Why don't people like classical music?

[LDGuy]

Sorta continuing from the other thread, but a bit different.

This pisses me off a lot, that most people can't seem to *get* classical music. They find it boring/repetetive/embarrasing, and i can't seem to understand why. And then people are really inconsiderate about it saying it's a genre for elderly people. Why?? I can see why people might not understand it fully, but gees, at least have an open mind about it! Why has musical society grown so low as to reject its own past?

 

[no country for old wainds]

There's a lack of populist culture to be found in most classical, that's why. Much like a lot of underground metal, in fact.

 

[LDGuy]

Yeah, except that music we call classical has been popular for the best part of 800 years (if not more). It's only in the twentieth century that ideas in popular culture have changed so radically. (although, it would be quite interesting if you had die-hard lovers of Scarlatti who hated everything Bach had ever written, like punk and hiphop cultures, or something)

 

[cthulufhtagn]

^ha, that would be quite interesting. i don't really enjoy or listen to classical much, but i greatly respect it. i do listen on occasion, but i can't say exactly why i don't usually like it though, really...

 

[Etaoin]

Sorta continuing from the other thread, but a bit different.

This pisses me off a lot, that most people can't seem to *get* classical music. They find it boring/repetetive/embarrasing, and i can't seem to understand why. And then people are really inconsiderate about it saying it's a genre for elderly people. Why?? I can see why people might not understand it fully, but gees, at least have an open mind about it! Why has musical society grown so low as to reject its own past?

I love it and always have (and I'm not elderly yet!). In fact, the very first time I fell in love I realized it while listening to Vivaldi's Four Seasons, it was October, sunny, and I was driving through a storm of golden leaves swirling around me. That relationship is, unfortunately, long over, but I feel a ghost of that sensation every time I hear the Four Seasons. I believe that it may be a lack of exposure, whether at home or in school, but everyone I know who is a musician has some classical they love. If you "get" good music, you "get" all types of good music. IMO

 

[Fourka]

If you "get" good music, you "get" all types of good music. IMO

Ha! That's what I was ready to post!

 

[Zack]

I not only enjoy it, I play it. I think the reason people don't respect it is because they don't really listen to music. I bet everyone on this messageboard respects it because everyone here listens to very complicated music and doens't listen to music to be trendy, but because they enjoy it. Unfortunately, we are not the majority of the music population, and hip-hop/rap fans are. They don't really listen to music, rather they buy it. They just do the trendy thing that will soon all be over, and this creates the illusion that everyone hates classical music, because rap is one of the most popular genres.
-Zack

 

[Warheart666]

When I was younger, I listened to quite a bit of classical music. Then I was taught formal piano for 8 years. that basically beat most of the classical out of me. I love classical orchestrations in metal, though

 

[Darth Kur]

I not only enjoy it, I play it. ...Unfortunately, we are not the majority of the music population, and hip-hop/rap fans are. They don't really listen to music, rather they buy it. They just do the trendy thing that will soon all be over.....
-Zack

I too love classical. When I was much, much younger it's the only thing I listened to for some years. Well, 90% of the time anyways.
As for these hip-hop/rap fans, I don't even consider them as music appreciators because that utter SHIT is not music. The only "musical" element present in any of it are parts of songs sampled (read: stolen) from actual musicians.
Sadly this country is chock full of trend whores. I thought all that rap crap would be over soon back in the late 80's when it first reared it's ugly head.
So Zack, which instrument do you play and are you presently in some sort of ensemble?
It's nice to see that people have not given up on music is it's most pure form. Classical has lasted throughout the ages and will continue to do so far past when anything now is all but a faded memory.

 

[Zack]

I play Violin, and have been for 8 years now. I stopped taking private lessons awhile ago because I just enjoyed playing it on my own more. I'm in my school orchestra, and plan to stay in it. I play Saxaphone and guitar, but none of them would've been possible without classical training.

 

[CGBShadowchild]

I used to play tenor sax, and even though it isn't part of the standard orchestra, I've always been a big fan of classical. What really turned me to it? Wagner. Not even just Wagner, but the sheer power and feel of big brass being used. I think part of it may be that my sister plays horn, but hey, I grew up around classical. Quite literally. My mother runs a youth orchestra, my sister's at the Royal College of Music studying, and I help with almost all of it. Last week I was filming a concert, so I do what I can to spread it.

As for why most people don't like it, it's because of the elitist ideas surrounding classical in America. Orchestra or Phil tickets usually cost upwards of 80 bucks, and that's for the bad seats in the way way back. When you show up, you're expected to be in a damn tuxedo or at least a 4 piece suit. If not, you stand out like a sore thumb. I went to a concert in London, and my ticket cost about 20 American, I walked in off the street in jeans and a t-shirt, and it wasn't odd at all. I may have been more casual than some, but even the upper-class folks showing up in ball gowns and tuxedoes still talked to the poor college kids in rattier clothes. That's the reason, at least for me. Add in to that that the arts (all inclusive, all forms) are the first thing cut from schools, at least on the west coast, and it just gets worse.

 

[speed]

I used to play tenor sax, and even though it isn't part of the standard orchestra, I've always been a big fan of classical. What really turned me to it? Wagner. Not even just Wagner, but the sheer power and feel of big brass being used. I think part of it may be that my sister plays horn, but hey, I grew up around classical. Quite literally. My mother runs a youth orchestra, my sister's at the Royal College of Music studying, and I help with almost all of it. Last week I was filming a concert, so I do what I can to spread it.

As for why most people don't like it, it's because of the elitist ideas surrounding classical in America. Orchestra or Phil tickets usually cost upwards of 80 bucks, and that's for the bad seats in the way way back. When you show up, you're expected to be in a damn tuxedo or at least a 4 piece suit. If not, you stand out like a sore thumb. I went to a concert in London, and my ticket cost about 20 American, I walked in off the street in jeans and a t-shirt, and it wasn't odd at all. I may have been more casual than some, but even the upper-class folks showing up in ball gowns and tuxedoes still talked to the poor college kids in rattier clothes. That's the reason, at least for me. Add in to that that the arts (all inclusive, all forms) are the first thing cut from schools, at least on the west coast, and it just gets worse.

I totally agree with this post.

I also think most symphonies are far too conservative in what they play. I almost fell out of my chair when the Cinci symphony scheduled a symphony by Lutoslawski.

 

[no country for old wainds]

It's a testament to the power of certain classical pieces/composers (see Beethoven's 5th, Wagner's "Ride of the Walkyries", etc) that they remain so commonly used in the media despite their lack of populist tendencies. It's a testament to the atrocious state of society, however, that they've been bastardised so irritatingly.

 

[Darth Kur]

It's a testament to the power of certain classical pieces/composers (see Beethoven's 5th, Wagner's "Ride of the Walkyries", etc) that they remain so commonly used in the media despite their lack of populist tendencies. It's a testament to the atrocious state of society, however, that they've been bastardised so irritatingly.

I couldn't agree more.

 

[Kenneth R.]

There's a lack of populist culture to be found in most classical, that's why. Much like a lot of underground metal, in fact.

i'd have to agree with this.

"classical" is a great genre, though in actuality it's not really a genre, but a set of time periods of music...

 

[the alumnus]

you can't dance to most classical music, hence its unpopularity. pretty simple to me, the only popular music these days is dance tunes.

 

[no country for old wainds]

If that was solely the case, we'd be seeing waltzes and Irish jigs at the top of the charts. You're certainly touching on part of the truth though; most seek either a physical reaction to music or a simple, sentimental mental one. Both classical and underground metal tend not to focus on either.

 

[Intoxicator]

I like classical among many other genres of music (metal, rock, jazz, swing, folk, blues, polka...).

 

[the alumnus]

If that was solely the case, we'd be seeing waltzes and Irish jigs at the top of the charts. You're certainly touching on part of the truth though; most seek either a physical reaction to music or a simple, sentimental mental one. Both classical and underground metal tend not to focus on either.

you can't dance to a waltz or an irish jig either... at least not the way people dance these days!

 

[anonymousnick2001]

You mean "grinding?"