I don't get opera.

It's kind of a shameful thing to say, since opera has been around for centuries and I'll likely be here for just a few more decades. I'm obviously at fault. My apologies to all the composers and singers who have kept this art form going all these years.

Still, I don't get it. Or maybe I should say that I get its enduring popularity among an elite group of music fans, but I don't personally get it. Them. Operas. From what I can tell, they consist of pretentious musicals, usually in another language, that showcase extreme singing.

Opera is, so far as I can tell, for afficionados of the human voice.

Those of us who may have been trained to sing that way or those of us who wish we had been. Or those of us with an "ear" that I don't possess, and I don't rule that out. For people like me, opera is an art form that exists pretty much in a foreign language, with stories we may or not know but can't recall, but with those magnificent voices we can admire but not much enjoy.

In an age when the music drowns out the voices at concerts, opera does celebrate the voice above the music. I'll give it that. But who recalls the lyrics? Can't you remember -- and relate to -- more words from an Eagles or Beatles song than from your favorite opera?

Most of us can recall words to Broadway songs and may even treasure the voices of the actors and actresses. More so, I dare to say, than we do the roles and voices of the best operatic singers, whose voices soar above what we think is normal hearing range. Barbara Streisand sounds powerful until you hear Beverly Sills. Even Roy Obison can't compete with Pavaroti.

But here's the catch: For most of us, those voices are the voices of angels, not meant for the rest of us, who listen to Springsteen and Joni Mitchell and Michael Jackson.

And why is that? Because we want to be addressed in a language we understand, by singers who are paying attention to the word instead of to their high notes. Opera needs to ground itself if it's to succeed. It has to find a way to bring those towering voices down to a level we ordinary types are comfortable with -- or else put them into a context that makes sense.

Opera is all about pretention -- in the best sense -- but more and more we're all becoming practical people who like to think of ourselves as connected and real, whether we are or not. We don't want to waste our time on rehashes of times and styles gone by. Give us something new.

Is opera up for that? Time will tell.