CLASSICAL MUSIC IN AN AGE OF POP

Spring 2012

Greg Sandow

phone: 646 484-8163
Juilliard mailbox: 190

email: greg@gregsandow.com

my website: www.gregsandow.com

blog on the future of classical music: www.artsjournal.com/sandow

website for this course: www.gregsandow.com/popclass

Course outline:

The crisis in classical music: How bad is it? Will the audience disappear? Will classical music institutions go out of business?

What classical music is: Why is classical music valuable? What does it express? How does it relate – or not relate – to the rest of our culture?

Pop music: What’s its relationship to classical music? Is it only entertainment, or can it be another kind of art?

Classical music history: Was classical music always as formal as it is now? Was the audience always old? Were performances in the past different from what they are now?

Fixing the crisis:

Changes: The classical music world is exploding with change. What are these changes? What have people done to make classical music new again, and to find a new audience?

Entrepreneurship: Each of us can take steps to renew classical music, and to find and build our own audience. What can you do, as Juilliard students, or in your professional careers? Can you find an audience of people your own age? We’ll end the course with a look at ways for all of you to create your own brand. You all have your own unique and deeply personal approach to making music. If you can tell the world what that is, can make people care about the music you make?

Assignments (full details on the course website):

You’ll have reading and listening assignments related to the topics we discuss. You’ll also have two informal short papers to write, and a take-home final exam. But this is a course in questions, not answers, so the most important part of our work will be done in class.

How you’re graded:

The most important part of this course is class discussion—an opportunity for all of us (including me) to work out our thoughts on the issues we’ll confront. So a large part of your grade will be based on class participation, though the papers and exam also count. Because class discussion is so important, there’s no point taking this course if you can’t come to class regularly. If you miss more than three classes, you may well lower your grade, and might lose credit for the course.