# How would you change your life if classical music didn't exist anymore?



## MusicSybarite (Aug 17, 2017)

It's unlikely it happens, but I ask you just for your creative and sincere impressions. It's a rather hypothetical question. How dependant are you to classical music? What if it were banned for X or Y reason? What if it suddenly disappeared?


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

I suppose I would be doing other stuff. Concerning music, I'd switch to Blues and Jazz.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

I could listen to old country records from the 60s. There's lots of strings on those suckers.


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## Guest (Sep 20, 2019)

I'd read more.
.............


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## Eva Yojimbo (Jan 30, 2016)

I'd just watch more films, read more literature, play more video games, listen more to other kinds of music, play guitar more, write more, etc. I'd be very sad without classical music, but there's more than enough great art and artistic endeavors out there to fill one's life with.


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## Fabulin (Jun 10, 2019)

I guess I would try to compose it back into existence, unless my memories of it were deleted as well.


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## Colin M (May 31, 2018)

Baron Scarpia said:


> I'd read more.
> .............


Me too : ). I tend to focus completely on the music in the hour a day or so I devote to my listening. Typically the best hour of the day. I anthropomorphize my CDs in the cabinets and imagine all whispering pick me, pick me : ). DSCH must be the best at whispering. He usually wins...


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## Guest (Sep 20, 2019)

And think of all the time I'd save, since this web site wouldn't exist. :lol:


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

I was heavily into classical music from age 19 to 23, then dropped music that wasn't church-related completely until 1992. So I've already lived without it. If there wasn't classical music, I'd just listen to podcasts and take MOOCs with the occasional toe-dipping into music like jazz and R&B, funk, and anything that could be a diversion for a few minutes.


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## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

Depends on whether it never existed on the first place or just disppeared. In the latter case, I know enough in my head to only miss what I don't know well. In the former, since I wouldn't know what I'd been missing it's not really a valid question. I'd probably learn about fine wine.


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## Red Terror (Dec 10, 2018)

I’d listen to more Jazz, I suppose.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

I'd have to dig up those old Elvis Presley records...


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

Movies. Mostly old ones, say 1932-1960 or so. Lots of great music in some of them.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Pop/rock/jazz would jump from close to 50% of my music playing time to close to 100%.


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## janxharris (May 24, 2010)




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## janxharris (May 24, 2010)

The prospect is too awful to contemplate.

I'd put prog Rush and Genesis on loop.


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## Krummhorn (Feb 18, 2007)

I'd then be quite happy listening to the Big Band/Swing era music from 1935 to 1945. 

The Dorsey Brothers, Duke Ellington, Artie Shaw, Benny Goodman, Count Basie to name a few. Great sounds! 


Kh


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

I'd move to the Ozarks, join a fundamentalist church, have gay conversion therapy, gain 200 pounds, wear a baseball cap backwards, shoot wild pigs, watch football, compete in demolition derbies, collect military-style weapons, wear a MAGA hat to weddings and funerals, deny climate change, and wait for the rapture.


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

Jazz, some rock and music from other cultures. I might even come to like some prog rock if the real thing became unavailable but I doubt it. I'd still have reading and maybe films would become more important to me.


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## Merl (Jul 28, 2016)

Woodduck said:


> I'd move to the Ozarks, join a fundamentalist church, have gay conversion therapy, gain 200 pounds, wear a baseball cap backwards, shoot wild pigs, watch football, compete in demolition derbies, collect military-style weapons, wear a MAGA hat to weddings and funerals, deny climate change, and wait for the rapture.


LOL, I thought you already did those things, Woody!


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## NLAdriaan (Feb 6, 2019)

I would play more piano and organ, still enjoy jazz, hiphop & pop music a lot. Go to the movies more. Keep on travelling, except to the Ozarks. Enjoy nature and perhaps restore an old car.


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## Duncan (Feb 8, 2019)

If classical music didn't exist but the people who get on my nerves would still be around then the answer is easy -

I would be in prison doing hard time serving multiple concurrent life sentences for murder one - 
singing "Early in the Mornin'" and other tunes from "Prison Songs: Volume One - "Murderous Home" -


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## Blancrocher (Jul 6, 2013)

I would probably work harder, socialize more, and develop into a well-rounded human being with many interests.


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

I'd read more, plus increase my exposure to Rock, Pop, the Blues, World Music, and cante flamenco. I might also start posting on Politics and Religion.


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## Open Book (Aug 14, 2018)

It can't cease to exist. If it disappeared, then it would be because it was outlawed. If anyone had any memory of it, it would go underground. It would be kept alive there in people's memories and they'd get together and piece together what they'd remembered. I wouldn't be of much help as a non-musician but I'd furtively join one of those underground cells just to listen in.

If it had never existed, then I guess I'd never notice its loss. I'd be listening to the nearest intricate world music as a substitute. Indian music maybe. Cuban or Greek music. As well as certain cerebral popular groups. But would _they_ exist without classical music?


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## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)

It would leave a permanent scar but I would fill the gap with other music and hobbies eventually.


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## Sonata (Aug 7, 2010)

Awesome answer


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## Fabulin (Jun 10, 2019)

1. Since classical music is a western tradition, without it Europe's music would be as impressive as traditional music of any other civilization.

2. Forget Big Band music. The best composers and performers attended classical conservatoires.
Forget most of the nice march music as well. Kapellmeisters also studied at conservatoires (Fucik was a student of Dvorak, for example)

3. There would still be folk and pop music. Jazz could happen, as a sort of quickly evolving urban folk, but without it's more academic wings. What instruments would they play though? Primitive, valve-less brass, simple woodwinds, and guitars?

4. As far as a re-creation is concerned, ironically the easiest to recreate, after simple tonal vocal chants, would probably be atonalism.


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## Red Terror (Dec 10, 2018)

Woodduck said:


> I'd move to the Ozarks, join a fundamentalist church, have gay conversion therapy, gain 200 pounds, wear a baseball cap backwards, shoot wild pigs, watch football, compete in demolition derbies, collect military-style weapons, wear a MAGA hat to weddings and funerals, deny climate change, and wait for the rapture.


You should do this regardless.










You'll also need a wife:


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## Dimace (Oct 19, 2018)

Good Jazz (Billy, John, Thelonious, Jelly, Jay, Duke, David, Oscar etc) Good Rock (Guns and Roses, Metallica, DS, Predators, Rio Speed, Queen etc) and my MASTER, who NOBODY can take him away from me! :lol::lol::lol: (I'm FFFFing cheating, I know…)

For this (unfortunate) occasion the next forum title: *Talk NO classical!*


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## MusicSybarite (Aug 17, 2017)

Well, I've enjoyed reading all your responses. I've read some great ones thus far. 


As for me, I'd be more sincere and direct: I couldn't live with it because is almost as addicting as having sex or breathing or eating!! Yes, I know, I'm exaggerating. Classical music can't even be compared with such mundane pleasures.


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## MusicSybarite (Aug 17, 2017)

But I mean, do you think the impact would be any important? Are many of you really addicted to classical music?


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

I used to live in a big house, drive fancy cars, and vote for trendy limousine liberals. Then classical music disappeared...


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## MusicSybarite (Aug 17, 2017)

KenOC said:


> I used to listen to classical music. Then it disappeared...


Poor man! He needs some care.


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## MusicSybarite (Aug 17, 2017)

Bulldog said:


> I suppose I would be doing other stuff. Concerning music, I'd switch to Blues and Jazz.


Would they give the same pleasure than CM?


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## MusicSybarite (Aug 17, 2017)

starthrower said:


> I could listen to old country records from the 60s. There's lots of strings on those suckers.


What is your favorite kind of music? Currently Classical?


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

MusicSybarite said:


> Would they give the same pleasure than CM?


I have no idea, but I'm not the type to moan about what's lost forever


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## Red Terror (Dec 10, 2018)

Strange Magic said:


> I'd read more, plus increase my exposure to Rock, Pop, the Blues, World Music, and cante flamenco. I might also start posting on Politics and Religion.


 Not a substantial change, then.


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## DBLee (Jan 8, 2018)

Before even thinking about how it would affect what I *do*, I have to consider how losing classical music would affect my outlook and my personality. Because music undeniably has played a part in shaping both. If I had no memory of classical music, I suppose I would be narrower and less contemplative.


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## science (Oct 14, 2010)

I hope that at the very least I'd get back the money I've spent on it. Then I'd take a long trip to Italy.


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## Duncan (Feb 8, 2019)

Manxfeeder said:


> I was heavily into classical music from age 19 to 23, then dropped music that wasn't church-related completely until 1992. So I've already lived without it. If there wasn't classical music, I'd just listen to podcasts and take MOOCs with the occasional toe-dipping into music like *jazz* and* R&B*, *funk*, and anything that could be a diversion for a few minutes.


Notice the location? - Nashville... - "Music City, USA"... Nashville - the "country music capital of the world"...

"Jazz and R&B and funk" and an undefined "anything that could be a diversion for a few minutes" - with nary a mention of hillbilly music... for shame, for shame...

Henceforth he shall be known as "Manxfeeder the Heretic"!


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## millionrainbows (Jun 23, 2012)

How would you change your life if classical music didn't exist anymore?As my boss used to say, "You CAN be replaced."


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## Blancrocher (Jul 6, 2013)

The sad truth is that the mere nonexistence of classical music wouldn't stop me from posting about it on the forum--I'm a creature of habit.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Blancrocher said:


> The sad truth is that the mere nonexistence of classical music wouldn't stop me from posting about it on the forum--I'm a creature of habit.


Posts about nonexistent things are not hard to find.


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## Merl (Jul 28, 2016)

Without CM my life would be emptier than Boris Johnson's head.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Merl said:


> Without CM my life would be emptier than Boris Johnson's head.


Like Donald Trump's head, then?


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson is probably not stupid. I doubt Trump is (but he may be). Johnson knows what he is doing.


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

I suppose the point is that if there were no classical music then we wouldn't know about it and wouldn't know what we are missing. If we did know about it but then it suddenly disappeared, we would simply recreate it.


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

Certainly take some of the pleasure out of life. But it's not what life consists of


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

I suppose the question applies more to those who listen to classical and nothing else. The musical omnivores amongst us would adapt quite easily, I think.


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## Totenfeier (Mar 11, 2016)

Maybe start a site called _Talk Literature_, where we could arg...excuse me, _discuss_ such questions as "Whose writing is more turgid: William Faulkner or Thomas Wolfe?", or DEATHMATCH: BYRON, SHELLEY, OR KEATS?!?"


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## MatthewWeflen (Jan 24, 2019)

The OP seems to suggest 2 questions: 1. what if CM were systematically removed from society; and 2. what if it simply never existed?

In the case of 1, I would hoard it and try to keep it safe from destruction. I already enjoy collecting it, and the thrill of preserving and hiding it would only make that sweeter. Which of course raises interesting questions of priority (for me it would be Beethoven's symphonies and then everything else).

In the case of 2, well, I wasn't always deep into it. I always liked it, but there were several decades of my life where I would only listen to, say, a Brahms symphony set or Copland's Appalachian Spring once a year. So I guess I would just watch movies, listen to jazz and rock, and read.


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## Roger Knox (Jul 19, 2017)

MusicSybarite said:


> But I mean, do you think the impact would be any important? Are many of you really addicted to classical music?


Good question, and very important. I don't think of classical music as an addiction although it is a big part of my life. In fact I can't separate classical music and life. Over the years it seems that classical music has become an anchor in fact, and though a number of other kinds of music attract me none can replace classical music.


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

You might as well say we are addicted to air or food. Addiction has to have a negative consequence. The nearest consumption of classical music comes to that is when you pay more than you can afford for it.


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## Razumovskymas (Sep 20, 2016)

MusicSybarite said:


> It's unlikely it happens, but I ask you just for your creative and sincere impressions. It's a rather hypothetical question. How dependant are you to classical music? What if it were banned for X or Y reason? What if it suddenly disappeared?


No problem, I will be reading more.

I assume it is permitted to hum the occasional Beethoven symphony, sing a Händel aria or whistle a Liszt piece?


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Razumovskymas said:


> No problem, I will be reading more.
> 
> I assume it is permitted to hum the occasional Beethoven symphony, sing a Händel aria or whistle a Liszt piece?


It is permitted so long as you are not overheard. Then things could get very bad very quickly.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

KenOC said:


> It is permitted so long as you are not overheard. Then things could get very bad very quickly.


Big brother is listening. Our only hope is to preserve 4'33" as a seed from which, someday, classical music can regenerate.


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## Eva Yojimbo (Jan 30, 2016)

Totenfeier said:


> Maybe start a site called _Talk Literature_, where we could arg...excuse me, _discuss_ such questions as "Whose writing is more turgid: William Faulkner or Thomas Wolfe?", or DEATHMATCH: BYRON, SHELLEY, OR KEATS?!?"


I used to be part of such a forum called online-literature.net before it bit the dust. As for the deathmatch, Byron clearly won given how young Shelley and Keats died.


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## Duncan (Feb 8, 2019)

Woodduck said:


> Big brother is listening. Our only hope is to preserve 4'33" as a seed from which, someday, classical music can regenerate.


Test driving a new thread...

*"Conspiracy FACTS not Theories!"*

John Cage - "4:33" is a not-so-secret-any-more "homage" to Nazi Reich Chancellor Adolf Hitler (the Austrian one with the "Hitler" mustache - the German Nazi guy - not the other one)".

Fact - the number "4" is the fourth month of the year - "April"

Fact - "April" is the month that Adolf Hitler was born - "April 20, 1889"

Fact - "33" is the year that Adolf Hitler became "Reich Chancellor" of Germany (Deutschland) - "January 30, 1933"

Fact - "4" is the fourth letter of the alphabet "D" - "D" obviously stands for "Deutschland".

Fact - "4" can also be read as the both the English word "for" and the German word "für".

Fact - "4:33" can thus be read as "for '33" or "für '33" - meaning support and approval of Hitler's ascension to Reich Chancellor.

Fact - 4 plus 3 equals 7 - the 7th letter in the alphabet is "G" which obviously stands for "Germany"...

Fact - 4 plus 3 equals 7 plus 3 equals 10... which obviously stands for... stands for... Skip this one - I've got nothin'...

Conclusion - ""4:33" is a not-so-secret-any-more "homage" to Nazi Reich Chancellor Adolf Hitler (the Austrian one with the "Hitler" mustache - the German Nazi guy - not the other one)".

Next edition of "Conspiracy FACTS not Theories!" - "Mozart actually killed Salieri - not the other way around - and trust me it wasn't an "accident"".


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## Roger Knox (Jul 19, 2017)

My mother asked me recentl , "If there is no more classical music, what will replace it?" So far I haven't found any kind of music that could replace it. That doesn't mean that none could emerge.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

DavidA said:


> Certainly take some of the pleasure out of life. But it's not what life consists of


I remember an episode of My Favorite Martian, where the main character was trying to put the moves on a classical music lover. She made the statement, "Classical music is not a big part of the world, but it's a big part of mine." That's a good way of saying it.


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## Open Book (Aug 14, 2018)

I'm surprised almost no one is expressing heartbreak at the loss of classical music.

Yes, there is other music and I have taken vacations from classical music to listen to other music - once when I was in my twenties and decided I wanted to be like everyone else for a while. But I can't imagine classical music not being there when I want to return to it. That would be awful.

How is reading and visual art a substitute for any kind of music anyway?


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## Eva Yojimbo (Jan 30, 2016)

Open Book said:


> How is reading and visual art a substitute for any kind of music anyway?


All art is, in general, about having an inner experience evoked by whatever work it is you're experiencing. While true that different mediums evoke different experiences in different ways, the fundamental idea is the same, and there's so much out there that the very fact that there's many different mediums means (for those interested in all of them) less time to experience each one. The fact is that I will die without having read a small fraction of the great novels or poems out there, without having heard a fraction of the great music out there. If one medium/genre didn't exist, I'd just be able to experience more of the others. A loss in one sense, a gain in another.


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## geralmar (Feb 15, 2013)

I'd probably spend my time watching Italian westerns instead. My second obsession.


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