# People who came to classical from other genres



## Dedalus (Jun 27, 2014)

I myself use to be a big rock and metalhead, specifically progressive rock and metal. I was wondering how many others out there found their way to classical, as I did, from other genres, and how their journey took place. For me it was just a moment of being curious about classical music, finding this forum, and listening to certain things that really captured my interest. Initially it was Mahler, but Beethoven, Mozart, Bruckner, Schoenberg, and many others were to follow. Anyway, I'm curious to hear stories of people who came from non-classical music backgrounds, but ended up being very enthusiastic about classical music.


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## Dim7 (Apr 24, 2009)

Neoclassical metal and "shred" got me interested in baroque (and Paganini). Also as I dabbled in composition (mostly not proper compositions, just little "experiments") and learned music theory I got interested in all kinds of harmonic/melodic/structural/etc. possibilities that were explored pretty much only in classical.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

Sorry, but I actually went the opposite direction, starting out liking classical in my preteens because of the movie 2001: a space odyssey. I didn't "discover" rock and metal until much later and that was through progressive rock which is very much linked to classical, often directly borrowing from classical. 

So it works both directions. I'm glad to have grown in either direction.


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## HaydnBearstheClock (Jul 6, 2013)

Dedalus said:


> I myself use to be a big rock and metalhead, specifically progressive rock and metal. I was wondering how many others out there found their way to classical, as I did, from other genres, and how their journey took place. For me it was just a moment of being curious about classical music, finding this forum, and listening to certain things that really captured my interest. Initially it was Mahler, but Beethoven, Mozart, Bruckner, Schoenberg, and many others were to follow. Anyway, I'm curious to hear stories of people who came from non-classical music backgrounds, but ended up being very enthusiastic about classical music.


Same here, came to classical from metal and rock music. Vivaldi's Four Seasons were important here .


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## GreenMamba (Oct 14, 2012)

I came from Rock, which I still like. I was never into Prog Rock or Metal or anything that others considered similar to Classical in certain ways. There was no "bridge" music for me.

Instead, I came to Classical through an ecumenicalism of sorts. During my 20s, I also started listening to Jazz, Country, Rap, and a few other genres. Given how highly regarded Classical is, there was no way I wasn't going to give it a chance. Also, I just enjoy the process of "getting into" new things.


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## EdwardBast (Nov 25, 2013)

I got lots of exposure to classical, especially Russian, music at a very young age. I got into rock in my early teens but quickly gravitated to music (e.g., King Crimson, Weather Report, Soft Machine, Henry Cow, Oregon) that was closer to my classical roots. In my late teens this interest led me to take up classical music fully once again. Guess that makes my path more like Weston's?


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

My early musical roots were rock. I dabbled in classical in my early 20s and then was more or less not into music at all until my early 50s when I spent about two years listening to my favorite guitarist, Johnny Winter, exclusive of any other music (it worked because I had about 100+ CDs of albums and concerts). One day about August 2011 I saw a cheesy classical disk (one of those best of type disks) in the dollar store and grabbed it because it had a piece that I had liked. From that moment onward I have spent 95%+ of my time listening to classical.


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## Stirling (Nov 18, 2015)

I was into AOR from 15 to 25, all before and after the time I was in the classical. my hope was that classic rock would move in the direction that classical through - Yes, Genesis etc. when it did not, stop composing rock and went back to composing classical music, though of course different from any of the ones who came before.


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## TradeMark (Mar 12, 2015)

I came from a similar background as you, I used to listen to a lot of prog rock and some 60's rock as well. I eventually decided to start exploring classical music out of pure curiosity. After listening to different pieces from different eras, I started to realize that I liked classical music a lot more than prog rock. Now I hardly ever listen to prog rock or any rock music anymore. It kind of makes sense because I never really felt like a rock music fan at heart.


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## Simon Moon (Oct 10, 2013)

Count me as another that came from prog rock.

But it wasn't the well known bands (YES, Genesis, KC, PFM, etc) and "symphonic" style of prog that lead me to classical. It was the bands more on the avant garde side that lead me to classical.

Bands like Thinking Plague, Henry Cow, Zamla Mammas Manna, 5UUs, Universe Zero, Art Zoyd, Aranis, etc, that were/are very influenced by mid to late 20th century (avant garde) and contemporary classical composers.

As Progarchives.com states it on their pages dedicated to these types of bands:

"Avant-prog is generally considered to be more extreme and 'difficult' than other forms of progressive rock, though these terms are naturally subjective and open to interpretation. Common elements that may or may not be displayed by specific avant-prog artists include:

- Regular use of dissonance and atonality.
- Extremely complex and unpredictable song arrangements.
- Free or experimental improvisation.
- Fusion of disparate musical genres.
- Polyrhythms and highly complex time signatures."

[I will add, use of 12 tone technique]

My listening habits are pretty equally divided between prog, 20th century and contemporary classical and to a slightly lesser extent, jazz and fusion.

I have not lost my interest in prog, because avant-prog pushes pretty much the same buttons that the classical that I listen to pushes.


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## Xaltotun (Sep 3, 2010)

I originally came from old underground metal; as hard and simple as possible. I was a hardcore metal fan for, uh, 13 years? Bands like Venom, Bathory, Sodom, Hellhammer, Sarcofago etc. Pure instinct and rage. Then I went into this neo-folk thing, Current 93 and Death in June and other experimental but simple and minimalistic bands. I was never into complex music. One can say I wasn't much into _music_ as such; I was into expression. Then came classical music and that's where I am now. I may have a jazz or prog album or two in my collection, but those have never been my thing.

I'm still very much into expression in music, but I've learned also to love music as a thing that communicates purely musical ideas.


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

Being extremely old (born pre-WW2), my earliest memories are of classical music and Big Band music, then Tin Pan Alley. Since I am older than the explosion of "rock and roll" itself in the mid-1950s, I came to rock as it came to Planet Earth with my background in classical already in place. And I still like every kind of music I ever liked.

Edit: My stalwart British cousins were almost a year into WW2 when I was born here in the USA. We got in more than two years after the British and French had started fighting the Nazi menace, a fact that we should remind ourselves of now and again.


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## mmsbls (Mar 6, 2011)

My early listening was Rock and Soul. There was no bridge between the popular music and classical. My girlfriend and later wife was a violinist. I started to listen to her play and go to orchestral concerts where she performed. Pretty soon I realized that classical music interested me vastly more than popular music. I very rarely listen to popular music now and almost exclusively listen to classical. I'm not sure if I would ever have made a transition to classical were it not for meeting my wife.


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## Boldertism (May 21, 2015)

I use to listen to bands like Ensiferum, Wintersun, Dream Theater and the like. The way I got into Classical was through a video game that used Classical for its in-game music. I was exposed to many hours of this stuff on loop, one day it just clicked. I started seeking Classical music outside the game, I actually thought it was kind of funny. I remember thinking "I actually like Classical? Who'da thunk?" As for Metal, I don't really listen to it anymore.


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## Biwa (Aug 3, 2015)

I started listening to Classical music at a very young age and enjoy it more than ever now! From early on Bach and Wagner had an especially strong attraction for me and I was quickly drawn into their world. Beethoven, Brahms, Mussourgsky, Rachmaninov, and other heavy hitters were favorites of my old man, so I readily grew fond of their music. But, our home was also filled with many types of music...rock, psychedelic, prog, soul, funk, disco, pop, country, jazz, big band, etc... I love all this stuff to this day as well! And like a lot of folks, I really got into Heavy Metal in Junior High School (as it was called then) and still have a taste for it. Recently I find "Drone Metal" and "Noise" to be quite stimulating, bands like Sleep, Sunn O, Khanate, OM... Not everyday listening perhaps, but plenty heavy for getting the lead out. :devil:


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## brotagonist (Jul 11, 2013)

Nobody ever tires of this one 

This is a general progression, with some overlap:

Top 40
Hard Rock
Psychedelic Rock
Krautrock
Ambient
Darmstadt Schule
Neue Wiener Schule
Common Practice


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## Simon Moon (Oct 10, 2013)

brotagonist said:


> Nobody ever tires of this one
> 
> This is a general progression, with some overlap:
> 
> ...


I like this format.

So, to supplement my post #10, I will do the same:

POP
Mainstream rock
Prog-rock
Avant-prog
Jazz fusion and jazz
20th century and contemporary classical

The first 2 I no longer listen to.

The last 4, I listen to regularly in about equal amounts.


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## Gouldanian (Nov 19, 2015)

I developed my taste for classical music out of techno believe it or not. I was never into vocal music; always had a preference for music that takes your mind to different places depending on your mood. I've always despised repetitive music (pop) that cages your thoughts.

That being said, I can't precisely recall what made me switch from techno to classical and how it happened, it just felt like a natural transition for me at some point in my life.


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## TurnaboutVox (Sep 22, 2013)

My time-line goes something like this:

0 - 5 years: 
Popular songs of my mother's youth in the 40's and 50's, definitely pre-rock and roll and the Beatles, which she hated.
Scottish folk music

6 - 10 years:
Classical music, predominantly Beethoven but also some exposure to Bach, Handel, Mozart, 19th century romanticism
Trad. jazz and some bebop (both were my father's influences)

10 - 20 years:
Growing quantities of late 1960's and 1970's pop, Top 40 songs by 1972-3
Prog rock
Punk
New wave
Modern Jazz, jazz fusion, ECM Euro-jazz

21-22 years onwards:
Disillusionment with popular music, turning back to classical music
Discovery of the 20th century; chamber music in general; Debussy, 2nd Vienna School, Bartok, Honegger, Hindemith, Britten, Poulenc
Not getting Boulez, late 20th century music, Darmstadt school etc.

27-40 years:
Parenthood and career; musical stasis.

40-45 years:
Exploration of classic 1960s and 1970s rock with my daughter's developing musical taste
Exploration of 19th century and 1900-1950 music, mostly chamber / solo piano.

45 years onwards:
Exploration of late 20th and 21st century art music as my son developed a taste for this

Last 5 years - fairly omnivorous in classical music; some modern jazz, occasional rock music


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## Stirling (Nov 18, 2015)

0-12 Classical music including up to 1975 live
13-23 Yes, Rush, King Crimson etc
24- 47 Going back to Classical, including composition and play works
48 - disabled, but still classical


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## regenmusic (Oct 23, 2014)

In some ways I've always been with classical music, having classical piano lessons since a child. I was a weird music enthusiast as a child, and I sought out electronic music, which led me to avant garde classical, as well as other "weird" classical composers, which pretty much just meant modern (such as Bartok).

I also was into prog starting even before a teenager, luckily buying Roundabout by Yes when
I was around 9, and a friend got me The Yes Album for my birthday that year. He was off an album because it wasn't their current album, but I'm glad he got me it because I like it more than Fragile. I quickly got into ELP and soon enough Genesis and then the rest. But I followed the Fripp/Eno trend and got into New Wave more than continuing with classical. I have composed music since those early days and it was always a type of classical I was composing. I never really got into writing pop songs, I guess my Ego was too big. I abandoned rock music for classical a couple times in my life, and about 8 years ago stopped going in "avant garde" directions which a lot of my friends/peers were going in. I felt a great freedom, because no longer I had to trail along with music which I feel I really did personally outgrow the need for earlier in my life, but was somehow forced into listening to because it was so accepted. I interviewed Christian Vander and his wife (of Magma) in 1995 and I listen still to bands like Magma, Novalis, and Renaissance, but my taste in music outside of classical is just as much obscure East German female pop from the 1960s (Brigette Ahrens, Ina Martell, and Britt Kersten only) and some black gospel choirs from the 60s and 70s. Rock, especially New Wave, is pretty much a thing of the past for me, as well as is most prog. I think it's the lyrics that spoil it for me as much as the music. Classical has spoiled a lot of prog for me, I just don't get excited by the music like others do.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

A number of my prog-rock favourites from my teen years had classical influences and in some cases covered/revamped classical works so perhaps it was only going to be a matter of time before I got around to investigating the originals themselves, although I never really thought about it back then. In fact, it took until I was in my mid-30s before it started to happen. 

Also, people used to say things like 'Wagner was the heavy rock of the 19th century' which, whether true or not, interested me sufficiently to buy a couple of budget 'bleeding chunks' albums on the CfP label back in the 1980s, but I never bought anything else until the late 90s.


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## Lucifer Saudade (May 19, 2015)

My father was into classical, I even remember learning some Bach and Beethoven pieces in my younger days but never had the patience to really listen to Classical music.

I also come from primarily a Rock/ Metal background, though I hardly listen to it now. I started from medieval music and worked my way up to Debussy and Bartok. In a way it's not surprising since I explored a large amount of genres from Pop to Jazz to Avant Garde, constantly expanding the palette. I still have to properly foray into the Avant Garde Art music but I suppose that will come in it's proper time.


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