[William Sommerwerck]

"Frank Stearns" wrote in message
acquisition...

Still, time is a great filter of crap. After 4 centuries Bach survives but
the
formulaic insipid pop music from the 1920s and 30s is, thankfully, largely
gone (to name just one time period). It'll take a while to sweep through
the
more-recent decades. It's just annoying at times to live through the crap
of
the day; tough to realize that it is circling the drain and will one day
be gone.

Do you think that badly recorded music is likely to make it harder for
future generations to separate "good" music from bad?


But something has also shifted culturally -- it might be nothing more than
many
people becoming completely passive in their entertainment. Music, and
entertainment,
used to be participatory for nearly everyone, and often at a fairly high
level. No
one did it for you -- you did it for each other. And you did good things
for your
brain by making music all through your life.

This is an argument in favor of forcing all children to study music.

Of course, recordings have an important place. I was listening to the Mahler
3rd and the Kindertotenlieder this morning. Without recordings, it's
unlikely I would have ever this music.