There is a vast chasm separating the overly predictable pop music that surrounds us and the seeming chaos of the serious contemporary music I have been hearing recently in concert settings.
I wonder which more closely resembles the typical listener's impression of classical-period music?
The more I play that repertoire the more rhythmically complex I find it and the greater my dismay that children are led to believe it epitomizes orderliness. Once you buy into that scheme it is hard to hear what is actually taking place, particularly in terms of the endlessly inventive variations on a four-beat bar.
The hurry seems to be inflicting that order on young learners without the slightest trace of wit or irony, much less variation. What's the rush?
