# Recalling Classical Music



## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

When someone starts discussing a certain Classical piece, what portion of the piece you tend to recall? Are you good at identifying the melodies with certain pieces when mentioned out of the blue?

I'm having a hard time grasping the melodies to identify them to the name of the piece. I'm just curious how well others here are at doing that, because that is my goal that I am attempting to raise to, to be able to recall the melodies within a piece when brought up in discussion.

I'm good at remembering the moods, but with Classical music, it's really hard to recount the melodies for me.

But if I do recall something about the piece, it's usually the opening theme, which I feel is the hook of the song, and the dominant theme revisited through the piece. Look at Beethoven's Eroica, or Mozart's Jupiter (which has a couple of main themes in it).

Discuss any relevant information!

:tiphat:


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

In pop songs, it's typically the chorus we recall, what is it with Classical music?

I think this answer is going to weigh heavily on what stands out to the listener, but perhaps there is some commonality, ala, Classical's equivalent to the pop song chorus!


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## Klassik (Mar 14, 2017)

Captainnumber36 said:


> Are you good at identifying the melodies with certain pieces when mentioned out of the blue?


I'm terrible at this! I try not to think too much when listening though so things may not go from my short term memory to long term memory. Also, my preference is to listen to different works as opposed to continuing to listen to the same piece repeatedly. Of course, I'll listen to music I like again, but it might be after a few days.

I will say that there are some melodies, like some from Tchaikovsky and Mozart, which just stick to my brain immediately!


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

Klassik said:


> I'm terrible at this! I try not to think too much when listening though so things may not go from my short term memory to long term memory. Also, my preference is to listen to different works as opposed to continuing to listen to the same piece repeatedly. Of course, I'll listen to music I like again, but it might be after a few days.
> 
> I will say that there are some melodies, like some from Tchaikovsky and Mozart, which just stick to my brain immediately!


What do you tend to recall about a piece? Are you able to discuss it all when brought up out of the blue? What aspects stick out to you generally?


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## Klassik (Mar 14, 2017)

Captainnumber36 said:


> What do you tend to recall about a piece? Are you able to discuss it all when brought up out of the blue? What aspects stick out to you generally?


If it's something that I'm hearing for the first time or something I have not heard for a while, I'll probably only remember my mood. After a few listens, I can usually recall a lot more, but sometimes I have to think about it from an instrumentation perspective first in terms of "instrument X was doing this, instrument Y was doing this," and so on. If I do that, I guess I can reconstruct things in my mind. Maybe this is unusual, but I don't know.

What's specifically special about the works that stick in my mind immediately? I really can't say. It's a mystery to me.


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## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

Well, since I was a kid, my listening habit has been, when I hear a new piece I like, I play it a bunch of times until, over time, I "know" it well enough that you could drop a needle anywhere on the recording and I would be able to identify it fairly quickly most of the time. So even though I have de-accessioned most of my vinyl collection to keep the house from exploding, I "know" enough music that I can play most anything I like in my head with 80-90% accuracy. So someone would have to mention a particular movement or passage for me to get with the program.


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## David OByrne (Dec 1, 2016)

There are usually moments in a piece that are 'out of the ordinary' that haunt my mind for weeks happens a lot with Mahler, Schoenberg and Varese for me. I can't personally say that the main melody of a work usually sticks with me from the earlier periods either.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Oh wow! I got scared. I thought my CDs were being recalled by the companies and I would have to schlepp them all back to Berlin or something.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Captainnumber36 said:


> In pop songs, it's typically the chorus we recall, what is it with Classical music?
> 
> I think this answer is going to weigh heavily on what stands out to the listener, but perhaps there is some commonality, ala, Classical's equivalent to the pop song chorus!


Of cause there is , the more you hear a piece the more you get to know it, lets say Mozart 40, I bet you can hum the score now.


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## DaveM (Jun 29, 2015)

hpowders said:


> Oh wow! I got scared. I thought my CDs were being recalled by the companies and I would have to schlepp them all back to Berlin or something.


Hey, that's an idea! I can suggest some music that should be recalled. Just recall it and make it better.


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

Pugg said:


> Of cause there is , the more you hear a piece the more you get to know it, lets say Mozart 40, I bet you can hum the score now.


Only the first movement.


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

After years of listening to classical music I've come to a point where if I hear a single chord (sometimes) or a few seconds segment (fairly often) I can identify the work (provided it's fairly mainstream and provided I've heard it before, a couple of times usually). Often I startle myself with quick recognitions of a work, say that I'm hearing when I turn on the classical radio station in my Jeep.

But this is much a matter of instrumentation, orchestration, color. Brahms has a certain sound (apart from the melody or form) that is immediately recognizable (though I can sometimes confuse him with a Schumann work I'm unfamiliar with). And Bach is quite unlike Vivaldi or Telemann. Mozart and Beethoven are highly recognizable by "sound", as are Bruckner, Tchaikovsky, Mahler (though parts of Tyberg's Third Symphony can throw me for a loop there), etc. So, it's not just melody or harmony that prove recognizable or memorable, but also "color".

And, stuff by Cage and Boulez and Penderecki and Xenakis are less strong on melody and harmony and form than they are "color". So ... 

I don't know if this post fits this thread or not.


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

SONNET CLV said:


> After years of listening to classical music I've come to a point where if I hear a single chord (sometimes) or a few seconds segment (fairly often) I can identify the work (provided it's fairly mainstream and provided I've heard it before, a couple of times usually). Often I startle myself with quick recognitions of a work, say that I'm hearing when I turn on the classical radio station in my Jeep.
> 
> But this is much a matter of instrumentation, orchestration, color. Brahms has a certain sound (apart from the melody or form) that is immediately recognizable (though I can sometimes confuse him with a Schumann work I'm unfamiliar with). And Bach is quite unlike Vivaldi or Telemann. Mozart and Beethoven are highly recognizable by "sound", as are Bruckner, Tchaikovsky, Mahler (though parts of Tyberg's Third Symphony can throw me for a loop there), etc. So, it's not just melody or harmony that prove recognizable or memorable, but also "color".
> 
> ...


It does! And ya, I'm fairly good at recognizing era's and taking an educated guess at the composer for as you said, they all have distinct sounds, but I'm not as good at recalling particular melodies from symphonies and assorted works.


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## Forss (May 12, 2017)

This bothers me quite a lot, too. My so-called "musical memory" is really rather terrible, I must admit, and I tend to remember certain pieces more by some sort of vague "character", as it were. The _Heroic Symphony_ is (for me) a biography over Napoleon, naturally, and Mahler's _Symphony No. 9_ a confrontation with death, and so on and so forth.


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## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

I can identify which work and movement for the wellknown, warhorses and canonized works. Not so much for more obscure, neglected stuff, except for those I own


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## Centropolis (Jul 8, 2013)

My experience is that because most of the classical music (other than vocal works) doesn't have "lyrics" and are typically much longer than pop music, it's so much harder to be able to remember and recall melodies for a large number of works. I've started listening to classical music about 6 years ago and haven't gotten to a point where I can recall much other than themes from very popular pieces.

My suggestion is to not force it upon yourself. It's nice to be able to recognize and recall things but don't let the difficulties in this sway you away from enjoying the music. I've listened to all Beethoven's symphonies many times over but I probably can't tell you which is which if you started playing the middle of the third movement. But it really doesn't matter.


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

I remember moments (which can include melodies) for quite a lot quite well. It may take me an hour or even a day to place it and name it but I usually can for a lot of works. But when a composer wrote a lot of, say, symphonies (like Haydn) or piano concertos (like Mozart) even though I might know the music very well I often can't say which one of the series it is. When it is the other way around - so when someone mentions a work and I have to come up with a memory of it - I find it much more difficult. That tunes themselves are not crucial to my memory is demonstrated by the fact that I can remember "tuneless" just as well as "tuneful" music. What matters are moments and a good degree of familiarity. As for the "mood" of a piece, that does perhaps come first but it doesn't tell me that much - it just narrows it down.


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## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)

I guess I have pretty good musical memory.
I recognize all classical music that I've listened to a few times or more near instantly when I hear it somewhere (even many years later). But that seems natural to me, is it not?
Also, when I've listened to the music many times, I can remember certain melodies and themes (common practice period) on the spot. Sometimes even the less "obvious" and promiment themes. I don't think I can hum or whistle entire pieces or movements, but sometimes if I just start somewhere I can keep going for quite a while.


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## goatygoatygoatgoat (May 28, 2018)

MarkW said:


> Well, since I was a kid, my listening habit has been, when I hear a new piece I like, I play it a bunch of times until, over time, I "know" it well enough that you could drop a needle anywhere on the recording and I would be able to identify it fairly quickly most of the time.


Yes, this is the same way with me. If I like a piece, I listen to it a few times to get it "etched" in my brain and then I basically know it. The problem is that I have to be careful about which version of a piece I etch in my brain because if I hear that same piece played by another orchestra in a different way (different tempo or arrangement), then it won't sound "right" to me. The new one I hear may be a superior recording, but I won't like it because it's not the same as the first version. (I've managed to jump to a few superior recordings, but they were quite similar with no major differences - and it took quite a while to convince my brain.)

I never ever whistle or hum a piece of music. I find whistling and humming quite annoying. I sort of "breathe" the piece. I suppose it's like whistling, but without puckering my lips or making any annoying high pitched sounds.


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## Larkenfield (Jun 5, 2017)

"When does someone start discussing a certain Classical piece, what portion of the piece you tend to recall?"

Its overall mood and sometimes certain special melodies or moments, such as the beautiful clarinet solo at the beginning of the 3rd movement of Rachmaninoff's 2nd Symphony, or the brass choir in the 4th movement of Schumann's 3rd Symphony. But if I can't recall any of the specifics, there's the joy of the rediscovery of hearing the entire work again as if for the first time.


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## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)

DeepR said:


> I guess I have pretty good musical memory.
> I recognize all classical music that I've listened to a few times or more near instantly when I hear it somewhere (even many years later). But that seems natural to me, is it not?


One example: I once played an old PC game called Dark Legions that used an adaptation of Rachmaninoff's C# minor prelude as background music. I didn't know it was Rachmaninoff at the time but the music fascinated me. About 10 years later I got serious about classical music and especially solo piano music. The moment I heard the prelude I knew this was the piece they used in the game. Funny how that works.




 (starts after a minute)


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## Mozart555 (Jun 17, 2018)

I tend to remember most of the important music I've heard, and can play it through in my head. This is both a blessing and a curse, it allows me to enjoy complex music that requires familiarization with the piece, and also prevents me from enjoying other pieces due to overfamiliarization.


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