Unexpected Thoughts Regarding Classical Music • Hacker News Board

Re: Unexpected Thoughts Regarding Classical Music

#31

Post by prewett » Fri, Jan 01, 2010, 8:12 PM UTC

snitko wrote: post #4

The reason classical music is less popular among the masses is not that it does not appeal to emotions - a lot of people would argue with that. Half of the story is indeed in the conservative nature of it (my father is a musician and I know how he goes about interpretation of classical compositions, stage appearance and all these rules). But there's also another half of the story which is simply lack of education in…

Classical music is a bit like a novel: it is complex and it takes a bit of effort to understand. Popular music is rather simpler and can be readily understood (like, say, the movie version of the novel). If you just want to feel, classical music is too much effort.

There is also the barrier that it is hard to write classical music. Anybody can pick up a guitar, learn I, IV, V chords and write a song (these days, the lyrics don't even need to rhyme). Fewer people can add harmony, and very few can write counterpoint. I think a classical music piece can take as long to write as a short novel.

I suspect that classical music was never all that popular: the upper classes enjoyed classical music and the more numerous lower classes enjoyed the pop music of the time from traveling musicians. It's just that the traveling musicians didn't write their stuff down.

Re: Unexpected Thoughts Regarding Classical Music

#32

Post by teeja » Sat, Jan 02, 2010, 12:15 AM UTC

"When I listened to Mozart last year, I thought classical music was all about the composer. Today I realized the performer matters just as much"

That's certainly true to an extent. But some performers won't suit your taste, and if you judge the music because you picked a poor performance (like you might get on the cheap imports), you might miss some incredible music. I can't stand Karajan's Beethoven, good thing I didn't start listening with him.

I can't tell someone exactly why I like Mozart best when Marriner's conducting, or why Serkin just does the Emperor better. But once you know you like a composer's work, then you'll start to prefer some performances over others.

The great part is that this slowly changes all your life, and that really great music never gets old and you can repeat the same chills you got when you were 20. It's a lot like Sherlock Holmes that way!

Re: Unexpected Thoughts Regarding Classical Music

#33

Post by rms » Sat, Jan 02, 2010, 1:04 AM UTC

rinich wrote: post #21

aristoxenus wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's hard to imagine it playing out otherwise -- you need to start somewhere, and that stuff is: a) more familiar to the ear b) more plentifully recorded c) more widely discussed and recommended etc.

b) more plentifully recorded That's a big one. There's some more obscure classical music that I happen to be a huge fan of. Problem is, with that music I came on listening to it as if it were a song and not a composition. When I listen to Steve Reich's Music For 18 Musicians, the first music I think to compare it to is Sufjan Stevens, who's a pop songwriter. Or I'll listen to Philip Glass and think of rock riffs. The…

My submission methodology: saw Ed's prediction comment, went to your site, read the last article, liked it, read the second most recent article and decided the classical music one would do better here.

Re: Unexpected Thoughts Regarding Classical Music

#34

Post by jobrahms09 » Sat, Jan 02, 2010, 4:28 AM UTC

sp332 wrote: post #19

rinich wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I never thought to use Pandora for classical music! Upvote for a marvelous suggestion.

It took Pandora a long time to get classical music into their system because they weren't sure how to classify individual pieces. I mean, once you have a dozen versions of the same song by different orchestras with different conductors, the "What's your favorite song?" interface kind of breaks down.

The crappy thing about classical music in Pandora is that if your piece spans multiple tracks (a good 80% of classical music falls into this category - multiple movements) you never get to hear the entire piece at once.

Re: Unexpected Thoughts Regarding Classical Music

#35

Post by julius_geezer » Sat, Jan 02, 2010, 2:45 PM UTC

Education: One thing that strikes me in looking at Loony Tunes from (I suppose) that 1950s is how many allusions to classical and folk music they could slip in. I'm guessing that something has been lost in music education in the schools over the half century.

Stodginess: as aristoxenus says, the classical stations do figure on an older, more conservative audience. I used to get a kick out of a Washington, DC station, since defunct. It wasn't unusual to hear a commercial with a relaxed, folksy voice telling one how important the F-15 was too our national defense.