Elton John: a hit with the OAPs. Photograph: Dan Chung
Just as with coffee, figs and perpendicular gothic architecture, I remember as a child being constantly assured that I would enjoy classical music when I was older. And not only that but also, just you wait, you will grow to love it and derive huge comfort and inspiration from it. Acting on that firm belief, my father gave me piano lessons, bought me record after record and insisted on taking me to concerts the second I was out of nappies.
Irritatingly, he was right. It did happen in the end. (Though I still slightly resent those tortuously long hours of sitting still in a draughty concert hall forced to dream up wild and strange imaginary adventures and pray for some terrible act of God to bring the orchestra to a crashing halt.)
But am I an exception? The idea that you get more into classical music as you get older is being challenged as more and more old folk bypass the concert hall and take their weekly pensions straight to the rock section of their local record shop instead. The New York Times reports that Elton John has just performed at the American Association for Retired People, and apparently Earth, Wind and Fire are booked for next year's Life@50+ convention. Greg Sandow, in his blog, worries about the inevitable shrinking of the classical music audience.
Does it matter? What could help? As Sandow suggests, a classical version of Pandora could be a good start.
