Letters to the editor
Straw men for white males
by MIRIAM MITTERMAIER
July 28, 2008 Globe and Mail
Etobicoke, Ont. -- In his attack on opponents of the CBC's cuts to
classical
music (Canon Fire - Review, July 26), Robert Everett-Green takes on straw
men.
No one claims that only Western classical music should be played; protest
groups have recommended that classical music from other traditions be
included. No one claims that the borders of the "canon" are clear-cut or
unchanging; many leading opponents of the change have been actively,
creatively involved in projects that cross traditional genre borders.
I was one of those profoundly irritated by Gavin Bryars's Jesus' Blood
Never
Failed Me Yet, but I never questioned its right to be heard. No one fails
to
recognize that folk music, pop and jazz have been and continue to be
creative
influences on serious concert music.
The protesters want music that has proved itself over time or that builds
on
this tradition. We want music complex enough to rouse an idea or emotion,
develop it, look at it from different sides and bring it to some kind of
resolution.
We want music in which we can hear and feel more and more in repeated
hearings, which can grow for us through life.
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