In the beginning

[Sybarite]

I grew up in a home where there was plenty of musical snobbery – yet the only classical recordings available were Reader's Digest compilations which hardly ever saw the turntable. The only positive family input was being taken to see D'Oyly Carte do Gilbert & Sullivan a number of times in my teens. But otherwise, the experience that really grabbed my attention was listening to Prokoviev's Lieutenant Kijé in school. That led to 'O' level and 'A' level studies and being hooked.

So how did you get interested in classical music?

[Kromme]

I was always interested in classical music but in a very limited way i always listened to the melodies i like i.e. für elise of beethoven or waltz of flowers by tchaikovsky and i was not interested in interpreters and trying other works at all.Then at 31st of December 2005 i watched New Year Concert of Berliner Philharmo****r conducted by Simon Rattle i loved and enjoyed the music they make very much but the conductor seemed acting to me he was exaggerating his moves,a day later this time it was Wiener Philharmo****r's turn to make a pass at my musical interests.Mariss Jansons was conducting whom i was familiar with from the Berliner Philharmo****r's European concert 2001 in Istanbul(i was watching that concert live and he was conducting).The music,the sound was joyous i liked the concert more than i liked Berlin concert and Jansons was just interested in giving is instructions.The crowd,me watching it on TV,orchestra and conductor himself,everybody everybody was in a great joy and then i said "Finally,that was what i have been looking for in music."

[Krummhorn]

My parents were both orchestral musicians, and played the Double B Flat concert tuba and the violin - I will let you decide who played what ! They played for years in the Scandinavian Symphony in Detroit, then after we moved to Southern California, they played in the Long Beach Phil. for another 12 years or so. I remember going with them to rehearsals helping dad carry the bell case for his tuba.

Each morning we would wake up to the smell of coffee, pancakes or eggs, and listening to the daily radio broadcast of "Coffee Cup Concert". We also got exposed to Montovani's 101 Strings and the like. For the most part, it was mostly a classical music household. My dad and I went to numerous organ concerts ... some of which included Virgil Fox in performance.

My sister acquired an interest in the viola, and I had started piano lessons at age 6. Towards age 8, when I was well beyond Fur Elise we would, as a family, play music together most evenings at home. At age 12, I began organ studies and started playing in church. After my sister got married, which was the very first wedding I ever played as an organist, dad and I would romp through lots of tuba and piano stuff. Dad had to give up the tuba when his false teeth tried to fly out blowing into the tuba !! KLINK!!

My sister still has mom's violin, and after having it fully restored, now plays as well as her viola regularly in her church. I kept persuing the organ, and have been a church organist going on 47 years. I've "patterned" my playing technique upon Fox, Biggs and my organ teacher, Charles Shaffer ... a delightful mix. My son, almost 20, plays the clarinet, alto sax, trombone, bassoon, and tuba. My girlfriend plays the radio !

[Kromme]

Wow Krummhorn,your girlfriend sounds like an excellent musician,a musician of my calibre but our enstruments are different i play CDs.

[worker]

In 6th grade we visited the Colorado Springs Public Library. They had an old LP of Bruno Walter conducting Beethoven's 9th. It was the first time I had heard an orchestra and I was spell bound.

I fell in love with the side 1 and just knew nothing could compare to this. In fact, I never did listen to side 2 for fear it would let me down!!

[mm75]

Mmmm, Sybarite, this is an excellent topic! Thanks!

Well, my story is very simple. My grandfather played the piano, the guitar and the blockflöte, but my parents don't play any instrument (uhm, ok, they play the LPs and CDs . oh, yes, and the radio, of course). At least they got really good LPs, mostly authentic folkmusic, and some classical LPs as well. I had got to like classical music, especially the early music, so I started to play the guitar, but I kept playing lute music, so I had to buy a lute. That's all.

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[rojo]

We always had lots of music in the house, although not that much classical. My parents both played piano, especially my Dad (jazz). I started learning piano (classical) at age 7, been playing pretty much since. Now I`m the piano teacher.

Studying music at college, I developed a love of all classical music, not just the piano repertoire. I further delved into classical music, especially orchestral music, after college. That`s when I was able to 'zero in' to find my faves. I like many styles of music, but my favourite music is all classical.

Fun posts here; thanks for the question, Sybarite!

[Drinklicafix]

I was first introduced to classical music by my sister who used to play the piano at school and later on a friend introduced me to different composers and styles, this was when I was 8 or 9. I introduced myself to organ music when I was 14 or 15. I'm hooked on organ music and the Baroque style ever since...

[Ouled Nails]

Well, I have decided not to disclose how far back my lp collection takes me! The impressionists got me hooked first. Mussorgsky then took me by the hand far east of France. Then I heard the fifth Bachianas Brasilieras with Vittoria de los Angeles as the vocalist and she turned my attention away to South America. And so on!

[Sybarite]

Some fascinating responses here. A pleasure reading them.

[Wunderhorn]

This is an excellent thread!

For me it was as a young child hearing R. Strauss from "2001", and then when I was around 12 years old, I would passionately record film music from Francis Ford Kopalla 'Dracula' and Scorsese remake of 'Cape Fear', little did I know at the time it was composed by Bernard Herrman. It didn't dawn on me until I heard 'In the Hall of the Mountian King' on the computer in my mid-teens that this stuff was my life. Musically speaking, much of my family is made of buffoons, so it ended up being awhile till I understood my own taste.

[Art Rock]

I had always had a keen interest in pop and rock music, from when I was 16 (1973) until 30 (1987). At that time, the quality of pop and rock started to decline IMO, and I looked around for something to fill the gap. I started to explore classical music, fortunately at the same time that CD's started to penetrate the market. In the next 12 years I have built a collection of about 2000 classical CD's, ranging from ambrosian chants to contemporary composers, whilst specializing in British and Scandinavian composers. Since the late nineties I have rediscovered my love for pop and rock, and now both genres get about the same playing time.

[cessy]

It is very seldom that I listen to classical music, as I tend to get sleepy. But I find time to listen to it because I find it therapeutic. It is also a good way to divert from all the modern music.

[Ouled Nails]

Hello! That's true. There is a lot of relaxing classical music and it serves a healthy purpose today. There's also physical music whereby the composer takes you on a road, or a trip, into time and space. There's historical music composed during a specific time, to convey the whole human landscape of what happened. There's music for the imagination, a lot of it, like the movement of the sea. I stop here not because I'm out of ideas but to share with you a little moment in life. It was one of those violent storms in early fall, a hurricane I guess, one of those with a specific name. Gloria, I think it was called. For some subconscious reason, I decided that I wanted to be part of that natural phenomenon, but in a relatively safe place. I put on Beethoven's ninth symphony, opened up both sliding doors to my backyard and placed myself in a spot where I could "mix" the music with all the natural sounds of the storm. It was amazing! The great thing about classicial music, in its full span, is that it offers a mega-store of psychological states of mind. I wish you a lot of discoveries.

[Wunderhorn]

The reason you get sleepy is because you haven't memorized the composition. Classical from the Romantic period usually is passionate, even if it is slow, except for some music from the Baroque or Classical periods, which meant to be background music, such as Luigi Bocherini (Might have spelled his name wrong). If you memorize a composition it wouldn't be boring, that's all I'm trying to say.