Time for Change

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Harps are cool

A couple of nights ago I accepted a last minute invite to watch/listen to WASO performance of "Romantic Rachmaninov".

The last time I went to WASO was so long ago it's faded into a distant memory of a school excursion when you get to eat soggy chips at lunchtime and ogle your crush on the bus.

This time though I paid more attention to the music. I'm a ballet lover at heart and love any classic music with sugar-plum-fairy or princess pirouetting connotations.

Lucky for me I got to hear Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty excerpts. In my mind there were men in tights and women in tutus.
That's the imaginative power of an orchestra.

Unfortunately I'm not familiar with the technicalities of music. I do appreciate the synchronousness of 20-odd violins, bows poised and ready to release music. And harps, harps are cool.

However I can't help but feel that classical music is oft-forgotten. You get a few blank looks when you tell people you're going to a classical concert. You know they're thinking - why? whyyy?

Because it's live, it's fun, it's soothing yet as satisfying as clashing two cymbals together.

A couple of things about the symphony orchestra crowd - they are about 80% retirees, mean age being about 65-70. I didn't see many children there, although it was a Friday night, which is a bit sad. The arts is suffering in WA and without children gaining an appreciation of classical music from a young age it's hard not to think about how it will survive.

Next on my list - the opera...