# Do you listen to non-classical music?



## Allegro Con Brio

Just genuinely curious to see the preferences of the TC community concerning non-classical music. There is a previous poll from 2015 here: https://www.talkclassical.com/36091-do-you-listen-classical.html but I thought it might be interesting to see the outcome of a more detailed version of this poll for a somewhat new generation of TC'ers. My personal story- once I discovered classical, I couldn't go back to popular music and haven't intentionally listened to it for almost 3 years. But I fully understand and respect the preferences of others! So, I ask you, Talk Classical community- is non-classical music a routine part of your listening time? The definition of "routine" is up to you, but I would cap it at "about once a month;" if you listen to non-classical less frequently than that I would click "I listen to non-classical music very infrequently." If it occupies 0% of your listening time, click "I never listen to non-classical music." I also included genres of non-classical to see what specific areas you're interested in. Feel free to share your preferences in this thread!


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## soni

I enjoy heavy metal music, but I hardly ever listen to it - it requires quite a different mindset to classical listening and I haven't explored enough artists. I don't really have an interest in other genres - I might occasionally listen to pop songs that have got stuck into my head, but I've worked on curbing this habit :lol:


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## Xisten267

Outside of classical I listen somewhat frequently to rock, metal, jazz and soundtracks, although I have eclectic tastes and occasionally explore other genres aswell.


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## starthrower

85 percent classical these days. The other 15 is jazz and rock. And a bit of folk and acoustic guitar music.


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## flamencosketches

All of the above, but I especially love rock, hip-hop, jazz, soul, ambient and electronic music. I was into all of these things long before I ever got into classical music, last year, but now, classical forms the vast majority of my listening.


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## D Smith

Of course i do, as I'm sure most people here do at least a little. I like rock (old school), jazz and folk and big band from the 20's and 30's.


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## Captainnumber36

Singer/Songwriter (Rufus Wainwright) and various Jazz/Fusion artists.


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## norman bates

_Yes, I listen to all of the above genres._

I'd say I listen to classical, jazz, rock, pop from the great american songbook to brazilian music (choro, samba, bossanova, mpb) to soul, r&b, funk, city pop, baroque pop, folk, songwriters, metal, electronic music, blues, "world music" (terrible definition I know). Some country but not much, and even less hip hop (altough sometimes there are things I enjoy, hip hop it's definitely the genre I like the least).


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## Olias

I'm probably 90% Art Music and the rest are my 4 Bs:

Beatles
Bob Dylan
Bangles
Blackmore's Night


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## Bulldog

All classical except that I sometimes go back to rock music from the late 60's-early 70's.


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## science

World music is a genre that isn't listed. I particularly enjoy Korean folk music, now that I've been here a long time, and even "Korean crossover," which is a sort of New Age music based on Korean folk music. (At its worst, it's the worst music that was ever worst, but at its best, it's really pretty good.) But gamelan, qawwali, and so on are really worthwhile. Also New Age Music itself has its high points. 

I don't like much country music since about 1990, but the older musicians -- especially Johnny, Merle, Willie, Kris, Waylon, and Hank Sr. - made music that I enjoy. Also bluegrass has never been bad. Never been a bad dulcimer. Southern folk in general is good, including the gospel music. White gospel music went wrong around 1970, but the older forms are great. Old time Pentecostal music is real rock and roll, for example. Also, there are some really good country musicians even now - "alternative country." And even some of the mainstream stuff is undeniably good. Some of it. A little bit. 

Jazz is the main thing I listen to other than classical, and I think jazz at its best is equal to classical music at its best. I enjoy the older stuff, Dixieland and big band, but I feel like things really got going around 1945. I rarely listen to any jazz created since about 1980, mostly just because I haven't got around to it - I haven't had time....


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## DBLee

I'm with science on the country music...although I might go a little later than he does. For me, it was starting to turn south in the early- to mid-90's, but there was still a lot of good stuff among the chaff until around 2010. After that, I just can't listen to it. I have to agree with Loretta Lynn's recent comments that "country music is dead."

I'm a big fan of jazz--that along with classical gets the lion's share of my listening in recent years. I also love '70's progressive rock--Yes, Gentle Giant, Peter Gabriel-era Genesis, etc.

I will occasionally turn on the radio and listen to whatever they're playing--typically pop and rock stuff from the '70's and '80's. I find most of today's pop music very difficult to listen to with its heavy thudding and auto-tuned voices.


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## EdwardBast

Yes. Prog rock, jazz, Indian classical.


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## Strange Magic

About 30% to classical, 30% to rock and/or pop interchangeably, 30% to cante flamenco, and 10% to "other" (world music and random other stuff).


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## Art Rock

About 50% classical, 50% pop/rock with a dash of light jazz.


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## BrahmsWasAGreatMelodist

60% classical, 30% rock, the rest all over the place (probably mostly jazz). Each of my favorite genres offers something unique and valuable.


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## Merl

Outside of classical I listen to anything I like - mostly post-rock and rock/metal but I listen to lots of other stuff too. Yesterday I was playing Stan Rodgers, Steeleye Span and Steel Pulse in the car. How's that for a mix?


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## Enthusiast

Aside from classical, I like blues (especially the later electric variety like Muddy Waters), jazz after 1950, some folk (but this is an area I am ignorant of and have hit and miss experiences with), a lot of African music, reggae and quite a lot of rock (but I am quite selective - there are a few artists I like greatly and many I don't) and punk. I have dabbled in Hip Hop. 

I dislike it when non-classical music tries to ape the classical, even to the extent of have strings backing a rock or blues song, and most prog rock. And I mostly dislike it when rock musicians go on into their old age doing the same type of music - the Rolling Stones made authentic young men's music but never developed authentic middle aged men's music. I haven't really listened to much pop except for the Beatles, not even Abba.

As I get older my taste is more and more about the music rather than the attitude. So I still listen to jazz quite often and African bands but have become increasingly fussy with rock.


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## norman bates

Strange Magic said:


> About 30% to classical, 30% to rock and/or pop interchangeably, 30% to cante flamenco, and 10% to "other" (world music and random other stuff).


isn't flamenco part of the so called "world music"? I mean, I know that "world music" is the worst definition ever, but I think it's usually used to define basically every music tradition outside the anglo-american world, being it carnatic music or gamelan or gagaku or sutartines or maqam or flamenco etc.


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## Tsaraslondon

I mostly listen to classical, but I have a healthy collection of pop onwards, though most of my collection consists of 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s which is no doubt a reflection of my age (I'm 68 now).


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## WildThing

I never listened to classical music before reaching my late 20s, and before that primarily listened to all kinds of popular forms of music. Rock, pop, hip hop, electronic, indie, folk. Nowadays, I'll put on some of that occasionally, but quickly grow bored with it. It kind of feels like consuming empty calories for me. So my listening time is almost entirely taken up by classical.


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## Strange Magic

norman bates said:


> isn't flamenco part of the so called "world music"? I mean, I know that "world music" is the worst definition ever, but I think it's usually used to define basically every music tradition outside the anglo-american world, being it carnatic music or gamelan or gagaku or sutartines or maqam or flamenco etc.


You're probably correct to call flamenco part of world music, but I've been listening to classic _cante_ for so long that it is ingrained in my head as a coequal "kingdom" of music. I'll have to look up a definition of "world music", but I have this notion that it involves a somewhat recent awareness and sharing and even blending of "ethnic" musics that was either unknown or very rarely acknowledged many decades ago in the general US culture. For instance, "Arab" music was what short-wave radio enthusiasts (including me) heard when they tuned in Radio Cairo. Not one person in a thousand back then would be able to recognize the other categories of world that you list, though people did know "flamenco" through TV variety shows and a few Hollywood films--Carmen Amaya, Jose' Greco, Carlos Montoya.


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## jegreenwood

In addition to several of the non-classical genres listed, I listen to standards: Sinatra, Fitzgerald, Broadway cast albums, etc.


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## mbhaub

At home, it's classical 100% of the time. In the car, that goes down to 25% and country fills the void. Loretta Lynn is right, country is dead, but her timing is off - for me it died in the '70s. I like the old, folk-music based material. Which is not surprising at all. My favorite classical also has a strong folk song heritage or derivation, from Dvorak through to Khachaturian. I keep my feet planted in both worlds - when I do concerts, either playing or conducting, I always where a pair of cowboy boots.


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## mikeh375

jegreenwood said:


> In addition to several of the non-classical genres listed, I listen to standards: Sinatra, Fitzgerald, Broadway cast albums, etc.


Me too, I have a lot of Sinatra and my favourites are the Capitol Years with Riddle. I also have all of the Fitzgerald Songbooks which in my estimation have never been equalled. Not only in her singing but the fabulous arrangements too. Those guys where off the scale....


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## elgar's ghost

Classical must account for at least 75% of my listening, and recently I went for weeks on end without listening to any non-classical at all - unthinkable when I was a younger man, but a regular occurrence now. I certainly don't go looking for new things in rock any longer - my collection is large and diverse enough as it is - but there are a few jazz albums still languishing in my 'zon Saved for Later list.


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## Allegro Con Brio

Wow, lots of fascinating responses! I'm amazed at the diversity of members' listening preferences- 8 people routinely listen to all types of non-classical music. As for myself, spending my life diving into symphonies, chamber music, art songs, operas, concerti, piano music, organ music, choral music, early music, 20th century music, Baroque music, Romantic music, sonatas, cantatas, etc. is enough to permanently satisfy me- classical offers a spectrum of variety that I feel no popular music can do. That being said, I do like some blues and boogie-woogie (as a pianist), and gospel/hymns.


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## Harmonie

I might be split right down the middle between listening to classical/early music and popular music. To be honest, I hold no preference for one over the other. They're both music I like and that's it. I understand what makes classical music more complex, but it isn't why I listen to music.

On the popular music side, I primarily like oldies from the 1960s and 70s, including classic soul/R&B, soft rock, etc. I also am really fond of progressive rock and British folk/rock.


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## isorhythm

I'd guess about half my listening is classical and half other. The other changes a lot. Lately it's a lot of Latin, Brazilian, and African music. I listen to all the genres you listed at least a little, except metal, but you've grouped that with rock.


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## Gallus

Listening to Keith Jarrett as I saw this thread. 

Classical probably competes with house/techno dance music for my most listened to genre, and if I see live music it's usually the latter. Both are on opposite poles of the spiritual/intellectual/head Dionysian/rhythmic/body dichotomy and put together fill most of my needs. Other than that I've been getting into jazz more recently, which does both in a way, and enjoy other non-European "classical" traditions such as Hindustani and Chinese guqin. Also a longtime listener of blues, folk, hip hop and some rock, mostly 70s/80s post punk.


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## flamencosketches

Gallus said:


> Listening to Keith Jarrett as I saw this thread.
> 
> Classical probably competes with house/techno dance music for my most listened to genre, and if I see live music it's usually the latter. Both are on opposite poles of the spiritual/intellectual/head Dionysian/rhythmic/body dichotomy and put together fill most of my needs. Other than that I've been getting into jazz more recently, which does both in a way, and enjoy other non-European "classical" traditions such as Hindustani and Chinese guqin. Also a longtime listener of blues, folk, hip hop and some rock, mostly 70s/80s post punk.


A man after my own heart. :tiphat:


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## Joe B

Classical music must account for more than 95% of my listening. And of that I've been listening to about 95% choral music for quite a while now. I'm stuck in a rut of gorgeous choral works and fabulous choirs; I don't want to get out!


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## Zama

_Yes, I listen to all of the above genres._ And more...


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## jegreenwood

mikeh375 said:


> Me too, I have a lot of Sinatra and my favourites are the Capitol Years with Riddle. I also have all of the Fitzgerald Songbooks which in my estimation have never been equalled. Not only in her singing but the fabulous arrangements too. Those guys where off the scale....


Sinatra and Fitzgerald were the foundation of my musical listening. For 60 years, I have measured every singer's pitch against that of Ella. Ella always wins.


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## violadude

I tend to be a bit more critical towards various genres of non-classical than I am to classical, but I have found something to like in most genres of music over the years of listening. Jazz and certain sub-genres of Rock being my favorite.


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## Simon Moon

I listen to about 35% classical (mid 20th century and contemporary), 35% prog (prog-metal, avant-prog, symphonic) and about 30% jazz (fusion, chamber jazz, post bop).

Pop, mainstream rock, country, rap, hip hop and other forms of popular music does nothing for me.


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## Kjetil Heggelund

Mostly classical but 2nd is metal, then a lot of other things. Anderson.paak today f.ex. That's "barbie funk", what my wife thought I said when I said "RnB & funk". I think she invented a new genre


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## Clairvoyance Enough

My favorite non-classical genre right now is specifically Rust in Peace by Megadeth.


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## DeepR

I like (and dislike) music from just about any genre, but the two main genres that get most of my attention by far are classical music and electronic music.


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## millionrainbows

EdwardBast said:


> Yes. Prog rock, jazz, Indian classical.


Hey Edward, give us a harmonic analysis of that Indian classical music! :lol:


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## millionrainbows

I used to be more critical of pop music until I realized its true nature.
Modern pop music in the age of recording never was, primarily concerned with purely musical elements such as 'melody' or chord progressions. Pop music is about 'gesture' and timbre, color, and texture; with setting a mood.

Billie Elish's vocals are barely audible; without a microphone they would be. Her 'noises' are more gestural, conveying vulnerability. Her music seems not to convey 'musical' ideas, but moods, stances, gestures, in the service of lifestyle and her age group.

The 'song' is a disappearing form, because it exists in the abstract as a written form, in lead sheets. In many pop items, this "form" is barely there, if at all. The scaffolding is now rhythm.

Much pop and experimental music is composed by sound, not written. This opens the door to "collage" and juxtapositions of pure sound. Computers have enabled this.

Now, compositions are not based on "musical" elements, but are pastiches and combinations of sounds, pure sounds.


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## Dimace

starthrower said:


> 85 percent classical these days. The other 15 is jazz and rock. And a bit of folk and acoustic guitar music.


Make it 80%, add some pop (light music) and we are brothers in music!


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## SixFootScowl

I had to vote the one not specifically listed because I don't generally listen to any genera but very select artists who are within generas that I otherwise don't listen to more than once in a blue moon. My listening is probably 90 percent classical/opera. Outside that the specific artists I will listen to include Johnny Cash and Stryper (a metal band).


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## BachIsBest

millionrainbows said:


> I used to be more critical of pop music until I realized its true nature.
> Modern pop music in the age of recording never was, primarily concerned with purely musical elements such as 'melody' or chord progressions. Pop music is about 'gesture' and timbre, color, and texture; with setting a mood.
> 
> Billie Elish's vocals are barely audible; without a microphone they would be. Her 'noises' are more gestural, conveying vulnerability. Her music seems not to convey 'musical' ideas, but moods, stances, gestures, in the service of lifestyle and her age group.
> 
> The 'song' is a disappearing form, because it exists in the abstract as a written form, in lead sheets. In many pop items, this "form" is barely there, if at all. The scaffolding is now rhythm.
> 
> Much pop and experimental music is composed by sound, not written. This opens the door to "collage" and juxtapositions of pure sound. Computers have enabled this.
> 
> Now, compositions are not based on "musical" elements, but are pastiches and combinations of sounds, pure sounds.


This is something I've never thought of and actually makes a lot of sense. I've never found anything in pop music (or really, pretty much any non-classical genres) that I like a great deal but listen to music very much for 'musical elements' so this makes a lot of sense. I will still pull out my hair or laugh out loud when I hear a pop song that starts with the following: 
1. Play theme
2. Play theme again
3. Modulate and play theme
4. Modulate back and play theme
5. Start actual song

It makes me laugh every time. Why the modulation? What was the point?


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## SONNET CLV

My classical collection (and listening frequency) is way largest. But consider that it covers several centuries of which the 18th, 19th, and 20th cover an amazing number of works alone. There is simply so much more classical music to hear, which simply explains why it takes up the bulk of time I have allotted to music listening.

Jazz follows up as my second largest collection and in recent times about equals my classical music listening time. I suspect that one of the reasons is that jazz (especially small group acoustical jazz and vocal music) sounds particularly vivid on my current stereo set-up. And so does classical chamber music, to which I listen about 50/50 shared with orchestral music. So that's about 30% jazz, 30% classical chamber (small ensemble or solo instrument) music, and 30% classical orchestral (symphonies and concertos dominating). My jazz listening generally begins with music dating to about the mid-1940s to today, with a lot of it consisting of Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, Bill Evans, and David Benoit and vocalists such as Ella, Patricia Barber, Diane Krall, and Nat Cole. Too, add in a fair amount of free jazz or avant-garde jazz, a genre I have a special penchant for, and to which a large portion of my personal disc collection is devoted.

My pop/rock/punk collection is smallest of the lot yet contains pretty much the seminal discs of the rock era, from the 1950s through to around 2000. I have a few post-2000 pop discs, generally ones that were recommended by critics in magazines I read. But I listen to rock largely on the side of 60s/70s classic rock (Beatles, Stones, Hendrix, Grand Funk, CCR, Clapton, Bob Marley, and John Martyn, among many others) and some of the more experimental bands, which I tend to lump (erroneously, often enough) under "punk" -- these include but aren't limited to The Residents, Flipper, Half Japanese, Hüsker Dü, Television, Einsturzende Neubauten, Art Bears, and Björk. I suspect this fills about 10% of my listening time. But 10% seems substantial when one considers that the music is confined to a handful of decades in comparison to classical which is more than a handful of centuries! Even jazz is a couple of decades larger than rock/pop, and since I don't listen to much current rock but do listen to current jazz the time span of the rock is cut even shorter than the span of jazz.

Of course, with roots in the theatre I also listen to sound tracks, original cast recordings, and opera. Too, I enjoy world music on occasion, especially African produced pop and the music of Brazil (Jobim being one of the biggest spins in my disc player or on my turntable). And I thrive on experimental music, noise music, sonic adventure music and a lot of stuff that isn't really categorizable.

So it's safe to say I listen to music 100% of the time.




All in all, if one is not listening to more classical than anything else, one is depriving him/herself of much great music. A shame, that is.


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## Strange Magic

> SONNET CLV: "All in all, if one is not listening to more classical than anything else, one is depriving him/herself of much great music. A shame, that is."


I tend to not look at any particular delegations of time spent listening to this or that genre of music as "a shame". It's really all a matter of personal preference, don't you think?


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## Red Terror

Mostly Classical, followed by Free Jazz/Prog/Fusion and so called "world music".

On my drive to work I usually listen to something violent:

https://marcedwardsslipstreamtimetravel.bandcamp.com/album/black-hole-universe


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## Simplicissimus

I've listened intentionally to classical my whole life. In high school and college, I was the freakish guy who collected only classical LPs. However, I enjoyed my friends' rock, R&B, and especially jazz music and listened with them. (They didn't listen very often to my classical with me, though.)

I have a pretty large collection of CDs now, all classical, no other genre. When I'm driving or listening to music in the background at home, like waking up in the morning, I only listen to WFMT, Chicago's classical station. Sometimes when I'm cooking and sipping in the evening and I feel like I want a jolt of energy, I listen to 60s and 70s rock on Youtube -- Love, Hendrix, Delaney and Bonnie & Friends -- for about 10 minutes. My wife is not a big classical fan, so I sometimes listen with her to Sinatra, various performers of Bachrach and Mancini tunes and that kind of thing, and Mongolian folk and popular music.

I used to enjoy the traditional hymns at Catholic Mass with organ and/or choir, but in recent years the liturgical music in my parish has become unbelievably insipid -- sickening boomer stuff though occasionally rather enjoyable to sing along with as long as there's no drum kit and guitar.

Franz


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## Malx

Mainly classical these days - but when the mood takes I'll listen to anything I liked from my youth.

A few favourites:

Van Der Graaf Generator, King Crimson, Peter Gabriel, PFM (Italian Prog), Television, Talking Heads, early Van Morrison up to Veedon Fleece, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Steely Dan, Grateful Dead, selected Zappa.


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## 20centrfuge

Classical = 92%

World music, funk, jazz, pop = %8

(Sting, The Police, John Coltrane, Tower of Power, Stevie Wonder, the Beatles, are some favorites)


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## BrahmsWasAGreatMelodist

SONNET CLV said:


> All in all, if one is not listening to more classical than anything else, one is depriving him/herself of much great music. A shame, that is.


Fair enough, but the same can be said about listening exclusively or almost exclusively to classical.

I'd encourage the OP of this thread to give other genres more attention.


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## Allegro Con Brio

BrahmsWasAGreatMelodist said:


> Fair enough, but the same can be said about listening exclusively or almost exclusively to classical.
> 
> I'd encourage the OP of this thread to give other genres more attention.


Yeah, I realized that after the first few responses...the fact that 17 people listen to a genre not listen is somewhat self-defeating. My knowledge is non-classical music is pretty limited, so I assumed these were all the main genres. I should have added "dance/electronic" and "world music" to the options, which seem to be the main unlisted preferences.


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## Barbebleu

I hadn’t noticed that rock had been combined with metal so I didn’t tick that box which I should have so add one more to that category.

Yesterday’s listening. 
Maurizio Pollini - Beethoven’s first three piano sonatas
Richard Thompson - Action Packed
Keith Jarrett - Live at the Deer Head Inn
Aldous Harding - Party

Equal opportunity listener here!! :tiphat:


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## BrahmsWasAGreatMelodist

Allegro Con Brio said:


> Yeah, I realized that after the first few responses...the fact that 17 people listen to a genre not listen is somewhat self-defeating. My knowledge is non-classical music is pretty limited, so I assumed these were all the main genres. I should have added "dance/electronic" and "world music" to the options, which seem to be the main unlisted preferences.


I started to really "get into" classical at a relatively early age (11-12) and for a while it occupied nearly all of my listening, exploration and interest in music. A couple of years ago I started listening to the Beatles, and then shortly after that I became obsessed with the band Genesis. Things sort of just took off from there; I started to become really interested in classic rock, prog, fusion, hip-hop, late 20th/21st century classical, etc. Sometimes it's just about finding that one artist, album, or even song in a genre that clicks with you, listening to it over and over, and gradually branching out.

Certainly don't force yourself to go against your tastes, but at the same time, be open and try out different things. There's a lot of great music out there in so many different genres and styles.


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## Allegro Con Brio

BrahmsWasAGreatMelodist said:


> I started to really "get into" classical at a relatively early age (11-12) and for a while it occupied nearly all of my listening, exploration and interest in music. A couple of years ago I started listening to the Beatles, and then shortly after that I became obsessed with the band Genesis. Things sort of just took off from there; I started to become really interested in classic rock, prog, fusion, hip-hop, late 20th/21st century classical, etc. Sometimes it's just about finding that one artist, album, or even song in a genre that clicks with you, listening to it over and over, and then letting things (gradually) take off from there.
> 
> Certainly don't force yourself to go against your tastes, but at the same time, be open and try out different things. There's a lot of great music out there in so many different genres and styles.


I had some pretty hardcore non-classical phases before I heard a single piece of Western Art Music. I was heavily into both country and classic rock in different stages of my life, and still retain some faint knowledge of those genres. But since I discovered classical, I have a negative reaction to virtually every piece of non-classical I hear. It's simply lacking depth and variety for me and comes off sounding like repetitive noise (except some jazz, blues, and acoustic). Just my own experience, and I now see that my tastes appear woefully limited compared to the majority of the community here- I can't believe so many people indicated that they routinely listen to all genres of non-classical!


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## SONNET CLV

SONNET CLV said:


> All in all, if one is not listening to more classical than anything else, one is depriving him/herself of much great music. A shame, that is.





Strange Magic said:


> I tend to not look at any particular delegations of time spent listening to this or that genre of music as "a shame". It's really all a matter of personal preference, don't you think?





BrahmsWasAGreatMelodist said:


> Fair enough, but the same can be said about listening exclusively or almost exclusively to classical.
> 
> I'd encourage the OP of this thread to give other genres more attention.


Of course, the shame is not from "listening to this or that genre of music", it is from the deprivation of being able to do so. It remains a shame that so many of us are deprived, for whatever reason, of many wonderful things. Alas … we must find satisfaction and some happiness in that which is allotted us.

And of course I do not listen exclusively to "classical" music, whatever that may be. At present I have on in the background the Symphony No. 1 by Paine. But my serious listening session tonight was geared towards contemporary experimental music, some of it from China, some of it from Germany, and some from the United States. I also had the chance today to listen to a jazz guitar album featuring Joe Pass, one of my favorite artists. I also spent a little while with Derek and the Dominos, Nancy Bryan, and Arvo Part.


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## Alinde

I listen *carefully* only to classical.


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## Fabulin

I think yesterday was a good indication (and a good day!):
The Phantom Menace (film)
Paraworld (game)
Lohengrin (opera)
Wozzeck (opera)
Gurre-Lieder (cantata)
couple chamber pieces

So just classical, but usually from a variety of genres.


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## Dorsetmike

Classical I mostly listen to Baroque and early music, a few later works; other genres, big band swing Blues, Jazz, (except for more recent works)


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## 13hm13

40 % classical (no opera, other than overtures from them)
30 % Electronic / trance (Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze, etc)
20 % Rock/pop (incl. some metal), mostly 70s-90s.
10 % soundtrack (as audio-only)


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## Duncan

75% Classical with the remainder spent studying historic popular singers from 1910 onward...

Historic Popular Singers - 1910 - 1949 - Songs of the Day Calendar...


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## rice

100% classical now. 
The more I listen to classical music, the more I find other genres intolerable.
To a point which hearing them unintentionally annoys me.


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## SchubertDidKetamine

I listen to all music indiscriminately (As Berg said to Gershwin in Vienna when imploring him to perform his songs for him "Music is Music"), but easily my most listened to genres are classical and contemporary progressive/experimental electronic music, like the music released on Orange Milk Records, and Warp Records among countless others. They occupy a very similar, if not the same, space in my processing of the music (supremacy of the composer, emphasis on affective control, so on and so forth).


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## SchubertDidKetamine

Curious to see what kind of ambient and electronic music you dig. (cf my reply to this thread)


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## Rogerx

No, I only listen to non-classical music very infrequently.


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## SchubertDidKetamine

You've touched on what I think is the core of what makes electronic composition (esp. that heavily incorporates computers) so essential/profound to me. We live in Attali's age of (post-)repeating. The ability to perfectly reproduce a sound indefinitely without concern for variation has negated the song in abstract written form, as you say. Effectively, the musician is able to compose with texture, and instead of produce an abstract composition that is a relation of tones, is able to instead make a waveform (recording) the work in itself. This has profound implications on the concept of composition and authorial intent, and is in my mind, what makes the 'sound collage' genre one of extreme significance. There is a true uncharted expanse of artistic potential in this genre that remains to be seen. While many of the basic mechanics of the using the pastiche in novel ways have been pioneered in popular music, the true artistic heights are being reached in the experimental sphere. If you are interested in the genre and its potential, then 'Soft Channel' by Giant Claw is essential listening:








This is one of my favorite pieces of music of all time, and fundamentally changed the way I view music.


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## flamencosketches

SchubertDidKetamine said:


> Curious to see what kind of ambient and electronic music you dig. (cf my reply to this thread)


I'm going to assume you're talking to me, because I don't know if many others here have responded saying they like those genres. But for future reference, use the "reply with quote" otherwise it's difficult to see who you're replying to.

Anyway, some of my favorite ambient artists are William Basinski, Gas/Wolfgang Voigt, Brian Eno, Stars of the Lid, Ryuichi Sakamoto & Alva Noto, etc. For electronic I'm into a lot of deep house, some techno, and a ton of D&B, and all the spaces where they overlap. Some of my all time favorites would be artists like Amon Tobin, Aphex Twin, Luomo, Goldie, etc. And then some more recent producers I really like are Florian Kupfer, Person of Interest, Floating Points, Route 8, Palms Trax. But I'm not picky.


----------



## Allegro Con Brio

I’m giving this a bump since we have a great deal of new/active members since it was started and I’m eager to gather some fresh statistics And yes, I know there are some faults in the poll options. My apologies.


----------



## Caesura

I listen mostly to classical, but sometimes I like hearing my favourite pop, rock, and folk songs.


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## Owen David

Allegro Con Brio said:


> I'm giving this a bump since we have a great deal of new/active members since it was started and I'm eager to gather some fresh statistics And yes, I know there are some faults in the poll options. My apologies.


You persuaded me to complete the poll for all its imperfections! lol

I think most of us would reply we listen to good music, which will vary with individual taste. 

There's a wonderful excerpt from a film on You Tube featuring_ Chatanooga Choo-Choo_...I doubt anyone could actually reproduce that now...there is so much musical skill in there but now lost to us. Fantastic! But equally I love the Sex Pistols' (v. short) canon of singles.

I am a bit cool on hot jazz - a lot of meandering to no great effect is how I feel about that, whereas most classical and popular music has a very definite object in view. That's probably down to temperament. Some people just like being _"in the moment" _whereas I like a definite storyline.


----------



## mbhaub

During this Covid19 Stay at Home mess, I find I have zero patience for pop, country or anything like it. Have gotten much solace, contentment and hope from the masters. Today has been a Liszt marathon. The tone poems, piano concertos and in a few minutes, the Faust Symphony. Tomorrow on to a Schumann extravaganza.


----------



## Haydn man

A lot of music gets played in our house
Classical may be in the minority at present as classic rock seems to be the current favourite
I love a variety of music as does my wife. I am currently listening to Here Comes the Sun by the Beetles but after this it is on with Shostakovich symphony cycle where it will be No.9 next followed by this week’s Saturday Symphony Hanson No.4


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## Guest002

I only ever _choose_ to listen to classical. The better half may persuade me, from time to time, to listen to something 'pop-ish' (I wouldn't even know how to begin to classify things like Queen, Enya, REM or Erasure. They're just called "pop" in these parts, I'm afraid!). I can do so without pain, and often even with pleasure. But I don't think I ever would seek out such music by myself, without external "pressure"!


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## Flamme

All of above. I can listen 2 anything, depending on mood.


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## millionrainbows

AbsolutelyBaching said:


> I only ever _choose_ to listen to classical. The better half may persuade me, from time to time, to listen to something 'pop-ish' (I wouldn't even know how to begin to classify things like Queen, Enya, REM or Erasure. They're just called "pop" in these parts, I'm afraid!). I can do so without pain, and often even with pleasure. But I don't think I ever would seek out such music by myself, without external "pressure"!


You will listen to Queen, you will listen to Queen, you will listen to Queen, you will listen to Queen...


----------



## Portamento

I've been hearing music that can be loosely categorized as "post-punk." There's a rhythmic vitality here that is sorely lacking in some classical music.


----------



## Guest002

Portamento said:


> I've been hearing music that can be loosely categorized as "post-punk." There's a rhythmic vitality here that is sorely lacking in some classical music.


Wow. Where's your copy of the Rite of Spring?! 

I did play your video. It didn't do for me what you say it does for you. I guess I'm not the target audience!


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## Zhdanov

i only listen to classical, which is the only thing can be called music.

the rest is noise.


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## Zhdanov

Portamento said:


> "post-punk." There's a rhythmic vitality


that isn't rhythm, because it does not have narrative, only hammers away beats on end.


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## Zhdanov

millionrainbows said:


> Much pop and experimental music is composed by sound, not written. This opens the door to "collage" and juxtapositions of pure sound. Computers have enabled this. Now, compositions are not based on "musical" elements, but are pastiches and combinations of sounds, pure sounds.


sound, in this case, demands to be of high quality, since we talk music.

and the high quality is not only about music instruments'.

this high quality stems from a music piece,

a classical music masterpice.


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## BlackAdderLXX

I never listened to classical growing up in the 70s and 80s. In my house we mostly listened to classic rock. I went in the Army right after high school and started listening to (early) rap and country as well. I got out and went to college and started listening to classical and jazz there. For the past 30 years since then, I've listened to pretty much everything but my exploration of new classical music kind of ended for a while. I've listened to a few works regularly for 30 years though. 

I tend to enjoy just about any music that fits one of two criteria: 1. Takes it seriously for good reason 2. Doesn't take itself too seriously and/or FUN. A small handful of my favorites in #1 would be Muse, Radiohead, Coldplay, Foo Fighters, Led Zeppelin, Rush, Miles Davis, Stunz and Farah, Snarky Puppy, Norah Jones and Derek Trucks. (I had to stop). Some examples of #2 (fun) are some of my all time favorites: B-52s, Pomplamoose, My Chemical Romance, Paramore, Nickel Creek and Brad Paisley. 

For the past couple of years, I have been growing more and more put off by the corporatism and politics in most art. It's been there a long time, but I guess it's gotten to the point for me where I am no longer willing to participate in it. In movies, I hardly go anymore unless I have watched several reviews of something first. In music, I couldn't even tell you what's on the radio anymore the new pop, rap and country rarely have anything I'm interested in. Rock, which is probably my favorite genre is just about gone altogether. I try to keep listening to new things, but it's mostly now by word of mouth from someone or it's looking at lists of artists in category x and sampling things on occasion. I don't really open myself up to the consumer fast art machine anymore but focus on more independent stuff. 

Anyways, the past year or so I've been seeing classical stuff in my YouTube suggestions, which I would listen to more and more frequently. From there I've been finding myself searching for good recordings of a particular classical piece and ended up here in searches. From there I started listening more frequently to classical and joining up here. Now I'm pretty much on a serious classical phase. I'm kind of picking up where I left off in college: listening to what's out there and figuring out what I like. The lists have been great for that. So that's it. 

TL;DR I like all kinds of stuff.


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## Portamento

AbsolutelyBaching said:


> Wow. Where's your copy of the Rite of Spring?!
> 
> I did play your video. It didn't do for me what you say it does for you. I guess I'm not the target audience!


The key word there is "some." And I did grow up with music like this, so maybe that helps.


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## eljr

Zhdanov said:


> i only listen to classical, which is the only thing can be called music.
> 
> the rest is noise.





Zhdanov said:


> that isn't rhythm, because it does not have narrative, only hammers away beats on end.


dude, your opinion is not fact


----------



## Merl

I like a lot of old punk. It's such good fun to play too. As a crap guitarist I love playing and don't mind having a go at anything. I record a mystery song (without vocals) for my students every week during lockdown and they have to guess what it is. For the past two weeks they've been acoustic (Elton John and Christina Perri) but this week they've gotta try and work out a punk anthem. I played that one along to a backing track. Knorf has seen it. Lol.


----------



## annaw

Music didn't play a very important role in my life before I discovered classical and that has fascinated me more than any other kind of music. There are some musicians from other genres whom I really value and like but I don't listen to them too much when compared to the amount of classical I listen to. I just find it so moving and genius!


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## SanAntone

I listen to *Jazz*, *Blues*, *Bluegrass* and *Old Time* more than I listen to Classical. Depending on my frame of mind, one of those five genres will be dominant, with a phase of Classical listening being shorter than any of the others. But that is at present. In the past there have been long stretches when I listened exclusively to Classical. And that might come around again.

But for a while now, pre-war acoustic vernacular music has dominated my listening.


----------



## Portamento

SanAntone said:


> But for a while now, pre-war acoustic vernacular music has dominated my listening.


Like John McCormack and barbershop quartets? Which record labels are best for this? I only know Archeophone.


----------



## starthrower

So far this weekend:

Grachan Moncur III Blue Note album
Richard Thompson live album
Steve Hackett Genesis Revisited
Brahms No.4
Axel Jorgensen, 20th century Danish composer
Grateful Dead live shows from '75 and '77


----------



## Tristan

Yes, I do. Although I own much more classical music than I do non-classical, I listen to them both about half of the time. The non-classical music I listen to is mostly stuff from the past twenty years, a lot of it is indie pop or rock, some is electronic. I also will listen to some showtunes and jazz.


----------



## DaddyGeorge

My answer is no. Very rarely (for example on a train) I play (due to ambient noise) another genre of music. But it happens only a few times a year... I listened to electronic and rock music as a teenager, so sometimes a nostalgic memory comes to my mind, but I tend to be disappointed to listen to non-classical music...


----------



## SanAntone

Portamento said:


> Like John McCormack and barbershop quartets? Which record labels are best for this? I only know Archeophone.


No, I am talking about acoustic Blues and Early Jazz, and Old Time music from the 20s and 30s, which originally was released by Victor (Later RCA Victor), Paramount, OKeh, Columbia and Gennett. There are box sets devoted to this music easily available. Bluegrass as a genre did not develop until the mid-40s and is still played and recorded. Rebel Records, County Records, Rounder, Sugar Hill, and many small independents. Mercury, Decca and Columbia were the primary major labels that recorded Bill Monroe, The Stanley Brothers, Flatt & Scruggs and others.

Also the Smithsonian, Library of Congress and Folkways has put out a lot of this music.


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## Zhdanov

eljr said:


> your opinion is not fact


i don't express opinions, but stick to facts.

and the fact being that rhythm is what directs narrative, like words and phrases convey a story.

music is a story told by notes which produce words, phrases, senteces, punctuation marks etc.


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## neofite

No. (I don't even have enough time to listen to all the classical I would like listen to.)


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## eljr

Zhdanov said:


> i don't express opinions, but stick to facts.
> 
> .


in your mind you may think this, it's not how others read your posts


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## Zhdanov

eljr said:


> in your mind you may think this, it's not how others read your posts


i don't care what others think.


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## millionrainbows

SixFootScowl said:


> I had to vote the one not specifically listed because I don't generally listen to any genera but very select artists who are within generas that I otherwise don't listen to more than once in a blue moon. My listening is probably 90 percent classical/opera. Outside that the specific artists I will listen to include *Johnny Cash and Stryper* (a metal band).


Opera, Johnny Cash, and Stryper!

Thank you, SixFootScowl, I had to laugh!

But I'm the same way; for me it's Stockhausen, Merl Haggard, and Foghat!


----------



## caracalla

I have a few popular playlists which I use mainly for background music if I'm doing something distracting at home, or quite often while driving if I can't find anything interesting on the radio. I never sit down to listen to this stuff as a primary activity, the way I do with CM.

What stuff? Mainly pop and classic rock from the 60s and 70s, when I was young. I was listening to CM from the age of 12, but of course that's music for the ages which can't evoke those particular times the same way. Many people develop a nostalgia for their youth as that recedes into the dim and distant, and the remembered musical backdrop to that can acquire a charm it may sometimes have lacked at the time. I mean, this was the music that was always on the radio, that you danced to at parties, that one-time girlfriends were crazy about... it can bring all that back very vividly. At any rate, this was the music of my generation, not Bach.

The only music from that era I ever took any real interest in was 70s folk-rock (Steeleye Span, Jethro Tull &c) and some prog/art rock. Along with a few albums and songs with strong personal associations, that forms the core of my mini-collection. Some (little enough) of the music my kids were into also appeals to me, and I'll still download the occasional track that catches my ear - a New Age number here, an Adele song there, but really very little recent stuff. I don't despise it (at least not all of it). Some of the early music I listen to as CM was once pop too.


----------



## BachIsBest

Zhdanov said:


> i don't care what others think.


Well, you are posting one forum. Presumably, you want others to think about your posts and, presumably, these posts somehow reflect upon yourself. The fact that you clarified to others that you don't care about what others think is, perhaps, telling.


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## Andante Largo

I mainly listen to classical music (especially late romantic). Besides, quite often I listen to mainstream, cool or smooth jazz, something on the border between jazz and easy listenig (e.g. Henry Mancini, Bert Kaempfert) and space ambient music (e.g. Jonn Serrie, Max Corbacho).


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## BlackAdderLXX

On a completely unrelated note, does this forum have an ignore user feature? 

EDIT: Nevermind, I found it.


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## millionrainbows

I like to listen to Romantic music late at night.Does this mean I'm a Late Romantic?


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## JAS

millionrainbows said:


> I like to listen to Romantic music late at night.Does this mean I'm a Late Romantic?


That would be a late night Romantic. You can be a late Romantic once you are gone, but that isn't really a threat or a suggestion.


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## Ethereality

This is probably as good as popular music gets, and it's definitely better than a number of short Classical works. Different in style, but the emphasis on quality composition is all there. It's hard to beat that voice.






If you really want to rock out, I'd go with


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## Zhdanov

Ethereality said:


> it's definitely better than a number of short Classical works.


that must be joke... does not even sound like music... some ugly noise... no rhythm or sense.


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## Ethereality

Zhdanov said:


> that must be joke... does not even sound like music... some ugly noise... no rhythm or sense.


One thing I didn't say is that this song is better than 'great' short works. There's loads of dull classical out there too, not just the prime stuff.

I will like your comment, because it's interesting to think about what elements in music qualify it as good music. Certainly not complexity for its own sake? But the performance, the emotionality in voices? Defining first what makes a good instrument or voice, like preferring the harpsichord over this particular band texture, is more gut than math knowing the 'right sound' first before you get to the composition. There is some commonality between expressiveness in pop music and classical, even though the aims are totally different. A good performance means a lot, and it can be praised within its niche, although it seems silly to me to criticize Marvin Gaye's choice of textural expression, as the form and the social interpretation of this particular sound is not that rough. I think, at least, it's classy and meaningful in its own right.

Everyone can relate to your sentiments in some way, including me, because there's always some artform we don't like. Some people don't even care about music.


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## Zhdanov

Ethereality said:


> There's loads of dull classical out there


maybe, but even though dull some of these might be, they still are music.

as opposed the loads produced by mass culture where every piece of it is clatter.


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## Zhdanov

Ethereality said:


> what elements in music qualify it as good music. Certainly not complexity for its own sake? But the performance, the emotionality in voices?


music is words, that form phrases and sentences, which then form a narrative, that contains a message; if we take a look at a music score, we then see it is a literature, only this time written in notations, a foreign language to some, but which is to be studied in order to use it so that you read out the scores by the means of musical instruments:


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## Ethereality

Some people might ask what the point is.


----------



## Shosty

At the moment I mostly listen to Classical music. I went through a Metal phase in my teen years (still enjoy some stuff but listen very rarely). I do also listen to Rock, especially during commutes, so not very often these days (PJ Harvey, Nick Cave and Radiohead are among my favorites). I like a whole lot of Jazz, some Blues, a bit of Hip Hop (Kendrick Lamar especially) and some Iranian traditional (and not-very-traditional) music.
I also enjoy exploring folk(ish) music from other countries and discovering things I like.


----------



## Zhdanov

Ethereality said:


> Some people might ask what the point is.


which one point? The Rite Of Spring for instance tells us of a catastrophe faced by mankind they will try to avert by making a human sacrifice in order to avoid doomsday and be able to carry on living.


----------



## Flamme

Non classical musick has its value ofcourse but I cannot thank enough ppl who created classical musick because w/o it especialyl 2day when I am very fragile I could not go on and be resolute and straightforward...2day classical musick helped me fix my window, a lock on my front doors, with a couple of moves with skrewdriver and pliers and Im not a big tech wizard nor skillful...But I got Idea 1st and I was like why dont i give it a try! The latter lock problem lasted 4 last couple of years and I found a simple and ''magick-wand'' solution. I cant believe it was infront of my eyes all the time and I did nothing until 2day...2econd thing is 2day I found strength 2 eliminate lots of ppl who drained my energy in previous days and even hours...It takes strength and vision 2 recognose the harming behaviour and nip it in the bud!!! All of that came from beautiful melodies and images they created in my mind making it work like a clockwork!!!:tiphat:


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## Flamme

+ (ALMOST FORGOT) I prepared a meal I HAVE never made before and it was magnifique!!! I nver got such a boost in self confidence and general intelligence from any non classical genre...The most similar was from some ambient worx but even that was more like relaxing than really deeply and prouctively THINKING.


----------



## Acadarchist

Mostly classical at the moment as I`m "exploring", but I listen to jazz, funk, ambient, drum & bass, as an alternative. I still like everything I`ve ever liked since I began listening seriously at the age of 12. I discover something new every day, in whatever genre.


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## BlackAdderLXX

Acadarchist said:


> Mostly classical at the moment as I`m "exploring", but I listen to jazz, funk, ambient, drum & bass, as an alternative. I still like everything I`ve ever liked since I began listening seriously at the age of 12. I discover something new every day, in whatever genre.


I like the way you look at it. Life's too short to be closed off to good things.


----------



## flamencosketches

Acadarchist said:


> Mostly classical at the moment as I`m "exploring", but I listen to jazz, funk, ambient, drum & bass, as an alternative. I still like everything I`ve ever liked since I began listening seriously at the age of 12. I discover something new every day, in whatever genre.


Cool, you sound like me. And here I am a couple of years down the line, still totally hooked on classical music. It makes up 90% of what I listen to now, but I still have love for everything else, jazz, rap, rock, soul, ambient, D&B, and all the other great music of the world.


----------



## DeepR

In an ideal world I would probably prioritize CM and listen to CM almost exclusively. 
In reality I just can't always give CM the time and attention it deserves. During those times I listen to "easier" music, if you will....


----------



## gregorx

Yeah, probably 90% "Classical" and the rest mostly Jazz, c.1950-1980 which would include hard bop, modal, avant garde; Blakey, Davis, and Monk to Sun Ra. I find the relationship between the two musical forms interesting. A lot of the Modern Period composers liked and were influenced by jazz, and jazz musicians Miles Davis, Bill Evans and others talked about studying and learning from what Modern Period composers were doing.


----------



## Allegro Con Brio

I'm bumping this thread every few months just out of curiosity's sake and to make it visible to newer TC members. I find it remarkably interesting that we have more members who have indicated they enjoy _all_ types of non-classical music than those who only enjoy classical music.


----------



## SearsPoncho

If it wasn't for other genres of music, I wouldn't have become interested in classical music. When I was a kid, some of my favorite musicians were somewhat influenced by classical, such as Ritchie Blackmore, Jeff Beck, and Oscar Peterson. That piqued my interest in the genre. My piano teacher studied with Oscar Peterson and Jorge Bolet.


----------



## Axter

Allegro Con Brio said:


> I'm bumping this thread every few months just out of curiosity's sake and to make it visible to newer TC members. I find it remarkably interesting that we have more members who have indicated they enjoy _all_ types of non-classical music than those who only enjoy classical music.


I routinely listen to classical music since I was 12 years old, but time to time other genres, mostly Jazz from late 50ies and 60ies, pop up in my routines.
However, Jazz is more like a background music when I am doing something else and want something pleasant in the background, like when I have guests over here or driving etc.... I don't know whether that qualifies as "really listening". 
Classical music is what I listen often with full concentration as if I am preparing myself to conduct an orchestra.


----------



## SanAntone

I must have already posted in this thread, although I don't remember - but YES. In fact I listen to non-classical music more than classical.

Jazz
Blues
Roots music: Bluegrass, acoustic Country, Old Time, Folk
World music: Flamenco, Manouche (Gypsy Jazz), fado, African, Indian


----------



## Cristian Lee

Classical and film music are the only music I listen to.


----------



## Chilham

For the first 30-years of my life, nothing but rock and pop. For the next thirty, maybe 10% classical. Since lockdown, 100% classical.

My classical collection is now larger than my non-classical collection. In fact, I have more classical podcasts than non-classical music, although I've so far only listened to maybe 5% of them.


----------



## BlackAdderLXX

Chilham said:


> For the first 30-years of my life, nothing but rock and pop. For the next thirty, maybe 10% classical. Since lockdown, 100% classical.
> 
> My classical collection is now larger than my non-classical collection. In fact, I have more classical podcasts than non-classical music, although I've so far only listened to maybe 5% of them.


Your situation is almost identical to mine except my first 20 years were sans classical and except for the podcast bit.


----------



## Simon Moon

So, I posted on this thread way back on about the 2nd page, but since it has been brought back from the dead, I'll post again with more detail.

My music listening is probably something like this:

*35% classical*, which is mostly 20th century, but more specifically mid to late 20th century, up through contemporary eras.

*35% prog*, but this is not just made up of the bands that most people think of (YES, King Crimson, PFM, Genesis, Gentle Giant, etc) when they think about this genre, but also many dozens of bands that belong to some of the many subgenres. Like avant-prog (Henry Cow, Thinking Plague, Aranis, Univers Zero, etc), and Zeuhl (Magma, Eskaton, Abux Dangeroux, Bondage Fruit, etc).

*30% jazz*, which is mostly fusion (Mahavishnu Orchestra, Return to Forever, Panzerballett, Brand X, Weather Report, etc), ECM type jazz (Oregon, Keith Jarrett, Jan Garbarek, Michael Formanek, Avashai Cohen, etc) M-BASE (Steve Colman, Ravi Coltrane, Greg Osby, Cassandra Wilson, Andy Milne, etc), and of course, a lot of post bop (Coltrane, Miles, Mingus, Wayne Shorter, McCoy Tyner, Bill Evans, etc). A bit of free jazz from time to time.

And finally, a very small, but growing, percentage of: blue grass, Indian classical, and European folk.


----------



## Musicaterina

Sometimes I listen to Rock'n'Roll or country music, but mostly I listen to classical music.


----------



## adriesba

I almost only listen to classical music. I've heard lots of different popular music from other people's listening, but most popular music I find very unsatisfying unless maybe if I have some sort of nostalgic attachment to it. Not often, but sometimes I'll listen to some types of world music, typically European folk music or middle eastern music, but I have only scratched the surface of these.


----------



## RogerWaters

80% Classical (Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Bruckner, Brahms, Purcell, Debussy, Ravel, Sibelius, Wagner, early Stravinsky, Vaughan-Williams, Schumann, Haydn, Faure, Chopin, Berg, Satie, Schubert, Zelenka, and English Songs from Butterworth, Warlock and Grainger).

9.5% Old-school metal, i.e. pre-'95 death metal, black metal, thrash, heavy metal (Sabbath, early Judas Priest, early metallica, early sepultura, early slayer, morbid angel, early emperor, early suffocation, early immolation, early incantation, early burzum, gorguts, early at the gates, early entombed and dismember, etc.)

9.5% Prog rock, psychedelic rock, and electronic (Tame Impala, Pink Floyd, ELP, King Crimson, Van der graf Generator, PFM, Gentle Giant, Yes, early Genesis, Boards of Canada, Tangerine Dream, Radiohead, COG, etc).

1% Early music (Gregorian Chant, Leonin/Perotin, Machaut, Palestrina)..


----------



## perempe

I listen to non-classical music very rarely.

I listened a Nicholas Payton album a week or two ago, and found it boring. (It was either Gumbo Nouveau or Payton's Place.) Bad content despite the skilled, trained musicians. Years ago I really liked DeFrancesco, saw his trio in a live concert. Would a jazz trio impress me now? No way! These guys can't rival a symphonic orchestra in content and color. Even well-known composers borrowed from classical music like Corea (Spain). Blues and rock are even worse. They usually fill concerts with 10-minute long drum solos, have the trash can endings all the time.


----------



## Allegro Con Brio

Semi-annual bump for this poll. Since it was last up, I would now add the “world music” category to my interests, though Western classical still probably takes up around 95% of my listening. However, Indian and Spanish Classical and Javanese Gamelan, in addition to various European and North American folk music, has been piquing my interest lately.


----------



## 59540

Yes, mostly "classic rock" and R&B. And oh yeah, the gamelan is fascinating. I would call it classical music of another tradition.


----------



## Phil loves classical

I sort of see Blues as the anti-Classical, especially Delta Blues. Unrefined, primal. For that reason I value it over other popular genres.


----------



## BrahmsWasAGreatMelodist

Anyone who answers "no" to the OP should seriously reevaluate their listening habits.


----------



## jojoju2000

I love the Great American Songbook Genre if it is considered it's own genre. Mind you a lot of the composers in this genre, such as George Gershwin crossed over to the Classical World as well.


----------



## Animal the Drummer

Not often but yes, I do, both listen and play. My sister's a semi-pro jazz saxophonist so I get plenty of encouragement!


----------



## MarChant

I enjoy listening to Heavy Metal/Death Metal/ Folk Metal (AC/DC, Metallica, Archenemy, Amon Amarth, Ensiferum among others), Jazz (Dixieland and Big Band), occasionally mainstream pop songs and some Electronic Dance music.


----------



## Kreisler jr

I have about 150 or so CDs of Jazz, Folk, World, Pop/Rock etc. taken together, compared to about 5000 classical discs. Of this almost nothing is classic or contemporary pop/rock.
So I voted "very infrequently" which is correct, I think, although of course there are and were times when I listen to considerably more non-classical than once a month. I never really got into jazz, despite some friends trying and me not disliking some of the "classic" (mostly 1940s-50s) jazz albums, and I have a few of them on the shelf. 
The deepest (but still comparably shallow) non-classical interests I had were ~1960s folk (mostly Joan Baez) and (neo)Klezmer (mostly musicians since the ca. 1980s revival, like the Klezmatics) but they are rather dormant nowadays. Some other world music, such as classic Indian/Persian, and some other I also tried but it is more like going to a museum once a year, not something I could develop a deeper interest in or liking for.

I was never into pop music, I basically skipped that stage from listening to almost no music at all as a child and young teenager to being completely captured by classical at around 15 years old in the late 1980s. (Of course I knew some popular music but never was into it; I was so ignorant that I didn't realize when Sam Cooke's Wonderful World (Don't know much about history) became popular due to some Levi's commercial in the 1980s that this song was actually from 1960...)
From general interest and social pressure (it is hard to mix with other (young) people if one totally ignores popular culture, such is the brutal exclusion of elite culture in our time ) I broadened a little during my 20s but another 20 years later I have narrowed down to overwhelmingly classical but non-classical was probably never more than 5-10% of my listening.


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## Portamento

You 100% classical people... get out a bit! :lol:


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## alexson

Yes, I listen classical music because it helps to reduce my stress.


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## Neo Romanza

I don’t listen to non-classical music a lot these days, but every now and then I’ll get the urge to listen to some jazz or progressive rock. But after of listening to a day of jazz or prog rock, I find myself ready to get back to listening to classical music. I don’t want to sound like a snob, but, for me, I get more intellectual/emotional fulfillment from classical music than any genre within popular music.


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## La Passione

I only listen to classical music. I grew up on pop music, but it no longer holds any appeal for me.


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## Pat Fairlea

Instrumental jazz. Brubeck, Grapelli, Shearing, Bill Evans.
Is that non-classical? I don't mind either way.


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## Nedeslusire

I listen to a lot of genres besides classical, from the rock/metal underground to what's called the post-industrial underground with genres like ambient, neofolk & dark folk, martial industrial & death industrial, darkwave/neoclassical, witch house, noise and power electronics. But my biggest love is early music, especially Byzantine chant & kalophony and Western Renaissance polyphony, although these can be considered part of the extended classical family.


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## fluteman

Nedeslusire said:


> I listen to a lot of genres besides classical, from the rock/metal underground to what's called the post-industrial underground with genres like ambient, neofolk & dark folk, martial industrial & death industrial, darkwave/neoclassical, witch house, noise and power electronics. But my biggest love is early music, especially Byzantine chant & kalophony and Western Renaissance polyphony, although these can be considered part of the extended classical family.


Death industrial? Witch house? Noise? Power electronics? I may or may not want to hear what you have downloaded into your phone or hard drive, but I definitely don't want to see what you have stored in your basement.:lol:


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## SanAntone

Nedeslusire said:


> But my biggest love is early music, especially Byzantine chant & kalophony and Western Renaissance polyphony, although these can be considered part of the extended classical family.


Wonderful! Early music is one of my passions as well. Welcome to TC. I would be interested to learn about some recordings you enjoy of Byzantine chant. I am mainly familiar with the Marcel Peres recordings but would like to know of others.


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## fbjim

I've fallen off the rock/pop cliff, with the exception of dancy pop music. Generally it's electronic when I'm not listening to classical music. (or I could listen to Xenakis and do both simultaneously)


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## sfrobcurry

I would definitely say that the majority of my listening is classical/opera, but as that category covers around 300 years, it seems logical that this is the case. It continues to excite me beyond measure, to discover new talent, regardless of genre. If it’s good, it’s good! Sarah Vaughan takes me to heights as much as Leontyne Price (these 2 vocal goddesses being on a plane above all others for me). Thelonius Monk as much as Prokofiev. I’m a card carrying devotee of Joni Mitchell and many other singer-songwriters. In terms of contemporary music, there’s greatness to be found, though unfortunately, we must wade through an ocean of banality to find it. Bjork, for my money, is a phenomenal musician…dare I say, up there as one of the greatest, most important artists of the last 30 years? Never tire of Radiohead either.


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## Nedeslusire

SanAntone said:


> Wonderful! Early music is one of my passions as well. Welcome to TC. I would be interested to learn about some recordings you enjoy of Byzantine chant. I am mainly familiar with the Marcel Peres recordings but would like to know of others.


Thank you  
Lately I've been obsessed with the Cappella Romana ensemble and their recordings:
https://www.youtube.com/user/cappellaromanainc
https://cappellaromana.org/

Also I'm fascinated by the Romanian Byzantion choir, specialized in Byzantine music as the name suggests:





https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSskeGBeN8VO3xJNvKBIVvw


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## Flamme

Australian folk-rock...


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## Animal the Drummer

Do they indeed?


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## GrosseFugue

The less popular music I have to endure the better I feel. I'm assaulted by it every day, in grocery stores, cafes, shopping malls, from booming car audio systems, from my horrid neighbors...

I'm going to quote Donald Vroon on the difference between "schooling" and "education." The latter is something that was virtually disappeared:

*"If the education takes, you keep living it the rest of our life. Music is not a course you had to take; it is an exciting discovery, a never-ending source of joy. Education releases you for real joy in the midst of a culture that is abysmally cheap and shabby. The people around you pursue TV, sports, and shopping -- obey the commands of their masters to indulge themselves in every way and not to question the value of what they are fed by the media."*

Popular music is the equivalent of candy bars and hot dogs, IMO.
I don't want it for breakfast, lunch and dinner, which everyone seems to be doing.

I can appreciate World Music, i.e., music and instrumentation indigenous to particular cultures, etc
But that is not Britney Spears or Gangsta Rap or Death Blues Metal Toilet Head or whatever it is these days.


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## Krummhorn

Easy listening, Big Band Era, Swing, etc. Oldies from 50's and 60's, too.


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## Marc

Since I (sometimes) listen to a.o. Nick Drake, Fairport Convention, Bob Marley (folk & reggae), Dolly Parton (country), ABBA (pop), Muddy Waters (blues), Miles Davis (jazz), The Doors, Madrugada (rock), Sugarhill Gang (rap), The Beatles (many genres)... I figure that I had no other option than to 'vote' for _Yes, I listen to all of the above genres_.


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## elgar's ghost

I've been playing far more than usual recently - I'm getting towards the end of listening to all my soul, R & B and funk, which has been great fun as many of these cds haven't been played in years. Now that classical is uppermost in my affections (and has been for some time) it's the usual problem - too much music of all kinds but too little time to accommodate it all.


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## atsizat

This is what I am listening to right now


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## Kjetil Heggelund

Dua Lipa and Mayhem here \m/


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## Portamento

I've just read through this thread and found people's responses to be fascinating. Mind you, I think some of the bold proclamations here are frankly idiotic... but those are fun to read as well.


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