| You're wrong. In the 19th century there was a much higher percentage of people who could play rudimentary musical forms. The quality of music and choice available to consumers has increased steadily. People would rather hear the best musicians in the world than the best musicians in their household or neighborhood. There is plenty of historical research on this topic beyond the common sense explanation I'm offering here. Amendeum: I assume you live in a media hub like NYC, SF or LA, where there is a concentration of mass media professionals. If you drive out to a small town you will find a very low number of local musicians. Before mass media there would have been a number of local music groups. Today people living in small towns listen to what the mass media professionals are making for them. These are the same kind of basic economic principles that lead to any kind of concentrated specialization, and on a global scale, comparative advantage. |
The decline in music-making over the past century has been astonishing, in small ways and large. Whistling used to be a common sound on the street, but is now almost extinct. Social singing is now a rarity and would be difficult to revive, because there is no longer a shared repertoire of song to draw from. A vast chasm has opened up between "musicians" and "non-musicians".