Classic Notes: It's criminal, what happened to music

Snobbery, war, intellectualism and pop - they're crimes against music. Photo / 123rf</note>

To round off my introduction: As I grew up I developed a scientific leaning. Well, I had to lean one way or the other – and naturally, I chose the wrong way.

Eventually, more by good luck than good management, I acquired a BSc in physics and mathematics and a MSc in geophysics and planetary physics.

The latter studies happened to coincide with both Apollo 8 and Apollo 11. Within a few weeks of the latter, a goodly portion of Armstrong's "contingency sample" arrived at Newcastle's renowned geophysics department – and a sprinkle of moondust somehow ended up under a microscope in the MSc students' room: one glance told you that it wasn't of this Earth.

Thereafter, though, it was all downhill: from the Meteorological Office through Huddersfield Polytechnic and Yorkshire Water to retirement – and NZ. For my sins, I quickly became embroiled in the murky world of computers – although, to be fair, this was when computers were leviathans made by companies who took pride in their products "never going wrong".

Basically, my working life boiled down to a protracted study of the developing inverse relationship between the ''power and capability" and the "robustness and reliability" of computer systems. Depressing, that.

Somewhere along the way (I'd be about 13, after hearing an album on a neighbour's record player) the serum from the "bug-bite" took effect.

Sir Adrian Boult, I believe, said, "Once music takes hold of you, it never lets go." I can vouch for that. What perplexes me, of course, is the immunity, even antipathy, of the vast majority. I'm forced to believe it must be down to popular misconceptions.

But where the hell did these come from? After all, it wasn't always this way. Broadly speaking, before the 20th century there was little or no distinction between classical and popular music; folk lapped it all up regardless.

Forget the notion classical music is ''high brow''. Photo / 123rf

So what changed? Simple – classical music was hijacked by snobs – not one, but two lots of the blighters.

Firstly the hoity-toity tuxedos-and-ball-gowns brigade turned concert-halls into no-go areas for Joe Soap; and secondly, after World War II there emerged a new breed of composers, hell-bent on creating music as aridly intellectual and impenetrable as possible.

These criminals forced a wedge between so-called classical music and the very people it was created for; reactively, pop music evolved as something entirely distinct; and up bubbled a sort of resentment against, not the snobs, but the music itself.

Yet, music was in no way to blame – and that's a real tragedy.

Why tragedy? Simply this: classical music is not what most folk think it is. To understand or to appreciate it, you don't need a brain the size of a planet, or booksful of arcane knowledge, or even a "high-brow" (or any other similar nonsense). All it takes is open ears and an open mind. That's literally all I had to get me "into" music; and believe me, if I can do it, anybody can. Particularly when experienced in the flesh, symphonic music especially can be like a mind-bending drug, but with the inestimable advantage of being entirely free of undesirable side-effects.

I sometimes wonder: If governments knew what it can do to the insides of people's heads, they'd probably ban it – thereby succeeding at a stroke where countless others have failed, by ensuring its immediate uptake by, and enduring popularity with, the younger generation.

However, wild speculations apart, why not give it a whirl. You may be surprised – it isn't as if you're obliged to forsake anything else you already enjoy.