Summer Plans

I have lots of summer plans, but will I actually follow them? Outside of working up to 30 hours every week I want to:
-Do a lot more reading (as I have a list of 40+ books I want to read right now, both electronic and paper copies.)
-Work on my fluency in German and maybe Italian too 😉
-Work out the bugs, and memorize, get my pieces down musically for my senior recital
-Work on an aria from Cosi fan Tutte (Despina) for the opera audition in the fall
-Work on writing my comic book plot line (I have lots of ideas, but they get lost amongst all the other thoughts in my head. so disorganized!)
-Work on my comic book. I’ve only done 3 pages, I’ve left my readers (if any) hanging through the intro. I’m not that great at comic book art, but I like to try anyway. 😀
-Go through all the crap in my room that is in boxes, and also in the basement and get it thinned out and organized hopefully (But almost seeming to be a pipe dream there, haha)
-See at least one of the operas that the Cincinnati Opera company is putting on this summer
-Preparing for the GRE
-Applying to graduate programs (YAY!) this isn’t necessarily a summer long event, but I definitely will be expressing interest.
Ambitions, ambitions. I hope I will just stick to it and do the things I plan every summer.

That’s about all.

What is the Future of Classical Music?

What is the Future of classical music? I am not completely sure. From what little I have gathered, that the average person is not really too interested in what is considered “classical” music. Probably because they get the impression that it’s a form of stuffy high-class entertainment for the sophisticated mind — the “Elitist” or more simply defined as the “upper crust”. Most people misconstrue this terminology as this, but it really is not geared specifically toward classical music, according to Mark Swed, the author of the article in the LA Times. Then I look at the more positive side and see some of the younger generations take a deep interest in the fine arts, but mainly they are performers. I unfortunately see sometimes that this particular style of music leans toward being “elitist”, but that is giving this word too narrow of a definition. This term is not specifically for the arts, but also falls into other fields like sports and business.
The problem that most people see is that classical music does not sell to the average person today. It is old, stuffy and therefore must be boring. We live in a culture that wants things that are new and exciting and will sell easily to the public relatively cheaply. What can we, the musicians, do to make any improvements to make a different genre appeal to the general public? I am not completely sure of this one either, but maybe hold concerts in places other than an old concert hall. Perhaps a different setting would interest people to come and pique their interest to see what was going on. If it was a bit more like a rock concert, which is more laid back, not having to dress up fancy and sit in an uncomfortable chair for extended periods of time, and maybe not have to have all these rules about when to applaud and when it is inappropriate. For younger listeners, there needs to be something that catches their attention, to make it exciting or at least some interest to their liking, similar to a pop concert where the audience gets involved in the music to some extent.
Why should any non-musician attend a classical music concert? That I have no idea because of the bad stereotype that is held about older genres of music. If there was some way to convince them that the stereotype they hold is really incorrect. My other response to this question is that people should be well-rounded in their knowledge of all things humans are capable of attaining.
As I see it, currently, there is, or will be very little to no change in the way classical music is being performed and who is actually interested in these traditions. As the small interest groups move on, there will be a next generation to take the place in the continued tradition in centuries to come.