Highbrow: access to classical music and art

Having written about the accessibility of art - and subsequently consciously engaging with both the concept itself and the multitude of issues and complexities surrounding it for the first time – I found that I was becoming increasingly aware of both the prevalence of the topic, and the many facets of culture that it imbues. A television programme – BBC’s Maestro – prompted me to evaluate and note the similarities between classical music and art. Both are often considered highbrow or intellectual pastimes, designed for - and enjoyed by - specific factions of society, with strong connotations of elitism or superciliousness historically attached to them.  Interestingly, it could be considered that - at a fundamental level - both art and classic music should be easily digestible by the masses; one is only required to simply see or hear them in order to enjoy or respond to them, and therefore, barring visual or auditory impairment, it is something that the majority of people are inherently capable of. However, it’s one thing to engage with both pursuits as art forms on a basic, purely sensory level, but it’s entirely another to fully understand the extent of the nuances and subtleties that each are comprised of. 

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Maestro managed to tackle this issue both subtly and successfully. It was a BBC broadcast that ran for only one season and aired over a month in the summer of 2008. Featuring a line-up of recognisable household names, the programme taught the participants to conduct a symphony orchestra and culminated in a final that featured the winner – comedian and presenter Sue Perkins – conducting the BBC Concert Orchestra at Proms in The Park, in front of a live audience of 30,000 people. (BBC Press Office, 2008). It took a highbrow concept, inserted some familiar faces, and managed to translate a debatably secular and misperceived realm of the arts into a not only digestible, but engaging and compelling form of entertainment that was accessible on a mass scale. It bridged the gap between simply hearing and truly understanding by employing a friendly, familiar format and peppering it with subject-specific information and educational titbits.

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A significant number of the physical issues that I identified as preventing people fully engaging with art - such as a difficulty in navigating disabled access on public transport, or the negative financial impact of travel -  are negated by television as a format; it enables the information to be delivered directly to the audience and therefore removes the necessity of movement. It also tackles the issue of feeling out of place in artistic establishments, and instead allows the public to engage with the concept in the comfort of their own environment. 

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As of yet, there has been no similar venture in regards to art. There are many art programmes on television, but almost all are intended for a demographic that already has a prior interest in, and an assumed background knowledge of, the subject matter; they don’t cater to novices or those with a desire to learn. Given the popularity of Maestro – over 1.8 million people tuned in to watch the final (BARB, 2017) – perhaps an artistic equivalent should be discussed as a potential means of delivering a comparable concept in an intelligible format to a mass audience. 

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Reference List

 

BARB (2017) Weekly top 30 programmes. Available at: http://www.barb.co.uk/viewing-data/weekly-top-30/ (Accessed: 22nd November 2017). 

 

BBC (2008) More Maestro for Christmas. Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/musictv/maestro/news/more-maestro-for-christmas/ (Accessed: 22nd November 2017).

 

BBC Press Office (2008) Eight passionate amateurs bid to become BBC Two’s Maestro [Press release]. 23rd May. Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2008/05_may/23/maestro.shtml (Accessed: 22nd November 2017). 

 

 

Bibliography

 

Chater, D. (2008) ‘Strictly Come Dancing; BBC Proms 2008; Casualty; Maestro: The Winner’s Finale Live’. The Times 13th September. Available at: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/strictly-come-dancing-bbc-proms-2008-casualty-maestro-the-winners-finale-live-x7nxt5csdf3 (Accessed: 22nd November 2017).