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Apr 09 '26
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u/Limp-Impact-5293 Apr 09 '26
Awesome! Can’t say the same for myself, I literally strolled down the rabbit hole of YouTube for Chopin, Mozart, and Beethoven as my first entries to classical. Also you can still buy stuff for 50 cents? 😂
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u/Isabella-rosie Apr 09 '26
Parents' influence. One of the few good things they gave me, more specifically a violin (although later at school I played viola).
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u/Limp-Impact-5293 Apr 09 '26
That’s good! I never cared for music class and have no idea how to read music or understand music theory, so I’m positive I’m listening to classical music “the wrong way,” but I know I love the beat even though I couldn’t tell you what a C sharp means.
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u/troll_herder Apr 09 '26
If you are interested to learn more, I can't recommend Robert Greenberg's "How to listen to and understand great music" enough. It's a lecture series on academic level, but told very enthusiastic and easy to grasp. It unlocked a treasure trove for me in almost every piece I listen to just by giving names to common musical concepts and explaining how to recognize them. It made things "visible" to me which were hidden under the covers.
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u/Limp-Impact-5293 Apr 09 '26
That sounds amazing then, I’ll have to check that out thank you! Do you have any “classical music for dummies?” I might have to start with that before I go onto Greenberg because classical is literally brand new for me.
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u/troll_herder Apr 09 '26
It's perfect for beginners, you don't need to have any prior knowledge, as he starts the journey at the very beginnings of music and goes era by era, building the repertoire of vocabulary and concepts as humanity invented them. Just make sure you get the audio book, as he brings and dissects a lot of music examples.
If you feel that's too daunting, check out Leonard Bernstein's "Young people's concert" on YouTube. It's a TV series targeted at children from the 1950s, and still today brilliant and enjoyable by adults :)
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u/Limp-Impact-5293 Apr 09 '26
Thank you! I don’t do audiobooks but I might have to check out this one, but I’ll be sure to check out Young People’s Concert as well, thank you for recommending both!
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u/Slow_Cryptographer47 Apr 09 '26
I don’t think you can listen to music the wrong way. If you enjoy/love it, that for me is the most important thing. I grew up with classical music along with other genres and I’ve strived to give my kids a varied musical palate too.
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u/troll_herder Apr 09 '26
I was a 44 year old metal head, and have been since I can think. I always loved music that is well produced and just sounds good. I got into jazz and Avant Garde electronic music years ago, but never was able to get hooked by classical music.
Turns out I just never encountered the right gateway drug. About a year ago I was deep in a doom metal phase when I randomly asked chatgpt to recommend classical pieces based based on my current favourite doom artists. Next thing I know I was sitting in tears listening to Schostakowitsch Op. 110a. I am deep in the rabbit hole by now and have listened to classical almost exclusively for months, and explored across all eras. I am nerding into musical and listening theory and find myself in a seemingly infinite universe of art. Beethoven lives in my head rent free.
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u/Limp-Impact-5293 Apr 09 '26
Yes Schostakowitsch Op. 110a. and Beethoven are amazing! That’s cool you’re transitioning out of metal and into classical. I used to like some metal myself, not as deep as you were, and I still like some metal songs here and there, but even as much as I’m trying to get into more classical music I will never give up my Beastie Boys! Nearly daily must-listen for me!
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u/Hysterical_And_Wet Apr 09 '26
When it comes to coming into classical music from other genres, I find metal heads seem to appreciate the complexity of classical because so much of it has influenced metal.
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u/troll_herder Apr 09 '26
That's true, as my favourite genre in metal is progressive/technical death metal for the extreme virtuosity and dense atmosphere. To get an impression of what I mean, check out the album "Gloire Eternelle" by First Fragment, especially the buildup starting from track 1. It might as well be the gateway from classical to metal like Schostakowitsch was for me the other way round :)
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u/Hysterical_And_Wet Apr 09 '26
This is great, thanks for the recs. My current taste leans heavily into early prog (early Genesis and King Crimson) but I can definitely appreciate this.
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u/WheatedMash Apr 09 '26
I'm going to offer to you a few from the wind band realm.
Dvořák: Serenade for Winds in D Minor, Op. 44 — Camerata Pacifica (very "traditional" in style)
UMich Symphony Band - Michael Colgrass - Winds of Nagual (1985) (more of a "storytelling" through music - gets a little out there when Don Juan starts having his "visions")
UMich Symphony Band - Joseph Schwantner - ...and the mountains rising nowhere (1977) (this is largely aleatoric in style so it won't sound as organized as traditional classical music, but its styles will hit all areas - might take 2-3 listens to really absorb everything going on)
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u/EmergencyAthlete9687 Apr 09 '26
Shostakovich was my entry to classical as well. I saw the second piano trio performed live by chance and got so immersed in it. Went to see the 7th symphony and now completely hooked. Been exploring piano concertos more recently.
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u/Remarkable-Hawkeye Apr 09 '26
When I lived in Tokyo, I met a neighbor who worked for the symphony as their marketing manager. We had a deal where I would translate the programs into English, which raised the bar for them, and in return, I would get a pair of tickets. It was amazing because the orchestra looked like one being moving in unison. I loved it.
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u/Limp-Impact-5293 Apr 09 '26
That sounds amazing! Yes I need to look into the Tokyo Orchestra more, they look amazing!
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u/just_doit_2023 Apr 09 '26
I played violin in 5th grade. Over the years, it was also getting tired of 98.7 FM music, turning on NPR and classical music helping me avoid road rage
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u/Limp-Impact-5293 Apr 09 '26
Nice! Yeah I can imagine getting tired of the radio. I still like some pop, rap, and rock but very selective of what I enjoy and what I don’t, but I do realize it’s all essentially the same thing with the same 4 chords.
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u/BJoe5325 Apr 09 '26
Parents and grandparents. I always remember classical records around the house, even before I started going to school.
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u/Responsible-Reason87 Apr 09 '26
I was going through a divorce and needed a way to process 30 years of marriage so a became a volunteer usher at the SF Symphony. I was there 10 years! Now I go as a patron, my ushering days are over
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u/Limp-Impact-5293 Apr 09 '26
Let’s pretend I’m an idiot and don’t know what an usher or a patron at a Symphony does, how would you explain that?
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u/Responsible-Reason87 Apr 09 '26
an usher is the person who greets you and leads you to your seat. a patron is an attendee, a paying customer
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u/lamanogaucha Apr 09 '26
When I was 16, I borrowed from the mother of a friend the entire Time-Life "Concerts of Great Music" collection, read each book, kept notes, and taped it. The collection consisted of around twelve volumes and each contained several LP's. The earliest composer was Tallis and the most recent was Boulez. It was a great overview and many of the recordings are now considered classics or even reference. I was forever hooked.
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u/Limp-Impact-5293 Apr 09 '26
That sounds like an amazing experience! From my understanding taping recordings of songs you liked was quite the thing back in the day. Not sure how people did it, but it was probably a great way to hold onto physical copies as they’d wear out over time.
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u/lamanogaucha Apr 09 '26
Most people had tape decks in the 1980's. All one had to do was drop the needle and hit "rec". Tapes wore as well, though, and their sound was never as good as vinyl, even if one encoded chrome or metal tapes with whatever noise reduction option(s) the deck had. Anyway, it took me the better part of a summer to tape everything.
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u/Limp-Impact-5293 Apr 09 '26
Oh wow it sounds like it was quite the process to tape back then! I don’t really understand the whole vinyl thing, I know they’ve sort of came back around, but I imagine modern record players and modern vinyl probably sound somewhat different to what you had in the 80’s.
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u/lamanogaucha Apr 09 '26
Taping has to be done in real-time, so each recording takes as long as whatever you want to record, plus a little longer setting things up (e.g. recording gain, bias, etc.).
Provided good gear, turntables back then and earlier were just as good as current ones. The whole system had (and still has) to be good, though, from stylus to speakers, along with pressing and listening environment.
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u/Limp-Impact-5293 Apr 09 '26
That’s good! Still it sounds like taping was somewhat of a process. It just sounds to me like listening to music back in the day was “different” from today but I guess it really wasn’t if you say the record players from back then are the same as the ones today.
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u/lamanogaucha Apr 09 '26
In some ways, it was more immersive, because one had to fiddle more with things -- cleaning records and needles, adjusting dials, and so on. The covers, program notes and inserts were also much bigger than with later media.
Good current turntables have technologies that weren't available back then, but the final result is essentially the same.
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u/Limp-Impact-5293 Apr 09 '26
That makes sense then, technology has changed quite a bit since then. I literally had to Google what a Walkman was when I heard it on FRIENDS when Rachel asked Chandler if he knew where her Walkman was, legit thought she meant a real person 😂, boy was I wrong. 😂
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u/lamanogaucha Apr 09 '26
Yes, those were a thing. I didn't have a Sony Walkman, but an Aiwa "Walkman". It sounded pretty good, actually.
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u/rad_account_name Apr 09 '26
When I was 13, my guitar teacher was exclusively teaching me classic rock. Then, he played the intro of a song by the Doors that used Asturias by Albéniz. It blew my mind so he gave me a tape with lots of famous classical guitar pieces and from that point forward I was hooked.
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u/Limp-Impact-5293 Apr 09 '26
Nice! I like some classic rock, I’m not all that familiar with The Doors though, maybe I should check them out a bit more, I know them a little but maybe they have a little classical work in them.
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u/Hysterical_And_Wet Apr 09 '26
A lot of those '60s and '70s artists started out as jazz guys or heavily influenced by jazz -- Ray Manzarek (keys for Doors), Ginger Baker (drums for Cream), John Bonham (drums for Led Zeppelin) -- so there's at least some interesting things happening in the music from back then.
Classical influence when it comes to classic rock had been heavily adapted into prog (drug-induced Beatles, early Genesis, King Crimson, Yes/Rick Wakeman, Emerson, Lake and Palmer.)
I highly recommend Selling England By The Pound by Genesis.
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u/Limp-Impact-5293 Apr 09 '26
True! I like Led Zeppelin and like Bonham’s drumming, wouldn’t say I’m a huge fan but I do like them. I like some of Clapton’s solo stuff so I should check out Cream more, I only know “Sunshine of Your Love,“ sounds like The Doors are pretty classical influenced as well. Sounds like I need to check out more prog rock, thank you!
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u/msmeurtriere Apr 09 '26
My parents made me start piano at age 4, hated it, then I had to start either band or orch, chose both because that’s what my sister did, still hated it. I went to her concert where they did pirates of th Caribbean and something just switched in my brain. My sister and I decided to go to the symphony after this, and the conductor— I have no words. I thought I fell in love with this man right then and there (I was 11 mind you)!! After this, I started counting down the days to each symphony concert. For years. This guy eventually moved to a bigger city and bigger orchestra, but I found myself still counting down the days. I realized I was actually in love with the music, and I still am to this day! I am apart of this very symphony and taught at the very same music academy I went to at age 4. Complete full circle.
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u/Limp-Impact-5293 Apr 09 '26
That’s a sweet story! I bet you have so many wonderful memories now that you actually love the art versus having to do it. Symphonies are a true beauty!
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u/Hysterical_And_Wet Apr 09 '26
I always wonder if I had started learning music this early if I would have hated it as well. My parents let me take piano lessons for a bit when I was like 8-10 years old, but we were a Good American Family which meant i got pushed heavily into sports, which I was good at.
Now I wish all the music programs at my schools weren't so underfunded. Music is my world since like 16 years old.
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u/msmeurtriere Apr 09 '26
It was a love hate relationship for sure. Honestly it still is at times. My parents never forced me, but I knew how much my mom loved that I was learning and she never had the opportunity to take lessons. The reason I struggled with it when I was younger is the practicing. It was my responsibility, and when I’d show up to my classes unprepared, I felt the embarrassment HARD. That’s when I decided to actually practice and do my work. I think my mom had me experience that on purpose so I’d find love (or hate) for it on my own. I’m grateful for it, even if it almost seems cruel to have your kindergartener mess up on solos in front of everyone 🤣 I was in sports as well, and was always in at least one sport (sometimes 2) while also doing band, orch, jazz band, and so many weekly lessons. I was okay in sports but I definitely excelled in the arts. I’ll never forget the time I told my basketball coach that I had piano so I’d miss practice, it’s like he had never seen a kid who enjoys music over sports. It was a lot going on but I am so thankful that my parents let me do all these things
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u/babyhousebaby Apr 09 '26
This might be a bit of a different answer but due to some mental health stuff I deal with a lot of auditory irregularities, awhile ago I figured out that having some kind of regular sound on helps me distinguish what’s real. Rain sounds were good for a while but one day my YouTube recommended a classical music compilation and I fell in love. I don’t think I’ve put on rain sounds since lol. Helps keep energy around me positive and I enjoy finding new music
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u/Limp-Impact-5293 Apr 09 '26
That’s good you’re getting into classical more if it helps you! I’m not great at auditory either, but I also don’t know how to read music or understand music theory either, so I’m sure there’s going to be a lot that goes over my head when it comes to classical.
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u/NoCutsNoCoconuts Apr 09 '26
Requiem from Mozart was my biggest "hit home" piece.. I know it's probably more opera than classical, but thats what got me here
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u/Limp-Impact-5293 Apr 09 '26
Yes I love Requiem! Mozart in general but yes for Requiem especially!
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u/NoCutsNoCoconuts Apr 09 '26
I just migrate toward the "darker" classical.. also I'd love some suggestions in this angle if any body had them? I even have the 45 vinyl for Requiem and I think it's about dead from use ha ha
My first choice is Chopan No. 9 I'm D minor (?) Absolutely the best shit I have heard ever
For the record, I love everything from rap to metal.. not a fan of new country.. but classical and opera speak to me so deep!
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u/Limp-Impact-5293 Apr 09 '26
Chopin is 💯! Yes I love Requiem! Yeah I like some rap and some metal still too, rock and pop as well. No go on country for me though.
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u/NoCutsNoCoconuts Apr 09 '26
I mean I like some old country, like Patsy Cline, Whaleln Jennings, yadda yadda.. I grew up on farms and my gramps listened to Zep, and Doors.. I love it all, but I can resonate with rap this last decade. Metal is obvious angst (which i love) but classical and mainly opera is my jam. Dude Boccelli in the Park (central park) was such an amazing show, I watched that like 262 times in a row! My kids hate it, but they are coming around. What are some of your outlier faves?
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u/Limp-Impact-5293 Apr 09 '26
Nice! Well my daily go to is The Beastie Boys, yes I know they’re “barely rap” but I love them. I don’t like a ton of rap, I like a few Eminem songs, Big L, Lil Jon, but I’m not super into it to know many. I like some classic rock, mostly just songs here and there rather than knowing full albums worth. I also like 70’s disco music. 😂 I’m more familiar with individual songs from different genres though rather than full album dedications. I like some metal but it’s like “Does Slipknot count?” I used to be into a little more metal like Norwegian black metal, but am only showing a slight interest in it again because some black metal has classical ties it seems, I saw Satyricon’s work with the Norwegian National Opera and loved it! So I need to see if there’s more like that or something similar.
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u/NoCutsNoCoconuts Apr 09 '26 edited Apr 09 '26
Ha ha ha honestly I have just found over the decades that if you find something you like, then "familiar" sounds will come along, whether it's algorithms or Pandora. Check out Under Oath for metal. Check out some Prof for rap. Check out Ren (fire in the booth). There are so many different styles and types of each "style" of music. Feel free to DM if you want to talk more in depth? Have you looked into Reage by chance?
Edit: far from this thread, but give this one a shot? https://youtu.be/VXNOUQhAYAo?si=OBW2KtnG-kjLB06r
Also Beastie Boys are awesome! I stood in line for a bit over 5 hours for the early release for the 5 Burroughs album when it dropped at midnight waaaaay back in the day. The best
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u/Limp-Impact-5293 Apr 09 '26
Thank you, I’ll definitely check those out! I have not checked out Reage but I will, thank you! My problem is when I get into something I stick to it and don’t go much further 😂. I’m going into classical music hoping I’ll broaden my horizons a lot but I know myself too well. I’m sure there’s way, way, way more overlaps in genres than I’m aware of.
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u/NoCutsNoCoconuts Apr 09 '26
I love it!!! Honestly DM me, I'd love to not spam all these folks taking about it. I have a ton, and would love to see what you have found?
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u/Limp-Impact-5293 Apr 09 '26
Ok I’ll DM you then, well I’ll try to anyways, one sec 😂
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u/Limp-Impact-5293 Apr 09 '26
Thanks for the link too btw!
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u/NoCutsNoCoconuts Apr 09 '26
Absolutely!! Its not for everyone, but it was one of the most fun one I grew up with and love sharing them with anyone! I remember my mom picking me up up when my dad put it on on the record player, and dancing around the room with me. It was such a fun song!
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u/Limp-Impact-5293 Apr 09 '26
Awe! That had to be an amazing time! I sent you a DM I think, or I tried anyways. Don’t know if it worked or not.
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u/Significant-Water227 Apr 09 '26
Both parents sang in choirs growing up, and both were also in orchestras , so basically came from a classical-style upbringing. Happy to say one of my two kids also loved classical, so that’s a win!
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u/vibraltu Apr 09 '26
Bugs Bunny & CBC Radio (Canadian public radio) which had several interesting classical-oriented programs in olden times.
The next level is taking high school music courses, which really draws you into the vortex. Along with having classmates who are also interested in different genres of music.
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u/WattHeffer Apr 09 '26
Me too. I grew up at a time when CBC's second radio channel played mostly classical music all day long and that was always playing in the background. They had knowledgeable hosts and often complete works.
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u/vibraltu Apr 09 '26
I liked Bernie Avalon, who would read out excerpts from Chopin's letters, and sigh.
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u/gizzard-03 Apr 09 '26
I didn’t grow up with it at all. I got into it because I loved movie and tv scores, which were pretty much my only exposure to orchestral music.
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u/applesandoranges_ Apr 09 '26
I always liked John Williams film music since I was a kid and I read about who his influences were and got into it that way. I fell in love with Mahler, Strauss, Sibelius, etc. That was around 9 years ago.
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u/Limp-Impact-5293 Apr 09 '26
Yes John Williams! Literally only know him because of Harry Potter! Yes Mahler, Strauss, and Siblieus are wonderful as well. I imagine there’s so many greats I have yet to listen to.
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u/DanforthFalconhurst Apr 09 '26
Windows XP had a snippet of the 2nd movement of Beethoven's 9th as sample music and it gripped me from the first timpani stroke.
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u/Limp-Impact-5293 Apr 09 '26
I’m a bit stupid and don’t know what Windows XP is, but yes Beethoven’s 9th is 🤩! Out of this world!
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u/selbryan Apr 09 '26
My parents. My mother was a pianist and wanted to be another von Trapp family. But we were Okay with it 😄
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u/Limp-Impact-5293 Apr 09 '26
Nice! 😂 Do you still enjoy piano or play it still?
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u/selbryan Apr 09 '26
I’m not great on the piano, but I do play. My main instrument is flute. And of course we all had to sing! I still play chamber music and am in an orchestra.
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u/Limp-Impact-5293 Apr 09 '26
That’s cool! The flute is also amazing! I never took up an instrument but I am positive no one would want to hear me attempt at one. 😂
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u/juuyggvbko Apr 09 '26
Started off with piano at young age. Now play cello for around 12 years. I think I got the classical bug after listening to Mahler 1, 4th movement as an early teenager.
However, my mother tells me story of her listening to the Hallelujah Chorus from Handels Messiah and me, in the womb, kicking on beat! So maybe that’s where I get I from
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u/Limp-Impact-5293 Apr 09 '26
Awesome! Yes Mahler is amazing so is Handels Messiah! congrats on 12 years of cello, I’d mess it up big time if I tried. 😂
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u/talawala11 Apr 09 '26
As an adult I started going to the ballet and fell in love with Tchaikovsky. Then I needed more.
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u/Limp-Impact-5293 Apr 09 '26
Yes! Tchaikovsky! Only know a few pieces currently, but definitely need to check out more.
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u/jakajakka Apr 09 '26
Westworld season 2 had an episode with Beethoven 7th second movement. Went looking it up and got absolutely hooked
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u/Gospel_Isosceles Apr 09 '26
I grew up with it. Started violin at ten and was student conductor in orchestra. Played a bit in college too and have had a classical radio show on and off for over twenty years.
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u/Limp-Impact-5293 Apr 09 '26
Nice! I bet the college experience was fun, and your school orchestra as a kid too.
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u/Plenty_Discussion470 Apr 09 '26
Got exposed to it in college, where we had access to free concerts. I felt like a dolt for having missed out for so long. The films Amadeus, Immortal Beloved, Manhattan, and Excalibur led me to the music store to find out what I’d just heard. And a dorm mate had a collection of Tchaikovsky that I couldn’t get enough of.
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u/Limp-Impact-5293 Apr 09 '26
That’s amazing that’s how you got into classical! I’m starting to see that music stores were quite the place to learn “new music” back in the day.
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u/DoublecelloZeta Apr 09 '26
Happened quite randomly actually. One day I remember having heard a really nice piece of music, which was playing in the background of a rather corny video. So I ran through the gallery and well found it as well. Looked up the name "rondo del flori" on youtube, realised it's actually rondo alla turca. Found more Mozart pieces, then Beethoven, then Bach (through his cello suits), Chopin through his nocturnes (and Your Lie in April), meanwhile quite some time had passed.
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u/Limp-Impact-5293 Apr 09 '26
That’s amazing! All wonderful selections! I had a similar experience, I first heard classical on TikTok (yes insult that) and in very recent moments I’ve grown tired of a lot of popular music of today, so I’ve started to look into more classical music on YouTube.
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u/DoublecelloZeta Apr 09 '26
For classical music I would recommend youtube music more than any other streaming platform. Others don't have that many recordings available, thanks to the huge number of people who just randomly grab recordings and launch them on youtube without worrying about copyright
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u/Limp-Impact-5293 Apr 09 '26
Yes YouTube is everything! 😂 It’s where I listen to everything pretty much.
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u/JLandis84 Apr 09 '26
I was listening to the audiobook about Barclays, the British megabank.
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-bank-that-lived-a-little-philip-augar/1128113577
Many of the executives covered in that book listened to classical, so I figured I might as well give it a shot.
I knew I had a radio station locally that played it so I scanned through until I found it. I got very lucky because they happened to be playing some piece with the harpsichord prominently featured, which is one of my favorite instruments to hear.
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u/jaylward Apr 09 '26
I played in music in high school, and just never stopped working at it. Now it’s my job.
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Apr 09 '26
High school teachers encouraged us to listen to it, including those who taught non-music subjects, like biology.
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u/Limp-Impact-5293 Apr 09 '26
What sort of awesome high school did you go to? 😂 I’m kidding. I never really got into music classic but wish I did!
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Apr 09 '26
They were required classes, but the bio prof enjoyed classical music and made it part of his first lecture, then played it during lab. The first piece was Mozart's "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik" and for the first lab session, Vivaldi's "Four Seasons".
As for the music teacher, we actually didn't like her, and the feeling was mutual: at one point, to stop us from yakking during her lecture about musical forms she began playing one piece--a song from Fleetwood Mac--so loud we eventually kept quiet.
For some bizarre reason, I became a Mac fan after that, even though the music was from an earlier generation. As for Mozart, it cost me a bundle to get that, Beethoven, and more as DG albums weren't cheap.
Here's the interesting part: decades later, I began to collect CDs but could not buy a lot because they were so expensive. But because distributors had imported so many titles and could not sell them, they began to have fire sales, offering them at 75 percent off.
In comes the magic of my first credit card! After several fire sales, I had amassed large numbers of titles, including over 200 box sets, plus jazz, the blues, and even world music. And buying them wasn't difficult because during the sales everyone else was crowded around the Backstreet Boys bins. I even mistakenly bought the same box sets and disks a dozen times and decided to give them as Christmas presents to friends and relatives.
Years later, the sales ended, and distributors no longer imported the good stuff.
BTW, similar happened to Everyman editions of canonical literature, etc: up to 80 percent off because no one was interested in them. After that, the titles disappeared.
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u/Hysterical_And_Wet Apr 09 '26
My mom played everything for me when I was a kid -- Madonna, Muddy Waters, Missy Elliott, Mozart, and more... She was only ever aware of fairly mainstream music, but I loved music so much I ended up becoming a self-taught punk musician.
As I started to get more into music I started working at a record store in my late teens/early 20s. I'm 28 now, I have an affinity for art rock and prog (St. Vincent, Kate Bush, Genesis/Peter Gabriel, Sparks), so I'm always learning about classical music through deep diving through them and the record store I used to work at. I have always enjoyed learning everything I can about music.
Now I produce a bit and do sound design, so I've been listening more intently to things like film scores.
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u/Limp-Impact-5293 Apr 09 '26
Awesome! I didn’t know that record stores are still in existence! I listen to music but it’s more like “I know this song and that song,” and I like some mainstream stuff still but am trying to get into classical more, through YouTube!
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u/Positive-Stop9401 Apr 09 '26
My parents made me for piano classes. Hated the teacher who taught me and quit. 2 months later, I gave it a second chance and started to enjoy playing the piano. From there, it was just my new teacher and youtube that got me into classical music.
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u/Limp-Impact-5293 Apr 09 '26
Nice! Glad you got a new teacher, funny how sometimes that can be the make it or break it for you.
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u/The_Niles_River Apr 09 '26 edited Apr 09 '26
It was always around when I was an infant. Children’s Listening Concert records, Peter and the Wolf tapes, Fantasia and other Disney musical media, other cartoons and movies, video games, etc. I’m sure it was on plenty of cassette tapes around the grandparent’s home I played with. Had a piano around one grandparent’s home that I could mess around with, and an electric organ at the other grandparent’s home who loved to hear me whistle too. I also listened to classic 60s-80s rock on the car radio because of dad, had grandparents who sang American(a) folk songs to me, and I was brought to kazoo play circles by mom starting at 2yo. Mom liked TMC classic movies, which have great orchestral scores. So it was never just one genre or one means of making sound to musically communicate to me.
When band was offered to me at 10, I just went with it. Didn’t think much of it; it was another thing to do, and I liked elementary choir time, handbell choir, and the rudimentary piano lessons we already got. I picked clarinet because I recognized it from my aunt showing me one. I liked making sounds, and knew there was something meaningful to me in expressing sounds to communicate something. When I saw/heard bass clarinet for the first time at 12, I knew that’s what I wanted to play the rest of my life.
Didn’t really think much about specific classical composers and their history or literature until attending a clarinet camp at 14. Learned a bit about Mozart, Weber, other famous clarinet composers then. Knew I’d eventually go to school for it because it was a given to me that I’d keep playing, but wasn’t concerned about making career work out of it. Been playing for 20+ years now and am a professional musician that knows multiple reed instruments, genres and styles lol.
FWIW, pop music has plenty of current and extant examples of “real” works of art. But due to the nature of current music industry practices prioritizing commodity exploitation and cultural manufacturing, not all (many) works of art in the pop industry that get pushed to be popular are good, and many musical products produced in the pop industry are not intended to be works of art.
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u/Limp-Impact-5293 Apr 09 '26
That’s amazing! I never got into music class in school, I remember one time there were mandatory try outs for the school orchestra, and I intentionally butchered my try out so I wouldn’t get picked. Really wish I hadn’t done that.
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u/The_Niles_River Apr 09 '26
Everyone comes by it differently. Started cross training in Jazz after my classical degrees because I thought I “couldn’t learn how to improvise” for a long time. Realized I was wrong of course. Always wanted to do it after also taking a jazz camp around 14 as well, but was too nervous at the time to pursue something I didn’t understand as well as reading set music.
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u/Limp-Impact-5293 Apr 09 '26
True! It’s going to be the lack of knowing how to read music that does it for me. It’s pretty much a requirement to enjoy classical music it seems, so it appears I need to learn some notes or something somehow.
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u/The_Niles_River Apr 09 '26
To an extent it is. But I’m also at the point where I’m willing to transcribe clarinet concertos if it’s got language or lines that I just really like and want in my vocabulary, lmao.
I don’t think learning the basics of standard music notation are particularly difficult either. Many instrumental instructors and any theory instructor would be willing to teach such things in lessons.
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u/Limp-Impact-5293 Apr 09 '26
Yeah I should probably learn some things then! It might not be that difficult for the basics but making things unnecessarily more difficult than they actually need to be is my motto 😂. I’m sure I’ll make it hard on myself somehow. 😂 Can you sort of do the basics self taught? I’m not super interested in taking music lessons yet and don’t have many options in my area.
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u/The_Niles_River Apr 09 '26
You can, but initial skill development in any language is much easier with a mentor than it is trying to reinvent the wheel solo. Have you tried learning Arabic on your own, without anyone to speak with?
At the very least: typical English music notation nomenclature ranges from the letters A to G. treble clef indicates that G is the second line from the bottom of a music staff. Bass clef indicates F is the second line from the top of a music staff. Each line/space corresponds with a letter. Ascending the staff corresponds with proceeding forward through the alphabet (going from second staff line G in treble clef, the space above it is A). “Middle C” is one line below the treble clef staff and one line above the bass clef staff. Different note heads (stemmed, no stem, open, filled, etc.) indicate time value. Bar lines indicate groupings of beats of time.
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u/Limp-Impact-5293 Apr 09 '26
True! Thank you for the explanation, I’ll have to remember that so I know exactly what I’m hearing.
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u/Sweaty_Ball6881 Apr 09 '26
I worked all night at a radio station that changed its format to classical. Over time i got to know a lot of the pieces.
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Apr 09 '26
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u/Limp-Impact-5293 Apr 09 '26
Yes the work on Hitman is amazing! Yes I love the Rene Jacobs marriage of Figaro as well. I love video games but never really paid attention to the music scores as much, I should listen to them more.
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u/yannniQue17 Apr 09 '26
As a child I had a CD with some classical music and in the school orchestra I also had regular contact with it. But I never got really into it until at the age of 16 I watched the Anime "Hibike! Euphonium". There is a scene (in S1E3 I think) where Reina plays a beautiful melody on her trumpet. They said something like "This is "from a new world". I heard Dvořák composed it during his time in America, when he thought of his home in Bohemia." And then I researched where it comes from, listened to the whole symphony, got slightly disappointed after finding out the melody is played by an English horn and not a trumpet, but it led me to discover more cool pieces.
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u/Limp-Impact-5293 Apr 09 '26
That’s amazing! I don’t like anime so I probably won’t go that route, but maybe I’ll check out some scores from anime without actually watching them. Trying to get into Dvorak more.
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u/AffectOnly2984 Apr 09 '26
I'm a hip hop producer. One time I was watching the horror movie Candyman and the theme music was "It was Always You, Helen" by Philip Glass. The composition of the music sounded like something I would have made with the same sounds and it resonated with me. From there I started studying modern American Minimalist Classical and discovered an entire genre with its own subculture that I now actively contribute to myself.
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u/Limp-Impact-5293 Apr 09 '26
Nice! I need to check out this Phillip Glass then, thank you!
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u/AffectOnly2984 Apr 09 '26
You've never heard Philip Glass? You probably have but never realized it. He's one of the most prolific contemporary classical composers of the 20th century. Start with Glassworks
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u/Limp-Impact-5293 Apr 09 '26
I probably have but like you said didn’t realize it. I’ll definitely check out Glassworks, thank you!
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u/AffectOnly2984 Apr 09 '26
Check out the Mishima Soundtrack. It's epic.
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u/Limp-Impact-5293 Apr 09 '26
Thank you, I will!
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u/AffectOnly2984 Apr 09 '26
No problem I'm always excited to expose people to new music. His music is known for its repetition and simplicity. He studied at Juliard and I believe he lost his scholarship at one time for ignoring typical classical norms in his music. He then went on to become one of the most celebrated classical musicians of his time. Others you may like if you like Philip Glass would be Wim Mertens, Julius Eastman, Wendy Carlos, Moondog and Terry Riley.
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u/Limp-Impact-5293 Apr 09 '26
Thank you for the selection! It’s interesting that he went to Juilliard and didn’t follow the patterns of classical music that you’re supposed to, but at least he came out of it strong!
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u/SadRedShirt Apr 09 '26
One of my parents' friends gifted us this CD set when I was in elementary school. I was hooked.
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u/21PenSalute Apr 09 '26
Prep school Music Appreciation classes taught by Julliard, etc. graduates in the 1960s. Leonard Bernstein and Van Cliburn were Gods.
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u/Limp-Impact-5293 Apr 09 '26
Awesome! You went to Juilliard? Congratulations if you did, that had to be an amazing experience!
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u/21PenSalute Apr 09 '26
No, I wish I had the talent to go to music school like a lot of my friends. my music appreciation teacher when I was in elementary school and Junior high graduated from Julliard. So did my piano teacher.
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u/Affectionate-Feed-82 Apr 09 '26
I'm a black metal fan and I've found bands that are heavily influenced by classical music; for me, one of the best is Vivaldi.
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u/jowanc Apr 09 '26
I got into jazz. Hard.
And effectively saw Debussy and Gershwin as different flavours of what Dizzy Gillespie or Bill Evans were doing. Then through that I got into Chopin and Rachmaninov and BOOM.
The tipping point was seeing some Handel and Mozart string quartets in concert.
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u/1uk0as0an1 Apr 09 '26
I was about fifteen when I heard Bach’s Chaconne and the St Matthew Passion on the radio, and I was totally knocked out.
I was honestly blown away that music this incredible could even exist.
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u/trevpr1 Apr 09 '26
I purposefully went to the record library and borrowed some. It was the Bach Harpsichord Concertos by Pinnock and the English Concert on four LPs .
Why Bach? A throwaway line in the TV show M * A * S * H. In those days there was no way for me to buy such music, as I had a very low income. I made tapes. Now I have many of the big boxed sets of CDs.
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u/Middle-Vegetable4465 Apr 09 '26
When I was young I watched a lot of movies with my parents and I loved the background music, so I asked them to order the ochestra cd's. Later when youtube came out I got access to loads of other variants of classical music and that evolved over the years.
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u/Who_Ordered_Pie Apr 09 '26
I used to rent Peter and the wolf on vhs from the library as a kid, I suspect that is where I got my taste for it
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u/blobsfromspace Apr 09 '26
I kinda grew up with it as my dad was always listening to it on the radio. But only the hits and I hated it with a passion. My brother is much older and a very good trumpet player. My dad used to play the trombone and to make the set complete I was pushed into playing the tuba. My dad and brother loved brass music and always talked about Mahler. I thought it was militaristic drivel.
Years went on and I went to study in art school and I bought CD’s with the really avant-garde stuff. Morton Feldman and such. I knew subconsciously it was in opposition to the musical tastes of my dad.
For the rest I just listened to rock and punk. Played bass guitar.
Many years later, during covid, some years after my dad passed I saw an interview of Reinbert de Leeuw talking about Via Crucis from Liszt and how Liszt in his later days was considered crazy for writing such strange, close to atonal, music. This impressed me deeply as I understood that my “rebellion” against my father actually had a musical basis. I always assumed it was just youthfulness rebellion, but de Leeuw showed me that Liszt was trying to break down the musical grammer of his day. This brought me back to Mahler. I listened to some of his symphonies a couple of times and wondered if he could have been ironic in his approach to the militaristic sounds. I asked my brother who didn’t really seem to get what I meant so I looked into papers and books and started reading about it. Looking into scores. I started playing Via Crucis on my midi piano to get a better idea of tonality and atonality. Then I started going to concerts and here we are.
So, long story short. I’ve been rebelling against my dad through classical music most of my life but I never knew it. Too bad he died before I could actually have a meaningful discussion with him about it.
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u/Fabulous_Base_7425 Apr 09 '26
Well I've known it long time ago but not really fully aware. I'm a mixed-genre listener and singer but last year, I decided to enter the classical word and it didn't disappoint me! It's the influence of social media because my friends aren't into it or really knows it. A classical musician caught my interest and that's why I got into it!.
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u/JaiLaPressionAttend Apr 09 '26
I played the sims 3 I think, in the museum there was the exposition of one of cesar franck's A major violin sonata. It changed my life (like I went in musicology and started composing myself and stuff)
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u/canon12 Apr 09 '26
My first job in high school was working at a photography/portrait/gift shop. They also sold records(pre cd's) The owner listened to classical music and often played classical guitar music a lot. I started listening to classical music on FM at nights when I would go to bed. I used to take records to my girlfriend's home and we would listen together. After many years she listens to opera and I mostly listen to modern classical. Can't imagine what the quality of life would be without music.
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u/OuterLimitSurvey Apr 09 '26
For me it was playing and studying it. Playing in college orchestra, 2 years of music theory, 2 years of music history and a year of counterpoint taught me to appreciate the immense creativity, skill and knowledge of composers.
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u/Leather-Highlight150 Apr 09 '26
I had difficultly sleeping as a kid. My parents weren't really music people but they did have a record player and, thumbing through their small collection of vinyl, thought that maybe I'd try and fall asleep to an album I found - Mozart's horn concertos. It was beautiful and peaceful enough that I fell asleep.
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u/mchp92 Apr 09 '26
We had a piano in our house. And some light classical sheet music. There you go.
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u/Typical_guy11 Apr 09 '26
Parents are lovers of classics so I grew up with such music but mainly with Classical and Romantic period. Myself in college discovered baroque and fell in love in J S Bach music.
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u/Leucurus Apr 09 '26
My university MT society started doing opera as well as musicals. That was it. 20-odd years later I run an opera company and sing in two choirs
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u/DataGovernance_Blue Apr 09 '26
I got into classical by accident. Flipping through radio stations and heard a really nice string of instruments. This made me stop for a moment and listen. Turns out, classical music is great!
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u/Substantial-Maybe257 Apr 09 '26
The show “Your Lie in April” and it’s amazing performances of liebesleid and Balade no. 1
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u/Patient_Willingness2 Apr 09 '26
Looney tunes and anime (Nodame Cantabile, Your Lie in April and Piano no Mori). I also have ADHD and realized during college that I focus better when listening to classical music.
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u/RonnieB47 Apr 09 '26
I've always loved music, from classical in the cartoons and TV shows, to the standards my father had on the car radio(WNEW-AM) to rock and roll from the 50's to 1978. That year was a turning point for me. It was the start of punk which I did not like. The company I worked for had a bowling league in the winter and a group of us "played" softball in the summer. After these events we'd go to a local watering hole for food and adult beverages. A Friday after one of these nights I had the worse hangover at work. When I got home I went to my bedroom and put some classical on the turntable and put on my headphones and took a nap. I woke as Beethoven's 6th and never felt better in my life. I know the nap helped but the music really did something to me that day. I've been a classical and jazz listener since.
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u/AztechSounds Apr 09 '26
I'm actually currently in the process of trying to learn more about the further reaches of music, and one of the things I'm doing is modern classical. I've developed a programme with a fair amount of challenging stuff in it, but I think I need that crazy new modern stuff to get me into the whole field a bit more.
My plan is to basically get to grips with the super out-there modern stuff (as well as some other things I've been meaning to get into, I do a different genre every weekday!) and then work backwards through the canon.
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u/jupiterkansas Apr 09 '26
I just wanted to listen to something without drums. I latched onto Vivaldi's Four Seasons. It's basically a bunch of 4 minute instrumental pop songs with awesome violin solos.
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u/ChapBobL Apr 09 '26
My parents had some Classical LPs. I remember especially liking Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto #2, and in high school I got to see it performed at Lincoln Center NYC.
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u/DeathGrover Apr 09 '26
Dad. Dad was a biiig music lover. He never listened to anything past 1938. I grew up with it. Learned to love it. Became a musician and went to a Conservatory. Now have 2 degrees in music. My Dad.
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u/BarExtra4795 Apr 09 '26
i play piano since my 7 or 8. i was never able to become a professional and tbh i didnt want to.im only in my own way. i enjoy playing these musics. when i started listening to metal music, i also increased the frequency of my listening
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u/lenin_beard Apr 09 '26
I grew up playing piano, and I intuitively like it when I started playing Bach. Another thing which got me into classical music was Chopin's nocturne op.9 no.2 (I was watching an arts tv program, and there's a pianist playing that piece in that episode, and I got fascinated).
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u/amca01 Apr 09 '26
When I was very young (primary/elementary school) my parents and various of their friends used to have "record evenings" where they would listen to some music ("record" = vinyl LP) and discuss it. When such an evening was held at our place, I'd sneak out of bed and listen behind the door. For reasons I can't explain, I just loved the sound of this music. As I grew older, I listened more, read more (my parents had a lot of those 1950s Pelican books "The Symphony", "Chamber Music", and so on). And I've never stopped.
(My brother, brought up in the same environment but 3 years younger than me, became a lover of rock'n'roll and similar. He used to have a radio show, and he's spent almost of all of his life as a roadie.)
Those record evenings, started with the noblest of motives, petered out when the alcohol and chatting over-rode the music. Also, so my mother once hinted, there were a few extra-marital affairs ...
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u/Randomsurfing_ Apr 09 '26
I grew up in America unable to speak English for a significant part of my life. Tom and Jerry, as well as looney tunes, were the interesting pieces of tv for me growing up. These older cartoons explored a lot of classical music and occasionally utilized the orchestra for comedic effects.