Classical music is a right-brainer
Whichever way you look at it classical music is not in good health. Concert attendances are down, arts funding is drying up, classical venues are increasingly dark, recording release schedules get thinner and thinner, orchestras are being downsized or disbanded, and mainstream media coverage is disappearing. Yet the classical fraternity remains in denial of an irreversible cultural change that looks increasingly likely to leave the classical genre as no more than an anachronism. Why?
In 1932 the German-born Swiss philosopher Jean Gebser identified that a change was taking place in Western consciousness, and that this change was impacting on science, art, literature, philosophy and other disciplines. His thesis was that human consciousness is in transition, and these transitions are abrupt but overlapping mutations, rather than smooth transitions, and these transitions involve cerebral and physical changes.
Jean Geber's thesis is developed by Dr Iain McGilchrist with his theory of the divided brain. This proposes that we are experiencing a transition between the older dominant right brain to the evolving left brain. This is important because it is thought that the historically dominant right brain is the more visionary, creative, metaphysical, and improvisatory influence, whereas the left brain is the rational, analytical, numerate, binary, and linear influence. Both brains are interconnected and rely on each other, however the less visionary and more rational increasingly dominant left brain could be fulfilling what Henri Bergson described as an 'eliminative' function and Aldous Huxley famously described as a 'reducing valve'. This could explain the marginalising of classical music and other creative arts in favour of undemanding entertainment curated by algorithms, as in Netflix and other streaming services.
The theory that there are significant differences in function between left and right brains is still debated, and some may dismiss Dr. McGilchrist's thesis of cerebral transition as coming from the grey area between good and bad science. However such a dismissal should be viewed in the context of his credentials. He is a former Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, an associate Fellow of Green Templeton College, Oxford, a Fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, a Consultant Emeritus of the Bethlem and Maudsley Hospital, London, a former research Fellow in Neuroimaging at Johns Hopkins University Medical School, Baltimore, and a former Fellow of the Institute of Advanced Studies in Stellenbosch. The theory of cerebral migration is supported by the medically proven phenomenon of neuroplasticity, a process that involves adaptive structural and functional changes to the brain
It can be argued that Iain McGilchrist's thesis has considerably more scientific basis than the many 'quick fixes' unsuccessfully applied to classical music. Remember the short-lived Sinfini Music which reduced classical music to a comic strip - see image below? That bad science was bank-rolled by Universal Music, the biggest classical media player, and supported by industry movers and shakers such as Normal Lebrecht. And split brain theory could provide context to the futile reinvention of BBC Radio 3 as an easy-listening station. This reinvention targets the diminishing right brain oriented audience - as does its role-model Classic FM - while offering little to the increasingly dominant and important left brain oriented audience.
My header photo shows composer Markus Reuter and producer Dirk Fischer during a recording session for Reuter's String Quartet No. 1 'Heartland', and Reuter's music is relevant to divided brain theories. In his booklet note Markus Reuter asks the following questions:
'What would happen if there was a way to write down a music that cannot be created using the traditional means which exist on the spectrum of the dichotomy of composition and improvisation? Music that is just there, hiding in plain sight? Music that can neither be composed or improvised? Music that cannot be made up, but is there already and only needs to be uncovered?"
Markus Reuter's long career in the non-classical world has included developing and marketing his own Touch Guitars and collaborating with former King Crimson member Trey Gunn on promoting the Touch Guitar as an instrument in its own right, and he has worked with electro-ambient evangelist Robert Rich who has featured here before. Since 2011 Reuter has also worked in the classical genre including recording his large-scale orchestral work Todmorden 513 with the Colorado Chamber Orchestra.
Advocacy of a music beyond established paradigms may make uncomfortable reading for an inherently reactionary classical establishment. But Markus Reuter has hands-on experience of both classical and non-classical genres, so it is unwise to dismiss his views without some serious consideration. Just as it is unwise to dismiss Dr Iain McGilchrist's views on right to left brain migration. Because classical music has so far failed to arrest its decline in popularity by a dogged focus on its traditional right-brained audience. Markus Reuter is suggesting that rejuvenating the repertoire by adding left-brained music to the repertoire may attract the new audience that the classical industry has so far failed to engage with. Which poses the important and very difficult - impossible? - problem of defining left-brained music. For the moment let's answer that using Markus Reuter's definition - music that cannot be created using the traditional means.
I started by saying that whichever way you look at it classical music is not in good health. If the left versus right brain hypothesis is nonsense, then classical music urgently needs to start downsizing. Because, whatever the reason for the irreversible cultural shift, the classical audience is getting smaller and supply continues to outstrip demand. But is the concept of left and right-brained audiences really any more ridiculous than mobile phones in concerts, disco lighting, and the other band-aids being used in a futile attempt to stop the haemorrhaging of classical audiences? Is the idea of widening the audience demographic by leavening the classical mix with music that is just there, hiding in plain sight ridiculous? You decide.
For those not totally rejecting this thread as bad science the documentary The Divided Brain - available on Amazon in the UK - is recommended.
Comments
We like to think of classical music's value being tied to a perfect balance of 'right brain' and 'left brain' thinking - appealing to our intellectual and emotional core. And elevating us, in the process!
But classical music has also plied us with its rarity, spectacle and novelty, all of which have been diminished with the passage of time, especially in the case of the orchestra.
Historically, music was something you had to seek out, or make yourself. People went to concerts. We had pianos in our homes!
Now, music is ubiquitous, infinite and immediate.
When I was young, an orchestral concert was a spectacle. Ballets were a peak multimedia experience. An organ concert could transport you to other worlds. And the competition was weak.
Now we are awash in spectacle. In film, there's so much spectacle that it's become boring. At home, televisions are now the size of walls. And, since the '60s, popular music performances have become so spectacular and huge that an orchestra concert seems pretty subdued.
And, what about novelty? The history of classical music is constant innovation in form, structure, scope and sound. This seems to have peaked in the early 20th century, though, and declined since then. How much has the makeup of the orchestra changed in the last 100 years? It seems that the orchestra reached its mature state, and composers either write for that or experiment with new ensembles that are subsets of the orchestra.
Meanwhile, novelty (or if you prefer, evolution and exploration) has been going full speed in popular and film music. This includes new sounds, new forms, pushing the boundaries of performance, new ways of experiencing music and even interactive musical experiences.
The world of film music reminds us of what's possible in classical music, and shows that there's a real audience for live performances that deliver something unique, spectacle and novelty.
Consider the popularity of film screenings with live orchestral accompaniment. Or orchestral performances that just give audiences the rare chance to hear film scores live. Or the sold-out Hans Zimmer Live events, that ooze not just spectacle and novelty, but musicianship.
The classical world will accept American in Paris and Alexander Nevsky, but Star Wars? That's still new enough that it's considered a little 'low brow'.
If listeners aren't buying what the classical music world is selling, maybe it's time to consider something other businesses have to accept - the idea that "The customer is always right. Even when they're wrong."
Realize that audiences want something rare. They want spectacle. They want novelty. And that it's possible for composers and ensembles to provide this, and do it in ways that are still sophisticated and intellectually challenging.
There's certainly no lack of examples - and beyond the world of what some might consider 'classical lite'.
The minimalists have created a template for this, over the last 60 years. Learn from the music that never found an audience, and do something different; give listeners something unique, some spectacle and novelty; and challenge us intellectually, with new ideas and forms.
I live in the midwest, where programming a composer like John Adams may still be a bit edgy for older audiences. So, the tendency is to start with something safe, give people their medicine after the intermission, and put a crowd-pleaser at the end.
This approach may minimize the portion of the audience that bails at intermission - but it's not expanding the audience that's there to begin with.