Ok, so I lied; I will not have cold feet. I have no problem with my original question regarding the importance of classical music vs the importance of popular music in Berlin; I will simply restate my question in a non-"declining" manner. So let's ask:
How does the importance of classical music compare to the importance of popular music in Berlin, and how does this comparison compare to its equivalent in Washington?
I still think I will focus primarily on vocal works in both fields -- pop and classical -- but it will really probably make more sense to broaden it to include instrumental works as well. Also, this question relates more directly to the ratio of the importance of classical vs popular music that I was really trying to address previously. I also like the idea of doing more quantitative research; I will collect large amounts of data and numbers from surveys, attendances and fiscal information, and this will give me more definitive results. The surveys will be easy to set up and yield valuable data. My biggest quandary now is how/if I can obtain fiscal information from classical/popular venues and how/if I can obtain ticket sales history from these venues. From my research I know that classical music and especially opera receives HUGE amounts of funding from the government -- even though the government is in massive and deepening dept; so I think the fiscal and attendance information for these venues will be relatively easy to find. I'm more concerned about finding pop music venue information; another issue here is the fact that there will be a lot more and smaller pop venues -- do I address lounge music, jazz clubs and such? At the very least, I could compare the classical venues to their counter-parts in Seattle.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
The specifics...
For my research topic I chose to focus on classical music in Berlin – especially classical vocal music. I am a vocal performance major, so this subject is naturally appealing to me. I experienced quite a bit of trouble deciding on a specific question to address in this broad topic, but I finally decided on this: how does the importance of classical music compare to the importance of popular music in Berlin, and how does this comparison compare to its equivalent in Seattle? For a while I wanted to ask a very similar question regarding the “decline” of classical music; I believe that this question didn’t quite specify what exactly I intended to focus on which is more or less a ratio of the importance of classical music vs. the importance of popular music.
This question is certainly relevant in today’s society. Music is a large part of virtually everyone’s lives, and most types of music cross all social and ethnic boundaries in ways that nothing else can. Nearly everyone values music, and there is a huge rise in the value and importance of music in today’s societies due to the huge advances in audio technology in the last century. Music doesn’t have to be reperformed every time someone wants to tap their feet to a tune; they can simply plug-in their mp3 player, or flip-on the radio. The genres most benefitted by these technological advances are popular genres; many people still feel strongly that classical music loses much of its appeal when heard through speakers and not directly from the performers’ fingers. So the question of how the importance of popular music compares to the importance of classical music in today’s society is certainly applicable.
Finding an answer to this question should fairly manageable. From my preliminary research I know that classical music in Berlin, and especially opera, is heavily funded by the government – even though they are in massive dept; so information such as ticket sales, fiscal data and such should be available to the public. Also, I can collect data from individuals regarding the importance of these respective musical genres in their lives. Between venues and individuals, I have plenty of accessible information.
Sample survey questions:
How much time do you spend listening to music during an average day (on the radio, at work, at home, etc.)?
How much of this music would you say is classical?
Around how many live musical performances do you usually attend in a year?
How many of these performances would you say include classical music?
Do you sing or play an instrument?
Do you usually perform classical music or music of a different genre?
Do you prefer listening to classical music or music of other genres?
Post a Comment