In Classical Music in a Changing Culture, Donald Vroon takes no prisoners in assessing the challenges and failures and possible successes that confront America's future as a nation of music listeners. Vroon delves into a variety of topics: orchestra finances, contemporary music, classical music marketing, attracting young crowds, musical aesthetics, the future of classical music, the sale and distribution of music in the modern era; the decline of American culture and its causes; the role of misguided ideologies that affect American music, from political correctness to multiculturalism to period performance practice, and the true richness of our music and its subculture.

IntroductionEssay 1: ElitismEssay 2: Education & CultureEssay 3: Don¿t Educate Us; Entertain UsEssay 4: FunEssay 5: Fads and TrendsEssay 6: The Romantic ArtEssay 7: Orchestra FinancesEssay 8: The New and NewsEssay 9: Contemporary MusicEssay 10: AirheadsEssay 11: Marketing and ImageEssay 12: Marketing IdiocyEssay 13: Marketing and Its DiscontentsEssay 14: Seeking Out the Best Things in LifeEssay 15: MulticulturalismEssay 16: Later: Black Musicians and MarketingEssay 17: Attracting a Young CrowdEssay 18: The Land of the ObviousEssay 19: On Spiritual MattersEssay 20:Attentiveness and JudgmentEssay 21: Attentiveness IIEssay 22: AbsorptionEssay 23: FeelingEssay 24: Does Quality Have a FutureEssay 25: Performance PracticeEssay 26: Aesthetics and CriticismEssay 27: PPP and True AuthenticityEssay 28: PPP IIEssay 29: Cultural SuicideEssay 30: Cultural Suicide 2Essay 31: The Golden AgeEssay 32: The Nostalgia TrapEssay 33: SurtitlesEssay 34: The Death of ServiceEssay 35: DistributionEssay 36: BrowsingEssay 37: Is the Internet the End of Records?