# Need Zapy Music (Teenagers!)



## ShatterNote (Mar 19, 2010)

I NEED, (not rely,) SOME RELY DRAMATIC MUSIC! When I'm trying to convince my friend that classical music is... isn't boring. It would be nice if I could have a peace that is defiantly NOT "boring". Teenagers (besides me) don't like the full Beethoven orchestra sounding stuff ether, like Beethoven fifth symphony. They JUST like a beet. So Its hard to convince them its a good peace if it doesn't have a drummer in the foreground! I have a small collection, the most dramatic peaces I have are a Beethoven piano sonata, and a Chopin Etude


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## Chi_townPhilly (Apr 21, 2007)

Well- if you're looking for rhythmic prominence, you could try that section of Stravinsky's _Rite of Spring_ where the time-signature changes virtually every measure!

Keep in mind one thing- my mother used to invoke the epigrammatic "there are none so blind as those who WILL NOT see." The obvious corollary is "there are none so deaf as those who WILL NOT listen." Here's hoping your acquaintances don't fall into that category.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

I would say not to worry about what your friends think. It's their loss. But I also understand the need to turn other people on to the music you like. Here's a couple that_ rock _in their own way:

Prokofiev - Scythian Suite: Dance of the Pagan God





Ginastera - Piano Concerto No. 2: Toccata segment


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## Boccherini (Mar 29, 2010)

I remember I had a few arguments about Music with several classmates when I was a teenager. The results were interesting, I convinced them that classical music is above all, and the junk they listen to is much inferior and futile, but, for uncertain reasons, they still liked it.
In this case I wouldn't recommend you to make them, unwillingly, listen to music they don't like. Once they're theoretically confessed, it's just a matter of time until conceptual thoery pragmatically works.


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## Fsharpmajor (Dec 14, 2008)

Weston said:


> Here's a couple that_ rock _in their own way:
> 
> Prokofiev - Scythian Suite: Dance of the Pagan God
> 
> ...


Adding to that, I suggest *Sensemaya*, by Silvestre Revueltas:

*



*
The piece is about the killing of a snake. It's being played by a teenage orchestra in the video.


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## Boccherini (Mar 29, 2010)

Fsharpmajor said:


> Adding to that, I suggest *Sensemaya*, by Silvestre Revueltas:
> 
> *
> 
> ...


Even though I still think it's somewhat pointless to get someone listening to Music unwillingly, I wouldn't take an atonal Mexican Bolero as a first stage whilst 'the' Bolero or Mozart/Beethoven are greater choices. It would probably reduce the chances the folks would ever listen to Music.


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

I'm a teenager, so maybe I can help. 

Prokofiev: Romeo and Juliet, and some of that classic stuff like the Dance of the Knights, or the fight. The Finale to the Classical Symphony is pretty exciting too.

Something like Shostakovich would be good too, maybe the finale to Symphony no.5 or 10, 10 especially. Very rhythmic as well, and uplifting.

Note: Shouldn't be too obscure, nor too dissonant, it can actually repel young people since it's less like the musical language they normally hear.


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## Fsharpmajor (Dec 14, 2008)

Joker64 said:


> Even though I still think it's somewhat pointless to get someone listening to Music unwillingly, I wouldn't take an atonal Mexican Bolero as a first stage whilst 'the' Bolero or Mozart/Beethoven are greater choices. It would probably reduce the chances the folks would ever listen to Music.


For most people, yes, but he says he wants something with a lot of percussion, and that doesn't sound orchestral like Beethoven. I think Revueltas, Ginastera, Stravinsky etc. are closer to the mark. Not many teenagers like Mozart.


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## TWhite (Feb 23, 2010)

I teach teenagers in the music program at our local young men's Catholic high school. Here are a few that have hit high on the "Wow" meter with most of them: 
Orff: CARMINA BURANA (Opening chorus "O Fortuna", and the male chorus "In Taberna Quando Sumus" seem to be the most popular, though they'll listen to most of the rest of them)
Ginastera: ESTANCIA (especially the concluding "Malambo" movement)
Beethoven: Scherzo from SYMPHONY #9, or most of SYMPHONY #7)
Borodin: "POLOVTSIAN DANCES" from "Prince Igor". 
Copland: Either the ballet suites "RODEO" or "BILLY THE KID" . Our male choir is particularly fond of the TTBB arrangements of his "CHING-A-RING CHAW" and "ZION'S WALLS." And his "EL SALON MEXICO" tends to be a kick in the pants for a lot of them.

Oddly enough, as a choral teacher, I've found that if you give your male choir something like Carl Orff or Aaron Copland, you can slide them into Palestrina with very little trouble. Go figure?

Tom


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## ShatterNote (Mar 19, 2010)

Thank you! I can’t listen to the Youtube’s right now. I’ll stay up till midnight when we have better internet. 
I realize that it is close to impossible to convert avid “junk” listeners to Classical. I see the rockish music as a striped down version of classical. It’s like a moving that only has happy thing’s. One would have to start lessening to music like they would watch a move. Not just a thing in the background to artificially improve your mood. Teens don’t under stand that it’s the unpleasant sounding stuff that makes the pleasant stuff more true. 
I don’t rely force them to lessen to it. They wont to, (to prove how boring it is  .) I show them a Mozart that to me is really dynamic! And they start falling asleep. I don’t know why I won’t to prove classical music’s superiority. It mite be because I listen to it ALL day and am subconsciously defensive. Or I like proving my way.  

I'll try and find all the music that was suggested.


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## ShatterNote (Mar 19, 2010)

Dose anyone know of a good free music download site?


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## cleo_928 (Apr 8, 2010)

I'm also a teenager, so maybe this will help as well...

I know in my youth orchestra (who I know don't count as teenagers who don't like classical music, but still!) really love Bernstein, he's a pretty exciting composer that writes very accessible pieces. The Symphonic Dances from West Side Story are pretty exciting (to me anyways) as well as familiar. 

I also find that with my friends, a lot of them actually do appreciate some of the slow, beautiful pieces as long as they are pretty "easy to listen to" and not overly long. Maybe some of Schubert's impromptus or his Moment Musicaux would be good? Chopin's nocturnes and waltzes never fail, either. 

Also, Tchaikovsky's more familiar pieces such as Sleeping Beauty or The Nutcracker can be exciting and beautiful. I feel like people can connect to them better because they're so familiar...

If some of them are a bit more "mature" in their musical ear, or have been listening to classical for longer, I would definitely introduce them to Shostakovich. At first, I was put off by him, I thought his music was too atonal, but I know after playing the fourth movement of his fifth symphony, I (and my youth orchestra!) came to love him. Oh! There are a couple of pieces that are really "listener-friendly": his Waltz No. 2 and Romance from the Gadfly (the latter written for a movie).

Good luck with your friends! Hopefully they'll be able to enter the world of classical music!


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## David58117 (Nov 5, 2009)

Mahler: Symphony 2 (movement 1)
Mahler: Symphony 1 (movement 3)

Symphony 2 is pretty intense, but keep in mind some conductors have a knack for neutering the more intense passages.


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## PoliteNewYorker (Dec 20, 2009)

I'm 19, and while most teenagers are moronic bozarts who won't give a damn about art music matter what you show them, here are a couple of things that have helped me:

Start with tonal, accessible romantic music (Mahler's 4th and really the entire Beethoven and Tchaikovsky cycles are good launching points)
Start with symphonic works, then concertii, then solo instrumental works
Don't show them stuff that they have head in commercials/movies, as it will just remind them of that commercial/movie, and they won't be able to look past that. (May be a problem for O Fortuna)
If there's a live performance in your area, take them.

Follow these rules and you might just get people to listen...


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