Dear Vocalisters:
What a pleasurable situation you have in the East when you discuss
the multitudes of NPR stations that are available. In the West these
station are few and far between and we have to nourish them as much
as possible.
My home state, Minnesota, has been one of the leaders in providing a
variety of broadcast outlets called Minnesota Public Radio. All of
these stations are part of a state network in the NPR realm. There
is also an excellent NPR station at my Alma Mater, St. Olaf College,
with the call letters WCAL. WCAL is actually the first listener
supported station in the United States and, I believe, the first
radio station west of the Mississippi.
But even with the tremendous interest in vocal music at St. Olaf
College and in the state of Minnesota, these stations have been
listening to the public opinion polls that have been conducted by NPR
and NPR claims that these polls strongly indicate that the public
does NOT want to listen to any kind of vocal music during the
broadcast. The list of NOT WANTED music includes, opera, choral
music, solo singing, small group singing etc. in the Classical music
genre.
Our own KNAU, the voice of Northern Arizona University, has had a
locked cabinet into which are placed all vocal CDs that come to the
station. At one time the cabinet displayed a sign that said "Under
no circumstances play any of these CDs on the air".
I have argued with the station manager repeatedly that this policy
will develop an audience that does not know vocal music and it is the
responsibility of all NPR stations to develop audiences for all forms
of Classical Music. I make the point that it is the NPR stations
that have been one of the primary venues to promote the playing of
early music. 20 years ago little early music was heard on any
broadcast media. Now it is common. It is also NPR stations thathave
been the primary promoters of Historically Informed Performances
because they continuously play the multitude of new recording done in
this "HIP" medium.
NPR stations could do the same promotion for vocal music of all kinds
by including it in their daily "play sheets". The continuous playing
of vocal music will develop an audience just as it has developed an
audience for early music and orchestral performances done in the HIP
medium.
I dearly love opera and have been an opera director for many years.
I am not often much enamored by the broadcasts that come from the MET
though I will support these broadcast every way that is possible to
me. In these MET broadcasts we often hear singing that is not of a
caliber that could be heard in provincial houses, especially in the
secondary parts. I will listen most often when I can hear a new
voice or a singer doing a role that is new to him/her. I will also
listen when it is an opera that is not often heard. I listen less if
it is broadcast by an "in house" cast that has performed the roles
many times. I need to see singers such as these to appreciate better
what they have to offer. This is just a sharing of my personal
tastes in performers.
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