# Do young people like classical music?



## JSBach85 (Feb 18, 2017)

I am 31 right now but I am listening early music since I was 20. I don't know why but unfortunately I couldn't find yound people interested in classical music. Everytime I attend to a concert, I see plenty of elderly people. The fact I couldn't find young people interested in classical music made me to hide myself as if I were a gay (I am not). The only person aside my parents knowing that I like early music is my wife, who attended some concerts in past years. She likes going to early music concerts but she doesn´t actually listen to early/classical music.

Do you know if young people like classical music?

PS. Sorry for the off-topic.


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## Jacred (Jan 14, 2017)

No, plenty of young people I know like classical music. Perhaps the reason you aren't finding a lot is because they are hiding it as well. That being said, classical music is an interest that must be fostered and the education of music to younger people where I'm from seems to be more performance-based. So they might like playing certain pieces but they don't know much about it and don't care to be interested.


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## TurnaboutVox (Sep 22, 2013)

I have two young adult children (in their early 20s) who both like classical music and have friends who also like classical music. My daughter was introduced to it partly by me, but mostly by a friend she made at University who sings in a well regarded amateur choir / chorus, and introduced her to choral classical music. I wouldn't say that she's a big fan of CM, but it's part of her listening repertoire. 
My son is interested in avant-garde music of all sorts, started with rock and jazz and found his way to contemporary CM through internet exploration. From there he discovered modernism and now he's open to much of the music of mainstream classical composers.

I'd guess that because I've been playing classical music in our family home since they were little, they have known of its existence. But I don't know what it is that has helped or encouraged them to explore and listen to classical music for themselves.


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## EdwardBast (Nov 25, 2013)

Some do. I did. All it takes is a parent willing to play it for them. I had a steady diet of Russian symphonic music from the age of three. I learned to like other kinds of music as well but Russian is my native musical language.


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## Bettina (Sep 29, 2016)

Many of my teenage piano students like classical music. Some of them even enjoy attending classical piano concerts with me. Of course, they would never dare tell their friends that they go to classical concerts with their piano teacher...how uncool!!


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

TurnaboutVox said:


> I have two young adult children (in their early 20s) who both like classical music and have friends who also like classical music. My daughter was introduced to it partly by me, but mostly by a friend she made at University who sings in a well regarded amateur choir / chorus who introduced her to choral classical music. I wouldn't say that she's a big fan of CM, but it's part of her listening repertoire.
> My son is interested in avant garde music of all sorts, started with rock and jazz and found his way to contemporary CM through internet exploration. From there he discovered modernism and now he's open to much of the music of mainstream classical composers.
> 
> I'd guess that because I've been playing classical music in our family home since they were little, they have known of its existence. But I don't know what it is that has helped or encouraged them to explore and listen to classical music for themselves.


My brother and I grew up in a house filled with "culture" where at dinner, the radio was always tuned to classical music. My brother became more well-rounded in his musical tastes, whereas I became a classical music fanatic, taking my interest way beyond anything he would listen to.

Same house. Different roads.


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## Tristan (Jan 5, 2013)

I'm 20 and I personally know few young people who like classical music, though it's not entirely unknown. My best friend's sister's boyfriend enjoys it and I've gone to see the Stanford Symphony Orchestra with him a few times. There are definitely plenty of fellow Stanford students who enjoy it, and I've come across some in classes of mine; I just happen to be friends with people who don't care for it much beyond using it as background music for studying, although a few of my friends have other interesting music tastes beyond Top 40 radio (one I know enjoys jazz and has the same penchant for vinyl that I do, another likes alternative hip hop, and one mostly listens to indietronica, which I also like). 

I wish I knew someone my age with the same level of classical fanaticism that I exhibit, but I don't. Of the people I went to high school with whom I am still friends with, for example, I don't think a single one of them cares much about classical music. Many times when I've gone to see the San Francisco Symphony, I'm the youngest around by far. That was especially true when I was a teenager. It seemed like everyone there was at least twice or three times my age.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

My son is 23 and he likes classical, but he is not nuts about it like i am. He is happy with one CD of his favorite work, where I will often get several, and in some cases a dozen or more.


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## yetti66 (Jan 30, 2017)

I think the problem for young audiences is that classical music is non-interactive, non-engaging in live performance. Compared to the mob dancing of techno, punk/ hard-core slam dancing, call and response and scope of audience participation in rap/ hip-hop, classical performances are completely sterile. There is no social appeal whatsoever for youth.


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## chill782002 (Jan 12, 2017)

My love of classical music is entirely due to my Dad playing his old LPs when I was a child. I can never hear the opening movement of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony or the opening movement of Elgar's Cello Concerto without remembering being about three years old.


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## Judith (Nov 11, 2015)

When I go to concerts, there are quite a lot of young people in the audience. So I would say there are young people who do like classical music!


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## Kjetil Heggelund (Jan 4, 2016)

Yes! I was young once


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

Some young people do. All young people *could*. But not all that many have the opportunity. It's a shame.


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## SiegendesLicht (Mar 4, 2012)

I came to love classical music at the age of 23. Whether that is young or old, I do not know, but I would never ever think of "hiding myself as if I were a gay" (if I were gay I would not hide either, I am darned too proud for that). In fact, I thoroughly enjoy being a classical snob.


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## yetti66 (Jan 30, 2017)

There is a problem of perception. In a classical concert you can't engage in anyway - in fact you can only clap at certain times. Compare that to any popular music concert where the artists are trying their hardest to engage and draw a response from the audience. In this context classical music is viewed as sterile by many gen Xers and millenials. 

Beethoven is not stuffy - it is the performance of Beethoven that is perceived to be stuffy.


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## Harmonie (Mar 24, 2007)

I joined here when I was 18 (where have those years gone? o.o). I really got into classical music when I was 16. So, yes, young people can like classical music. No reason why not.


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## Gordontrek (Jun 22, 2012)

I see enough youth interest in classical music, but a lot of it is an attempt to cultivate an "artsy" and open-minded image for oneself. In other words, people spend at least a little time listening to classical or going to a concert or two just so they can say they did it. (with a selfie of course, or it never happened!)
You are correct in noting that most concertgoers are elderly, which leaves the obvious question of what happens when they all die off. Pull up a video of a live concert from 50 years ago and what do you see? The same thing- white and gray hair everywhere. It's not that today's youth has any special aversion to classical concerts. It is explained quite easily by the fact that the younger you are, the harder it is for you to sit still. I would ask the older ladies and gentlemen on this forum, specifically those who remember the 1960s: would you have been able to conceive of a "flower child" attending an orchestra concert during that time? I think that young people of any generation would find sitting still in a concert hall for 120 minutes a boring activity for snobbish old people....until they get old themselves, that is, and such a low-energy activity starts to look much more appealing!


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Harmonie said:


> I joined here when I was 18 (where have those years gone? o.o). I really got into classical music when I was 16. So, yes, young people can like classical music. No reason why not.


Did your taste in music changed throughout the years, if I may be so bold to ask?


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## Granate (Jun 25, 2016)

I don't care if there is a low rate of young people around me appreciating Classical Music. I like to think they spend their time in equally self-fulfiling and productive things, like learning code, a foreign language, watching classic films, socialising, travelling, volunteering, or listening to other genres of music as I did for years before falling for Classical.
Even if they don't do any of those, I just wish they are happy with their lives.

I prefer this approach when I have the chance to talk about Classical Music to friends or others that ignore this whole world. Introductions should be pleasant whether they are successful or not, we still have half a century to live!


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## SiegendesLicht (Mar 4, 2012)

Gordontrek said:


> I think that young people of any generation would find sitting still in a concert hall for 120 minutes a boring activity for snobbish old people....until they get old themselves, that is, and such a low-energy activity starts to look much more appealing!


Young people generally don't mind sitting still for a three-hour movie, so I don't think it is about that.


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## Gordontrek (Jun 22, 2012)

SiegendesLicht said:


> Young people generally don't mind sitting still for a three-hour movie, so I don't think it is about that.


That is true, but how many times does the shot change during an orchestra concert?


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## Harmonie (Mar 24, 2007)

Pugg said:


> Did your taste in music changed throughout the years, if I may be so bold to ask?


In terms of non-classical music, yes. In terms of classical music, I have just come to appreciate more periods and composers. My original interest was mainly in Classical (like Mozart) and Baroque. Over time I found interest in French Impressionism and Early Music. But at the end of the day I love all of them still.


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

Young people (including myself) tend to "like" classical more, as in, _show _they like classical more, in numbers. Going to concerts in groups is a good thing to help young people feel alright, especially when everyone around them is old. Going completely alone is something that takes some time to get use to, or not at all. Appreciating music really has to have some social-support element when it comes to being open about it. I remember in 6th grade going to a concert with my family, and all the 60s and 70-year olds staring at me in the lobby like "wow, a young girl!" Only the music was my consolation to bounce back from that. No offense to them, they can stare at me if they want! It was just a very awkward experience. Nowadays I blend in a bit better.

Last weekend I went to a sold out classical concert. That's right, _sold out_. It was the 3rd of 3 sold-out concerts with the same program. It was Gershwin-Ravel concert, so they were big pop hits in some ways but also well-loved by more studied listeners. It was filled with people young and old, most notably young and middle-aged urban professionals with money. The audience was up on its feet instantly when the Rhapsody in Blue ended. My musician friends and I (there were 6 of us all sitting together in this concert, group power!) didn't stand up LOL. We're too tired of that stuff. We did stand for Daphnis No. 2 though, after all our flute professors were the stars of that performance.


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## isorhythm (Jan 2, 2015)

Gordontrek said:


> I see enough youth interest in classical music, but a lot of it is an attempt to cultivate an "artsy" and open-minded image for oneself. In other words, people spend at least a little time listening to classical or going to a concert or two just so they can say they did it. (with a selfie of course, or it never happened!)


I don't think so. Many young people do try to cultivate an artsy image, but classical music generally isn't the way to do that. Its conservative, stodgy image is unshakeable. They're going to art galleries, seeing foreign films, reading (or pretending to read) French philosophy, things like that. And maybe they're listening to avant-garde or underground music in other genres, which might lead them to some classical music - but most people are barely aware that modern classical music exists, so it's not winning anyone any cool points.


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