfortunately the majority of the population aren't interested in classical music and no amount of showmanship on the part of the performers is going to change that.

To encourage people to listen to classical music far more needs to be done in schools. From an early age as many children as possible should be encouraged to take up an instrument, as in Finland where everyone of school age learns at least one orchestral instrument - for free. Cutbacks in spending on school music services have made that almost impossible in Britain where learning an instrument can be a woefully expensive business. If we could get primary age children learning and, equally improtant, motivate them to continue at secondary school, we might be part of the way towards developing a musically literate generation. Without adequate funding, though, this will never happen.

I would like to see the governmet introduce a "golden hanshake" for Music teachers in schools, similar to the ones given to teachers of Maths and Science. After all Music is designated as a shortage subject but is the only one where no extra financial incentive is offered to those wanting to teach it. Music, at whatever level, should form an important part of everyone's education. Where would we be without music?

QUOTE

Where would we be without music?

Probably somewhere nearer the top of the scoreboard at the Eurovision Song Contest..

QUOTE (Violinia @ May 31 2005, 12:00 AM)

what the artist looks like/what clothes they are wearing has no effect whatsoever on the music they produce. But it must affect album sales, otherwise the record companies wouldn't keep insisting on sexy photos on the covers and posters...

yes that is true- it's just I can't for the life of me see why it is! And I've never met anyone who buys a classical cd just for the picture on the sleeve. Oh well, I suppose I'd rather have classical music promoted in a less-than-purist sense than no classical music at all.

QUOTE (Violinia @ May 31 2005, 01:00 AM)

Personally I would listen to Radio 3 any day, and find Classic FM trivialising and irritating:

Ditto!!

Maksim Mrvica!

"yes that is true- it's just I can't for the life of me see why it is! And I've never met anyone who buys a classical cd just for the picture on the sleeve. "

It's just marketing and trying to sell things that people don't really want.

I dont know how anyone interested in Classical Music can not like Classic FM, or at least the music that they play. Look at the next few hours of listening for example....

31/05/05 19:00:00 Bagatelle No.25 in A minor WoO.59 Ludwig van Beethoven

31/05/05 19:03:11 Symphony No.1 in E major Opus 26 (1) Alexander Scriabin

31/05/05 19:10:47 Horn Quintet in Eb major (2) Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

31/05/05 19:16:55 Concerto for 2 Pianos & Orchestra in E Major (2) Felix Mendelssohn

31/05/05 19:31:38 The Princesses' Round Dance Igor Stravinsky

31/05/05 19:36:37 Berceuse in Db major Opus 57 Frederic Chopin

31/05/05 19:42:06 Horn Concerto in D major (2) Georg-Philipp Telemann

31/05/05 19:44:54 Violin Sonata in Eb major Opus 18 (2) Richard Strauss

31/05/05 20:00:00 Melodie Opus 42 No.3 Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky

31/05/05 20:03:50 Dream Children Opus 43 Edward Elgar

31/05/05 20:10:50 Symphony No.5 in Bb major Opus 12 (2) Luigi Boccherini

31/05/05 20:14:56 Fantasy in C major Opus 17 (3) Robert Schumann

31/05/05 20:25:35 La Pentola Magica (1/2) Ottorino Respighi

31/05/05 20:30:14 Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini Opus 43 (18) Sergei Rachmaninov

31/05/05 20:33:22 Flute Concerto in G major (2) Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

31/05/05 20:44:20 Danse Profane Claude Debussy

31/05/05 20:50:02 'Jesu, joy of man's desiring' Johann Sebastian Bach

31/05/05 20:55:17 Suite Caracteristique Opus 100 (2) Jean Sibelius

31/05/05 20:56:33 Jeux d'enfants (3) Georges Bizet

31/05/05 21:00:00 Zadok the Priest George Frideric Handel

31/05/05 21:05:15 Gloria in D major RV.589 Antonio Vivaldi

OK, so I know they usually only play seperate movements and not complete works but what they do play is excellent. The problem I find with Radio 3 is that the presenters are just so "emotionless" and don't seem to have any "enthusiasm" in their commentaries when they have just played the most incredibly moving music. I've never understood that kind of emotional detachment. Maybe, its a British "stiff upper-lip" thing?
One thing that really does annoy me about Classic FM though are the irritating adverts. I know that they are sponsored and have to have adverts but do they really have to be so juvenile, noisy and irritating? After "unwinding" to, say, some Delius, the audience then gets totally stressed out as soon as they hear one of the ads. At this point I'm usually manically searching for the remote and the sanctity of the mute button!

Gae

QUOTE (missfabflute @ May 31 2005, 04:41 PM)

Maksim Mrvica!

Hmm?

Anyway, thanks all for replying, just wanted to get my feelers out there. Coolaboola.

Someone once told me I look like Vanessa Mae. I think he's a very bad/good liar.

QUOTE (neil.clarinet @ May 31 2005, 04:33 PM)

QUOTE (Violinia @ May 31 2005, 01:00 AM) Personally I would listen to Radio 3 any day, and find Classic FM trivialising and irritating: Ditto!!

Maybe, but I also think that classic FM has done alot for bringing classical music ,which would otherwise be unaccessable to many people, onto the 'scene'.
I personally don't particularly like artists like Vanessa Mae and Ludovico Einaudi and especially Bond (after watching them and their videos on the classical FM digital channel!) but you have to take your hat off to them, as they have definately popularised classical music (though I use the term classical music very loosley!)

(If my spelling is anyworse than normal, then I blame it on the jetlag, I just flew back from my old home -Colorado and don't know if I'm making sense!)

I hardly ever listen to Classic FM but when I do, it's noticeable that what they play is always on the "easy-listening" side - nothing too challenging, nothing disturbing, nothing new or innovative in a contemporary sense. It's meant to be classical wallpaper really, a bit like choosing a painting because it goes with your decor.

Can't stand the silken tones of the DJ's either - makes my skin crawl. The voices would sound fine on Radio 2, but for introducing classical music they sound all wrong somehow.

So all in all I can't make up my mind whether Classic FM's a good thing on the whole or a bad thing, but at least Radio 3 is still there.

Violinia

I guess Classic FM fills a customer niche, some people love it, but thank goodness we have Radio 3.

I will never forgive Classic FM for the time I was just getting ready to take a nice long relaxing bath and turned on the radio in the bathroom for some music to listen to. (I guess it was Radio 3s jazz night

The beautiful strains of the second movement of Beethovens' violin concerto filled the room. "Ideal" I thought and lay down in my bubbles. Well the movement came to an end, there was that little cadenza as it gets ready to move into the last movement, and......it stopped! Like it stopped mid stream. Not even a perfect cadence !!! Ouch! Most unsatisfactory.

The announcer proudly proclaimed "That was Isaac Stern playing Beethoven's violin concerto" NO IT WASN'T. It was Isaac Stern playing PART of the violin concerto.

Sorry for the rant. But sometimes you can play one movement in isolation....in this case it made musical nonsense.

Jane