# Poppular myths about classical music that are false



## deprofundis (Apr 25, 2014)

1- classical music is white mens music , black dont lisen to classical , there are no black composer
this is false

2- classical only appeal to elderly or chess club crowd
once again this is false

3- women hate harpiscords, 90% of em
i hope this is false

4-modernism killed baroque and early classical in therm of how far modern sensibility can got, killing melody whit serrialism and spectralism.
this is false, since these modernist open new doors to music

5- people that lisen to medieval classical are newbie that dont know crap outside this era and are fan of game of trone and dungeon and dragon.
this is false, medieval music has is respectable place among classical music lover

6- asian and japanese composer make awfulll racket and are not musical enought
this is false the new talent is comming from asia and japan there the future of thing to come.

7- classical music is for snob condescendant pretentious people that only lisen to classical music and scorn everything else has crap
this false were not all like this im open minded

I dont know if this fit in this section or stupid tread idea that dont deserve a post here, but this was wrote in good fun and humor.

Have a nice day folks :tiphat:


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

8 - There aren't any decent American composers before Aaron Copland except for Charles Ives. This is false. Not all American composers were indecent.


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## TradeMark (Mar 12, 2015)

Mozart's music is light, fluffy and inoffensive.


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## GreenMamba (Oct 14, 2012)

deprofundis said:


> 3- women hate harpiscords, 90% of em
> i hope this is false


I've never heard this before.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

TradeMark said:


> Mozart's music is light, fluffy and inoffensive.


Indeed, his music is highly offensive.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

Classical music is relaxing

Classical music makes you study effectively.

Classical music is related to metal (somehow).


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## arpeggio (Oct 4, 2012)

People who listen to classical music only listen to music composed in the 18th and 19th centuries. False.


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## Cosmos (Jun 28, 2013)

Weston said:


> Classical music is relaxing


I was listening to Bach's Prelude and Fugue in e minor BWV 548, friend walks by "What are you listening to?" "Bach" "Oh, cool, *relaxing*"


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

Anything written before 1600 was inferior because they hadn't yet hit on the concept of major-minor tonality.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

Cosmos said:


> I was listening to Bach's Prelude and Fugue in e minor BWV 548, friend walks by "What are you listening to?" "Bach" "Oh, cool, *relaxing*"


I don't rule out relaxing entirely, but yeah.


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## science (Oct 14, 2010)

Classical music is hard.


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## TradeMark (Mar 12, 2015)

Weston said:


> Classical music is relaxing


I find Boulez to be relaxing so it must not be a myth.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Myths that are false? Is that like facts that are true?


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## GKC (Jun 2, 2011)

GKC hates harpsichords. Happy Thanksgiving.


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

I've had so many people tell me over the years that the reason they don't like Classical Music is because it has no beat.

Whaaaa??


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## Iean (Nov 17, 2015)

*7- classical music is for snob condescendant pretentious people that only lisen to classical music and scorn everything else has crap*

this! I can listen to Bach, then Metallica, then One Direction, then Wagner and is able to appreciate all of them :angel:


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

Myth #x+1: Classical music is the province of the intelligentsia.

Fact: Many damnfools like classical music.

[Hmm. Are those statements contradictory?]


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## breakup (Jul 8, 2015)

Ukko said:


> Fact: Many damnfools like classical music.


Hay! I'm right here and can read these posts, ya' know.


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## breakup (Jul 8, 2015)

Weston said:


> Classical music is related to metal (somehow).


I had a friend who played bass guitar in a rock band, and he said most of the "rips" in rock music came from classical music, only the tempo was changed.


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

breakup said:


> I had a friend who played bass guitar in a rock band, and he said most of the "rips" in rock music came from classical music, only the tempo was changed.


Makes sense to me. There are only so many _usable_ rips available, and classical has been around longer.

[My rock vocabulary is severely limited; is 'rip' a kind of 'riff'?]


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## Xaltotun (Sep 3, 2010)

If it's a myth, it's true by definition; if it seems like a "false myth", it's a myth in the process of being replaced by other myths. A myth is a natural law of communication.

In my country, the prevailing "false myth" is that classical music is music for musicians.


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

If someone doesn't listen while following the orchestral score, s/he isn't a serious listener & must be deficient in intellect or understanding.

If someone refuses to listen without the score, s/he is a cold fish who's overly intellectual & must be deficient in humanity.


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## Dim7 (Apr 24, 2009)

Ukko said:


> Myth #x+1: Classical music is the province of the intelligentsia.
> 
> Fact: Many damnfools like classical music.
> 
> [Hmm. Are those statements contradictory?]


Well yeah, STI has 489 pages now....


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## LHB (Nov 1, 2015)

Mozart is the hardest to play because it requires perfection.


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## Abraham Lincoln (Oct 3, 2015)

Myth: Mozart composed without effort or second thought.

Fact: Actually contrary. He did study (and, ahem, _appropriate_) lots of composers' music. He also made drafts and revisions, though obviously not to the extent of Beethoven of course


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## Abraham Lincoln (Oct 3, 2015)

and Mozart poisoned Salieri.


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## isorhythm (Jan 2, 2015)

LHB said:


> Mozart is the hardest to play because it requires perfection.


I sort of agree with this one.

Edit: compared with Romantic music, in particular.


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## nncortes (Oct 5, 2014)

Another myth is that conductors don't do anything.


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## Guest (Nov 28, 2015)

The word "myth" has two fairly distinct meanings, one jargon,* one colloquial. The colloquial one is roughly synonymous with lie or falsehood. The specialized term in literary or linguistic areas is a particular type of story, one which sets out fundamental truths about a culture or a society.

*Also a word with two fairly distinct meanings, one neutral: the specialized vocabulary of a profession, and one quite definitely not neutral: purposefully obscurant.


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## Dim7 (Apr 24, 2009)

isorhythm said:


> I sort of agree with this one.
> 
> Edit: compared with Romantic music, in particular.


I think Romantic music was invented just because some performers couldn't keep the tempo and hit the right notes, so they lowered standards with the excuse of "expressiveness". Really 19th century stuff is just an emperor without clothes.


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

Dim7 said:


> I think Romantic music was invented just because some performers couldn't keep the tempo and hit the right notes, so they lowered standards with the excuse of "expressiveness". Really 19th century stuff is just an emperor without clothes.


counter argument: Style and method are not synonymous.


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## LHB (Nov 1, 2015)

isorhythm said:


> I sort of agree with this one.
> 
> Edit: compared with Romantic music, in particular.


Please explain how Debussy and Ravel require less 'perfection' than Mozart.


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## breakup (Jul 8, 2015)

LHB said:


> Please explain how Debussy and Ravel require less 'perfection' than Mozart.


I read somewhere that Debussy required his students to play his pieces with a metronome, in order to keep a steady beat.


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## millionrainbows (Jun 23, 2012)

deprofundis said:


> 1- classical music is white mens music , black dont lisen to classical , there are no black composer
> this is false
> 
> 2- classical only appeal to elderly or chess club crowd
> ...


The problem with myths, like delusions, is that they are always based on a grain of truth. No, the FBI is too busy to be looking at you alone, but it is possible that they could be. But highly unlikely.


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## breakup (Jul 8, 2015)

Ukko said:


> Makes sense to me. There are only so many _usable_ rips available, and classical has been around longer.
> 
> [My rock vocabulary is severely limited; is 'rip' a kind of 'riff'?]


He called them rips, at least that is how I remember it from 30+ years ago. It might, more correctly, be called a riff?


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## Mahlerian (Nov 27, 2012)

LHB said:


> Please explain how Debussy and Ravel require less 'perfection' than Mozart.


They aren't Romantic music, though.

I think he meant Liszt and others of that ilk.


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## Dawood (Oct 11, 2015)

Not really sure if this is in keeping but one thing that p*sses me off which is a kind of a myth associated with classical music is that every tyke who can play the piano by the time they are six is 'the next Mozart' 

Just type 'the next Mozart' into Youtube - actually, don't waste your time - just take my word for it.

Anyway, what all these excited middle class parents fail to take into account is that in ten / twenty years time their child will not have written symphonies, operas, concertos- they will be lucky to be a member of an orchestra. In fact the only thing to have come from this being 'the next Mozart' will likely to be a fear of music teachers and a thinly veiled hatred of their pushy parents...

There we go - rant over...


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

Dawood said:


> Not really sure if this is in keeping but one thing that p*sses me off which is a kind of a myth associated with classical music is that every tyke who can play the piano by the time they are six is 'the next Mozart'
> 
> Just type 'the next Mozart' into Youtube - actually, don't waste your time - just take my word for it.
> 
> ...


Music should be a pleasure not a burden to our kids. Of course, we have to insist on things like regular practice but the general idea should be to ultimately enjoy it not fulfil our dreams through it. I have a son who now makes his living through playing music but it was entirely his idea not mine!


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## Becca (Feb 5, 2015)

nncortes said:


> Another myth is that conductors don't do anything.


They actually do a lot ... but the real question is whether it matters or is much sound and fury signifying nothing.


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## breakup (Jul 8, 2015)

Becca said:


> They actually do a lot ... but the real question is whether it matters or is much sound and fury signifying nothing.


If there is any real question about it, try playing a strange piece in an orchestra without a conductor. Most likely things will really get screwed up.


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## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)

A very popular myth seems to be that it sucks.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

breakup said:


> I had a friend who played bass guitar in a rock band, and he said most of the "rips" in rock music came from classical music, only the tempo was changed.


Has anybody else noticed that the bass line from the White Stripes' Seven Nation Army sounds like the main theme of the first movement of Bruckner's 6th? I don't know if it was a rip-off, but it is a remarkable coincidence.


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## GreenMamba (Oct 14, 2012)

violadude said:


> I've had so many people tell me over the years that the reason they don't like Classical Music is because it has no beat.
> 
> Whaaaa??


Well, Classical doesn't have the sort of beats that many people like. They mean a hard-driving, unchanging, four-square beat.


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## TradeMark (Mar 12, 2015)

GreenMamba said:


> Well, Classical doesn't have the sort of beats that many people like. They mean a hard-driving, unchanging, four-square beat.


I searched "four-square beat" in google. I don't think I should have.


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## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)

GreenMamba said:


> Well, Classical doesn't have the sort of beats that many people like. They mean a hard-driving, unchanging, four-square beat.


You can combine the two!


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## GreenMamba (Oct 14, 2012)

DeepR said:


> You can combine the two!


Yeah, a lot of people do that. This is probably what Violadude was getting at: that there's a perception that Classical lacks rhythm, and it can be improved by laying a club beat on top of it. Because rhythm apparently must be heavy and mostly 4/4.


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## Richannes Wrahms (Jan 6, 2014)

TradeMark said:


> I searched "four-square beat" in google. I don't think I should have.


I think one of my brain lobes fell off.


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## Fortinbras Armstrong (Dec 29, 2013)

Weston said:


> Indeed, [Mpzart's] music is highly offensive.


It is, in large part, delightful.


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## Fortinbras Armstrong (Dec 29, 2013)

breakup said:


> I had a friend who played bass guitar in a rock band, and he said most of the "rips" in rock music came from classical music, only the tempo was changed.


There's an interesting article at http://www.avclub.com/article/why-hook-by-blues-traveler-is-actually-a-pretty-ge-83392 entitled "Why 'Hook' by Blues Traveler is actually a pretty genius work of metafiction", and demonstrates a close relationship between the chord structure of Pachelbel's Canon and Hook.


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## Fortinbras Armstrong (Dec 29, 2013)

some guy said:


> The word "myth" has two fairly distinct meanings, one jargon,* one colloquial. The colloquial one is roughly synonymous with lie or falsehood. The specialized term in literary or linguistic areas is a particular type of story, one which sets out fundamental truths about a culture or a society.
> 
> *Also a word with two fairly distinct meanings, one neutral: the specialized vocabulary of a profession, and one quite definitely not neutral: purposefully obscurant.


Plato, in both _The Republic_ and the "Timeus", defines "myth" as "a story which, while not necessarily true, reveals truth".


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## Fortinbras Armstrong (Dec 29, 2013)

Dawood said:


> Not really sure if this is in keeping but one thing that p*sses me off which is a kind of a myth associated with classical music is that every tyke who can play the piano by the time they are six is 'the next Mozart'
> 
> Just type 'the next Mozart' into Youtube - actually, don't waste your time - just take my word for it.
> 
> ...


I'm reminded of a story I heard Itzhak Perlman tell. A woman came to him and insisted that he listen to a recording she had, saying that her son was a wonderful violinist. She was so insistent that he gave in and she started playing a cassette tape. It was so beautiful that he stopped it after a minute or so and said, "Madam, is that your son?" "No, that's Jascha Heifetz, but he sounds just like that!"


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## isorhythm (Jan 2, 2015)

LHB said:


> Please explain how Debussy and Ravel require less 'perfection' than Mozart.


I'm assuming we're talking about piano music.

A first-rate performance of any music probably requires comparable skill, but with Romantic music (and I'd say probably a lot of Debussy and Ravel too) you can get the general idea across without getting all the details right. It doesn't matter if every inner voice is phrased right in a piece where the final effect is kind of a wash of sound.

This is not true of Mozart. Often if the phrasing, articulation and dynamics aren't exactly right, the music actually doesn't make sense anymore.


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## jurianbai (Nov 23, 2008)

If Mozart born this day, he will be heavy metaller.


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## Abraham Lincoln (Oct 3, 2015)

jurianbai said:


> If Mozart born this day, he will be heavy metaller.


If Mozart was born in this era, he would be the next Mozart.


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## Dim7 (Apr 24, 2009)

jurianbai said:


> If Mozart born this day, he will be heavy metaller.


I've heard that about Bach, Paganini, Beethoven and Wagner but not Mozart so far.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Well, a good myth about Mozart (popularized by the movie) was that he was unceremoniously dumped in a mass grave with no friends in attendance.


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## Fortinbras Armstrong (Dec 29, 2013)

isorhythm said:


> I'm assuming we're talking about piano music.
> 
> A first-rate performance of any music probably requires comparable skill, but with Romantic music (and I'd say probably a lot of Debussy and Ravel too) you can get the general idea across without getting all the details right. It doesn't matter if every inner voice is phrased right in a piece where the final effect is kind of a wash of sound.
> 
> This is not true of Mozart. Often if the phrasing, articulation and dynamics aren't exactly right, the music actually doesn't make sense anymore.


Louis Armstrong would regularly not actually play a tune, but would rather sketch it out so that he could riff with it.


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## Fortinbras Armstrong (Dec 29, 2013)

Abraham Lincoln said:


> If Mozart was born in this era, he would be the next Mozart.


I've heard that sort of thing about various classical composers, but only from heavy metal fans.


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## Guest (Nov 30, 2015)

Xaltotun said:


> If it's a myth, it's true by definition; if it seems like a "false myth", it's a myth in the process of being replaced by other myths. A myth is a natural law of communication.
> 
> In my country, the prevailing "false myth" is that classical music is music for musicians.


Does that make sense to anyone?


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

breakup said:


> I had a friend who played bass guitar in a rock band, and he said most of the "rips" in rock music came from classical music, only the tempo was changed.


I do know that the song "Black Sabbath" by the group of the same name, widely regarded as the first metal song, was discovered by messing around with Mars from the Planets. Iommi just lowered one note a half step so we get a scary tritone interval. Thus a whole genre was launched. I also know that much metal is modal and uses a lot of open fifths instead of thirds making it seem to hark back to a time before common practice. But none of that means it's really related to classical. To me it evolved from blues and rock. I suppose you could say anything is related to classical in so far as classical also assimilates whatever it wants, from folk to jazz, etc.


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## science (Oct 14, 2010)

GreenMamba said:


> Yeah, a lot of people do that. This is probably what Violadude was getting at: that there's a perception that Classical lacks rhythm, and it can be improved by laying a club beat on top of it. Because rhythm apparently must be heavy and mostly 4/4.


With the hardest strikes on 2 and 4. Any measure that's not like that is a special one.


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## Abraham Lincoln (Oct 3, 2015)

Oooohhh that kid over there is 5 and can play "Mary had a little lamb". She's gonna be the next Mozart! Let's film her and post the video on YouTube!!!


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## Sloe (May 9, 2014)

Abraham Lincoln said:


> Oooohhh that kid over there is 5 and can play "Mary had a little lamb". She's gonna be the next Mozart! Let's film her and post the video on YouTube!!!


People post all kinds of videos on youtube why can´t they post their child playing _Mary had a little lamb_ yes it is a bit embarrasing to call them the next Mozart but there is no reason to make fun of them.


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## gardibolt (May 22, 2015)

Weston said:


> Classical music is relaxing
> 
> Classical music makes you study effectively.
> 
> Classical music is related to metal (somehow).


For me, these are all true. My mind tends to race and operate on far too many cylinders at once. Classical music helps me focus and concentrate (which is better for studying) or to just shut down all of the other channels at once (relaxing). YMMV, but it works for me to shut out everything else.

The tritone that was forbidden under classical harmony back to Fux' Gradus ad Parnassum and even further back since Fux refers to it as an old rule, but was also knowingly used at times by Handel, Beethoven and Wagner (the Tristan Chord) as symbolizing sin, death and the devil, has been adopted by metal and shows up frequently in Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and more recent metal songs. So there's a very real and intentional connection there.


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## HaydnBearstheClock (Jul 6, 2013)

Weston said:


> Classical music is relaxing
> 
> Classical music makes you study effectively.
> 
> Classical music is related to metal (somehow).


Metal is related to classical (that cannot be denied).


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## Morimur (Jan 23, 2014)

HaydnBearstheClock said:


> Metal is related to classical (that cannot be denied).


Oh, brother.
**********


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## Abraham Lincoln (Oct 3, 2015)

HaydnBearstheClock said:


> Metal is related to classical (that cannot be denied).


By that logic, all music is related.


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## breakup (Jul 8, 2015)

Weston said:


> I do know that the song "Black Sabbath" by the group of the same name, widely regarded as the first metal song, was discovered by messing around with Mars from the Planets. Iommi just lowered one note a half step so we get a scary tritone interval. Thus a whole genre was launched. I also know that much metal is modal and uses a lot of open fifths instead of thirds making it seem to hark back to a time before common practice. But none of that means it's really related to classical. To me it evolved from blues and rock. I suppose you could say anything is related to classical in so far as classical also assimilates whatever it wants, from folk to jazz, etc.


I've heard and read that all the plot lines were developed by the ancient Greeks in their plays, and that all dramas and comedies are just retreads of those original plots. The same could be said of classical music and all that has followed. Much classical was just a retread of older folk tunes, and most Rock, country and Jazz is a retread of older classical music.


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## Abraham Lincoln (Oct 3, 2015)

Sloe said:


> People post all kinds of videos on youtube why can´t they post their child playing _Mary had a little lamb_ yes it is a bit embarrasing to call them the next Mozart but there is no reason to make fun of them.


Still, just go search "the next Mozart". Tons of videos of different kids playing the piano. They're everywhere and it's a little irritating to put it mildly. Arggh.

Though, if anyone is the next Mozart I would say it would be Shelby Rabara. Her voice suits Mozart perfectly!


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