# Do liking science fiction and classical music go together?



## isorhythm (Jan 2, 2015)

I noticed quite a bit of science fiction in the favorite short stories thread. I'm a science fiction fan too, and especially as a teenager I read a huge amount of it, around the same time I was getting into classical music.

Is there a correlation between liking science fiction and liking classical music? My suspicion is that there's a pretty strong one, but let's see a show of hands.

And if there is, why might this be?


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## Guest (Sep 25, 2015)

Kubrick thought so.


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## ptr (Jan 22, 2013)

I do so, I think the urge to explore is essential to both classical music and science fiction, even if its "just" armchair exploration! (But then I feel that this may well extend to most art and literary forms!)

/ptr


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## GreenMamba (Oct 14, 2012)

I like a good bit Sci-Fi (I don't like Star Wars or Star Trek, however). But a show of hands won't really tell you whether they go together. You're missing a comparison group.

SF is a fairly popular genre in general. I don't necessarily think SF is more popular among Classical listeners than, say, Classic Rock fans.


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

There is SF, and then there is Sci Fi - which is an attitude shift. The Sci Fi path leads to Star Wars and Science Fantasy. Star Trek is mostly bad SF. The novel "Martian", which has been 'movieized', is short-stretch extrapolation SF. (Good book, probably won't see the movie.)

If there is a like-link between SF and classical music, I can't detect it.


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## breakup (Jul 8, 2015)

Ukko said:


> There is SF, and then there is Sci Fi - which is an attitude shift. The Sci Fi path leads to Star Wars and Science Fantasy. Star Trek is mostly bad SF. The novel "Martian", which has been 'movieized', is short-stretch extrapolation SF. (Good book, probably won't see the movie.)
> 
> If there is a like-link between SF and classical music, I can't detect it.


I stopped reading Sci-fi when sword and sorcery took over and became dominate form. If it's not spaceships and outer space it's not Sci-fi to me. I've been listening to classical music for as long as I can remember, but I don't see a connection between the two.


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## Gaspard de la Nuit (Oct 20, 2014)

I'm a crystal-healing chakra-balancing new age loon.


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

For me, there is zero connection. Never noticed it from anyone else, but I'm not the observant type.


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## science (Oct 14, 2010)

I would guess that there is a little more overlap in the Venn diagrams of the science fiction and classical music communities than chance alone would predict, because classical music folks tend to be fairly culturally aware and literate. But I wouldn't expect to see much more than that. 

Where you're really going to get your overlap (I'd predict) is international film, high literature, and hobbies like gardening or wine-tasting.


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## clavichorder (May 2, 2011)

Gaspard de la Nuit said:


> I'm a crystal-healing chakra-balancing new age loon.


LOL. I fit the stereotype of this thread in every respect. I may be one of the few. But I've been dabbling in more classic literary fiction for a time, and I view my science fiction reading more self consciously now.


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## breakup (Jul 8, 2015)

science said:


> I would guess that there is a little more overlap in the Venn diagrams of the science fiction and classical music communities than chance alone would predict, because classical music folks tend to be fairly culturally aware and literate. But I wouldn't expect to see much more than that.
> 
> Where you're really going to get your overlap (I'd predict) is international film, high literature, and hobbies like gardening or wine-tasting.


I like classical music, almost exclusively, occasionally some Jazz. This is what I listen to, on purpose. Sci-Fi is another area that I would read on purpose. I've read Zen, I'm into Model railroading, studying WWII naval history, Science (especially astronomy). I don't do any of the things you mentioned, except gardening, I pull weeds (small Sassafras trees with a chain and my pickup truck) when they start to overgrow my property. FYI, wine, the less expensive the better to me. Culturally aware? I prefer trees to people, except my family.


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## breakup (Jul 8, 2015)

Gaspard de la Nuit said:


> I'm a crystal-healing chakra-balancing new age loon.


I worked with a guy who went on about "Crystal Power". He would tell us about standing outside in a rainstorm with a crystal fastened to the end of a wooden pole, and tell us he could feel the power coming through the stick. We didn't have the heart to tell him that is was probably just the static electricity from the storm and he was likely to get himself electrocuted if the lightning struck the crystal.


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## Antiquarian (Apr 29, 2014)

If there is a connection between appreciation of SF and Classical music, I think it must come from the fact that both require imagination, discernment and a modicum of intelligence to appreciate. We are not talking about _Star Wars_ or _Doctor Who_ here, but fiction by Alfred Bester, Peter F. Hamilton,J.G. Ballard and others of that sort. I think it is possible to make contrived correlations between epics like Frank Herbert 's _Dune_ series and Wagner's _Ring_, but other than drawing upon common archetypes (psychological and subconscious), there really doesn't seem to be a direct connection. But the OP was not talking about that sort of connection, I hope, but the common temperament of readers and listeners. Does reading Cordwainer Smith's _Norstrilia_ echo subconsciously _Firebird_ by Stravinsky? Perhaps. But it is like everything human, a subjective experience.


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## isorhythm (Jan 2, 2015)

breakup said:


> I prefer trees to people, except my family.


So in the currently trendy lingo, you're an _introvert_. I am too.

I suspect both classical music and science fiction attract introverts.


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## Gaspard de la Nuit (Oct 20, 2014)

breakup said:


> I worked with a guy who went on about "Crystal Power". He would tell us about standing outside in a rainstorm with a crystal fastened to the end of a wooden pole, and tell us he could feel the power coming through the stick. We didn't have the heart to tell him that is was probably just the static electricity from the storm and he was likely to get himself electrocuted if the lightning struck the crystal.


I mean, if he was trying to attain some kind of special power, then getting electrocuted is kind of the whole point.


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## Xaltotun (Sep 3, 2010)

Perhaps an even more interesting question would be, what kind of classical music do the sci-fi types listen to? My guess is, a wide range but lacking on the sentimental and sensual stuffs.


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

I love both SciFi and Classical music, but I don't think there is any link between the two at all. In fact, I know many Classical music fans that are not reading SciFi at all, and even more SciFi fans that couldn't care less for Classical Music.


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## breakup (Jul 8, 2015)

isorhythm said:


> So in the currently trendy lingo, you're an _introvert_. I am too.
> 
> I suspect both classical music and science fiction attract introverts.


I would have to disagree to a point, I believe that most people are much too complicated to be labeled as just one type or another. Me, I enjoy my solitude, but in a group I am the one doing the most talking, sometimes I need to restrain myself to let others have a turn. Context is everything, I can be alone and happy, and I can be in a group discussion and have a voice. I have taken classes in the past and I was among those who would speak up and lead the conversation. In an Industrial relations class, I lead my group, which happened to represent business, and when the professor came back and reviewed the negotiations, his comment was that business seemed to get everything without giving anything away, hardly the action of an introvert.


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## breakup (Jul 8, 2015)

schigolch said:


> I love both SciFi and Classical music, but I don't think there is any link between the two at all. In fact, I know many Classical music fans that are not reading SciFi at all, and even more SciFi fans that couldn't care less for Classical Music.


Then let me introduce myself, I like both classical music and Sci-Fi, in fact both are my preferences in music and reading.


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## breakup (Jul 8, 2015)

Xaltotun said:


> Perhaps an even more interesting question would be, what kind of classical music do the sci-fi types listen to? My guess is, a wide range but lacking on the sentimental and sensual stuffs.


I used to read a lot of Sci-Fi, and I like Beethoven and Debussy and many others who have been described as romantic. But then perhaps I'm just an odd ball, compared to everyone else.


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## GhenghisKhan (Dec 25, 2014)

Both groups are more likely to be bookish and somewhat nerdy?

There's transformers sci-fi and A space odyssey kind of sci fi


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## isorhythm (Jan 2, 2015)

breakup said:


> I would have to disagree to a point, I believe that most people are much too complicated to be labeled as just one type or another. Me, I enjoy my solitude, but in a group I am the one doing the most talking, sometimes I need to restrain myself to let others have a turn. Context is everything, I can be alone and happy, and I can be in a group discussion and have a voice. I have taken classes in the past and I was among those who would speak up and lead the conversation. In an Industrial relations class, I lead my group, which happened to represent business, and when the professor came back and reviewed the negotiations, his comment was that business seemed to get everything without giving anything away, hardly the action of an introvert.


I agree, hence my qualifiers around the word introvert. I don't really buy this pop psychology stuff either. Maybe just "people who like solitude" would have been better.


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## mmsbls (Mar 6, 2011)

I read a lot of Sci-Fi (not fantasy) when I was young but listened to almost no classical music. I listen almost exclusively to classical music now but just recently read a few Sci-Fi novels after going a long time reading none. I don't know if there is a connection, but I do somehat doubt much of one.



science said:


> Where you're really going to get your overlap (I'd predict) is international film, high literature, and hobbies like gardening or wine-tasting.


Those who have higher educational degrees listen to more Classical music so anything associated with higher education will likely have a higher correlation with classical music so I might agree with the above.


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## GreenMamba (Oct 14, 2012)

It would be interesting to know whether Sci-Fi forums have OT sub-forums on music, and how many people talk about Classical.

That might be more telling as to how much overlap there is.


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## breakup (Jul 8, 2015)

GhenghisKhan said:


> *Both groups are more likely to be bookish and somewhat nerdy?*
> 
> There's transformers sci-fi and A space odyssey kind of sci fi


I would have to point out that I don't fit the mold, when I was reading most of my Sci-Fi I was also reading Zen and working out in a Dojo learning Isshin-ryū Karate. So I was both a bit Bookish, but also athletic, and teaching shop, hardly a nerd.


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## Lucifer Saudade (May 19, 2015)

breakup said:


> I would have to point out that I don't fit the mold, when I was reading most of my Sci-Fi I was also reading Zen and working out in a Dojo learning Isshin-ryū Karate. So I was both a bit Bookish, but also athletic, and teaching shop, hardly a nerd.


Reading Sci-Fi doesn't make you a nerd. Similarly, working out doesn't automatically make you a non-nerd by my definition.

What is a nerd?

Nerd (adjective: nerdy) is a descriptive term, often used pejoratively, indicating that a person is overly intellectual, obsessive, or lacking social skills. They may spend inordinate amounts of time on unpopular, obscure, or non-mainstream activities, which are generally either highly technical or relating to topics of fiction or fantasy, to the exclusion of more mainstream activities.

Used in the unflattering sense, if all you did was read Sci-fi books and listen to Classical music, without interacting with people and having an adequate social life/ skills then you'd match the definition above much better. Reading the occasion Sci fi novel won't immediately nerdify the typical bloke.

Just wanted to point this out.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

Sigh . . .

Folks, I'm going to get pedantic. My apologies.

You know how many of us get all uppity when people come along and ask about that classical song Pachelbel's Cannon? You feel compelled to correct them that it's not a song unless someone is singing.

Well, we old timers use the term "Sci-fi" to refer to cheesy monster movies, comic books, that sort of thing. The literature is referred to as *SF* or just science fiction. So if you're reading sci-fi it must be a Flash Gorden strip or a novelization of Barbarella. But I suppose language evolves over time and I _should_ accept that since the huge popularity of Star Wars in the late 70s, the genre no longer has a special niche group of fans and will be called what the general public has always called it even though you will not see "Sci-Fi" on the spines of any of the books.

But I can't. I'll accept that it is "sci-fi" when we as a group accept that Fur Elise is a song since iTunes and Amzon* both say it is.

-------

Having indulged in my little rant, I'd say there is indeed a direct connection especially in my case. It was the film 2001: a space odyssey (which we would call SF) that turned me on to classical music to begin with when I was about 11 or 12 -- when it was new.  I've been into classical ever since.

*On a side note, why does the word for that on line store named after a South American river automatically create a link when I use the term, forcing me to want to misspell it? Have they planted spyware in my computer?


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## arpeggio (Oct 4, 2012)

Some of the above have raised an interesting point.

Does the OP mean SF literature like Asimov or Clark or Sci-Fi like _Star Wars_ or _Star Trek_?

There are substantial differences.


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## Tristan (Jan 5, 2013)

Maybe. I've always been a fan of Sci-Fi. Of course I recognize it's a very wide genre. But _Neon Genesis Evangelion_, _Ender's Game_ (and the whole Ender series), and _2001: A Space Odyssey_ all qualify as Sci-Fi and they're among my favorite TV shows, books, and movies respectively. I probably would've said I wasn't too fond of the genre just a few years ago, but I've come to like it almost as much as fantasy recently.


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## Nereffid (Feb 6, 2013)

Count me among the people who listen to a lot of classical music and read quite a bit of SF, but I don't think there's a correlation.

If there were a relationship, wouldn't it manifest itself among the actual creators of SF too, and filter into their work? But I don't think there's much evidence there, aside from some individual examples - anyone who's read _Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency_ will know how much Douglas Adams loved Bach, and Greg Bear's _The Infinity Concerto_ involves a composer. (By a weird coincidence, both those books also have Coleridge's _Kubla Khan_ in common). Oh yes, and there was Stephen Donaldson's _Gap_ sequence, which used Wagner's _Ring_ for its inspiration.

Among the current crop of writers I haven't noticed anything, or in whatever I've seen of today's SF fandom.

Also, :tiphat: to Weston; I'm no "old-timer", but yeah, _sci-fi_?


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## georgedelorean (Aug 18, 2017)

Never seen anything work better between these two. Because of their grand natures, they both compliment each other well.


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## Pat Fairlea (Dec 9, 2015)

They do for me.


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