A Guide to Enjoy Classical Music - Feedback needed!

[nick123]

Dear All,

I am new to this forum, however not new to classical music. I love it, and I always found it a pity that only few people have found access to classical music and the great joy it can bring to our lives.

That's why I have recently written an article on how to enable "newbies" an easy access to it. I posted it on my blog and would very much appreciate your comments and ideas on how to make it even easier for beginners to get to know classical music.

The link to the post is http://www.spreadinghappiness.org/20...an-easy-entry/

Would be great to get your comments and suggestions!

Thank you,

Nick

[jhnbrbr]

Hello Nick, and welcome to the forum. I just gave your article a quick read-through, and I thought it was very useful piece of work, making lots of good points. I agreed very much when you said we value things more when we feel we have discovered them for ourselves. That's why I have always had an affection for Faure's Requiem - it was the first classical music I decided I liked, rather than someone else telling me I ought to like it. I also agree that there's a danger of putting too much emphasis on the relaxing properties of classical music - as if that was all it was good for. It's often marketted that way - more's the pity. However, I'm not quite as enthusiastic as you about classical music as background music. Isn't that what other sorts of music are for? I'm inclined to think you should either listen to classical music or switch it off. Anyway, I shall look forward to reading more of your ideas with great interest.

John.

PS. Will you be recommending the learning of an instrument as another (perhaps complementary) route to happiness?

[nick123]

Hi John,

yes, indeed, learning to play an instrument is anther good way to get more from classical music, and I will mention it as one technique in my next post which will provide ideas for the "advanced listener" on how to get even more from classical music. I would very much like to read your comments for this article too! (I will post it sometime this week I think).

Thank you for your good comments,

Nick

[zacheapen]

Hi Nick I am also new to Magle, and I read your blog. If i am not wrong, you listen to only Classical music or do you listen to other types of music as well ? Because I like classical music and learned to play it on Guitar, but for listening, i find it boring after a while. I enjoy Soft Rock and Blues rather. HAve u tried to listen to Rock and Heavy Metal ? BTW which instrument do you like to learn ?

[heartscore]

Hello Nick, after reading your blog I found another aspect of that theme: When I was a child I was exposed to a lot of classical music of different epochs, because my parents were active musicians. In my rememberance I fell in love with the classical music in a historic order: As a very young boy I only liked Vivaldi, Bach and other Baroque-composers. Years later I favored Mozart and Beethoven. Then came my romantic period with Schubert, Brahms and others. At last I learned to enjoy the late romantic and modern composers like Wagner, Bruckner, Schönberg, Ligeti, Hindemith etc. Therefore I would recommend to go the same way for every beginner: To go the historic way of music and to explore the development of music.

[some guy]

Heartscore, you are only one listener, though. Your path may not be for everyone. My path, for instance, started with late Romantic music. 1880-1920 or so. Then I slowly worked backwards until I got to Beethoven. Then after several years of buying mostly within the 1810 to 1910 time, I jumped to 1943. At that point I began listening to twentieth century music from 1920 on, leaving out the first serialists, until I was current (by 1982). Since then, I started adding stuff from Baroque and earlier as well as staying current. And maybe five years ago, I began filling in the gap of early serialists. At the moment, I listen mainly to music from the past 15 years or so.

And this picture of my path is simplified, as there were some Renaissance folks and Baroque and early twentieth century all along.* So would I recommend that way for anyone else? Not a chance.

I would recommend that people listen to music without worrying about how vast and complex the world we refer to as "classical" is and also without worrying about whether the things one likes right off are considered "great" or not. That's as far as I'd go.

*And mostly what I once listened to I continue to listen to. (The path metaphor falls apart here!)

[peters123]

Hey thanks for sharing such an awesome link from where I found really amazing tips and now I am able to understand a little bit classic. I am from India where people create award-winning sound design but still a newbie in Music, but thanks for this link.