# Who is Classical Music For?



## krampster2 (Aug 4, 2015)

I'm optimistic and like to think that classical music can be enjoyed by anyone, no matter what kind of person. A piece that is deeply emotional should be able to reach the mind of any human being.

However in practice this does not seem to be the case. I'm 21 and so in a small minority of young classical listeners. I try to do my part in the fight against the rising concert age by taking friends to concerts and trying to get them interested. However I cannot seem to spark an interest in people that goes beyond enjoying the music on the sensual plane (as Aaron Copland put it), where you are just enjoying the nice sounds of the instruments and not really connecting with the emotion of the piece.

Why is it that the music which moves me like nothing else is just treated as pretty elevator music or relaxation music to so many people? What kind of a person do you have to be to understand classical music? Where do you stand on the matter of intelligence? Do you need a certain intellect to enjoy classical or is that a silly stereotype?


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## EddieRUKiddingVarese (Jan 8, 2013)

Silly stereotype but we are all increasingly controlled by what the media tells us to believe, what to like and how to act.........


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## TurnaboutVox (Sep 22, 2013)

Not everyone has a deep interest in music, and many simply want to listen to it, as you suggest, "on the sensual plane". I can't see that there's anything wrong with that.

But young people do go to classical music events in the UK where I live. It rather depends what is being played. At my local piano music festival nothing written much after 1914 has been played within living memory. When Leon McCawley programmed some Ravel into his recital this year I think there was genuine astonishment. In some recitals I may have been the youngest person there - I'm 54 - The audience is very elderly indeed.

At the main regional concert venue in Manchester I tend to go to listen to programmes favouring works from the first half of the 20th century, perhaps with one modern work or one 19th century one. Audiences tend to be mixed, but there are often plenty of young people in that mix. Students, like my son, get in for £3-5 depending on the event.

At the RNCM, Manchester's music conservatoire, the repertoire tends to be strongly in favour of 20th and 21st century repertoire and the audience tends to have a large number of young people, with a fair mix of working age adults who look, at a wild guess, as though they might be academic staff from the RNCM or the University, or members of the city's artistic community. The Huddersfield Contemporary Music festival attracts a similar crowd, though perhaps with fewer very young people and more arty or academic types.

Of course, for young people to develop an interest in classical music they have to encounter it, and I'd guess that you're more likely to do that in a family that is oriented towards cerebral pursuits or artistic ones, though I have known people who grew up in neither and have developed a deep interest in one art form or another. I suspect that it's difficult to predict who might develop a love for classical music, and serendipity must have a large part in it.


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

krampster2 said:


> Why is it that the music which moves me like nothing else is just treated as pretty elevator music or relaxation music to so many people? What kind of a person do you have to be to understand classical music? Where do you stand on the matter of intelligence? Do you need a certain intellect to enjoy classical or is that a silly stereotype?


You must be with the wrong people.

You can even be a person like me and understand the music.

On the matter of intelligence, I'm for it 100%.

Yes, you do need a certain intellect, but I have no idea what the floor might be.


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## Roger Knox (Jul 19, 2017)

krampster2 said:


> Why is it that the music which moves me like nothing else is just treated as pretty elevator music or relaxation music to so many people? What kind of a person do you have to be to understand classical music? Where do you stand on the matter of intelligence? Do you need a certain intellect to enjoy classical or is that a silly stereotype?


Well, I listen to classical music for enjoyment, but also for discovery -- of my own and others' feelings, of taste. of new thoughts, perspectives, connections -- and just to satisfy curiosity. In my view we live now in a blatantly reductive society where we race through everything and reflect on nothing. People have different aptitudes and levels of training in music, but I think most can enjoy some classical music _if_ its presented in a way that reaches out to their thoughts and feelings a little. Good on you for taking friends to concerts -- you can't force it but sometimes the light does go on -- I've seen it!


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## St Matthew (Aug 26, 2017)

Classical music is fun and often quitely emotionally strong, like any good music but that statement in itself is too vague because Mozart produced some of the blandest and uninteresting (to me) music I've ever heard. 

How do you listen to music? the same way as any genre. Music is a part of life and shouldn't be exempt from it. I listen to it when I jog, drive, eat, have sex, sometimes at work, the whole deal. 

I don't get stereotypes, or those people who insist that this genre of music should be listened to in an isolated manner either. I thought you LIKED this music :lol:

Or is it just some sort of sentimental escape that you hide from everyone? 

It's not for me


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## eugeneonagain (May 14, 2017)

Concert music is for everyone. However I don't think there is much hope if someone is dragged to a concert of far-out music as their first encounter. It may work for a minority of first-time listeners, but most will be put off. Likely the same story for first-time Baroque.

My guess is that two types of music in particular draws in the new listeners: Exciting Wagner-type music, especially if it is film score music in this style, and highly emotional, melodramatic music. The most attended concerts of the BBC Proms in recent years have been the film music Proms and those consisting of popular classics that have had an impact upon film music. People may well sniff at this, but popular concerts like these do draw in listeners. The fact they are well-attended also helps pay the bills and provide resources for other concerts.

From that beginning those who are genuinely interested will seek out other music.

As for the intellectual level required, I don't know. Probably, but I've met so many diverse people from all walks of life who listen to classical music that it's hard to tell what the motivations are.


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## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

Made for everyone. But I remember I was the only one who admitted to listening to it in Grade 8 school where there was a certain stigma to it at that age, and you had to listen to current top 40 or Rock to fit in. There is a lot of easy listening Classical also, which they play on Classical FM, and you hear all kinds of people making requests, so I think a lot of the music is also very sensual, especially the Opera.


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## Botschaft (Aug 4, 2017)

Bulldog said:


> You can even be a person like me and understand the music.


If even a damn Bulldog can understand it then who couldn't?


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## Nereffid (Feb 6, 2013)

Classical music _can_ be for everyone, but why does it _have to_ be? Not everyone likes sports, not everyone likes reading, not everyone likes pina coladas or getting caught in the rain...
If one likes something very much, it's easy to get caught into thinking _if only everyone liked this as much as I do, the world would be a better place_, but ultimately we have to realise that other people are able to have fun without our intervention.


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## 20centrfuge (Apr 13, 2007)

I think exposure to music at a relatively young age is important. Kids that take piano lessons, play violin in the school orchestra, etc. are much more likely to embrace classical music.

_____

This is a tangent, but I talked to a co-worker yesterday. He found out that I love classical music and said "Oh, I tried to get into it, but...." 

I answered, "Classical music is a universe. You telling me THAT is like someone saying, 'Oh, I tried to get into books, but...' If you listened to one thing that didn't click, try something different."

Perhaps a bit simple minded of me, but, I think given the time and exposure, most people would find something to love in the realms of CM. (Of course time and exposure are increasingly rare commodities in our fast paced ADD culture).


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## krampster2 (Aug 4, 2015)

Nereffid said:


> Classical music _can_ be for everyone, but why does it _have to_ be? Not everyone likes sports, not everyone likes reading, not everyone likes pina coladas or getting caught in the rain...
> If one likes something very much, it's easy to get caught into thinking _if only everyone liked this as much as I do, the world would be a better place_, but ultimately we have to realise that other people are able to have fun without our intervention.


I like like your thinking. You have eased my worries!


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

My dog seems to enjoy classical music and I don't think she understands it at all. I think for young people it is more a case of being oriented to what their peers like, and so it will be very hard to get classical into that milieu.


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## wolkaaa (Feb 12, 2017)

Interesting question. I've noticed many different reasons why people aren't interested in CM. For instance, many people just don't care about abstract things like arts, science, politics, etc. Soccer and beer are enough for them to be happy. Many people seem to haven't enough sensitivity to appreciate fine and abstract art forms or not enough intelligence to understand such art forms. A huge problem especially today is an extremely short attention span. I know many people who want every second ACTION, ACTION, ACTION. One calm minute and they lose all interest. Also, let's not forget that people are social beings and don't want to be outsiders.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

wolkaaa said:


> I know many people who want every second ACTION, ACTION, ACTION. One calm minute and they lose all interest.


I think that much time spent in front of the television makes one like that.


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## wolkaaa (Feb 12, 2017)

Florestan said:


> I think that much time spent in front of the television makes one like that.


And smartphones, computers... People go crazy when they have calm moment without distraction.


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## Nereffid (Feb 6, 2013)

wolkaaa said:


> Interesting question. I've noticed many different reasons why people aren't interested in CM. For instance, many people just don't care about abstract things like arts, science, politics, etc. Soccer and beer are enough for them to be happy. Many people seem to haven't enough sensitivity to appreciate fine and abstract art forms or not enough intelligence to understand such art forms. A huge problem especially today is an extremely short attention span. I know many people who want every second ACTION, ACTION, ACTION. One calm minute and they lose all interest. Also, let's not forget that people are social beings and don't want to be outsiders.


On the other hand, I will happily sit in a concert hall for a couple of hours without getting fidgety, but when it comes to soccer I usually can only manage the highlights.

I don't know if attention spans today are shorter than they used to be. After all, what did your average medieval peasants scraping a living from day to day have to distract them?

And now I have an image in my head of Socrates playing Fruit Ninja.


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## eugeneonagain (May 14, 2017)

Nereffid said:


> I don't know if attention spans today are shorter than they used to be. After all, what did your average medieval peasants scraping a living from day to day have to distract them?


Work, for the greater part of the day. Then sleep from sundown until about midnight. Awake for an hour or two maybe, then back to sleep. Not much time for anything but a bit of how's-yer-father.

Some of this 'work' would have been the manufacture and repair of necessities - clothes, simple furniture, tools etc. Some of that is what we now call 'craft work' and doubtless required some level of prolonged attention. With fewer choices and limited horizons one probably has a better overview of things.

It is perhaps the multiplication of distractions at the root of attention deficits, rather than no distractions.


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## wolkaaa (Feb 12, 2017)

Nereffid said:


> On the other hand, I will happily sit in a concert hall for a couple of hours without getting fidgety, but when it comes to soccer I usually can only manage the highlights.
> 
> I don't know if attention spans today are shorter than they used to be. After all, what did your average medieval peasants scraping a living from day to day have to distract them?
> 
> And now I have an image in my head of Socrates playing Fruit Ninja.


I've read about studies which proved that children who grow up with smartphones, tablets, etc. don't learn how to deal with boredom. Every time they have nothing to do, they just take their smartphones. Same with grown people. They seem to be scared about being alone with themselves.

Oh, and about soccer: Soccer is probably too undemanding for you, while CM is too demanding for most soccer fans. A big difference.


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## eugeneonagain (May 14, 2017)

wolkaaa said:


> I've read about studies which proofed that children who grow up with smartphones, tablets, etc. don't learn how to deal with boredom. Every time they have nothing to do, they just take their smartphones. Same with grown people. They seem to be scared about being alone with themselves.


George Orwell wrote pretty much the same thing about the wireless (radio). He was probably right, though it is also about the way social life in general is constructed: the fanaticism of trying to make everything easy and at our fingertips by means of technology. 
It's an irony because the radio, being by now 'old' technology, is regarded as something a bit more worthy than television and certainly the internet. This is the view in England at any rate, where radio drama and comedy on BBC radio is often regarded as the preserve of a particular type: possibly middle-class, into 'intellectual things'.

Just like the radio or any media, the internet always had great potential, but its sheer size and diversity and loose editorial oversight makes it much less like those older forms of media. Everyone has a piece and it becomes chaotic. Perhaps this is why people seem to have reduced their activity to a small number of websites - Facebook, You Tube, certain forums and news outlets - to give structure. 
I can't pretend that my own life isn't partially lived online, I'm here typing this after all. The only thing I won't do is have a smartphone glued to my hand 24 hours a day. I've avoided that at least.


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## Tristan (Jan 5, 2013)

I'm 21 and like you, I'm mostly on an island unto myself when it comes to people my age who enjoy classical music. The few others I know who do like it beyond utilizing for "study music" are musicians themselves, and I don't know that any of them have a collection of the music as large as I do (they mostly seem to have knowledge of it for the sake of playing it; how much they actually enjoy listening to it leisurely isn't clear to me). But there is a part of me that is okay with the fact that comparatively not many others (including those my own age) enjoy it. For practical reasons I shouldn't feel this way, as this means that classical concerts may continue to have small attendance and classical music may lose its already small prominence in society, but I enjoy being the "classical expert" in my circle. This is _my thing_. I don't want all my friends getting in here and mucking it up 

I also don't necessarily agree with the idea that one must be significantly intelligent to appreciate classical music. I don't think there is anything exceptionally intelligent about me; I was raised with classical music, developed an attachment to it an early age, and ever since then it has been my favorite genre to listen to. If this had not been my upbringing, I don't know whether I would enjoy it today. There's a good chance I wouldn't.


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

krampster2 said:


> Why is it that the music which moves me like nothing else is just treated as pretty elevator music or relaxation music to so many people? What kind of a person do you have to be to understand classical music? Where do you stand on the matter of intelligence? Do you need a certain intellect to enjoy classical or is that a silly stereotype?


I have a friend who is passionate about cars, I'm not and I imagine he asks himself a similar question about me, he would say that I treat cars as a mode of transport and that you need a certain sort of intellect to appreciate them, to be moved by them. Similarly for another friend who loves betting on horse races. Another whose really interested in weed. There are loads of examples from sports too.

I know this is not an answer to your question, but I wanted to show that there's nothing special about music, or indeed high arts. You're asking a very general type of question.


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## Dumbo (Sep 3, 2017)

Since the advent of rock, at the very least, music has been a commodity marketed to appeal to group identities as group identity reinforcers. Just listen to the lyrics. 

That's one reason why when people try to get to know each other, they ask, "So, what kind of music are you into?" (I'll admit to losing a little respect for people who say "Country", unfair as that may be.)

So when you try to tirn on friends to classical music, you are batt!ing against their sense of group identity more than their musical taste. You're threatening them.

You need to try to find people with open minds and curiosity to convert. And play some music at home for them, or give them an Mp3. Concert hall experiences always distract from the listening, turning it into even more of a group identity conflict. Taking friends to a concert in some glamorous concert hall with chandeliers, etc., and people in formal gowns and suits, says, "This music is for the elite, the wealthy, the sophistocated, not for you normal people."


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## Eschbeg (Jul 25, 2012)

Dumbo said:


> Since the advent of rock, at the very least, music has been a commodity marketed to appeal to group identities as group identity reinforcers.


This phenomenon is way older than rock music. Classical music has amply served this function throughout most of its history. Troubadour music was written expressly for the entertainment of those atop the feudal hierarchy of medieval France, as evidenced by the way in which troubadour texts celebrate and therefore reinforce the feudal hierarchy of medieval France. Opera seria served the same purpose for Baroque aristocracy, which is why one of the requirements of the genre was that the noble characters on the stage be transparent metaphors for the nobility watching the opera. Entire books have been written about the role of German Romantic lieder and piano music in the cultivation of middle class "Biedermeier" culture, while grand opera, possibly the most commodified genre in the history of classical music, served the same purpose except in public rather than private settings. "The new art helps the elite to recognize themselves," José Ortega y Gasset wrote in 1925, and he wasn't talking about jazz or 1920s show tunes; he was talking about Debussy and the early modernists. The list goes on.


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

krampster2 said:


> *Who is Classical Music For?*


I'll answer that. But first, answer this: Who is Classical Music One, Two, and Three?


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## krampster2 (Aug 4, 2015)

Some great answers to this thread and very interesting discussions!

On the topic of identity and music allow me to provide a millennial's perspective on the more positive aspects of technology. This is something that older folk may find disturbing however I would very much consider myself a product of the internet. To me though this is a great thing, I'm very much thankful to the internet for the diversity of my tastes. Because while classical music is my primary musical interest, I also listen to every genre of modern music under the sun, from metal to jazz, electronic music and hip hop. For me though I do not attach my personality to my artistic interests. When I go from listening to jazz to something different like indie rock I change my mindset and the way I approach the music completely, it's hard to explain but it's kind of like acting in how I change the type of person I am to suit the music I am listening to.

My diversity in other arts like film and literature are the same too and it all stems from the massive availability of information available on the internet. From a very early age I was left alone with a computer and an internet connection but instead of turning me into a disturbed monster it got me involved in so many arts and opened up my mind to everything the world has to offer. I don't use technology like some of my younger peers, staring at my phone 24/7 but I do use it to experience the world. I very much revel in my identity as an enigma, I'm not a punk, or a club goer, or a person of the finer arts but all of those things and more. 

To others it looks like I'm having an identity crisis, but to me it's curiosity and an interest in everything and everyone


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## Simon Moon (Oct 10, 2013)

krampster2 said:


> Why is it that the music which moves me like nothing else is just treated as pretty elevator music or relaxation music to so many people? What kind of a person do you have to be to understand classical music? Where do you stand on the matter of intelligence? Do you need a certain intellect to enjoy classical or is that a silly stereotype?


Because, and I am not sure who is to blame, almost all the classical music that the average person is familiar with, is with music of the Classical and Baroque periods.

Most music from these periods, no matter how much emotion and beauty they convey, sound somewhat safe and tame.

Most people, see classical music as sort of a 'museum piece' created by powdered wig wearing historical figures, to be dusted off and and brought out for display to upper class, older audiences.

Sadly, I was one of these people, until I had a chance to hear classical music of the 20th century and contemporary periods. I literally had no idea that classical music was a breathing, living art form, that was constantly evolving.

My entire musical world changed when I heard; Stravinsky, Bartok, Carter, Berg, Lindberg, Schwantner, etc. I could no longer see classical as something safe or tame. It was music that was unpredictable, intense, not always pleasant, complex, and certainly not safe or tame.

Maybe try to entice your friends with classical from the mid to late 20th century and contemporary eras? Instead of trying to show them the beauty and emotion that you find, shake them up a bit.


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

Simon Moon said:


> Because, and I am not sure who is to blame, almost all the classical music that the average person is familiar with, is with music of the Classical and Baroque periods.
> 
> Most music from these periods, no matter how much emotion and beauty they convey, *sound somewhat safe and tame. *
> 
> ...


Interesting. Beethoven's Eroica safe and tame? Most peculiar phrase to use. Mozart's Figaro safe and tame? It was considered scandalous by some - the setting of a revolutionary play? Sorry this is just not on.

Who are the 'most people' you are talking about? Most people do not listen to any form of classical music.

When I listen to music I generally prefer beauty and emotion to being shaken up. I enjoy some mid 20th century music - Prokofiev, Bartok and some (early) Stravinsky, etc.. But I have no wish to hear what I consider to be the tuneless jangling of certain contemporary composers that is gives me no enjoyment whatever. And I listen to music to enjoy it, unworthy though it might seem. It might be more worthy to be shaken up - I've no doubt it is more worthy to lie on a bed of nails. But give me the spring interior mattress any day!


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## Chronochromie (May 17, 2014)

DavidA said:


> And I listen to music to enjoy it, etc.


So do I. Some music was written just to annoy people, or that's what they tell themselves apparently.


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## Dan Ante (May 4, 2016)

Classical or any type of music is for any one that is interested, I don’t really know if classical and baroque periods attracts the most people I would be interested in knowing how this conclusion was arrived at for my part the classical period is the one I least enjoy. 
I now think of Beethoven is he classed as Classical? For me he would be at the beginning of the romantic period at least his later works. 
Do you need a higher degree of intelligence to enjoy classical ? Not in my opinion.


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

Improbus said:


> If even a damn Bulldog can understand it then who couldn't?


All the damn cats in the world.


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## Simon Moon (Oct 10, 2013)

DavidA said:


> Interesting. Beethoven's Eroica safe and tame? Most peculiar phrase to use. Mozart's Figaro safe and tame? It was considered scandalous by some - the setting of a revolutionary play? Sorry this is just not on.


Maybe not safe and tame by the standards of the time they were written. But I am not looking at them from those standards.



> Who are the 'most people' you are talking about? Most people do not listen to any form of classical music.


The "most" people that I am referring to, _are_ the people that _don't_ listen to classical music. That is the entire point of the OP!

These are people who's only contact with classical music are dentist waiting rooms, elevators, TV advertisements for "classical favorites" type of CD collections. That _is_ the subject of the OP. Krampster2 specifically started this thread to voice is frustration on how he is unable to interest his friends in classical music. Friends of his that don't listen to classical music.



> When I listen to music I generally prefer beauty and emotion to being shaken up. I enjoy some mid 20th century music - Prokofiev, Bartok and some (early) Stravinsky, etc.. But I have no wish to hear what I consider to be the tuneless jangling of certain contemporary composers that is gives me no enjoyment whatever. And I listen to music to enjoy it, unworthy though it might seem. It might be more worthy to be shaken up - I've no doubt it is more worthy to lie on a bed of nails. But give me the spring interior mattress any day!


I never advocated that krampster2 play music that is "tuneless jangling" for the friends that he/she is trying to interest in classical.

When I referred to "shaking them up a bit", I wasn't referring to the most extreme examples of 20th century and contemporary music.

There are plenty examples (the majority of music from these periods) that are not "tuneless jangling". But they are still enough to shake up non-classical listeners whose only experience with classical are, The 4 Seasons, Pachelbel's Canon, William Tell overture, Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, or the first couple of notes of Beethoven's 5th.

You don't think that The Rite of Spring, or Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra or Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta, or something by Britten, Barber, or even Berg's Violin concerto, (none of which fit your description of "tuneless jangling") might possibly shake up someone who is more familiar with Pachelbel or the first couple of notes of the 5th?

Considering it was those exact pieces of 20th century classical that I mention above, that got me interested in classical music, maybe there's a chance for others. Previous to hearing those pieces, I had zero interest in classical (just as krampster2 describes his friends in the OP). Just maybe, playing something more contemporary than the Classical or Baroque periods, maybe enough to interest his friends, if all they are expecting more music that sound like it is from those periods.

If someone was trying to get me interested in classical music before I was a fan, but all they did was play me more examples of Beethoven, Bach, Mozart, Vivaldi, et al, I would never have become a fan.


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## lextune (Nov 25, 2016)

Nereffid said:


> If one likes something very much, it's easy to get caught into thinking _if only everyone liked this as much as I do, the world would be a better place_


And then if you like it _even more than that_, you get caught not caring (or even noticing) whether anyone else is enjoying it or not.

:devil:


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## Dumbo (Sep 3, 2017)

It has been my experience that newbies are more likely tp be interested in concertos than symphonies. It gives them a human artist to identify with. They also tend to like music with programmatic names. If they are young, they tend to especially like program music with devilish names, like Dans Macabre. And they like music that blows out woofers like Zarathustra, The Planets, saint saens #3.


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## ArtMusic (Jan 5, 2013)

Classical music is potentially for anyone but equally it is up to the music itself to speak too. Often this is where the problem is, that the music no longer speaks and so the question of who classical music is really for is targeting the wrong origin.


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## Nereffid (Feb 6, 2013)

DavidA said:


> Interesting. Beethoven's Eroica safe and tame? Most peculiar phrase to use. Mozart's Figaro safe and tame? It was considered scandalous by some - the setting of a revolutionary play? Sorry this is just not on.


As to this point, and recalling my own initial reactions to works such as these, I'd say that a significant feature of most 18th/19th-century music for the general public is that its "default" setting is something like "pleasant". Someone who knows and loves Mozart's music will be able to point out the vast emotional range and profundities etc etc, but to the unfamiliar ear I believe it all sounds pretty much the same: pleasant. So there's a reasonable chance that a new listener might immediately enjoy this kind of classical music, but the downside is that they might not immediately realise how much more is in there; their initial reaction is "yes, that's nice", but they expect and therefore get nothing more from it.
Whereas, as per Simon Moon's suggestion, much 20th-century music doesn't have this default setting of "pleasant" (warning: it does not follow that I have now called 20th-century music unpleasant). Presenting the new listener with music that contradicts their image of classical music as merely pleasant might have a stronger positive impact.


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## Nereffid (Feb 6, 2013)

ArtMusic said:


> Classical music is potentially for anyone but equally it is up to the music itself to speak too. Often this is where the problem is, that the music no longer speaks and so the question of who classical music is really for is targeting the wrong origin.


Oh please, the music is not only still speaking, but speaking with greater variety.


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## Pat Fairlea (Dec 9, 2015)

Nereffid said:


> Classical music _can_ be for everyone, but why does it _have to_ be? Not everyone likes sports, not everyone likes reading, not everyone likes pina coladas or getting caught in the rain...
> If one likes something very much, it's easy to get caught into thinking _if only everyone liked this as much as I do, the world would be a better place_, but ultimately we have to realise that other people are able to have fun without our intervention.


That's an astute response. My short answer to the OP is that CM is for anyone who wants it, to enjoy as and when they wish, alone or in company, analysing the technical subtleties or just letting it wash over them, indoors or out, drunk or sober. Just enjoy it. But, as Nereffid sagaciously reminds us, don't assume that everyone will or should enjoy the music that most appeals to you.


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## Guest (Sep 10, 2017)

Nereffid said:


> Classical music _can_ be for everyone, but why does it _have to_ be? Not everyone likes sports, not everyone likes reading, *not everyone likes pina coladas or getting caught in the rain...*
> If one likes something very much, it's easy to get caught into thinking _if only everyone liked this as much as I do, the world would be a better place_, but ultimately we have to realise that other people are able to have fun without our intervention.


I saw what you did there...

Thread duty. Anyone who wants to listen to it. I appreciate the OPs frustration at finding that not everyone wants to share the love for CM, but there we go...I don't understand why my wife won't stand in the rain watching football (without pina colada as it's not normally served at the grounds I go to) or blub like I do listening to Sibelius, but it doesn't prompt me to ask who CM is for...only whether I walked down the aisle with the right woman.


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## Honegger (Sep 8, 2017)

Who is classical music for?

Everybody, of course!


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## larold (Jul 20, 2017)

I think by its nature classical music appeals most to people with a very broad palette and very high level of patience. If you compare any form of popular music to classical, its the difference between listening intently for 3 minutes to perhaps a half-hour for a sonata or concerto, an hour for a symphony, or three hours for an opera. There are plenty of short forms, of course, but the meat of classical music, what most people think of as the first 100 to 150 pieces of music that attract people initially, are in the main 30-60 minutes' duration.


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## CypressWillow (Apr 2, 2013)

In general, it really doesn't matter to me whether people share my taste in music (or anything else.) 

If you like Classical music, wonderful. If you especially love the composers with whom I deeply resonate, delicious. If your idea of Classical is vintage Willie Nelson, OK. I won't try to force my music on you. Be sure to reciprocate.

There have been so many reminders of late that my tastes and preferences are not in the majority. One has only to look at the outcome of certain elections, for example. 

Robert A. Heinlein, an author of whom I'm fond, is quoted as saying, "Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig." (And it doesn't bother me that not everyone enjoys Heinlein.) 

Metaphorically, one can simply shrug one's shoulders, and think "Your loss" and move on.


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## mathisdermaler (Mar 29, 2017)

Because they're not "musically intelligent" and patient enough. That is the only reason. If you are interested in classical music there are absolutely no barriers as long as you have access to YouTube and Wikipedia. People just don't like it.


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## mathisdermaler (Mar 29, 2017)

St Matthew said:


> Classical music is fun and often quitely emotionally strong, like any good music but that statement in itself is too vague because Mozart produced some of the blandest and uninteresting (to me) music I've ever heard.
> 
> How do you listen to music? the same way as any genre. Music is a part of life and shouldn't be exempt from it. I listen to it when I jog, drive, eat, *have sex*, sometimes at work, the whole deal.
> 
> ...


Classical music? :lol: like what?


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