# How did you find Talk Classical?



## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Saw this on another site.

We all have a story about how we discovered our community.

Maybe you stumbled upon this forum by chance or maybe you were actively looking for others that shared your interest and passion for music.

Did someone point you in the right direction? Who and what led you here? We’d love to hear how you found Talk Classical.

Thank you for being part of this community!


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

About 15 years ago I was a member of three music discussion sites, one for prog, one for classic rock, and one for classical music. The last one was the Magle music forum. After about 2 years there, someone mentioned Magle's other site, Talk Classical, stating that it had a much livelier membership. So I checked, liked it, and became a member here. Fot the past ten years or so, this has become the only music forum I frequent.


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## HenryPenfold (Apr 29, 2018)

I was a member of another classical music forum and a few rock forums around 2012. On these forums, mention was made of Talk Classical and so one day in 2014 I looked in and joined (under a different name). I think I made about 2 posts and that was it until I revisited in 2018 with my current name. A rather boring story to my joining the forum. 🙃


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

I was in another classical music forum where the moderator was so in love with Handel that he was almost abusive toward anyone who didn't agree with him. After a while, I had enough. One of the senior members mentioned TalkClassical, so I switched over. I've been here ever since.


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

There was a link on another site oriented toward hi-fi and especially headphone users. I like this site, but it seems to be getting stagnant. Same people day in and day out. Too many Lists. Maybe too many threads?


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## BBSVK (10 mo ago)

I was obsessing about one opera or the other, googling stuff, and unusual word combinations often led me here. So this site has probably a very good search engine optimization, but people also discuss stuff which is missing on the internet elsewhere. One example I can recall was googling soprano sfogato in connection with Norma.


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

It's likely I searched for classical music sites, and TC was one of the results. To be honest, I didn't particularly enjoy the site and was thinking of leaving. Then I decided to give game running a try, and the rest is history.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

I believe it was the result of a classical music related internet search but I don't remember exactly.


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## Merl (Jul 28, 2016)

Someone on one the old Google groups (god those were awful places, full of draconian shellacophiles) mentioned this place. I was really busy helping an acquaintance from one of those groups on his online blog but joined under another name (like Henry), probably around 8 or 9 years ago, so I sat back and observed for a few years, rarely commenting. However, I forgot my username so just contributed as a 'guest' for a few months before finally joining in fully just after that.


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## haydnguy (Oct 13, 2008)

I heard about it on another (now defunct) classical forum and decided to try it out. I have gone away and come back a couple of times but really like it.


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## Xisten267 (Sep 2, 2018)

By 2018 and before I was always making Google searches related to classical music and ending up here, so I decided to join. The facts that here there are so many enthusiasts of classical music like me and that I know basically none outside of the internet and inside of my social circles that really enjoys it was also a factor.


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## znapschatz (Feb 28, 2016)

Art Rock said:


> Saw this on another site.
> 
> We all have a story about how we discovered our community.
> 
> ...


Years ago, I was a member of this group, but largely for the political discussions. For some reason, I was drawn away to other conversations, but by the time I returned, it was another format, so I dropped out. Lately, I have come back, only to discover the whole thing is reformatted, and I had quite a time reorienting myself, but I have found my legs and am back. I enjoy all formats, so here I am. Good wishes to you all.


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## Highwayman (Jul 16, 2018)

I was a lurker for a year or two mostly checking the "Composer Guestbooks" and "Best recordings of x" type of threads from time to time. Eventually I decided to become a member after I`ve found the "Polls & Games" sub-forum and I`ve been a staunch participant ever since.


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## Philidor (11 mo ago)

I remember that some years ago I was looking for recommendations on recordings of some work via Google. One of the links led to TC, and year by year I was reading here. This year I decided to join.


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## Malx (Jun 18, 2017)

My first venture into any on-line forum was the Amazon CM music section tagged onto their website. I then looked around at specialist CM sites including this one, frankly, initially concluding I'd be out of my depth given the musical knowledge of many contributors. So I lurked for a good while and when Amazon decided to close their forums down I jumped in on the basis that I'll contribute where I can and read, listen learn from those with more knowledge than I.
Whilst still learning from knowledgable posters, I retain one major frustration - the lack of technical knowledge to describe adequately in words what I hear in my head - but on the whole for me this remains a great place to spend time.


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## Chilham (Jun 18, 2020)

Google searches for information on classical music repeatedly brought me to TC. The Current Listening thread provided some great inspiration. I followed Science’s listing thread for a while, before I created my own. Pianozach’s Beginners thread, the Saturday Symphony, SQotW, and some game threads continue to provide inspiration and opportunities to learn.


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## Chilham (Jun 18, 2020)

Malx said:


> Whist still learning from knowledgable posters, I retain one major frustration - the lack of technical knowledge to describe adequately in words what I hear in my head - but on the whole for me this remains a great place to spend time.


This.


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## EdwardBast (Nov 25, 2013)

I really don't remember. Best guess is that it was mentioned on or a link was posted to an online literature forum(?)


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## Nate Miller (Oct 24, 2016)

Me? I thought this was a classic car forum. It was only after the fella at the auto parts store told me "Brahms" wasn't a parts manufacturer that I realized my mistake


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## pianozach (May 21, 2018)

How did I find *Talk Classical*?

Well, to be honest, I find it to be occasionally pretentious, although in a friendly sort of way.


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## pianozach (May 21, 2018)

Nate Miller said:


> Me? I thought this was a classic car forum. It was only after the fella at the auto parts store told me "Brahms" wasn't a parts manufacturer that I realized my mistake


*Mechanic*: _ "I'm sorry, but your Brahms is leaking, and your Paganini is about to blow. It'll run you about $80 in parts, but the labor is gonna be $220. While we're at it, ya want me to replace your Gershwin flappers?"_


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## Shaughnessy (Dec 31, 2020)

Deleted - GIF in original post is now a broken link - Must have been pulled by content provider as a replacement is no longer available 

Change answer to "Lured here in dreams of attaining stardom"


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## Kjetil Heggelund (Jan 4, 2016)

Isn't this an idea for a stupid thread? I recognize that guy!


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

pianozach said:


> How did I find *Talk Classical*?
> 
> Well, to be honest, I find it to be occasionally pretentious, although in a friendly sort of way.


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## Waehnen (Oct 31, 2021)

Over the years I often googled for music. I had many rather specific questions and quite often there was a thread on TC on my question already. For some years I just read the threads on what I wanted to know, not regularly, though.

One year ago I kinda admitted to myself that classical and modern concert music is the dearest genre to me. First of all, I want to listen to it the most -- and secondly I decided to concentrate on modern concert art music also as a composer. It was a decision that had naturally evolved in me.

None of my friends actually listen to this music as much as I do, so ever since my studies I have not really been able to talk with equals or more knowledgable people than myself on classical music.

Talk Classical fixed that!

What has also surprised me is that I am not the only one who also has background in rock and progressive rock -- whilst at the same time having been deeply rooted in the classical and modern repertoire. In all the progressive rock bands I´ve been to, I kind of felt like needing to explain that actually I love classical music above everything else.

There are people with similar paths here. And it feels good! There is nothing wrong with me! I am not so weird after all!


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## Nate Miller (Oct 24, 2016)

Waehnen said:


> What has also surprised me is that I am not the only one who also has background in rock and progressive rock -- whilst at the same having been deeply rooted in the classical and modern repertoire. In all the progressive rock bands I´ve been to, I kind of felt like needing to explain that actually I love classical music above everything else.


that is not uncommon. Especially progressive rock. Speaking as someone who plays alot of styles of music, progressive rock really is similar to playing classical music. 

"Rock" rock like the Rolling Stones and all that is more improvised, the idiomatic licks are more blues based, and the tune's form repeats so that you can take a solo on a whole chorus if you want. The Grateful Dead are a great example.

Progressive rock usually has a more complicated forms, sometimes it may even be through-composed. there's more of an arrangement to the parts, too.

so this isn't our grand-dad's classical music anymore. It used to be that classical music listeners hated rock, but that was because they were already 42 years old when Bill Haley and the Comets put out "Rock Around the Clock" and rock music was never a part of thier life. Things are different now. All the old hippies that were listening to rock in the sixties are now well into their own sixties and their tastes have changed and they have the money now for nice audio equipment.


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## Kjetil Heggelund (Jan 4, 2016)

You guys are so weird! I mean it <3


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## Waehnen (Oct 31, 2021)

Nate Miller said:


> Progressive rock usually has a more complicated forms, sometimes it may even be through-composed. there's more of an arrangement to the parts, too.


Precisely! I used to thorough compose for the progressive rock bands. Everyone had their parts printed out, but of course some freedoms as well, in order to make it idiomatic for the players' style.

Before progressive rock I composed art music -- and rock was another thing, a hobby. When I joined my first progressive rock band, I realised that I could somewhat mold the two musical worlds together. It was wonderful at the time.

(I ALMOST posted a youtube link behind which there is my first thorough composed progressive rock piece, through which I for the first time molded the two worlds together, 15 years ago.)


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## eljr (Aug 8, 2015)

Internet search brought me here. I was searching for knowledge of classical music. I feel I found a treasure trove of it here. 
A pleasant surprise was the general intellectual awareness I have found here outside of classical music.


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## jegreenwood (Dec 25, 2015)

Got angry when several of my posts on a classical thread at the Hoffman Forum were deleted. After five years I returned there, but I remain her as well.


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## Tarneem (Jan 3, 2022)

I Googled "Classical music forum", talk classical is the first option that appeared to me


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## FrankE (Jan 13, 2021)

How did I find it?
I Duck Duck Goed for a classical [s.l.] forum because I had been building my collection on recommendation lists from Radio 3 and the music magazines and still had no idea which articular recordings an pressings were considered 'best., despite building a database to collate results and find concurrence.
I think I had visited a few times looking for "best <name of work> by <composer name>

How do I find it?
It's OK. Lots learned from people far more knowledgeable.
The number of banned users is quite troubling.


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## Artran (Sep 16, 2016)

Google.


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## mmsbls (Mar 6, 2011)

I was frustrated by my seeming inability to enjoy modern and contemporary classical music. I searched for classical music sites to see if the members could suggest strategies to overcome this inability. I found several and joined a few. TC seemed to be the most vibrant and interesting so I stayed here and dropped the others. I am quite happy with the help I received from others.

I had never joined a forum of any kind before, and TC remains the only forum I use.


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## pianozach (May 21, 2018)

FrankE said:


> The number of banned users is quite troubling.


I'm just curious, and want answers to questions like this. There will be no answer though, as it's the Mods' guideline to keep bans a "private" issue, which makes sense.

I'd wager that it's most likely that folks were banned for *Spamming*, and for *personal attacks* in threads where the conversation got a bit too heated.

In the past six years there may have been folks banned for dragging politics into the conversation. It's also possible that there were folks banned for evangelicism


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## Merl (Jul 28, 2016)

pianozach said:


> I'm just curious, and want answers to questions like this. There will be no answer though, as it's the Mods' guideline to keep bans a "private" issue, which makes sense.
> 
> I'd wager that it's most likely that folks were banned for *Spamming*, and for *personal attacks* in threads where the conversation got a bit too heated.
> 
> In the past six years there may have been folks banned for dragging politics into the conversation. It's also possible that there were folks banned for evangelicism


And some just got banned cos they're @ssholes.


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

FrankE said:


> How do I find it?
> It's OK. Lots learned from people far more knowledgeable.
> The number of banned users is quite troubling.


I'm not aware of any banned user who didn't deserve it.


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## Forster (Apr 22, 2021)

I was searching t'internet for the answer to a question about Beethoven - I can't remember what it was - and found TC in the results. Not inexperienced in being on internet forums, I just joined and plunged in (different username at the time). I've "found" TC very useful, enlarging my knowledge of CM, and I've enjoyed (most of) the various debates I've joined in over the past 10 years.


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## ScottK (Dec 23, 2021)

I like opera but I love Carlo Bergonzi! So I’d troll google for Carlo Bergonzi entries and low and behold I found a contest comparing Bergonzi to Gigli in E Lucevan le Stelle I voted, made an observation, and found I’d stepped through a looking glass into a land where the Cheshire cat was replaced by a Wood Duck and the queen of spades would be no match for the delightful and knowledgeable kingdom of queens I now found myself in, with no desire to leave!


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## Hogwash (5 mo ago)

I was searching the internet for information on Holst's the Planets before I was going to be listening to a concert performance. Stumbled upon the (see pasted below) discussion thread on the subject and the rest is history. FWIW: my avatar on this site is copied from a image found in the thread. 









Best recording of The Planets?


Being a big Holst fan, I am, of course, also a crazy for his famous suite The Planets. Like many "warhorses," there are myriad recordings of this work in the catalogue, but which is the best? I put forth 4 recordings which I think could compete for supremecy: Dutoit/Montreal, Levine/Chicago...




www.talkclassical.com


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## Tristan (Jan 5, 2013)

I think I just searched "classical music forum" in Google when I was in high school. I'd been a classical music fan since I was a little kid, but it was around this age when not knowing anyone else who was interested in it was starting to really bother me. I wanted to get to know people who had the same passion for it that I do.


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## KlassikerDronning (3 mo ago)

Art Rock said:


> Saw this on another site.
> 
> We all have a story about how we discovered our community.
> 
> ...


I typed in "classical music forum" on Google.
It was the first site that popped up.


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## RMinNJ (Apr 3, 2021)

Because of this post. A couple of years ago I discovered and fell in love with Schubert's String Quintet and Googled everything I could find about it. This post came up in my search and it seemed to explain exactly why I loved it in both a profound and simple way. I even took a picture of it  Not sure who wrote it, but I thank you for leading me here!


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

RMinNJ said:


> Not sure who wrote it, but I thank you for leading me here!


All credits to member @Avey:









Schubert's String Quintet in C, D.956


I've just discovered this terrifyingly beautiful work. The only version I know so far is one on Youtube, so does anybody have a favourite recording I should hear?




www.talkclassical.com


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## Waehnen (Oct 31, 2021)

Now that an individual thread was brought up, I remembered the thread I used to read quite often before joining!









All of Brahms's chamber music RANKED


Brahms's chamber music is the most satisfying 'cycle' in all of music. Forget Beethoven's sonatas; forget Mahler's symphonies; forget Haydn's baryton trios. Did you know Brahms wrote 24 major chamber compositions between 1854 and 1894? Well I thought I would rank them all according to the...




www.talkclassical.com


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## RMinNJ (Apr 3, 2021)

Waehnen said:


> Now that an individual thread was brought up, I remembered the thread I used to read quite often before joining!
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Ohh I need to read that one too, love Brahms's chamber music. Currently can't stop listening to his Piano Quartet in G Minor, plus Schoenberg's arrangement for orchestra--love both so much!!


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## Luchesi (Mar 15, 2013)

mmsbls said:


> I was frustrated by my seeming inability to enjoy modern and contemporary classical music. I searched for classical music sites to see if the members could suggest strategies to overcome this inability. I found several and joined a few. TC seemed to be the most vibrant and interesting so I stayed here and dropped the others. I am quite happy with the help I received from others.
> 
> I had never joined a forum of any kind before, and TC remains the only forum I use.


Did you get answers here for the journey into modern music appreciation? We need to share specific steps. 

Do you think a new listener can progress without a deep appreciation for the music of a century earlier? I don't know. It seems like a difficult problem.


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## mmsbls (Mar 6, 2011)

Luchesi said:


> Did you get answers here for the journey into modern music appreciation? We need to share specific steps.
> 
> Do you think a new listener can progress without a deep appreciation for the music of a century earlier? I don't know. It seems like a difficult problem.


Many people did suggest strategies for learning to like modern music. Many suggested a path through various composers starting with those beginning to stretch tonality up through serial composers. I think there were two general comments that helped the most. Many said they had great difficulty as well and the process took a long time to learn to like much modern music. The other comment sounds obvious, but ultimately, was the most useful. People said I had to learn to listen to different aspects of the music. I shouldn't listen expecting to hear what I loved in earlier music. That actually took me a long time to slowly become open to hearing the "new" sounds. 

I'm not sure how to answer your second question. Are you asking if someone who does not love CPT music can learn to like modern/contemporary music? I think the answer is yes, but it may be more difficult. On the other hand several people at TC have said they first loved modern music before liking earlier music (or never really liking it). Those people came from an appreciation of progressive rock.


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