# Witnessing positive reactions to classical music



## Clairvoyance Enough (Jul 25, 2014)

My metalhead dad doesn't spend or have much time to explore new music but he's open to pretty much anything I ask him to listen to. Back in High School I used to cherish the few times he'd respond positively to some of the Hip Hop I'd play for him, and he'd get super excited when I'd like one of his metal bands. Over the years I think our tastes have converged a lot (he actually loved Chopin way before I ever got into classical music, but when he played it for me back then I thought it was super boring and played Biggie for him instead. ) .

I can always tell when he's just placating me and when he genuinely responds to something - when I first played the chaconne for him his eyes lit up with the opening notes and he immediately asked me who the composer was, a moment I'll always remember. I had to play the Parsifal overture for him over and over for a few months before that gave him goosebumps too.

Do you guys have any similar experiences enjoying someone else's reaction to a piece of classical music? It doesn't have to be a scenario exactly like mine. For instance I've always liked the conductor's reaction at 1:35 in this video.


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## Clairvoyance Enough (Jul 25, 2014)

Another great reaction at :50 by the musician in the background, noted in the comments (great performance of that aria too, if you like Handel).


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

I recently posted on my Facebook that Bach's B Minor Mass was a great first day of summer piece to listen to. Then one of my friend's posted, "this is probably cliche for JS Bach, but I love it" and he had posted the Moonlight Sonata. 

I told him, it is great, but it's Beethoven and he said, he meant to say Beethoven and that he had had a few beers over the course of the night. Then I suggested listening to the Pathetique (posted a version by Barenboim) since he enjoyed Moonlight so much. This was his response:

"I just paused it. It's so beautiful and amazing how the human soul is expressed threw the piano. He looks hypnotized or about to transcend into the unworldly."

Also, my mom took a quick liking to the more pleasant sounding classical I'd play for her. She really enjoys Mozart a lot! She was interested enough to watch both Amadeus and Immortal Beloved with me and took a real pity on both composers for the lives they lead. My mom was convinced Constanzie ruined Mozart's life and was a gold digger, :lol:. She really just didn't want to blame our genius Mozart, 

Those are my only moments such as this with Classical Music, but I've had many more over the years with non-classical music.


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## silentio (Nov 10, 2014)

This is not melodrama. At all.

The girl I am dating is quite curious about classical music (she actually listens to some entry level pieces). One night I played for her the Prelude from Tristan und Isolde, conducted by Furtwangler (this exact video)






We were about to kiss, and then the music reached its climax at *7:52*. She paused for a while, looked confused and said "how wondrous is this music". I was stunned!

Yeah, I am trying to make her a Wagnerite, though she is still pretty far from being one. But now I acknowledge that this work is probably the epitome of human passions!

--_I suspect that she might have heard this piece before, since she is a film aficionado and the prelude is heavily abused as movie sound track. But still... _


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

silentio said:


> This is not melodrama. At all.
> 
> The girl I am dating is quite curious about classical music (she actually listens to some entry level pieces). One night I played for her the Prelude from Tristan und Isolde, conducted by Furtwangler (this exact video)
> 
> ...


It's great that you had an even greater experience with a bond over the music that interrupted your kiss, than the kiss itself! That's deep brother! .


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## Bettina (Sep 29, 2016)

My career as a piano teacher allows me to have many of these moments, where I see a student respond enthusiastically to a classical piece (of course, I also see many negative reactions as well, especially if the piece has lots of sharps and flats!:lol I often lend CDs to my students so that they can experience classical music above and beyond the pieces that they are currently playing. 

I tell my students some things about the historical background for various pieces, and I like to show them pictures of the architecture and instruments of the time period. Hopefully all of this helps to bring the whole world of classical music to life for my students! I'm always delighted when a student starts to develop a specific interest in a composer or style.


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## Xaltotun (Sep 3, 2010)

silentio said:


> This is not melodrama. At all.
> 
> The girl I am dating is quite curious about classical music (she actually listens to some entry level pieces). One night I played for her the Prelude from Tristan und Isolde, conducted by Furtwangler (this exact video)
> 
> ...


That's one of the most romantic things I've heard in a long time! Thanks for sharing it, the world is a bit better place now!!


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## Melvin (Mar 25, 2011)

At the DSO we were experiencing a great performance of Ginastera's first piano concerto. I noticed a guy a couple rows in front of me who, I could tell from his body language, was extremely into the music. During the intense "pianissimo scherzo" movement of this piece, I noticed that we were all at the edge of our seats, and leaning forward, so interested and drawn in by the music, even trying to get a little closer to the orchestra to hear that pianissimo a degree louder! Seeing his interest definitely fed into mine, and I felt a good bond with the audience around me that night, which is a nice feeling. And at the end of the piece, that guy stood up and clapped SO HARD! It really made me smile.


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

Melvin said:


> At the DSO we were experiencing a great performance of Ginastera's first piano concerto. I noticed a guy a couple rows in front of me who, I could tell from his body language, was extremely into the music. During the intense "pianissimo scherzo" movement of this piece, I noticed that we were all at the edge of our seats, and leaning forward, so interested and drawn in by the music, even trying to get a little closer to the orchestra to hear that pianissimo a degree louder! Seeing his interest definitely fed into mine, and I felt a good bond with the audience around me that night, which is a nice feeling. And at the end of the piece, that guy stood up and clapped SO HARD! It really made me smile.


I sway back and forth when I listen to music and close my eyes, I did this at the recent Mozart Requiem Mass show I saw recently and was definitely on the edge of my seat for lots of portions..


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## eugeneonagain (May 14, 2017)

silentio said:


> We were about to kiss, and then the music reached its climax at *7:52*. She paused for a while, looked confused and said "how wondrous is this music". I was stunned![/I]


But it stopped you from having a kiss!


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## eugeneonagain (May 14, 2017)

Bettina said:


> My career as a piano teacher allows me to have many of these moments, where I see a student respond enthusiastically to a classical piece (of course, I also see many negative reactions as well, especially if the piece has lots of sharps and flats!:lol I often lend CDs to my students so that they can experience classical music above and beyond the pieces that they are currently playing.
> 
> I tell my students some things about the historical background for various pieces, and I like to show them pictures of the architecture and instruments of the time period. Hopefully all of this helps to bring the whole world of classical music to life for my students! I'm always delighted when a student starts to develop a specific interest in a composer or style.


This is commendable. It's further than my first piano teacher ever went.


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## Minor Sixthist (Apr 21, 2017)

eugeneonagain said:


> But it stopped you from having a kiss!


_*Wagner waits for none*_


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## eugeneonagain (May 14, 2017)

Minor Sixthist said:


> _*Wagner waits for none*_


You see it's because Wagner had never experienced love. Or so Bryan Magee says in his _Aspects of Wagner_.


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## Bettina (Sep 29, 2016)

eugeneonagain said:


> You see it's because Wagner had never experienced love. Or so Bryan Magee says in his _Aspects of Wagner_.


I don't know for sure whether Wagner ever loved anyone, but he was certainly the _recipient _of intense love. His wife Cosima adored every aspect of him; I've read that she collected his eyebrow hairs and preserved them in a special case! :lol:


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## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

I think everyone loves somebody. Wagner wrote Sigfried Idyll for his wife's birthday.


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

Clairvoyance Enough said:


> Do you guys have any similar experiences enjoying someone else's reaction to a piece of classical music? It doesn't have to be a scenario exactly like mine. [/video]


Can't say I can think of a specific similar experience off hand, but I do believe that you might enjoy the way a lot of the top virtuoso soloists eyes light up the moment they see the check they've gotten for their performance. 
Does that count?


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

> Do you guys have any similar experiences enjoying someone else's reaction to a piece of classical music? It doesn't have to be a scenario exactly like mine


When in my home town concert hall I can oversee the whole stage, I always focus on the conductor, when he starts pointing at sections I like to see how they respond. 
When I am gong to very famous people concerts I like to concentrate on them instead.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

I have never had the experience of changing anyone's negative mind-set in favor of classical music, but it must be a great feeling to have done so!


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