The Next Generation

A number of stations have been touting their outreach to the younger generation lately.  Their efforts are a response to declining audience numbers overall for classical music.

We all know the statistics: classical stations appeal mostly to the over-55 crowd, and the dearth of music education in the schools is not replenishing the pool of available listeners.  Classical stations are a critical part of our infrastructure.  I applaud them for making an effort to reach out.

BUT… are they really cultivating a new generation of listeners?  I have my doubts.

I am a long-time professional music educator.  When the elementary schools in Albuquerque dropped all music, I partnered with the NEA and the school district to produce a music education series that could act as a stopgap.  We created 110 standards-based music lessons for the radio called Boombox Classroom, with age-appropriate worksheets and hundreds of live artists doing the teaching. (The shows are evergreen and still available.)

Many station efforts include rewarding kids who are already engaged at a high level.

— KVNO in Omaha features a talented young musician from the Omaha area as their Classical Kid.  It’s a brief interview on-air with an orchestral soundtrack in the background.  Unfortunately, we don’t get to hear the kid play.

–KING-FM in Seattle is hosting Young Artist Awards, in which kids audition online and listeners can vote, along with the professional judges.  The winners will perform live on the radio.

–Minnesota Public Radio does the same thing.  They call it their Varsity Showcase and the winners not only perform on-air, but they get a professional recording session and a cash prize.

–And of course, there’s the talent search From the Top, that features young people from all over the country.

A few efforts are actually educational.

–WGUC in Cincinnati syndicates a long-running Classics for Kids program that has on-air, online, and in-classroom components, including lesson plans, podcasts, games, and a great archive.

–Minnesota Public Radio does an artist-residency that I wrote about in March.

But some of the efforts are NOT music education and shouldn’t be promoted as though they are.  Ask any educator what constitutes music education and he/she will tell you that it needs to be frequent, substantial, sequential, and standards-based.  Contests are not music education.  One-minute radio anecdotes are not music education.   Brief interviews with kids are not music education.  Will these things cultivate a new generation of listeners?

Just asking…

I’d love to see classical stations be seriously engaged in what the community needs and be intelligent and thoughtful about the future of classical radio.  Think Eric Whitacre.