Your points are all well taken, but certainly more pessimistic than mine. When I was in grade school, in Maryland, in the fifties, segregation was the accepted norm. As a kid, I never thought to question it. it just went on mindlessly. Now, the major barriers have been brought down. I try not to categorize in black and white, good and evil. Rather, I look at any situation as whether it is getting better or worse. As individuals, we can each do our small part to keep diminishing racial difference, and learn to cherish cultural difference. No matter how desperate a situation is, if we keep it improving, the problems can be solved.
As far as the cultural aspects of classical music goes, it remains to be seen how the music of this era will be taken into the classical repetoire. From my own perspective of playing and listening, I suspect many who lament the decline of 'classical' music have left the mainstream and are wandering off into oblivion. Of the people I played with when I was young who have gone off to be top professionals, the ones who have gone the pop route seem much more sophisticated today. They haven't left their classical roots behind, they've learned to deal with the beat in a much more flexible way. This past year, my wife and I have been the horn section in the brass section of an orchestra/band backing vocalists in performance and recording. The musicians are all classically trained, but the arrangers expect the the brass to play with style. This is great fun on a horn, but you have to learn to take the real beat from the bass and drum interplay. When you've got a good bassist and a good drummer, everyone locks in and adds to the momentum. So far they haven't been able to computerize this kind of timing.
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