# When did you start loving the classical music?



## Classicalinheart (Jun 21, 2018)

I am what is now called a millennial and I love classical music.

But it was not always the case.

Growing up I listened to what was popular around the school and with my friends and etc. Basically what was in my surroundings. 

My only actual contact with the classical music was in the school's music history class. 

It is only years after that I have by myself started checking out some classical music on the youtube and llittle by little I started liking it. 

The reason why I mentioned what is my "generation" is that no one from my generation likes it or takes interest in it. Also if I try to bring it up, no one will be interested and I find that sad. 

Since the classical music is not a "popular" choice for a long time among the people what made you like it and what was your process for actually falling in love with it? 

Today when I find some new composer that I like then I will usually read their whole biography if its available and really try to understand what drives them so that I can better feel their music. I like the classical music to the point where it may be addictive  

Why? I am not sure why. I guess I find that this type of music really expresses our search for meaning through an art form which is non verbal. You cant speak this nor explain it, you can just feel it, if thats the right word to use.

What is your opinion on this?


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## MusicSybarite (Aug 17, 2017)

Welcome to this forum!

I agree with you. Modern music (Pop, Rock, Reggae, Techno, etc.) appeals much more to people nowadays, especially to young population. I feel classical music condenses, expresses, conveys abstract ideas, feelings, emotions, situations, events, much better than other musical genres, it implies complexity, musical richness, evolution, transformation, among others. Classical music is a vast universe of countless stars (i.e. composers and works), hours and hours, or better, years and years of sheer delightment. A life is not enough to enjoy classical music completely. I'm not demeaning other musical genres and their qualities, of course not, it's just classical music fills my soul and satisfies me as no other music can do. It's great that a guy as you enjoy this music and understand its power and depth without falling in accustomed prejudices some people have (e.g. classical music is boring, classical music is for the elite).


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## Guest (Jun 22, 2018)

Welcome to TC!

These days, although I am younger than the 'millennial' generation, I listen to a fair amount of music composed by 'millennials' (born between 1980 and the early 1990s), so I don't think the interest isn't there!

Since you brought up _your generation,_ here are some composers I have been listening to lately from that very generation whose music I adore (and as further proof there certainly is a lot of interest from people around your age!):

Elena Rykova
Milica Djordjević
Turgut Erçetin
Clara Iannotta
Marianna Liik 
Charlotte Bray 
Yoav Pasovsky 
Mark Simpson 
Helen Grime 
Kate Soper 
Lisa Streich

Perhaps there are a few composers in there you might enjoy. 

Not sure exactly why I like classical music, to be honest. I haven't thought about it! All I know is that I love it and can't get enough of it.


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

I was lucky: I've loved classical music since I was a little kid - before school even. My parents certainly weren't classical listeners. I learned the sound of the late romantic composers by watching the old b/w movies that showed up on TV in the late 50's and early 60's. It didn't take long before I knew I loved that orchestral sound of people like Waxman, Korngold, Steiner, Salter, Herrmann and a whole lot more. Saturday morning cartoons were great then, too. Merry Melodies and the Warner Bros cartoons with Carl Stalling as music director - I learned a lot of classical tunes from Bugs Bunny. Then a neighbor gave me some of his old records: some symphonies, concertos, etc. Nothing early - no Mozart, but lots of romantic stuff. I first heard the Gliere 3rd when I was 9 or 10 and couldn't get enough of music like it. And, growing up at that time we had music piped into school classrooms once a week with Deems Taylor. And Leonard Bernstein was on TV regularly. Great time to grow up in the US. I never gave a damn about popular music of my time and I still don't. I'm sure I was the oddball who spent Saturday middays listening to the Met broadcasts. No regrets.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

I listened to some classical music in my late teens and 20s as well as Peter and the Wolf as a child, but can't say I loved it until about August 2009. Now, as wonderful as classical music is, I can't spend much time with symphonies etc. when there is so much opera to be heard and re-heard. So my love of classical is mainly focused into opera, but not to the exclusion of symphonies and some other works.


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## EddieRUKiddingVarese (Jan 8, 2013)

Bettina Tried it but it didn't go down well here, so I'll stay celibate with classical music........


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

I listened to pop/rock exclusively until about 1986 (age 29), when I switched to classical because the pop/rock scene became less interesting at the time for me. Listened to classical exclusively until about 1999, going roughly 50/50 since then. At the moment it's more classical again because I'm going through a years-long project to replay and catalogue our huge CD collection.


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## Bill Cooke (May 20, 2017)

mbhaub said:


> I was lucky: I've loved classical music since I was a little kid - before school even. My parents certainly weren't classical listeners. I learned the sound of the late romantic composers by watching the old b/w movies that showed up on TV in the late 50's and early 60's. It didn't take long before I knew I loved that orchestral sound of people like Waxman, Korngold, Steiner, Salter, Herrmann and a whole lot more. Saturday morning cartoons were great then, too. Merry Melodies and the Warner Bros cartoons with Carl Stalling as music director - I learned a lot of classical tunes from Bugs Bunny. Then a neighbor gave me some of his old records: some symphonies, concertos, etc. Nothing early - no Mozart, but lots of romantic stuff. I first heard the Gliere 3rd when I was 9 or 10 and couldn't get enough of music like it. And, growing up at that time we had music piped into school classrooms once a week with Deems Taylor. And Leonard Bernstein was on TV regularly. Great time to grow up in the US. I never gave a damn about popular music of my time and I still don't. I'm sure I was the oddball who spent Saturday middays listening to the Met broadcasts. No regrets.


I came to love classical music in nearly the same way - through exposure to orchestral music in films. I think the first time I really noticed music in a film was during Sinbad's duel with a living skeleton in THE 7TH VOYAGE OF SINBAD, scored ingeniously by Bernard Herrmann. This was in 1974, when the film was re-released to theaters. I was 10 years old. Not long after that came JAWS, THE OMEN, STAR WARS, etc. I was hooked! Around the same time, a fateful matinee showing of Walt Disney's FANTASIA sparked my curiosity about classical music. Fortunately, my parents had a large collection of classical LPs from the late 50s, early 60s, which I devoured. It gave me an education on the standard repertoire. Since that time, my musical tastes have remained devoted to classical/orchestral music, with occasional lapses into jazz and exotica. It was difficult growing up with such unusual music preferences. Nobody around me ever shared my love for this type of music. But it never deterred me from pursuing what appealed to me most.


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## goatygoatygoatgoat (May 28, 2018)

I too got into classical music through movie/television orchestral music. From a very young age, I knew I liked certain movies and TV shows specifically because I liked the music. Even if the show was crap, I'd watch it for the music - and if the show was good but had lousy background music, I didn't like it.

Then, in 1986, I saw the movie Amadeus. I loved the opening Mozart piece. I saw that my local library had the Amadeus soundtrack on LP, so I took that out along with some Beethoven (Karajan 9th) and Bach Brandenburg records. I copied the pieces I liked to cassette tape. Later, I went to a music store and bought some Mozart and Bach tapes.

I eventually decided that I prefer Baroque - because it's more layered, less predictable and each movement has consistent speed/volume/emotion. I now almost exclusively listen to Baroque concerti grossi, with one or two non-Baroque pieces, like that Mozart 25 from Amadeus and Beethoven's Moonlight sonata. I still love movie music and can appreciate other music (including some rare bits of "popular" music), but I don't put any of that music on my music player.


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## EdwardBast (Nov 25, 2013)

When I was four or five years old. My mother played music of Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev, Debussy and others for me, describing the stage action for the ballet suites and the programs of the tone poems.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

When I was a kid, I hated the sound of violins, because they came through the scratchy soundtracks of reruns of old movies on TV.

What happened to turn me around was, in college there was a lovely young flute player who was a music major, so I took a music appreciation class so I could talk to her. I fell in love with classical music then. The flute player - oh, well. (Footnote: I later got the flute player into the court reporting school I was attending. She got all the way through. I ran into her later, and she said she was going to buy me a pizza after graduating, but then she hated the field so much, she decided not to.)


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## Steve Mc (Jun 14, 2018)

I cared little for classical music until I was about 12, though I had certainly been exposed to it before then. But, the classical bug, if you will, really got a hold on me in my teenage years. I began listening voraciously, with Bach quickly becoming my favorite. Nothing quite captures the essence of the human psyche quite like classical music. I owe a lot to Bill McGlaughlin's _Exploring Music_. Hearing a thrilling piece for the first time on that show, like Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto, was always a thrilling experience.
Then, one day I heard the main titles from _An American Tail by James Horner from 1986. I was quite surprised to hear something that rich and expressive written in recent times. This led me to reconsider the 20th Century, and start exploring and discovering composers I had up to that point neglected._


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

Like with languages, kids learn to get music quickly. Lots of people get into classical music later in life but I think they must have to work harder at it. There's a lot of music I love that I am not sure I would love so much if I had only encountered its like in adulthood. For example, I love Mozart - perhaps above every composer - and his music is filled with meaning for me. But I do wonder if I would have let him under my skin all that easily if I have not first got to know so much of his music as a child.


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

My dad being an amateur violinist and vocalist, I grew up listening to classical music and learning to play the piano and clarinet. I did eventually rebel against classical but came back to it in my early 30's.


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## Kjetil Heggelund (Jan 4, 2016)

In ca. 1975, I fell in love with Mozart. Now I'm happily married!


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## Classicalinheart (Jun 21, 2018)

MusicSybarite said:


> Welcome to this forum!
> 
> I agree with you. Modern music (Pop, Rock, Reggae, Techno, etc.) appeals much more to people nowadays, especially to young population. I feel classical music condenses, expresses, conveys abstract ideas, feelings, emotions, situations, events, much better than other musical genres, it implies complexity, musical richness, evolution, transformation, among others. Classical music is a vast universe of countless stars (i.e. composers and works), hours and hours, or better, years and years of sheer delightment. A life is not enough to enjoy classical music completely. I'm not demeaning other musical genres and their qualities, of course not, it's just classical music fills my soul and satisfies me as no other music can do. It's great that a guy as you enjoy this music and understand its power and depth without falling in accustomed prejudices some people have (e.g. classical music is boring, classical music is for the elite).


I do find it sad that people from my surroundings will not give the classical music a chance.. Like you said, other generes appeal more to the people but the way classical makes me feel is incredible. Its not that I am enjoying but more like I am feeling some sort of tranquility, like I am being right where I need to be and listening to exactly what I need. Thank you for the welcome!



shirime said:


> Welcome to TC!
> 
> These days, although I am younger than the 'millennial' generation, I listen to a fair amount of music composed by 'millennials' (born between 1980 and the early 1990s), so I don't think the interest isn't there!
> 
> ...


I will definetley check those out!! Thank you! I know there are others outthere that like it too which are my generation but unfortunately not anyone I know. Maybe I will join some club!



mbhaub said:


> I was lucky: I've loved classical music since I was a little kid - before school even. My parents certainly weren't classical listeners. I learned the sound of the late romantic composers by watching the old b/w movies that showed up on TV in the late 50's and early 60's. It didn't take long before I knew I loved that orchestral sound of people like Waxman, Korngold, Steiner, Salter, Herrmann and a whole lot more. Saturday morning cartoons were great then, too. Merry Melodies and the Warner Bros cartoons with Carl Stalling as music director - I learned a lot of classical tunes from Bugs Bunny. Then a neighbor gave me some of his old records: some symphonies, concertos, etc. Nothing early - no Mozart, but lots of romantic stuff. I first heard the Gliere 3rd when I was 9 or 10 and couldn't get enough of music like it. And, growing up at that time we had music piped into school classrooms once a week with Deems Taylor. And Leonard Bernstein was on TV regularly. Great time to grow up in the US. I never gave a damn about popular music of my time and I still don't. I'm sure I was the oddball who spent Saturday middays listening to the Met broadcasts. No regrets.


I also always loved, even as a child, the background music from the movies and cartoons but never gave much thought to it.. I wish I was born in your time.. To grow up like that. In these modern times, growing up is too fast, no time, nothing has that feeling of searching for meaning.. Or atleast from my experience. I am happy that you dont have regrets! Living the life to the fullest and who cares if someone thought of you as odd. I dont think that that was odd at all.



goatygoatygoatgoat said:


> I too got into classical music through movie/television orchestral music. From a very young age, I knew I liked certain movies and TV shows specifically because I liked the music. Even if the show was crap, I'd watch it for the music - and if the show was good but had lousy background music, I didn't like it.
> 
> Then, in 1986, I saw the movie Amadeus. I loved the opening Mozart piece. I saw that my local library had the Amadeus soundtrack on LP, so I took that out along with some Beethoven (Karajan 9th) and Bach Brandenburg records. I copied the pieces I liked to cassette tape. Later, I went to a music store and bought some Mozart and Bach tapes.
> 
> I eventually decided that I prefer Baroque - because it's more layered, less predictable and each movement has consistent speed/volume/emotion. I now almost exclusively listen to Baroque concerti grossi, with one or two non-Baroque pieces, like that Mozart 25 from Amadeus and Beethoven's Moonlight sonata. I still love movie music and can appreciate other music (including some rare bits of "popular" music), but I don't put any of that music on my music player.


What I find fascinating is the fact that movies are meant to potray real life but they have the background music which definetley does not appear in real life but still imagining a movie without that music is impossible! Its like music is so important in the cinematography that a movie simply cant potray reality without it.



Bulldog said:


> My dad is an amateur violinist and vocalist, I grew up listening to classical music and learning to play the piano and clarinet. I did eventually rebel against classical but came back to it in my early 30's.


That is very interesting.. Having a change of heart. That is now the biggest proof to yourself that you are actually intersted in it for yourself 
How did you start learing a piano?

*I would love to start learning a piano!* But I just dont know where to start.. Do I have to buy a piano? If so which one and aren't they like crazily expensive??


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## D Smith (Sep 13, 2014)

My first exposure to classical music was undoubtedly through cartoons, as others have mentioned. I can still recall Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody in some old black and white cartoon I saw on TV. Similarly, I loved the jazz in the Betty Boop cartoons as well and this led me to explore both genres as I grew older.


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## Nereffid (Feb 6, 2013)

Classicalinheart said:


> Since the classical music is not a "popular" choice for a long time among the people what made you like it and what was your process for actually falling in love with it?
> 
> Today when I find some new composer that I like then I will usually read their whole biography if its available and really try to understand what drives them so that I can better feel their music. I like the classical music to the point where it may be addictive
> 
> ...


Hearing the compilation album _The Classic Experience_ in 1986/87 was what drew me in. Many of the pieces were familiar from adverts or films/TV shows. The thing that "made me like it" was simply that I liked the sound of it. Though my taste in classical music has expanded vastly from those 33 tracks, at heart that's still the reason I listen. I could never really work out the whole "meaning" aspect of it.


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## EddieRUKiddingVarese (Jan 8, 2013)

4'33" got me into classical music


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

EddieRUKiddingVarese said:


> 4'33" got me into classical music


Wow! That is mind blowing! But it all makes sense. You can't just jump into the middle of it. You have to come from nothing and if you already have something, then you need to go back to nothing. Otherwise our preconceived notions will get in the way.


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## Urban Strata (Jun 15, 2018)

Pachelbel's Canon did it for me. Seriously! But before you roll your eyes too hard...

Around age 6, my family was moving across the US, and my dad had two tapes in the car that we listened to over & over: Pachelbel's Canon (performed by the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, if I recall) and John Williams's soundtrack to "Raiders of the Lost Ark." Both fascinated my ears, especially the Pachelbel with which I fell in love. I had never before heard such beautiful harmonies.

A few years and many listenings to the Canon later, I asked my parents for a violin, beginning a long love for playing the violin and classical music in general. Today, I no longer perform but I love classical music with every ounce of my being. Thank you, Herr Pachelbel.


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## Judith (Nov 11, 2015)

Hi and welcome to TC. Always loved classical music as my father did, but just dipped in and out of it before taking it up seriously four years ago after a concert. Realised there is more to classical music than just listening. 
I find it difficult to find people to talk about it, but with the help of TC, not only do I discuss music with others but find I learn from them too.


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## Classicalinheart (Jun 21, 2018)

Thank you, everyone, for your replies! I tried replying before but somehow it appears that my reply was not uploaded or something. 

I am happy that this brought up the discussion! I really enjoyed reading your answers. 

From what I concluded there are really various ways someone can become a part of the classical music world and I really liked that many of you mentioned the movies and the cartoons. It was also something that I have noticed that I liked about them as a child. I didnt think of it much back then but thinking about it now, the music is an essential part of any movie or motion picture for that matter.


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## PeterFromLA (Jul 22, 2011)

Hearing Iannis Xenakis' Pithoprakta did it for me.

It was in a music class, and we were being instructed on the elements of conducting. So we went through Mozart, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky... pretty straightforward. But then our teacher asked us to practice conducting Pithoprakta. Well, that blew my mind, and within a month I was consuming as much modern music as I could find. It completely displaced my interest in popular music of all kinds for about 10 years, and even now, my interest in pop music is pretty dispassionate.

My passion now is strictly for modern classical music (and its predecessors to a lesser degree).


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## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

I grew up a stone's throw from Pachelbel Canyon in Utah . . . and the rest is history.


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## Rosie (Jul 4, 2016)

Hearing Mozart when I was 12, I think it was his 25th Symphony, I never turned back


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## Guest (Jun 24, 2018)

PeterFromLA said:


> Hearing Iannis Xenakis' Pithoprakta did it for me.
> 
> It was in a music class, and we were being instructed on the elements of conducting. So we went through Mozart, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky... pretty straightforward. But then our teacher asked us to practice conducting Pithoprakta. Well, that blew my mind, and within a month I was consuming as much modern music as I could find. It completely displaced my interest in popular music of all kinds for about 10 years, and even now, my interest in pop music is pretty dispassionate.
> 
> My passion now is strictly for modern classical music (and its predecessors to a lesser degree).


This is terrific.

I remember a few instances like this when I was 11 to 12 years old.

My primary school music teacher taught us a unit on 20th century classical music. One of the group projects that we did was to create and perform a piece of music that explores extended techniques and unusual instruments (there were also other projects where we looked at minimalism and other styles, minimalism and 'extended/experimental techniques' where the two I quite remember but not so much the other ones). In the introductory lesson, our teacher let us listen to Penderecki's _Threnody_ as one of the examples, which intrigued and fascinated me more than any other piece we listened to. It was a wonderful, enlightening experience; one of those experiences where I think to myself 'wow I had no idea music could sound this good!'

The following year my family was invited to a concert performed by students and staff of the Australian National Academy of Music where the brother of our then next door neighbour was the composer in residence that year. His name was Anthony Pateras, and a few of his compositions were featured in the concert, which was a general overview of experimental/modernist Australian music in the 20th and 21st centuries. Pateras' _Chromatophore_ for amplified string octet was my favourite piece on the programme. The concert itself was probably the biggest influence on my decision to take composition as a serious career path, which is what I am doing now.


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## Gordontrek (Jun 22, 2012)

My parents exposed me to classical music very early on and started me on piano lessons at age 5. I don't even remember _not_ hearing classical music. Their purpose was simply to give me something I could enjoy my whole life. The "cool" thing to do for years was/is to put your kids in sports, but they knew you can only play so many years before the body can't take anymore. So they put me in music, because I can play and enjoy it long after my football-playing years are over. 
They had no idea I would grab onto it and eventually decide to make a career of it. My favorites growing up were Tchaikovsky's ballet suites and symphonies, anything by Bach, and the minimalism of John Adams. I've also retained a soft spot for film music over the years. I discovered Jerry Goldsmith early on through the Star Trek and Total Recall soundtracks (no, my parents didn't let me watch that), and he remains my favorite Hollywood composer.


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## goatygoatygoatgoat (May 28, 2018)

Urban Strata said:


> Pachelbel's Canon did it for me. Seriously! But before you roll your eyes too hard...
> 
> Around age 6, my family was moving across the US, and my dad had two tapes in the car that we listened to over & over: Pachelbel's Canon (performed by the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, if I recall) and John Williams's soundtrack to "Raiders of the Lost Ark." Both fascinated my ears, especially the Pachelbel with which I fell in love. I had never before heard such beautiful harmonies.
> 
> A few years and many listenings to the Canon later, I asked my parents for a violin, beginning a long love for playing the violin and classical music in general. Today, I no longer perform but I love classical music with every ounce of my being. Thank you, Herr Pachelbel.


I think I heard Pachelbel's Canon in a TV commercial in 1980. I remember there were one or two commercials I would always watch (even though I _hated_ commercials) - just for the music.

I asked my parents for a violin when I was 8 years old. I asked my parents for a piano when I was 10 (and again when I was 12 and again at 14). I didn't get a damn thing. I remember the sadness at my 18th birthday when I realized that I was finally too old to be adopted.


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

Classicalinheart said:


> That is very interesting.. Having a change of heart. That is now the biggest proof to yourself that you are actually intersted in it for yourself
> How did you start learing a piano?


I was in elementary school, and my dad hired a piano teacher for me. We did have a piano in our home - no idea what type it was, and my parents aren't around to give me a clue.


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## Judas Priest Fan (Apr 27, 2018)

I am almost 53 years old and am/was a life long Rock and Metal guy. I never had anything against classical music, it just didn´t interest me. I did buy the OST from The Empire Strikes Back, when the movie came out though.

About 2 years ago, while channel flipping, I came across a guy playing a violin. I liked what I heard; he was jammin´ It was Vivaldi´s Four Seasons. I bought the CD from Ebay and cried like a baby through the first listen (and the second and third...). I had never heard such beauty!

Since that day, I listen to 95% classical and am immesnely enjoying it. I love Beethoven, Mozart, Dvorak, Borodin, Albinoni, Brahms, Bruckner, Haydn, Paganini !!!, Schubert, Schuhmann, Tchaikovsky and others


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## TwoFlutesOneTrumpet (Aug 31, 2011)

I started listening to classical in my early 20s. I had some exposure to it as a kid but didn't listen to it much; instead grew up listening to pop music in the 80s and also some classic rock and heavy metal. After getting bored with all the music I had known at the time, I decided to venture into something else and classical seemed like a good choice. Fell in love with it and have pretty much listened to classical almost exclusively for the last 25 years. When I "listen" to non-classical, it isn't really active listening the way I listen to classical music but more as background music, when I'm in the car or at the gym. I don't find the musical content of non-classical music (for the most part) interesting enough to hold my attention for long.


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## Eva Yojimbo (Jan 30, 2016)

I grew up in a pretty musical family--dad played drums, mom played piano, other family members played other instruments--so music was always a big part of my life, but I developed a real passion for it in my early teens. Though my passion was ignited by pop and rock, I quickly evolved beyond that as my appetite for new musical experiences was pretty voracious. I think my first experience with classical was with one of those multi-disc box-sets that I found at Best Buy or some such store. I listened to it and loved it. It wasn't too long after that I got a PC and access to the internet and with it came an increased exposure to all kinds of music I'd never heard. My love for classical blossomed along with my deepening exploration of pop/rock, jazz, and pretty much anything else that grabbed my attention. The movie Amadeus was also a big catalyst in sparking my interest for Mozart's music, and he became my first classical obsession, and still remains far-and-away my favorite composer.


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## Alkan (Jun 30, 2018)

1962, age 12. I went together with my father to see Lawrence of Arabia. I was blown away by Maurice Jarre's lush score. Asked for the recording as a Christmas gift, and my collection grew from there.


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## geralmar (Feb 15, 2013)

About age five and finally sick of playing "Squeegee the Clown" to death, I discovered my father's L.P. of Ravel's Bolero. Bolero was longer and there were "layers" of sound not heard in Squeegee. I retired the clown. At age nine I saw The 7th Voyage of Sinbad and was mesmerized by Bernard Herrmann's score. After using my allowance to buy the soundtrack L.P. I began looking for music like it in record stores. I thought I found what I was looking for when in a dime store I chanced on a cheap recording of Rimsky-Korsakoff's "Scheherazade". Upon listening I was sorely disappointed; but I was intrigued and eventually began exploring classical music in earnest.


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## Fredx2098 (Jun 24, 2018)

For as long as I can remember, I've been extremely open to all art. I grew up listening to The Beatles and famous classical music. I loved it. There was a short time as a brain-dead elementary school student where I listened to a small amount of pop music, but I quickly outgrew that. I was close friends with my art teacher back then, and he introduced me to progressive rock like Frank Zappa and King Crimson. In high school I made a group of "outcast" type friends, and we would listen to massive quantities of music from psychedelic rock to harsh noise to drone ambient to techno to classical to musique concrete to grindcore and everything in between and all around. Now it is the present, and I have 1187 artists on my computer from 74 broad genres, about 220 days worth of music. A good way to learn about the diverse styles of music is with the website RateYourMusic. People obviously rate music, and it gets compiled into a massive list of the top albums of all time based on the average rating and how many ratings it has, which you can make more specific by browsing through a hierarchy of all the different genres, subgenres, and styles. I would say there are only 3 kinds of music that I don't like as a whole: commercial pop music, country pop, and reggae. I'm a big fan of pretty much everything else.


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## fliege (Nov 7, 2017)

I dabbled briefly with classical about 15 years ago but mainly I listened to rock, heavy metal, harder rock music, then later on more acoustic stuff. I got back into classical when I was about 36 and slowly got sucked into the genre until it displaced everything else. I think I was on the look-out for something different. What's nice about classical is that it's obvious what is worth listening to, which is harder to do with popular music as it hasn't been filtered by time and most of it isn't worthwhile.


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## Simon Moon (Oct 10, 2013)

I tried for years to get into classical, by listening to recommendations from friends. I was always recommended Beethoven, Bach, Mozart, Vivaldi, etc. While, I could understand why others liked them, they just never really did much for me. I would even wonder why I didn't like them.

I am a huge fan of the *avant-garde* side of prog rock.

Bands like: Henry Cow, Thinking Plague, Aranis, Magma, Univers Zero, Art Zoyd, are heavily influenced by late 20th century and contemporary classical composers, but I never made the connection.

Finally, at a concert of Italian prog rock band, Deus ex Machina about 11 years ago, someone mentioned that I may like some of these composers (he gave me a list).

The next day, I went to a Amoeba and loaded up on a bunch of used CD's by Carter, Webern, Berg, Schoenberg, Schwantner, and a few others.

That was the start of my love for classical.


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## Rambler (Oct 20, 2017)

Apparently as a baby I would always listen attentively when my mother played classical music on the radio / gramophone. Brainwashed at an early age I had no time for popular music (which was something of a social problem in my teenage years). 

With a Classical CD collection of around 2,00 CD's I recently branched out (in my early sixties) and purchased the Anniversary Edition of Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band - my only 'rock' CD. My mother (in her mid eighties) was rather flabbergasted when she found out - I think she may be a touch disappointed in me!!!


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