Eric Yu

Mrs. Ross

Lit Comp 10

1 May 2017

Why Classical Music is Dying

Albright, Charlie. "'Classical' music is dying.and that's the best thing for classical music." CNN

Wire, 29 May 2016. Infotrac Newsstand. Accessed 30 Apr. 2017.

Albright is an open thinker, and speaks whatever comes out of his mind. However, this way of

writing his articles has led his papers to be very one-sided, clearly making him biased in his stance on

classical vs modern music. Albright compares concerts with classical and pop music, complaining that

while shouting, clapping in between pieces and cheering in pop concerts is acceptable, it is considered

very impolite in classical music concerts. Albright backs his claim with information gathered from the

National Endowment for the Arts, which shows that 8.8 percent of all Americans have attended a classical

music concert in the past year. Even with that, he expresses that he is thankful that classical music is

dying, and wants the new modern era to sweep the rest of the ground. He believes that the death of

classical music would bring a new era of music that is supposingly better, which I do not agree with.

Although his stance is strong, much of his evidence is expressed through his profession and opinions, not

mainly from research evidence and surveys, excluding the one I explained above.

Dreyer, Les. "Sunday Dialogue: Is Classical Music Dying?" Letter. The New York Times, 16 Nov.

2012. Accessed 30 Apr. 2017.

This is a very short letter to the editor by Dreyer. Dreyer expresses his fear that classical music is

dying from small observations he made. Dreyer states that the concert halls are finding a difficult time
filling the seats, as the support of donors has declined over the last few years. Dreyer also expresses

empathy for classical musicians who enjoy music in which everyone does not enjoy anymore. However,

the information in this article may only be used for quotes and opinions, due to the fact that there is no

evidence or citations in this letter.

"Inside Story: Encore!: Is classical music finally dying on its feet? Nicholas Kenyon outgoing

controller of Radio 3, says the Jeremiahs have got it all wrong." Guardian [London, England], 28 Oct.

1998, p. 4. Accessed 30 Apr. 2017.

The author is a writer from a radio station, which monitors the statistics of all of the types of

songs. From this, he can tell patterns that reveal what type of music his audiences like to listen to. One of

the authors, Nicholas Kenyon, describes that modern music artists give people the type of music they

need to move away from classical music, since its boringness and un-complexity has driven people to the

point of not liking classical music anymore. They prefer an artist that is modern, and can understand what

the audience is going through in their daily lives.

Midgette, Anne. "A dying art form? Not with all this new work." Washington Post, 19 Jan. 2016.

Accessed 30 Apr. 2017.

Midgette has been to many operas and symphonies, and describes the same issue of other articles;

concert halls have a hard time filling their seats, and their economy is in trouble. Midgette explains that

modern classical artists are becoming less popular over time, and other genres of music has risen due to

its interesting personalities and ideas. However, much of the article describes actual solutions to the

decline of classical music, which does not help much with my thesis of my essay.

Pyke, Nicholas Pyke, and Anthony Barnes. "Classical music is dying, say the masters. So bring

on the glamour girls ... The Master of the Queen's Music warns that serious music faces extinction. Bright

lights and winsome performers are being touted as the ways to save it" The Independent on Sunday

(London, England), 24 Apr. 2005. Infotrac Newsstand. Accessed 30 Apr. 2017.

 The article describes that unless there is a huge classical music revolution, classical music will

become extinct. However, like the previous article, it provides ways to save classical music, which could

be a problem to my thesis. However, suggesting things like moving orchestras to iTunes and making it

more accessible online suggests that classical music is dying because of the advancement of technology.

It also explains that classical music composers are old, around their 50s, and those people in general do

not have any interests into releasing their works.