Photo © Steve J. Sherman

Cellist Dorothy Lawson of the new age string quartet, ETHEL, and I had a lengthy discussion about the direction of classical music.  Is it dying?

The great digital age has trampled on the sales of many industries, including the already not-so-popular classical music business.

However, Dorothy declares that classical music is not gone nor will it ever be.  “The direction is just changing,” she said.  A new form of the genre is coming, and there is nothing traditionalists can do about it.

“One of the first things [ETHEL] changed was relaxing the protocol of silence,” Dorothy said.  “An instrumental group wasn’t supposed to talk to the audience. It’s more like a cabaret than a standard classical performance.  Part of that is because we were playing in alternate environments.

“When you are no longer in an acoustically well-developed environment, like a concert hall, you need that amplification,” Dorothy said in response to why the group hooks their acoustic string instruments up to amps.

“We also discovered that we could move on stage because no matter where you were the sound did not alter because of the amplifier.  You can stand behind the audience, on the balcony—anywhere! Another great change you see in classical performances is the playfulness.  When I was growing up, there was still a very respectful sort of ritualized feeling of going to a [classical] concert. It was a healing experience to go to such temples of art where respect abounded in catastrophic and depressing times. However, for the generation today, there is something stifling about the sanctimonious quality of classical performances.  So, I guess we all wanted to rebel a little bit and find our own way to entertain,” Dorothy explained.

Today, classical music is more so involved in inter-instrumental relationships–mixing traditional classical sounds with other instruments.  For example, ETHEL recently worked with a banjo player from Kentucky and Break of Reality and Apocalyptica, a band of cellists, work with drummers.

Although, many will be sad to see the old traditions being practiced less, this new direction leaves much more room for innovation and originality.

“We see a lot of ‘this is my music, this is your music’ ideals in the world. But this mixture and change breeds a more open-mind towards music, allowing more cultures to contribute to every genre,” I said.

“Yay, Jasmine,” Dorothy cheered. “Yes, music really has to become a metaphor for the way we live with each other—or at least the way we should coexist.”

“I think one of the stigmas of Western European classical music is many want to keep it strictly a Western European art form, “ I continued. “However, the only way any art form can survive, economically and spiritually, is if every culture is coming to understand it and take part in it—an integration of minds so to speak.”

“Yes, exactly,” Dorothy said. “And I think one of the things that ETHEL has been privileged to do is to take this training, which is hundreds of years old, and take it different places.  Let’s see what happens when we play with a Native American Flute player; let’s see what happens when we’re with singers or whatever. We also find ourselves in situations where we are not experts at all.  We are learning from others within these totally new and foreign environments. We love bringing people together through music.”

In the future, ETHEL will be providing educational sessions for groups wanting to learn improvisation and other ways of innovative music-making.

Classical music’s new direction is going to open up many doors for musicians of all demographics.  We should rejoice and not lament.  What do you think?  Comment below.

March 1, 2010in Interviews by jasmine-reese 2 Comments »