I read Dragfree's reference of the article on the survival of classical music by Peter Maxwell Davies. It's a good article for anyone who has a few minutes to spare. The jist of the article (as I understood it) is that the appreciation of classical music is important enough for our culture that we need to take positive steps to allow young people to be exposed to it -- in school, in the media, wherever possible. I certainly could not disagree with this, as I love classical music very much and listen to it constantly. But I certainly didn't gain this from school.
I grew up the only child of a working mother with no father in the home and a lot of time on my hands after school. This was in a rather small town in Oklahoma in the late 1940's and early 50's. I entertained myself by playing ball with the kids in the neighborhood, or hanging out at the house reading whatever was on the bookshelf or listening to the radio or to a stack of 78 rpm records that sat next to the phonograph. Included in the stack of records were a couple of children's recording that mother has purchased for me - Prokofiev's "Peter and the Wolf" and Kleinsinger's "Tubby the Tuba". Who performed these pieces I have no recollection but I knew I loved to hear them. I also discovered some recordings of Schubert's "Unfinished symphony", Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue", and an assortment of big band music - Glen Miller, Benny Goodman, Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey. and my very favorite, Spike Jones. There were some records of Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald and a multirecord set of Big Crosby's Christmas music.
On the radio was the pop music of that day. Oklahoma's own Patti Paige was singing "Blueberry Hill" At times I could listen to Bob Wills, Leon Macauliff and Texas Swing. But as a young boy, the most exciting music I heard were those few recordings of classical music.
Later as a teenager I would be seduced by Rock'nRoll. I can clearly remember sitting up in my bedroom with several other guys listening to single play 45rpm recordings of Carl Perkins, Chuck Berry, Little Richard and the other great artists of the day. If I close my eyes I can still smell the smoke from the unfiltered Lucky Strikes we smoked next to the open window.
About that same time I learned to be cautious about sharing my enthusiasm for classical. I discovered that this was regarded as sissy stuff and I began to go underground. I secretly listened to the Firestone broadcast of the Metrpolitan Opera on Saturday afternoons, stood up straignt and pretended to conduct the orchestra while watching my performance in the mirror. My request for high school graduation presents included a decent automobile with which I could drive to college (which I didn't get) and LP recordings of Gershwin's "Porgy and Bess" (Torme), and Handel's "Messiah" (Which I did get).
While in college my taste turned to jazz and folk, and I was excited to be able to see in person some great artists who played at the fieldhouse at Oklahoma State University. There were pop groups of the day to include the Kingston Trio, the Four Freshmen, also Dave Brubeck and a young Van Cliburn on his first tour. Stan Kenton played out Jr/Sr prom and I spent the evening standing directly in front of the band pretending to dance while soaking up the sound of the mellophones or whatever those things were called. Great times.
I always enjoyed listening and dancing to rock'Nroll, but saved my money for the "good stuff". When Miles Davis released his "Kind of Blue" album I bought it and almost wore the grooves off of it.
Why did I enjoy this kind of music so much? I don't know, it just excited me. May be if I had grown up listening to rap and hip-hop I would have been ruined forever. Maybe I'm lucky to be an old guy.
To return to the topic, I am so thankful to have my iPod which can place an enormous amount of music of all genres in my pocket. My problem is in deciding what to archive when I add something new. My 40gb 4G iPod will have to serve me until Apple puts out a 120gb solid state drive to replace it. The way they crank out new models, it won't be long - and a little later I will fill it up.
Peace