# Your earliest experiences with classical



## jegreenwood (Dec 25, 2015)

I turned 65 several months ago, and that has triggered some reflections on my youth. Unlike some people on this forum, I did not become a classical aficionado at age 4, but I did have some exposure. My dad had a small classical collection. I recall being really frightened by "Night on Bare Mountain" (also confused as we lived near Bear Mountain by the Hudson River). I also recall listening to "The Sorcerer's Apprentice." I must have seen the Disney cartoon at some point as well (divorced from the rest of "Fantasia"). Most of all I recall dancing around our dining room table to Tchaikovsky's "Waltz of the Flowers."

At age 6, my parents started me on piano lessons. They didn't take, but my instructor gave me two classical albums: Scherchen conducting Haydn and Beethoven.









The opening theme from the 8th has been an earworm for me for nearly 60 years.









(That was the album cover image, but I could swear that the album included the "Surprise Symphony.")


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## beetzart (Dec 30, 2009)

Hearing the opening four bars of Beethoven's 5th in my head without consciously knowing how it got there. For a long time into my teens I thought I was born with those eight note already programmed into my mind. I don't think that anymore. After this it was Fur Elise and Moonlight Sonata which I listened to from the age of ten.


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## JAS (Mar 6, 2013)

My memory does not include a pre-classical music phase. (Presumably, I was not actively seeking out much music when I was an infant, but I don't really remember much about that time, even if there may be some people who claim to remember the trauma of being born.) Most of my memories about my involvement with classical music are little more than the evolution of the technologies I used to experience it. (It has always been the music of my choice. I never got into any of the pop/rock music of my peers.)


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

At the early age of 29 I started exploring classical music.

The scary part is that it is 31 years ago.....


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## Animal the Drummer (Nov 14, 2015)

My late mother used to relate how, one day when I was two, I began to cry after she turned the radio on to listen to classical music, as she frequently did. Surprised because I hadn't reacted that way before, she turned it off, only to find that I cried all the louder. She concluded that the first tears had been the result of my being moved by the music - I *think* it may have been Mendelssohn's "Italian" Symphony - so continued to listen regularly and, when I was five, she and my dad duly got me started on the piano, which I still play decades later (I still listen too, though less so in hot weather such as we're currently having, because I don't want to inflict my preferences on the neighbours and at the moment it's more important to have the windows open!).


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## PlaySalieri (Jun 3, 2012)

At school age 11 - we had a teacher (60 y/o) who brought in a portable LP player and played us 1812 overture.

But we grew up in a top of the pops household and it was at least a decade before I began to notice classical music.


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## Totenfeier (Mar 11, 2016)

I can't exactly say when I was first exposed to Disney's original 1940 _Fantasia_, but I do remember feeling very sad for the dinosaurs as they all died to the _Rite of Spring_.

I also remember that my parents bought a compilation LP of short classical pieces for kids, about which I remember two things: first, I was really impressed by the "Marcia alla turca" by Beethoven (yes, Beethoven, not the Mozart one), and that my kid brother and myself used to frequently put on Grieg's "In the Hall of the Mountain King" and slowly creep around our bedroom, tiptoeing, and then of course getting faster and louder until we were leaping around shrieking at the climax. I think that we got so violent that we occasionally knocked the needle out of the groove and had to start over.


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## JeffD (May 8, 2017)

My father was adamant that we would become what we fill ourselves with. "Fill your mind up with garbage and you will become a piece of garbage." By that he meant music, literature, everything. Lots of objectively great music in my house growing up. No comic books allowed.

Later, as I grew up and my tastes started to diverge, (loving the band Renaissance, for example, or any long play FM album/opera rock) my dad would comment, more accurately than not: "kind of repetitive don't you think".


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## JeffD (May 8, 2017)

jegreenwood said:


> The opening theme from the 8th has been an earworm for me for nearly 60 years.


A great earworm to have. I mean, if you have to have an earworm, you could do a lot worse.


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## Agamemnon (May 1, 2017)

I haven't been brought up in an environment where classical music ever was played. But as you might know I come from the Netherlands and all children in the Netherlands know and love (at least) one piece of classical music: in the biggest themepark of the Netherlands which all children visit at least once, The Efteling (some Dutch Disney World), Saint-Saens's Danse Macabre is played in the Haunted House. I guess this was for me the first classical music I heard and immediately loved. And like pianist Lang Lang I guess I heard and liked the classical music which was heard in Tom & Jerry cartoons when I was a child. Later I heard and learned to play some classical music when I started to learn playing the guitar (I can play Bach's Menuet on the guitar!). And I remember I was overwhelmed by the music in the movie Amadeus. I guess that movie was the reason I got a recording of Mozart's 20th Piano Concerto (besides all my punk and metal albums) which blew me away so I begged and begged my parents to buy me a piano so I could learn to play this piano concerto myself...


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## Jacred (Jan 14, 2017)

I started piano lessons at the age of six and that was when I started being exposed to classical music. Exposed, I say, because the music I heard/played just sort of flew over my head. My parents did not have any musical background, so we rarely talked about classical music and certainly never attended any concerts.

I do not know exactly when it clicked for me, but some time in my early teens, I became disillusioned with the pop music my peers liked and found classical music to be a more welcoming refuge. Like Totenfeier, "In the Hall of the Mountain King" was one of the first pieces I got into. That and Chopin's "Revolutionary Etude" and a couple of Beethoven's symphonies.


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## Klassik (Mar 14, 2017)

My father was a big classical music fan. Classical music was on at the house quite frequently in my youth. I wasn't a big music fan at the time so I can't really remember what he played most frequently. I can only assume that Mozart was his favorite composer since he had more recordings of his than any others, but he also had the Beethoven symphonies, a number of Haydn recordings, Liszt, Bach, Tchaikovsky, Brahms, and so forth. I can only assume that he wasn't a big fan of 20th century classical music because he had very, very few recordings of 20th century music outside of a few samplers.


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## Sina (Aug 3, 2012)

My father has always been in love with classical music since his young adulthood so my first experience must have been when I was too young to remember. But the oldest memory I can trust in my mind is headbanging with Beethoven's Fifth (and it was more than a decade later that I found what I used to do has actually a word in Metal terminology!). My brother was also a classical violin student in those early years so I was pretty lucky since there was never a concert or radio option because Western music was _almost_ banned in my country. But it was not until some five years ago that I personally started to seriously explore classical music right up until now.


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## Tallisman (May 7, 2017)

I think listening to Purcell's Funeral Music for Queen Mary in music class at school really got me. It was very loud and very overpowering and unlike anything I'd associated with classical before.


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## Judith (Nov 11, 2015)

Was told I was humming Tchaikovsky 6th symphony (Pathetique) when I was six years old. 

My father loved classical music so was brought up with it. Dipped in and out for years and took it up seriously three and a half years ago and not looked back!


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Klassik said:


> My father was a big classical music fan. Classical music was on at the house quite frequently in my youth. I wasn't a big music fan at the time so I can't really remember what he played most frequently. I can only assume that Mozart was his favorite composer since he had more recordings of his than any others, but he also had the Beethoven symphonies, a number of Haydn recordings, Liszt, Bach, Tchaikovsky, Brahms, and so forth. I can only assume that he wasn't a big fan of 20th century classical music because he had very, very few recordings of 20th century music outside of a few samplers.


Same with me. Eating dinner together on Sunday night, my dad always had the radio tuned to WQXR, the well-known commercial classical music station in NYC.


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## apricissimus (May 15, 2013)

I had close to zero exposure to classical music until I was in college, in my early 20's (except for what I heard in television commercials and movies). I always find it amazing when I hear about young people enjoying classical music, or when people say that their parents exposed them to it. That's not my experience at all, and I don't think I knew another person who enjoyed classical music until I was well into adulthood.

When I was in college I started to get tired of the same old music I had been listening to, and I had met some people who were into prog-rock and jazz, so I started to branch out into those areas. I bought some classical CD's too, because I thought I should, but I honestly don't remember what it was I bought. It obviously didn't make a big impression.

My _real_ introduction to classical music came in my senior year of college. My Greek professor took us all to the Tsai Performance Hall (at Boston University, where I went to school) to see Yevgeny Yevtishenko recite some of his poetry. It had nothing to do with our Greek class, but he thought it was an experience we should all have (though he didn't require that we go). It was pretty impressive to me.

He was in town because some orchestra (I forget which now) was performing Shostakovich's 13th symphony later in the week, which is based on some of his poetry. I went to that concert too since his readings made such in impression on me. It was at Symphony Hall (in Boston), and I had better seats than I'll ever have again. (There was some kind of arrangement where a certain amount of seats were reserved for students.)

The performance blew me away, and Shostakovich's 13th symphony is still one of my favorite pieces. That was the first time a piece of classical music made a big impression on me. I was either 22 or 23 years old.

I'm 38 now, and I sort of split my listening time between jazz, improvised music that comes out of the jazz tradition, blues, old R&B, and of course classical music. I get into phases where I'll be really into one type of music for a year or two, then move on to something else. Eventually I'll cycle back around.

I'm not as knowledgeable as most people here, but I do consider classical music to be important to me.


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## GP3 (Jun 24, 2017)

*Piano*

As a kid, I enjoyed classical whenever I heard it, like when Liberace was on t.v. in the '50's, or I could play 33 1/3 records at the public library. I played a few instruments, accordian, guitar, fiddle, and an old hammond organ. Got rehooked up with classical music in my late twenties, been listening ever since, along with other music like salso, flamenco, as well as some other ethnic music.


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## Bettina (Sep 29, 2016)

I grew up hearing classical music - my parents are obsessed with it. I went through a "rebellious phase" in my teenage years, when I listened to a lot of pop music and even country music.  But classical music has always remained my #1 passion!


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Bettina said:


> I grew up hearing classical music - my parents are obsessed with it. I went through a "rebellious phase" in my teenage years, when I listened to a lot of pop music and even country music.  But classical music has always remained my #1 passion!


*Country* music. That explains a lot!!!


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## Klassik (Mar 14, 2017)

Bettina said:


> I grew up hearing classical music - my parents are obsessed with it. I went through a "rebellious phase" in my teenage years, when I listened to a lot of pop music and even country music.  *But classical music has always remained my #1 passion!*


Are you sure about that? :devil:


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## Bettina (Sep 29, 2016)

Klassik said:


> Are you sure about that? :devil:


Maybe not in an erotic sense (Vince Gill and Neil Diamond used to turn me on more than any classical composer/performer). But in a spiritual and intellectual sense, yes, definitely! Even throughout my teenage years, when my libidinal energies were wrapped up in country music, I continued to love hearing and playing classical music as well.


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

I began piano lessons around age 3 or 4, but my first real connection with Classical Music was thanks to Michael Jackson and his song "Will You Be There" from his Dangerous album that featured an excerpt from Beethoven's 9th. 

I was at my cousin's house in Canada, and played the song from MJ's album, and lit incense in the prayer room, and had a small spiritual experience. 

My cousin just went along with me, but it was all my vision and idea! I think my aunt got mad at me for using too many religious ceremonial supplies during this, which was a poor decision of hers because I was showing a genuine interest in both music and spirituality!

Also, it wasn't until much later that I realized it was Beethoven at the beginning of the song!

:tiphat:


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## Minor Sixthist (Apr 21, 2017)

I had this toy as a little kid that was shaped like a gumball machine, with a bunch of buttons on it shaped like gumballs. I don't remember if it was alphabet - might've been - but all I know is that each gumball played a little tune, and that one of those tunes was Dance of the Sugarplum Fairy from The Nutcracker, and the little pixel animation that showed up on the tiny screen was a fairy.

Now I feel like the Swan Lake theme was there too... I wish the memory wasn't so vague.

On top of that, now I'm remembering watching The Nutcracker in music class in first or second grade. 

My parents tell me that when my grandpa stayed at our house when I was a baby, like 1 or 2, I would bounce in my crib when he played Beethoven on this huge clunky stereo we used to have before sound systems got more modernized. Good times.


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## Klassik (Mar 14, 2017)

Minor Sixthist said:


> My parents tell me that when my grandpa stayed at our house when I was a baby, like 1 or 2, I would bounce in my crib when he played Beethoven* on this huge clunky stereo we used to have before sound systems got more modernized.* Good times.


Hey! I like huge clunky stereos! Les Toreadors sounds terrific on my huge clunky stereo. You better respect it if you want to see the bullfighter! :devil:


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## Tristan (Jan 5, 2013)

I've shared this many times before:

I grew up with classical. It was the first music I listened to (other than I suppose, music intended for toddlers). I remember listening to opera CDs when I was 4. I've loved it ever since. But I do think that, although I loved it from the get-go, when I listened to and was blown away by Rimsky-Korsakov's _Russian Easter Overture_ at age 8, I knew that it would always be my favorite genre of music. Listening to that showed me just what classical could be, that it was something truly amazing.


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## Minor Sixthist (Apr 21, 2017)

Klassik said:


> Hey! I like huge clunky stereos! Les Toreadors sounds terrific on my huge clunky stereo. You better respect it if you want to see the bullfighter! :devil:


I have infinite respect for it! Every piece of modern technology is a result of the genius of technology that came before it, just like all the humans who have lived owe their successes to the parents who birthed them and the community who raised them. We're all just products of our forebears. I hope I still have the respect of Les Toreador, as well as that of my love interest, Monsieur Alexandre Cesar Leopold Georges Bizet.


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## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

My mother sang in the church choir. As we were Lutheran, there was a lot of Bach. When I really began to explore classical music on my own... around age 16... I had no problem with classical vocal music... unlike many lovers of classical music that I have known over the years.

Beyond this... there were those classic Looney Tunes cartoons with music from Liszt, Chopin, Wagner, Rossini and others.

The only classical record that I remember my parents owning was this:










Of course, I might have remembered only this record because of the slightly risque cover. :lol:


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## Melvin (Mar 25, 2011)

Peter and the Wolf


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## jegreenwood (Dec 25, 2015)

StlukesguildOhio said:


> My mother sang in the church choir. As we were Lutheran, there was a lot of Bach. When I really began to explore classical music on my own... around age 16... I had no problem with classical vocal music... unlike many lovers of classical music that I have known over the years.
> 
> Beyond this... there were those classic Looney Tunes cartoons with music from Liszt, Chopin, Wagner, Rossini and others.
> 
> ...


These days, that's considered one of the greatest audiophile recordings.


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## classfolkphile (Jun 25, 2017)

StlukesguildOhio said:


> My mother sang in the church choir. As we were Lutheran, there was a lot of Bach. When I really began to explore classical music on my own... around age 16... I had no problem with classical vocal music... unlike many lovers of classical music that I have known over the years.
> 
> Beyond this... there were those classic Looney Tunes cartoons with music from Liszt, Chopin, Wagner, Rossini and others.
> 
> ...


My parents had that too, along with a few other Pops albums of various sources and an old 78 set of "La Boheme" (they had gone to see it on one of their early dates). There wasn't much classical, or really any other, type of music in the house however. The radio would be on to some standards stations at times and there was some classical music on tv in the fifties and sixties. My parents liked music but it wasn't a big part of their life.

I, of course, loved Fantasia and the Looney Tunes cartoons and music in general but I wasn't in an environment where there was access to much classical music. Although a year older friend and his mother took me to a Bernstein "Young Person's Concerts" (?) rehearsal when I was about 11. I loved it but was also put off by some heavier classical music I occasionally came across on the radio. Then came folk and rock and I didn't get into classical until college. And it was still only an occasional listen - particularly as I got fed up with the hassle/distraction of poor quality LPs in the late '70s - until the late '80s.


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## Daniel Atkinson (Dec 31, 2016)

Playing piano as a child, all the (simpler) staples from Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Bartok and some ragtime. I decided by the time I was 11, that being a musician wasn't what my goal in life was, so it's only a hobby but the music has stayed with me all these years. When I was a teenager in the late 50s, I got really into the 20th century like Webern, Stravinsky, Stockhausen, Schoenberg and some other composer I forget who where in their prime at that time. Since then I became absorbed in jazz and psychedelic rock. But those are my earliest experiences. 


I mentioned somewhere else here about my affinity for Bach. A selection of Bach cantatas where the only music I brought with me when I went travelling at the age of about 23/24. Whenever I hear those cantatas, I do not think about anything remotely religious but in fact, walking for miles on end, seeing beautiful landscapes, meeting lovely woman (before I was married), going to carnivals, staying in hotels etc. it was a wonderful time in my formative years. 




Daniel


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## rspader (May 14, 2014)

Animal the Drummer said:


> (I still listen too, though less so in hot weather such as we're currently having, because I don't want to inflict my preferences on the neighbours and at the moment it's more important to have the windows open!).


If I have to listen to the neighbors lawn mowers and leaf blowers in the morning, they can listen to Mahler in the afternoon. 

To stay on topic: I started listening to classical music when CDs came along. It really bothered me to have to flip an LP over in the middle of a symphony. For about 30 years, I had about 100 classical CDs. I started expanding my collection a few years ago as large quantities of CDs stared showing up in thrift stores.


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