2.10.2010

A short guide for listening to classical music

---Listen for PHRASES (melodic lines), NOT notes.

---Listen to how different phrases played of different instruments interact with others. How they compliment or proceed from others.

---Listen for the combination of instruments or instrumental sections.

---Listen to the SOUND an individual instrument makes and take note of the sonic range each one inhabits. Notice to how the higher notes from certain instruments combine with the lower registers of others.

---Differentiate brass, woodwinds & percussion, then listen for how they interact with and react to each other.

---Appreciate the extraordinary talent that is required of anyone who plays this kind of music.

---Forget the word "classical" and don't take into consideration how old a piece is. Those things have their place and can sometimes prove to be interesting, but it's better to take music at face value, on it's own terms, with it's own strengths and weaknesses.

---Take note of the chordal progressions. To the extent that you are able, follow those changes from "home" to all the stuff in between before arriving back home again. "Home" being the key the piece was written in.

---Some people say classical music should not be used as background music. I disagree. The more exposure to the music and it's composers, the better. It will help familiarize the listener with composers' styles and musical types, even if it's only on a subliminal level. If that's all you want to use it for, there's nothing wrong with that. If a person decides to "get serious" and really explore the genre, they're eventually going to sit down and really listen anyway.

---Listen to the works of particular composers often enough that you know which pieces they wrote and how they differ from those of other composers.

---Concentrate on the repertoire of one individual composer until you can hear, with great detail, his methods, his style, all the things that make his music unique to him. For example, commit yourself to listening to a LOT of Wagner or Mozart for a whole month or two. Maybe even do this with one particular piece of music---select a symphony or an opera or something complex and focus on it until you can say you "know" it much more thoroughly than you did the first few times you heard it.

---Forget about anyone else's opinion. Forget about "classical music snobs" or people who say that this kind of music is only for the upper class, or the well-educated. Don't pay any attention to anyone who tries to tell you that you can only enjoy it if you UNDERSTAND it. Knowledge of the music certainly helps, but I'd rather be passionate about the masterworks knowing nothing absolutely at all about it them a person who understands the mechanics thoroughly yet finds himself incapable of enjoyment.

---Open your mind to unfamiliar, or "different", sounds. Don't dismiss, for instance, an operatic vocal just because the singing sounds so different than what you're used to hearing in all other popular music. Even if you cringe at this type of singing, hold up---think of how original and unique it is from what you're used to. Tell yourself that the only thing different is the vibrato (which is basically the truth), then either try to get past that or consciously develop a tolerance for it, because sooner or later you will come around to actually enjoying it. Believe me or not.

---Consider the source of inspiration. Where does music come from? Do you think that the human mind can create something out of nothing (melody, rhythm, sound)? Or do you believe (as I do) that music comes from a higher source/power ("God" or what have you) and that people are simply vessels used to channel it? And that some people have "God-given" talent and ability to do this on a higher scale than others? The classical masters most definitely fall into that category.

---IF you DO think that music comes from "God", or a "collective consciousness", or whatever, consider that by the very act of listening to music (not just classical) you are actively participating in a REAL communion with Divinity. The "offering"---of music, with it's ability to arouse and stimulate practically every emotion given by "God"---via the medium of singers, songwriters and instrumentalists who have received, from the same source, the talent required---and the "receiving" as we take in this GIFT of sound, melody and rhythm, and, in turn, give it a place, to greater or lesser degree, in our hearts and minds...into our lives. In acceptance of this treasure we make ourselves vulnerable to it's purposes. It facilitates a confirmation of all the feelings and emotions we allow it to affect. Which, in my humble opinion, confirms the spiritual source of where it all came from. So you have an unbroken circle. The circuit from inspiration to realization to communion and back again.

What does all that "spiritual mumbo-jumbo" have to do with classical music? Well, truth be told I think it applies to ALL music, from love songs to punk rock, from pop & country to jazz & death metal. But I also sincerely believe that classical music is the "richest", most satisfying listening experience a human being can possibly experience. Of course, that's just my take on it, but I really believe that ANYONE who comes to an appreciation of it will share my opinion. One of the chief reasons a lot of people have a problem with the classics is because there is just SO much within each individual work to take in. It's almost like an overload and it can be hard to process so much at one time. It's very easy to get lost in all the twists and turns you encounter within the pieces. You want to take it all in the first time you listen, like you can do with other kinds of music, but trust me: it cannot be done. You can listen to classical music, from a short Bach cantata to a sprawling symphony by Mahler, a hundred times and you will NEVER hear everything there is to hear in it, no matter how many times you come back for more. Just take what you like out of it. That stuff will all still be there when you return, plus a lot more that you missed the first time around. The more familiar you become with a piece of music the better you can enjoy all these things together and it's like moving out of an efficiency apartment into a grand mansion.

Finally, don't give in to the classical snob's bull crap...classical is just one more topping for your cultural pizza. You don't have to choose between "Smoke on the Water" and "The Firebird Suite".

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