Over time classical music has shifted from being a lean forward activity, where the emphasis is on participation, to a lean back activity, where the audience are passive observers. Music originated as a lean forward activity in churches. The chorales in the Bach Passions are a brilliant use of lean forward music, and Britten followed Bach's example with the congregational singing in Noye's Fludde and Saint Nicholas . The flourishing community choir movement in France is a testament to the power of lean forward music . Music lessons in schools, now fast disappearing , are lean forward music pure and simple. John Cage wrote his A House Full of Music (described by him as 'A Musicircus of non-professional music' ) for 800 music-school pupils in Bremen, Germany, and his 4' 33", where ambient sound becomes the performance, is the ultimate lean forward music. But lean back music, where the focus is on celebrity performers, is the darling of the media driven 21st c...
Comments
So much for corporate memory.
I tend to wonder if the current “heads” of what’s left of the music departments of the old Big Labels really care about music at all.
Cheers
David Cavlovic