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Regrettable title casts an "us vs. them" scenario. All parts of culture have a place. Media "mediates" Perhaps the media are parasitic; perhaps they are like butterflies pollinating the environment. Media writers often do not have a say in their assignments. Assigning editors often have no background in classical music.
Wants to remind people that music critic's first allegiance is to the reader. A critic should make the reader excited. A good review should put music on the map, to bring something of importance to people. She knows that it is hard to work in new music, but points out that the media are not there to be our free publicist. Please don't think of the critical media as your enemies. We are all part of the same ecosystem.
Has seen unprecedented growth in new music. Thinks we live in a golden age relative to 50 years ago. Believes that the quality and quantity of Canadian music continues to increase. Audience sizes, however, have not grown. Why? Who is listening and who is our audience? 50 years ago the story involved a new music elite and had passed to the community through classical music history. In the sixties technology introduced mixtures. Mixture has thrived, but who is coming to listen? Interest of non-classical listeners has increased, while classical listener numbers have not changed much.
Even though audiences have not grown, the use of computers can effect who you can reach, and fosters relationships between new artistic practices. Technology can bring a new generation of amateurs and young professionals on board. Internet is the tool of the future and will become the performance/networking/publicity paradigm.
Dedicated to reflecting Canadian new music. CBC is redeveloping broadening musical view. We have to find a sustainable audience. 1.2 million people per week for the past 20 years has been the average over the past 20 years, the audience has grown 20 times faster than the Canadian population resulting in almost 50% of the current audience beign over 65, 79% are over 50. At this rate, CBC’s audience is not sustainable.
CBC needs to reach the 35 - 49 audiences, currently only 14% - 20 years ago, 30% of the Radio Two audiences fell within this age range. The question we have been asking ourselves: are we really connecting emotionally with our listeners? We will be blending content. CBC is not a concert hall, it is a radio service. We believe blending music content and re-thinking the way we presnet the music will get us the audience that we need to sustain our service.
CBC will have a website with on-demand streaming and eventually pod cast.
Most mainstream media people are generalists rather than specialists. Why do some areas receive better coverage than others? We cover non-pop music less well. Why does the NMF receive less coverage than the Fringe Festival? This is because of the nature of the medium. Music does not translate well into words and pictures, as do theatre and literature. The nature of the one-performance world is a problem. Music does not provide images/pictures. Print deals in narrative, but the content of music is not narrative. Most composers and performers come from middle-class environments, this makes for less drama. In any newsroom environment, arts culture is near the bottom of the pecking order.
Got involved in writing about contemporary music to provide readers with windows into the world of sound. Music arises from the imagination. It is not rational. Why does this music matter? The tactile aspects of sound excited me. Continuum of recognisability. The nature of sound is an important element. New music is both unrecognizable and unpredictable. Familiar music reflects our shared preconceptions. With no shared vocabulary we are left in a private world of our own imagination. In order to share it we need some shared understanding. This is what writing and broadcasting about music accomplishes.
TiB: Nobody mentioned that the music was problematic. Everybody assumes that listeners are prepared for complex pieces. Common theme is the difficulty of talking about music. We have to find a way of discussing music, despite the limitations. It is not the music that is the problem, but rather talking about it/articulating that experience. Are there practical ways to do this?
GY: Talk about the sound itself, don't be distracted by personal history. Try and talk about sound.
TB: Lack of common language is a challenge, but also liberating. We need to acquire new language, but also lose some old language. Teaching people to hear old music as though it were new.
MS: On radio it must be contextualized and not ghettoized. Music is special, but people will not listen if you say it is special.
TB: Ghettoizing of new music has to be limited.
JO: It is easy to speak anecdotally, and hard to speak about the art. Artistic integrity and ideas of creators are important. One concern: How much of the artistic integrity remains intact? In mainstream radio, my fear of blending is that Canadians will not have a chance to hear the results of the artistic concept of a totality.
GY: We have to recognize that our music exists on a continuum. We can't expect people to parachute from 1890 to 2007. You invite the listener to participate, rather than demand it. Concept is only part of the music. Festivals and concerts are one context, radio and media are another.
MS: People at home are not listening to your artistic vision of the concert experience and of the full evening’s programming - thay are not in the concert hall, they are listenting to the radio, which is quite a different experience. CBC is not a concert hall. You can’t lecture people if you want to create a positive muscial experience on radio.
JO: I did not imply that people should be lectured. Yes the medium is different.
TB: do we need a new form?
MS: Opera works as a long broadcast, and time of day is important.
TB: how do you know this?
MS: Research. It is not the death of the concert hall.
JO: Provide the same content in different formats?
MS: This is question of rights.
We are dancing around the economics of keeping concert organizations going. Why all new music after 10? This is not when the 35-49 group listen?
MS: It is more difficult to contextualize new music in the morning or during afternoon drive as listeners tune in for short periods of time.
What I have heard is that print media is a good format, perhaps radio and tv are good formats for criticism?
MS: No plans for music criticism although as we move towars the next phase of redevelopment it is possible. There will be a new arts show on Radio One starting Mid-April that may include this.
Media is more than print and radio. Media is format. We experience music mostly through recording. We are not addressing the challenge of taking music and making it available. Why was SMCQ established? Perhaps because music was already ghettoized? New music is not classical music. When a newspaper has 800 words, what are those words used for? We are ghettoizing music. Radio will only play music that exists. Print media will talk about music that may exist.
GY: How to make it available? MusicWorks is a ghettoized publication. We cannot come close to covering the amount of music that is going on. We exist simply because the music is not being discussed elsewhere. We have to sell the magazine. We get public funding. If we could publish in a larger magazine that would be good. We also serve a community archival function
How many people think the media's role is to educate?
MW: I don't think our role is to educate our readers about new music. Out goal is to sell papers. There is an education system. We are information providers.
TB: Education is a dirty word. Education has many aspects. Any exciting article leads one into something new. You can educate in a broad sense without lecturing. Perhaps people read or listen to expand their horizons.
MS: Part of our role is to educate. We do this through contextualizing.
JO: We need cultural leaders. We make the stuff, we need leaders to take responsibility. If the schools are not providing the context, we cannot pass the buck.
There are many contradictions. There are many ways of getting at music. The trend will be not to turn on the radio. The discussion about content becomes really important. Concerts offer an in-depth exploration. I am concerned that blending will not work.
MS: Public broadcasters can position themselves as the anti-fragmented place.
We are going to miss Two New Hours. Thanks to David Jaeger, Larry Lake, and the CBC. We have to trust CBC.
MS: I think we can do better than TNH and can expand new music
TB: What is new music
MS: It’s hard to define, as we all know. It is a work in progress. It will include
what was on TNH; it could include non-commercial pop. The general listener does not
listenthe way you do. Listeners are more genre agnotsic.
Cultural worker: somebody who interprets the world around us. How can we come
together?
JO: If there is no recording, there is no broadcast. Will there be more recordings?
MS: There will be more recordings of a broader range of music. A group of producers will select pieces for recording. We are not just a subsidizer, we are a broadcaster.
We are dominated by a culture of entertainment. Media does not know how to present serious culture because it is not entertaining. CBC was the one place you could find serious culture.
In school they do not study music in school. We have two days to find something new. We don't like the changes. We understand CBC has to survive. We want to know who is walking with us. Please work on solutions.
Could CBC use its television service to promote new music?
We need to find our own solutions. If CBC can lead their listeners to us, that is good.
What if the thing you heard on the radio is not available? If we do not keep investing in groups, we will not have anything to put on the internet. What is going to happen to the recording of new music? How are we going to survive?
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