Deeper Delving for a Research Question...

In last week's blog I put forth the idea of comparing two broad genres of musical performance in Berlin: the performance of opera & classical vocal works vs the performance of pop songs & more contemporary/trendy songs. I now think I may narrow my focus more to primarily the classical works.

In most of the world today, classical music is on the decline, giving way to the hugely popular genres we now hear and enjoy on the radio. Attending tediously long, stuffy concerts of classical music has become mostly a thing of the past. Most people of today's societies cannot grasp the magnificence and grandeur of this genre. Now-a-days we simply click on the radio, or -- more likely -- we put on some head phones and listen to our mp3 player. This convenient canned audio has replaced the value of attending live performances. Even with live performances, attending an ear shattering concert at a venue such as the gorge has become much more appealing for most than going downtown to hear the Seattle Symphony play Mozart. We have come to enjoy the simpler, more accessible music of rock and roll and other pop genres.

What I want to know is, is this seemingly omnipresent decline in the value of opera and classical vocal music present even in Berlin? It is of particular interest to me how Berlin treats classical music, because -- as most people seem to agree -- Berlin is at the forefront of today's art world.

I'm now attempting to tackle the issue of how I will go about determining classical vocal music's importance and value in Berlin. It seems logical to compare this genre to that of the pop forms present in Berlin (this is sort of what I was trying to get at originally with my topic), or to the classical music of other cities and countries such as here in Seattle. I'm currently in the process of brainstorming methods of object research to address these comparisons and yield meaningful results.