Just seen this blog by Michael White on the Torygraph site http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/culture...t-from-brahms/
It's not just young students on University Challenge though. There's a similar ignorance of classical music by more mature contestants on R4's Brain of Britain. I heard an edition where all four contestants, who had successfully answered questions on history, science, mathematics etc., failed to identify Elgar's Salut D'Amour.
I suppose the question is does this ignorance of classical music matter? Is it now just a cultural backwater deserving little attention by the educational establishment?
I feel so fortunate that the headmaster (as they were called then) at my primary school played pieces of classical music to us at morning assembly and that a basic understanding of classical music was taught in my first couple of years of secondary school (a secondary modern not a grammar school).
It's not just young students on University Challenge though. There's a similar ignorance of classical music by more mature contestants on R4's Brain of Britain. I heard an edition where all four contestants, who had successfully answered questions on history, science, mathematics etc., failed to identify Elgar's Salut D'Amour.
I suppose the question is does this ignorance of classical music matter? Is it now just a cultural backwater deserving little attention by the educational establishment?
I feel so fortunate that the headmaster (as they were called then) at my primary school played pieces of classical music to us at morning assembly and that a basic understanding of classical music was taught in my first couple of years of secondary school (a secondary modern not a grammar school).
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