Guides to the art of listening

A few minutes into a talk on opera composer Giuseppe Verdi last month, Robert Kapilow had the audience at the Cerritos Center lustily singing lines from “La Traviata.” But with a switch. First he rewrote them slightly. Then he urged his listeners to try his renditions before they tackled the originals.

“Sing the particularly horrible Kapilow version,” he said, grinning. “Isn’t that boring? Now sing Verdi’s version. Isn’t that wonderful? This is what it’s all about -- that magic moment.”

Kapilow, who is also a composer and conductor, was presenting one of his popular “What Makes It Great?” lectures, showing that a minor change or two can make the difference between boring music and music of genius.

Through a series of such exercises -- much like Leonard Bernstein’s in his famous “Young People’s Concerts” -- Kapilow gets audiences in tune with classical music at a deeper and more immediate level than many of them thought possible.

And his approach is just one that these 21st century heirs of Bernstein are taking as they seek to popularize classical music. Some have written books as well as gone on the lecture circuit. Orchestras, meanwhile, are trying new programs for adults as well as reaching out to kids.

The motivation behind such efforts is partly to shore up attendance at concerts and fight the graying of audiences. But part of it is simply a desire to share something that music lovers deem so important in their lives -- something that others find a puzzle or, worse, a bore.

“There’s a shyness about music which affects people across the board,” says Marianne Williams Tobias, author of the new “Classical Music Without Fear.”

“So many times, people in other fields wonder about music, yet they hold off from trying to learn about it, even when they’re learning about many other things in life,” says Williamson, who’s also a lecturer.

“I was trying to reach general audiences, people of different ages who come to classical music concerts and might have an interest in learning on a deeper level -- but without musical training. Or some people with training but who want to go a little farther, though gently.”

Tobias’ approach worked for New England Patriots linebacker (and Super Bowl contender today) Tedy Bruschi, who sent her a note.

“Being a fan of classical music, there were always questions that I wanted answered,” Bruschi wrote. “ ‘Classical Music Without Fear’ answers those questions and can give anyone the knowledge and confidence to experience classical music to its fullest.”

“The interesting thing about Marianne’s book is that the middle section includes a section on score reading,” says Gywn Richards, dean of the school of music at Indiana University, arguably the largest music school in the country. “So there’s a real skills aspect to it. But if that’s too much for you, she has a section on what to look for or what to notice, if you can’t literally read the music.”

Another book -- Thomas Forest Kelly’s “First Nights” -- inspired the Los Angeles Philharmonic to try its new “First Nights” series.

“My approach is to focus on what was it like being there the first time,” says Kelly, who teaches a similarly named course for nonmusic majors at Harvard.

“What was it like to be in Dublin in 1742 and go to Mr. Handel’s new oratorio? What kind of clothes would you wear? What kind of building would it be given in? What was the weather? Who else would have been there? What music were people accustomed to hearing? What was new and strange about this?

“People were shocked by music being set to a biblical text and put on in a concert setting. That never occurs to us. That was a worry of Handel’s.”

L.A. Philharmonic Assn. President Deborah Borda loves Kelly’s approach. She worked with him and writer-director John de Lancie on incorporating actors and visual materials in a string of concerts to bring such details to life.

The series has focused on Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring,” Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony and Berlioz’s “Symphonie Fantastique.” The final program, March 12, will present an actual world premiere (and Phil commission), Steven Stucky’s Second Concerto for Orchestra.

A belated introduction

Borda designed the series to reach a generation of people she believes missed out on classical music.

“People 45 and 50 tend to have had music education in their lives in some way,” she says. “Those who are 20 to 45 are the ones where it got taken away.

“I wanted to find a way to bring them not back but in for the first time, and in a way very much in tune with our time -- because people now think in a more global way.

“So if we can put the work in the context of its time, not only artistically but culturally, politically, aesthetically, if you can breathe that air, it allows people to come to a deeper understanding and appreciation of the piece.”

The results have surprised Borda. Sixty percent of “First Night” subscribers had no previous L.A. Philharmonic subscription.

“I was stunned by the number,” she says. “Our other subscriptions aren’t anywhere near that.”

Yet another approach is taken by Jay Zorn, chair of the music education department at USC, in the textbook “Listening to Music.” It’s part of curricula not only at USC but at UCLA and other universities.

“I use a listening approach and a ‘how to go to a concert’ approach,” Zorn says. “People know there’s a ritual at a concert, like going to a golf match. You applaud here and don’t applaud there. But when they go to a concert, they don’t know it, so they feel uncomfortable.”

So in addition to traversing the history of Western music, his book explains, among other mysteries, how orchestra members come on stage and tune up, what a concertmaster does and how a conductor communicates with musicians.

“My real fun is teaching nonmusic majors,” he says. “They really light up when it’s done properly.”

Unfortunately, such instruction is not being done properly by many orchestras, Zorn believes.

“People are still going with old-style concerts and recitals, and frankly I’m concerned,” he says. “I don’t think that appeals even to adults. It’s more for the initiated, the patrons and the music lovers.

“Orchestras really don’t understand the general audience,” he adds. “I like it when conductors talk to the audience. That used to be taboo.”

Zorn also feels that orchestras’ outreach programs fall short.

“The problem is that they go in for these one-shot performances,” he says. “But there isn’t a lot of follow-up. As soon as the students go out the door, they’ve forgotten it.”

Richards of Indiana University agrees. “It’s the ‘museum’ problem,” he says. “You go away from your daily life to a concert hall or someplace, have an experience, and then you’re bused back. That’s not going to work because it’s not putting the experience in your daily life.”

Imitating Indianians

Richards would like to see music educators use as a model a successful elementary school program in Indiana in which everyone -- students, teachers, principals and custodial staff -- stops and reads for 15 minutes a day. A similar approach, he says, could foster listening. “You do that every day, then you go on. You don’t try to be educational.”

Kapilow is more outspoken.

“People talk about outreach, but what it really is is, ‘Come to us,’ ” he said in an interview. “We have some notion we’re doing some kind of charity work. In a real encounter, both parties change.

“One of the biggest problems in classical music is that the focus is on our side of the experience -- what we want to play and who we want to play it. We’re tremendously unwilling to take responsibility for how people are hearing our music. You can get almost anyone to hear what makes music great just by removing the technical vocabulary, the technical obstacles.”

Kapilow, some of whose talks will be available on CDs from Vanguard Classics beginning this summer, has no ready-made prescriptions for how symphony orchestras should do that. He developed his own approach to encouraging music appreciation slowly and painfully, he says, making lots of mistakes. Other classical music proponents may have to stumble repeatedly too, he says, before finding a way that works for them.

“Once I decided I wanted to get out there and get people to get it, I tried it everywhere,” he said. “I’ve done hundreds of programs with kids, where tons of it failed.

“It’s brutal. You’re going to fail enormous numbers of times. It will be horrible, and you’ll never want to do it again. But you must know the one thing that works and build on that. There’s no point in doing one or two programs. You have to do hundreds. You have to be really committed to make this work.”

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For further reference

A short list of skeleton keys to the classical realm.

“Classical Music Without Fear: A Guide for General Audiences”

By Marianne Williams Tobias

Indiana University Press, 194 pages, paper, $19.95.

Marianne Williams Tobias, a pianist, public radio commentator, lecturer and writer, starts with what to expect at a concert, then divides repertory into helpful “time zones” that place the music in historical and cultural contexts. She also gives a quick guide to score reading and ends by providing tips on compiling a CD collection.

“First Nights:

Five Musical Premieres”

By Thomas Forrest Kelly

Yale University Press, 387 pages, hardcover, $29.95.

Using documents written at the time, Harvard professor Thomas Forrest Kelly re-creates the preparation and the execution of five central works in the Western canon on the days of their premieres: Monteverdi’s “Orfeo,” Handel’s “Messiah,” Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Berlioz’s “Symphonie Fantastique” and Stravinsky’s “The Rite of Spring.”

“Listening to Music”

By Jay D. Zorn with June August

Prentice Hall, 479 pages, includes set of four compact discs, $53.

This is a textbook that extensively surveys the field, from music before 1600 to the present. Examples are plentiful, the music analysis is clear and easy to follow, and the writing is engaging throughout.

“What Makes It Great?”

Robert Kapilow

Lecture series

Kapilow will be back at Cerritos on May 12 (7:30 p.m., $15) to talk about Handel’s “Water Music.” Some of his NPR commentaries will be available on iTunes and Shop.NPR.Org this spring (pricing not set). Vanguard Classics will also issue 10 CDs of his talks, starting with a Mozart set (tentatively priced at $12.98) in June.