blickstein@orphan.DEC (Dave Blickstein DTN: 381-2096) (04/03/84)
My father said the very same thing to me. He gave rock and roll only 5 years. It's now 12 years later and I listen to more rock and more kinds of rock than anything else. In fact, the converse of his prediction has happened: I hardly ever listen to classical anymore. I think one of the main reasons is that I find rock and roll much more enjoyable to play than classical (I had about 10 years of classical piano training, I now play mostly electric guitar). In terms of performing, I find rock more social, more expressive, more creative and often very exciting. It's an incredible high by itself (I don't do drugs). To be honest, my opinion of classical musicians is that they are typically not creative. Their sole area for expression and creativity is in the limited area of interpretation. When I was playing piano, I was trained to be able to play the notes perfectly as written and try to add as much expression and emotion as possible within those constraints. Often, even that part is written into the music (via crescendo marks, ritards, etc.) I really feel that rock musicians who compose music that is fresh and original and presents a new style are contributing more to the art of music than all but a few classical musicians. db