‘It’s not just for the few who understand crotchets and quavers’
Clive Myrie has sparked a BBC Proms storm after saying that the enjoyment of classical music should not be restricted to a “select few” who understand “crotchets and quavers”.
The BBC newsreader, who presented the First Night of the Proms, has divided musicians by criticising classical experts who use their knowledge of notation to “look down on” those who do not understand it.
In a series of provocative remarks, Myrie, a candidate to take over the BBC’s flagship News At Ten during Huw Edwards’s suspension, criticised a lack of music education in schools and funding cuts to the English National Opera and welcomed audiences who upset traditional etiquette by applauding between movements at concerts.
“This is music for everyone, not a select few who know their crotchets from their quavers!! That’s boring and naff!,” Myrie tweeted during the Royal Albert Hall concert last Friday, which featured works by Sibelius and Grieg as well as Benjamin Britten’s The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra.
A jazz lover who learnt the violin and trumpet as a teenager in the Bolton youth orchestra, Myrie added: “Crotchets and quavers without enthusiasm and joy mean zilch in the vital task of passing on wonderful music to new generations. Technical knowledge is VITAL, but part of a much bigger equation.”
The newsreader also said that he was “appalled” at the “lack of musical education in schools.”
“I was lucky that I attended a school where music was seen as important. We just have to be imaginative in reaching new audiences,” he said.
But the Mastermind host’s comments have upset some musicians and classical experts.
Pianist Christina Lawrie said: “It’s a deeply unhelpful comment by an influential person at a time when classical music is being denigrated by the BBC, ACE and the UK government. Surely it’s possible to reach out to new audiences without playing to the philistine gallery?”
Award-winning opera singer Jennifer Johnston also hit back, saying: “Musical literacy is neither boring nor naff.”
“In fact, it’s a neat trick to be able to notate what you compose, or read and perform what others have composed. It’s neither elitist nor terribly difficult to learn to read music, it’s a useful skill.”
Mike Batt, the record producer and composer, said: “I’m a Clive fan, but don’t call notation boring and naff. It’s so essential (generally) in discovering and playing great music.”
Mr Batt said that Sir Paul McCartney has enjoyed a successful career without learning to read music but “just because notation is used by many players doesn’t mean listeners can’t enjoy it.”
However Myrie also won praise from leading musicians, as well as viewers, who rallied to his plea that “elitism in music is such a dangerous self-defeating thing.”
Stephen Maddock, principal at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, said there was a “difference between skills needed to perform classical music – where the quavers and crotchets are quite useful, but still only a necessary condition for success not a sufficient one – and those needed to enjoy it, which I think was Clive’s original point.”
Award-winning Scottish composer Stuart MacRae said “it’s incredibly clear that he (Myrie) just wants everyone to feel enabled to enjoy classical music. A good thing, surely.”
Mr MacRae added: “’crotchets’ ‘quavers’ and ‘minims’ seem anachronistic and do not translate well to people from most parts of the world. I now try to use the US terms in teaching, but it’s hard to unlearn all those years of using UK terms.”
Weighing in on the debate over etiquette at classical concerts, Myrie noted that some in the hall were “visibly hacked off” by the audience’s applause between the movements of Grieg’s Piano Concerto in A minor.
“Careful you don’t undervalue things, by trying to make them popular! Make sure you keep your hands in your pockets next time you hear that first movement. Naughty!” Myrie wrote.
Myrie welcomed the debate he provoked, retweeting one viewer, who said: “Shout out to all the amazing peripatetic instrument and singing teachers, and all the music department staff who inspire and educate, despite chronic underfunding and cuts to budgets.”
The retweet, along with Myrie’s description of the “appalling” lack of music education in schools and his criticism of Arts Council England funding cuts could see the popular presenter fall foul of BBC editorial guidelines which bar news figures from giving their opinions on matters of public policy.
Norman Lebrecht, a critic who runs the Slipped Disc website, replied: “You have to wonder why a competent BBC presenter feels a need to mock technical knowledge and deprecate expertise, the more so when he can read music himself. He probably doesn’t mean to do it. He is playing to a populist gallery.”
The BBC said that Radio 3 presenter Petroc Trelawny will front Sunday night’s show, which was due to be presented by Huw Edwards.
The programme features Beethoven’s Choral Symphony, with its famous Ode To Joy finale and will be screened on BBC Four.
