Second Only to Reading

America is all ears. Music, according to a survey by Broadcast Music, Inc., boomed, tweeted and sang along at record levels in 1965. Among the findings:

> The nation's symphony orchestras increased their average number of concerts by 12%. The most performed composers: Beethoven, Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Brahms, Wagner; the most performed works: Bach's Choral Prelude, Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite No. 2, Haydn's Symphony No. 94.

> Record sales rose from $744 million in 1964 to $830 million last year; classical music accounted for 15% of LP sales. The bestselling album for the year was Mary Poppins, the bestselling single Wooly Bully by Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs.

> There were 37 million amateur musicians in the U.S. last year, up from 19 million in 1950. Mostly they played the piano (22.3 million), the guitar (7,500,000) and the organ (3,600,000). The ukulele and the accordion, fortunately, lost ground. In 1950 one of every 7.8 Americans played a musical instrument; today the ratio is one of every 4.8, making self-made music second only to reading as the nation's most popular leisure-time activity.

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