I am certain that Alison Biden is right when she says in the 110512
MMD, "It would seem it is not a problem limited to just mechanical
music, but a wider problem affecting 'more serious' music in general,
of which mechanical music is only one area."

A very strange thing happened to music in general during the course of
the 20th century.  At the start of the century, almost all music,
serious or popular, highbrow or lowbrow, used the same musical language
with similar harmonies and melodies, and all music was performed and
performable on similar instruments or instrumental combinations.  The
man in the street knew, and could whistle, the melodies from the latest
Puccini opera, and he would be able to understand and appreciate the
latest works of Elgar, Saint-Saens, or most other composers working at
the time, just as he would appreciate and understand a new hymn tune or
a music hall comedy song.

All were different facets of the same musical prism, so to speak, and
virtually everything then being written, along with virtually
everything which had been written up to that time, was performable on
the piano or organ, thus making it accessible to anyone with some
keyboard skills (or a player piano).  However, starting at around the
time of the first World War (and possibly as a reaction to its
horrors), "serious" music became more and more complex and less easily
understood by our man in the street, while popular music became,
broadly speaking, more simple, and the two musical strands diverged
widely, with both of these two main strands further diverging into a
large number of niche areas.

For some time now, many in the music industry have been searching for a
"crossover" style of music which could start to re-unite these various
strands into a more popular style of serious music, or vice versa.  But
this goal is proving elusive.  Meanwhile, anything which is not
contemporary popular music seems to be categorised as classical.  Just
this week I read that this year's British Classical Music Awards will
include performances of Bond movie themes, with a performance by Dame
Shirley Bassey!  Great stuff, yes, but classical?

However, we must keep trying to educate and pass on our enthusiasm.
None of us can say how musical appreciation will change over the next
few years, and we must remain optimistic.

Rowland Lee
Lincolnshire, UK