America's Orchestra Are In Crisis Analysis

Published in August 25th, 2013, America’s Orchestras are in Crisis is an interesting article claiming that it is the popularity of Orchestras in America that makes itself trapped in such a tough situation, just as what Philip Kennicott said in the subtitle that “How an effort to popularize classical music undermines what makes orchestras great”. The article largely crystallized the problems about the American classical music and several topics that are familiar for people who care about America’s Orchestra, such as Americanizing the orchestra, history of American orchestras…etc. After reading the article, I realize that those problems are somehow connected with one of the assigned reading materials named Audition, written by Jennie Dorris and
As orchestras is becoming an increasingly popular art, more and more people choose to become professionally trained musicians. However, orchestras is not the only choice of entertainment for the audience during recent decades, which leading to the result that too many musicians are chasing for too few job positions in Orchestra. In addition, as it is referred in America’s Orchestras are in Crisis that “Instead they work with a caricature of the audience, dividing it into two classes, one made up of younger, adventurous listeners willing to try anything, and the other composed of older, problematic ones, who want only Beethoven’s Fifth night after night. But the serious listener, who is adventurous and critical, open and discriminating, does not fit into either of these categories. Among the most worrisome signs for the orchestra is how little concern there is for listeners who care deeply about the infinite variety of orchestra music—Mozart, Mendelssohn, or Lutosławski—but have little use for syncretic hybrids.” That clash between two extreme listeners makes it harder to market for
Those audiences who used to go to orchestra are getting old, and the younger generation do not feel themselves connected with orchestra. The reasons are complicated. Ticket is one of the issues. It is not likely for most young people to spend 400 bucks sitting there the whole night listening to some kind of music they do not really interested in. One thing the article doesn't touch on is the effect of recorded music. If they really want to listen to classical music, there are multiple ways that are much cheaper than going to Orchestra, such as finding a good CD with just few bucks. In the past, one big reason that people chose to go to Orchestra is its social meaning. Since it was the only way of entertainment in the past, people would love to go there with their friends and families. However, Orchestra is getting less social as it used to