Our BetterMost Community > The Polling Place
What Kind of Music Do You Like?
Andrew:
CLASSICAL!
Classical is not going to win any popularity polls here or anywhere else, but popularity is not everything. Odd how in the whole industrialized world now 'classical' is constrasted to 'pop', as if classical were intrinsically unpopular. What a lot of people don't think about is how many different styles of music from the last thousand years all share that strange roll-up of a name.
For me growing up there was always a lot of similarity between being in the lonely gay minority and the lonely classical-music-loving minority. And the more minorities you're in, the more depressing it could get. Does anyone know the Mary Renault novel The Charioteer, set during the second World War in an English army hospital? The wounded soldier, Laurie, deeply depressed about his leg injury, gets a shock of anticipation when he hears the young Quaker orderly Andrew humming from Mozart's oboe concerto as he mops the floor- a forgotten flavor of Laurie's prewar life before he awoke in that depressing, prison-like institutional environment. Although Andrew would have been incapable of even imagining the question whether he were gay, he gradually begins unconsiously to sense and respond to Laurie's sudden, intense but vehemently hidden love for him.
Strangely, my partner and I started noticing each other when we got into a similar conversation about classical music at the preschool daycare center where we were both working years ago. Since we joined up we have tried to work an hour of listening to music together into the day - really listening, usually on headphones since we live in town, with as much quiet and concentration as if we were at a concert. And we have many real concerts in our permanent memory treasury, from Portland, San Francisco, Boston, New York, London, Lucern...
As David said, music really can make you who you are.
David In Indy:
--- Quote from: Andrew on July 03, 2006, 11:24:37 pm ---CLASSICAL!
Classical is not going to win any popularity polls here or anywhere else, but popularity is not everything. Odd how in the whole industrialized world now 'classical' is constrasted to 'pop', as if classical were intrinsically unpopular. What a lot of people don't think about is how many different styles of music from the last thousand years all share that strange roll-up of a name.
--- End quote ---
Andrew - I feel the same way you do. I LOVE classical and baroque music (of course this is probably very obvious due to my love of the violin, cello and piano). Every time I listen to The Messiah, The Brandenburg Concertos, Vivaldi's Gloria or a symphony by Mozart, Haydn or Beethoven, I always wish EVERYONE could experience the joy such music brings to me. It is not for everyone and this is a fact. But we may be in for a surpirse here Andrew. I just checked the poll and only 12 people have "voted" so far. Out of those twelve, five have chosen classical as one of their five choices. I think this is pretty good! :)
I think baroque and classical music will be around for a very long time. It has survived the centuries and according to the poll I posted, it is still very much alive today! :) :) :) :) :) :)
By the way Andrew, I play violin and cello in an amateur chamber orchestra here in Indianapolis. Of the few times we have actually performed in public, we ALWAYS draw a large crowd, including a large number of young people and teens. This is a very good sign to me, especially when you consider I am performing in the heart of Indiana! ;)
The kids always seem to enjoy it too! Another good sign! :)
vkm91941:
Well my age is definitely showing..I love good Old Fashion Classic Rock and Roll....
The 50's Little Anthony, Early Elvis, Buddy Hollie, The Big Bopper
The 60's: The Beatles, The Stones The Animals, Anyone from the British Invasion
The 70's: The Moody Blues, Yes, Crosby Still Nash and Young, AC/DC, Elton John, ZZTop
The 80's: Foreigner, The Eagles, INXS, Blue Oyster Cult, The Police, Genesis, U2, Fleetwood Mac
The 90's: Sting, Green Day, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Cherry Poppin Daddies, Dido
But I am and always will be a Classical music lover including opera, ballet and church music
Mozart, Beethoven, Belioz, Handle, Vivaldi, Puccini, Mussorgsky, Thomas Tallis, Benjamin Britten, Bartok, Chopin, Dvorak, Hildegard Von Bingen, Ravel, Mahler, Prokofiev, Verdi, Tchaikovsky, Johnanne Strauss, Bach, Copeland...I also love Elizabethian music and the music of the Renaissance.
I am moved to tears by the big sweeping pieces like Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition or Dovrak's New World Symphony...as well as by the little pieces like Beethovens Fur Elise or Britten's Ceremony of Carols.
David In Indy:
--- Quote from: vkm91941 on July 04, 2006, 01:24:33 am ---Well my age is definitely showing..I love good Old Fashion Classic Rock and Roll....
The 50's Little Anthony, Early Elvis, Buddy Hollie, The Big Bopper
The 60's: The Beatles, The Stones The Animals, Anyone from the British Invasion
The 70's: The Moody Blues, Yes, Crosby Still Nash and Young, AC/DC, Elton John, ZZTop
The 80's: Foreigner, The Eagles, INXS, Blue Oyster Cult, The Police, Genesis, U2, Fleetwood Mac
The 90's: Sting, Green Day, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Cherry Poppin Daddies, Dido
But I am and always will be a Classical music lover including opera, ballet and church music
Mozart, Beethoven, Belioz, Handle, Vivaldi, Puccini, Mussorgsky, Thomas Tallis, Benjamin Britten, Bartok, Chopin, Dvorak, Hildegard Von Bingen, Ravel, Mahler, Prokofiev, Verdi, Tchaikovsky, Johnanne Strauss, Bach, Copeland...I also love Elizabethian music and the music of the Renaissance.
I am moved to tears by the big sweeping pieces like Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition or ...as well as by the little pieces like Ceremony of Carols.
--- End quote ---
Vicky -
I ALWAYS knew you had good taste!
Thanks for your post.
I can't believe I forgot to mention AC/DC and Elton John (not only is his music good, but he is a family member who can make every gay person feel proud). Dovrak's "New World Symphony" will live until the end of time, and Beethovens "Fur Elise" has melted the heart of many who have found themselves in love (you know the story behind this don't you?) and brought joy to many others who have had the privledge to play it on the piano.
Update: (ANOTHER Update!) I love Fleetwood Mac too! They bring back such memories every time I hear one of their songs!
Thanks Vicky! :)
saucycobblers:
--- Quote from: David925 on July 04, 2006, 12:59:00 am ---The kids always seem to enjoy it too! Another good sign! :)
--- End quote ---
You'd be surprised! I like to start my lessons by playing a song or piece of music to my students to set the tone of the lesson - maybe something from the soundtrack if we're watching a film. I once did a lesson on war films, so as the kids were coming in the door they had 'Mars' from the Planets Suite blaring over the sound system! Some were oblivious, but many were looking at each other as if to say 'What the hell IS this??' - great!! Some stuff has gotten a really enthusiastic response - like Qunicy Jones 'Soul Bossa Nova' (Bossa nova being a Brazillian dance), at the beginning of a lesson on Brazilian cinema. Whatever the response, I insist they listen to it BECAUSE IT'S GOOD FOR THEM ;) :laugh: They often seem to come to classical music through sampling on pop records - when I point out where the samples come from they're usually surprised that they liked it so much!
The rather long-winded connection to this thread is that the first thing I notice about a film is the soundtrack, and similarly my favourite classical music is always that which sets off a story and set of images in my mind. My 4 favourite pieces are all connected by the theme of loss / longing (in my head anyways...) and I have stories for all of them:
Beethoven: Adagio un poco mosso - attacca - the most beautiful piece of music ever written IMHO. :'(
Chopin: Etude No.3.
Debussy: Clair de Lune (the opera singer Dawn Upshaw also does a gorgeous version of this).
Elgar: Nimrod.
One of my greatest regrets is not learning to play the piano (my favourite instrument) when I was a kid (we didn't have one so I had nothing to practice on :(). I was going to learn the flute but had a brace put on my teeth a month before my lessons were due to start, so that put paid to that! I've had to make up for it by just singing a lot ;D
--- Quote from: David925 on July 04, 2006, 01:57:40 am ---Beethovens "Fur Elise" has melted the heart of many who have found themselves in love (you know the story behind this don't you?)
--- End quote ---
I don't David! Please tell...
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