Matt wrote:-
I think it's sad that the idea of going to hear (or participate in) live music is unlikely to be a regular cultural part of my son's teenage life the way it was for me (irrespective of musical genre).

Our dance band plays for a lot of weddings and I have become increasingly aware of the reaction of some members of our audience - and I remember that they have not chosen to be at one of our events but they have been invited as a friend or relative. Before playing for dancing, we normally play a couple of sets of tunes to give people the feel of the music. Mostly we will see smiles and people who clearly cannot wait to get on the dance floor. Others sit looking bemused or they turn their backs on the band. I do not think thay are hating what they hear; I am convinced that these people simply do not have any live music in their lives and are not sure how they should react to it. As a live music junkie who gets twitchy if more than a few days go by without having an event where live music is played, the reaction of the non-musicers I find incomprehensible.

I am not long returned from West Africa where live music/song/dance/excitement/laughter are intrinsically linked. Matt is right to bemoan the cultural loss and I think it applies more to metropolitan England than to the rest of the British Isles.