Musical Elitism is Everywhere

Musical elitism is a vast topic that touches on aspiration, historical legacy, class, gatekeeping, education, snobbery, wealth, privilege, classical music and popular culture. In this video I take a broad look at all of these. --- Please consider supporting me on Patreon Twitter Discord --- Chapters: 00:00 - Intro 05:22 - Ancient China & Confucius 09:21 - The Secret Power of Music 11:51 - The Sex Pistols 15:46 - Mozart 21:11 - Mainstream Elitism 26:47 - The Classical Image 40:58 - The Curious Case of Milton Babbitt 46:00 - The Imposter Phenomenon 52:38 - The Cultural Revolution 59:55 - Final Thoughts --- Subtitles by Pentameron --- So many links! Papers “The Music and Musical Instruments of Ancient China” by Robert W. Marks Source: The Musical Quarterly, Vol. 18, No. 4 (Oct., 1932), pp. 593-607 “The musicality of Plato” by Leon Crickmore Source: Hermathena, No. 180 (Summer 2006), pp. 19-43 “Musical Art in Early Confucian Philosophy” by Siu-Chi Huang “Moral Psychology and Degenerate Regimes in Plato’s Republic” by Peiying (Peggy) Zhu (thesis) “Why Chinese people play Western classical music” by Hao Huang “Music under Mao, Its Background and Aftermath” by Mao Yu Run Source: Asian Music , Spring - Summer, 1991, Vol. 22, No. 2 ‘Milton Babbitt Encounters Academia (And Vice Versa)’ by Brian Harker Souce: American Music Vol. 26, No. 3 (Fall, 2008) --- Articles “After the Cultural Revolution: what western classical music means in China” - The Guardian Confucianism Revival in China - The Economist (June 23rd 2021) New York Times article on Classical music in China (1974) New Statesman article on elitism in classical music (July, 2012) BPI research on inequality in access to music in state schools Relevant articles in the New Statesman by Andrew Mellor Interview with John Lydon, The Times, UK, (March 1999) Grundy Banned, The Guardian, (December 03, 1976) Obscene Child, Sheila Fitzpatrick Einaudi & Elitism in Classical Music, The Cross-Eyed Pianist (2020) “Who cares if you listen?” Milton Babbitt, High Fidelity, vol. 8, no. 2 (1958) A perfect Roger Ebert summary of ‘Masked and Anonymous’ Pat Metheny on Kenny G --- Reports BPI teachers survey (2019) Musicians Union Education Statistics Report (2015) Arts Council - Creating a more inclusive classical music (2021) Arts Council - In Harmony programme (link to a report on the homepage) --- Books “Mozart: Portrait of a Genius” by Norbert Elias (1993) “Mozart” by Maynard Solomon (1995) =dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1 “The Secret Power of Music” by David Tame (1984, read at your own risk) “Class, Control, and Classical Music”, Anna Bull (2019) --- Film “The Filth and the Fury” - a documentary by Julian Temple “Mao to Mozart - Isaac Stern in China” (1979)