My dad once said that there is nothing inherent about age that makes one listen to classical music.

I agree. Nothing (except maybe the love for a single instrument) could make someone love the classics after years and years of not liking it at all.

So, what is going to happen to the face of classical music with the advent of party pop? Our generation is proliferated by dance, electronic, rock, pop, house, R&B and other genres, which Mozart and Liszt would have (most likely) gagged at.

I don’t see a bright future for the traditional. In fact, has any classical musician caught the public eye in recent years?

Probably not unless it’s been on a soundtrack to a great movie. Movie buffs and music lovers generally know the likes of Phillip Glass and Trent Reznor – both great composers – but then again, it’s not exactly something that people would flock to buy.

The fact of the matter is, as much as there are people out there who love the orchestra, solo instruments and compositions which speak without a single word, it’s a dying breed.

One can easily blame it on technology – that the keyboard is outselling the piano. Wailing electric guitars are replacing the soft sounds of nylon strings. The drum machine is more prevalent than traditional percussion. But it’s not only that.

It’s that the culture of classical isn’t being entrenched – even among musicians. And that’s when Bach and Beethoven, and even our modern classics, get shoved into a corner on warping vinyl.

Listening to music has not become an active pastime. It’s become a background thing. Diners strain to hear the music playing softly on the really bad stereo in a restaurant where there used to be pianists playing live. Elevator music desecrates old masterpieces. Call centre hold music makes one want to throw up. Music has turned from an event to a nonentity. Even at parties, not many people focus on the music. At a club, it’s about ass-shaking rather than the music the ass is shaken to. Unless at a concert, music-listening isn’t an event.

Artists who study music are generally no longer trained classically. Music history has taken a back seat in syllabi across the country, and students are going straight into their preferred genre without giving the roots of their instruments a second glance. One can go to a music school and learn jazz, contemporary, pop or whatever, without studying the ancestry of it all. That is not only detrimental to the genre, but to the musician too, as they don’t have a sense of what came before, what the rules are, and what they can bend or break.

These, as well as self-taught musicians probably don’t know what La Campanella is, let alone what it sounds like.

Don't get me wrong - I love modern music. It's just that modern-day claptrap stems from not knowing where music comes from.

Another factor is that parents push their kids to study an instrument they don’t want to play. They end up hating it and don’t touch it after they leave home. I know plenty people who were forced into violin lessons, just to come out the other end of a Grade 8 exam and say ‘I’m so glad that’s over!’ Their instruments gather dust, and the love for it is crushed with the weight of overbearing parents.

Also, the people who are in the classical industry are content with playing the oldies. There is not much new coming out of concert pianists. Reviving the old is great and is very necessary for the survival of the music, as I explained before. But there is only so much one can handle different impressions of Fur Elise before slitting one’s wrist.

Where is the new music? Where is the creation? Hidden in the ivory tower, I presume. Only for ones who know the secret handshake. Kept to the rich who can afford Armani tail coats. If you don't fall into that category, well, watch Amelie, I guess. If there is new classical music, it’s not accessible. Ones who want it can’t find it, and the ones who have it don’t share.

Publicity surrounding classical concerts in South Africa is downright shameful. Sure enough, there isn’t much funding. Hell, the lack of funding for the arts in general is shameful. But did you know the International Mozart Festival is happening in Johannesburg right now? Probably not. Because, aside from funding, it’s so much easier to keep it in the family, rely on the old faithfuls and then complain that people just don’t want the genre anymore.

Perhaps I am being unfair. Nevertheless the world of classical music is dying, not because the music is no longer relevant, but because it’s hidden, undervalued and under-publicised.

This malnourished industry was once a rich source of culture. Now, it’s a vanishing art.

My advice; start with the classics. Build up the love for it and make it a part of life. Let the beauty of each instrument enter every pore. Encourage engagement with composition and the maths of music. Take it away from the ivory tower and make it popular. Make it inherent.

Else, where will the likes of Brahms and Rachmaninoiv go? Unless we re-instill that culture, they’d be decomposing in more ways than one.