Wanted Dead or Alive!

At first I was fairly certain the classical music community held
deeply seated prejudices against jazz and pop musicians
and composers, I was wrong!!!!!

I found out there was a general
but subtle allergic reaction to living composers. Its just considered uncouth
for composers to do anything that resembles selling, pushing
hawking their music, which by the way is what they must do in order to earn a living.

I sense that musician's secretly wish we would all just sit quietly
like books on a shelf and wait to be opened.

They just don't want to be forced to interact. Everyone is so accustomed
over so many years to dealing with dead composers whose feelings and
reactions don't have to be considered yet who's written word/ music, curiously is godlike.

So when a living composer shows up its always a bit awkward and something of a let down; nothing god like here, no just a mere human. Imagine how we have idolized dead composers for
hundreds of years, and then to suddenly meet a living composer, a regular person, a demystified human being.
It's hard to conceive that music from this living, shitting, breathing being could be great, could ever be lifted into the exulted realm of the early gods of music.
Well I've got a surprise for you, it can happen, its you exalters who have a problem with de-mystification.
And yet I'll admit, we composers have contributed to the peculiar situation by writing
music that for the most part audience's don't want to hear or music
that is just plain bad; We have also written music that In a uniquely musician to music way may be challenging and interesting but is really more fun to play than to listen to.

Reduced to creeping around at art's conventions with mandates from the organizers
to remain unobtrusive, avoiding the semblance of music hawking, composers have not done
themselves any favors because until recently they have been presenting
to concert going audiences unpalatable compositions, they have created
a built in fear to hearing new music.

New music makes up approximately 20% of current concert repertoire (that's being generous) and 90% of that is truly unbearable. The unbearable stuff usually gets the most
critical acclaim. thereby perpetuating an insulting inference that
the audience is not smart enough to understand the music they've just heard.