--- Doug wrote:
> What's better? I grew up enchanted by that old ham Leonard
> Bernstein's TV shows. You mean that sort of thing?
Definitely, but today we're missing out on an old staple that we had growing up: variety shows. Remember Victor Borge? He was one of the first to pique my interest in classical music, leading to my pursuing a degree in music, concert piano and harpsichord. Just about anyone might show up on Ed Sullivan back in the day, including classical performers. Bugs Bunny exposed a lot of my peers to the classics ("Kill the waaa-bit") and Disney's cartoon shorts like "Silly Symphonies" and, yes, the classic "Fantasia" gave us pleasurable exposure and curiosity, as well.
But as Joanna pointed out, we're also missing youthful exposure in our schools. My generation was treated to annual trips to the symphony or opera for a city-wide kids program. We'd be bussed from our schools to the awe-inspiring performance hall and see and hear things we never forgot.
I volunteer as a docent for Houston Grand Opera from time to time, and when we go into the schools, you can see that developing an interest in young minds is very possible, indeed, very fertile. But developing that interest is not a priority or even on the radar, especially when schools are struggling to make scores or meet quotas set by variations of No Child Left Behind mandates.