Hi, I'm currently filling out college apps using apply texas and common application, and this is my essay for the "issue" prompt. (Choose an issue of importance to you, the issue could be personal, school related, local, political, or international in scope and write an essay in which you explain the significance of that issue to yourself, your family, your community, or your generation). Any suggestions or tips would be great! Thank you.
The Decline in the popularity of classical music
Finally, the weekend! As I jump in the car to go out with some friends on a Friday night, I turn on my ipod to my favorite playlist. With my ipod on shuffle, it starts with Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven", gives way to Michael Jackson's "Thriller", and turns into my favorite from the Romantic period - Chopin's Second Piano Concerto. In the middle of the second movement, I pull into my friend's driveway - and so i quickly change it to a popular hip hop song before she comes inside. I love spending time with my friends regardless of their musical taste, but why does it have to feel so "uncool" to listen to one of my favorite genres of music in front of my friends?
While going to the Dallas Symphony concerts on the weekends with another friend of mine - a rare 17 year old classical music enthusiast like myself, I can't help but notice that the average age of a listener there is around 50 years old. As a pianist myself, I'd like to play a part in reviving the interest in classical music among the younger generation. While it is not as easy to influence my peers' musical preference, it is easier to start with elementary school kids. As soon as an opportunity presented itself, when I was fourteen, I began teaching piano lessons to a couple of neighbor kids - and through word of mouth I eventually ended up with several students and had to "hire" an "agent" - my dad - to keep track of the schedule and accounting. While that was a great way to supplement my income throughout high school, there has been nothing more gratifying than seeing the genuinely interested look on the second grader's face when they finally master Joplin's "Entertainer".
Technology has been developing at a neck breaking rate over the last few decades, and while it has immensely benefited humanity, it ironically has had a tendency to dehumanize society as well. While one of the biggest issues of this area is the deterioration of interpersonal communication skills, this is also seen through the desensitization of contemporary music, with its dependence on technology - compared with the personal "vibes" from classical music.
One of the ways to revive interest in classical music is to perhaps establish a tradition in elementary schools to take kids out to theatres or symphonies once a semester or so. This would help spark interest in young minds, like it did for me when I was in the second grade. During the winter break of that year, my parents took me to their homeland, Russia. We spent two weeks in Moscow, and I did what many school kids do there - went to several concerts and saw a few plays in some of the famous Moscow theatres. Of course Russian children also listen to Michael Jackson and Britney Spears, but I wouldn't feel uncomfortable listening to classical music around them after seeing a bunch of kids attending the Tchaikovsky's "Nutcracker" the night before.
This is a tradition that would be great to "import" into the American school system, encouraging the interest of new generations in classical music, regardless of how computerized and digitized everything around us is becoming.
