Life on the Other Side

I know who the composters are that you mentioned but I have never cared for classical music.

Bert, if it helps any, I'll bet many people recognize the music even if they don't know the names of the composers. I am familiar with them only because I had formal music training and saw their names on my sheet music. Even in "my day" (which is close to yours) we didn't learn much about them in school. My thirty-something daughter learned less, and I'm not sure the twenty-something learned them at all - in school.

[Rushing off to dig up my classical CD's to expose the minors. The older one would recognize most of the names, I think, but not the music.]

I feel very sad for your friend. What a lot he has missed. (On the other hand I wouldn't recognize the name of any current pop singer, except maybe Celine Dion.)
As my husband and I were listening to Mozart's wind concertos the other morning while we ere playing gin rummy, he remarked how fortunate we were to have the technology that brings this music alive and free out here in New Brunswick's back woods.
I wonder if I could get through another sleepless night without Maine Public Broadasting's Music Through the night.

I love classical music too, Bert. I believe a lot of people tune it out before even listening to it. Quite a shame, for it is so moving.

Believe it or not, my small knowledge of classical music started when I went to a one-room school in Connecticut for seven years back in the '30s. Our music teacher, who came to teach us for an hour every other week, brought exciting cassical music such as "In the Hall of the Mountain King" from the -------- suite by ---------. (I have remembered exactly the name of the suite and the composer for most of my life, but senility is setting in and I just can't think of it right now.) Our music teacher had us each bring an instrument from home, such as a xylaphone, harmonica, jews harp, comb with tissue paper, or just a metal object that gave a pleasant ring when struck with another metal object. We would each accompany the music from the wind-up Victrola as it played the record of classical music.
Also, in those early days of radio, a program of classical music was featured every Sunday afternoon, and my father made my sister and me listen and try to identify each instrument. We enjoyed it. My father was an alcoholic, but he did have some very good points, too.

I don't care at all for most of the popular music that the younger generations seem so crazy about. Some of it doesn't even sound like music to me. I hate the phoney nasal southern accents used so much, and the pained expressions of the singers as if they were being tortured. I remember the wonderful lyrics of the popular music of the war years - WWII that is. The whole structure of music seems to have been changed. I think that the classics will be preserved by a few intelligent music lovers.

Bert, although I'm not highly knowledgeable about the specifics of classical music, I am a classical music lover--I have my upbringing to thank for that. I've sung the choral music of Bach and other classical musicians as part of a chorale group.

Unfortunately, classical music seems to be becoming an esoteric music form. Chicagoland used to have two classical music radio stations, and now it has one that has frequent begging and pleading pledge drives. The programs at Ravinia, the summer home of the Chicago Symphony, used to be almost all classical music, but now it's about half and half with other forms. This is too bad because lawn seats at Ravinia are cheap, and it was one way of getting live classical music inexpensively. I'm open to many kinds of music, but I do love my Bach.

Hmm, You hit me at the right moment. I grew up in a very loud musical household. I just had to help my Dad get over an illness and had to endure some operatic voices at extreme volume...bad for me.

What I am tempted to say is that yes, the music that has survived the ages is great!
But what a sad statement if that is all you have to say. Anything that survives a few hundred years is great! But to me, it is kind of a trivial statement. It is backed up by several hundreds of thousands if not millions of people over the ages. Maybe some folks have not been exposed to it, or more likely, not exposed to it in a relaxed, happy environment.

To me, a more challenging issue is to listen to anything composed in the last hundred years and say "I think that one might last a few hundred more". At least it is more interesting to me. 99% will not make it, but it is fun to try to spot the great ones.
Do you like to listen to the bad ones from 300 years ago?

Anything that survives in human endeavors..be it art, science, religion, philosophy, music, literature...make it 500 years and you're great. I think the trick is appreciating
as much as possible. Operatic voices still make me leave the building, but I'm working on it.

Didn't mean to be so negative. I think that there is a lot lacking in cultural experiences and education in most societies. Mostly, people tend to consume the popcorn....but I don't know that it should be anybody's job to deliver the meals.

For some reason, I am not getting Email notifications when someone comments on this article. Please accept my apologies for not responding to your interesting and insightful comments. I will try to make amends:

Janet...everybody has their own taste in music. I am not saying everybody should like classical music. I would even admit that it is an acquired taste...not something many would like on first hearing. I grew up with it and it has always been an important part of my life.
Sandy...yes, probably many people would recognize some of the more "popular" pieces, like the Pachelbel Canon, even if they don't have a clue who Johann Pachelbel was.
Lyndon...At the risk of sounding elitist, I will admit that when I think of the great music that was written one or two hundred years ago, I can't find anything comparable being written today, even by serious classical composers. Guys like Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert were geniuses. When you study their music, that becomes obvious.
Aniko...Hey, good, I got you motivated! My guess...they will probably be bored to death.
Wilhelimene...Just imagine what it was like before records. very few people ever heard Mozart's music when he was alive...only a few wealthy patrons and concertgoers. And yet, Mozart was like a rock star, famous all over Europe...for awhile. Just like now, fame is fleeting, and he ended up broke.
Ruth...Peer Gynt Suite No. 1 by Edvard Grieg. I used to listen to those old classical radio broadcasts...The Firestone Hour was one of them. My whole family would gather around the radio to listen.
Verie...I like Bach's choral music, but my favorite Bach is his piano suites. I guess that's because I used to play the piano. I could never have played the English Suite or the French Suite or the Goldberg Variations, though. Waaay beyond my mediocre capabilities.
Esteban...opera was one of the last classical music genres that I learned to appreciate. A lot of people are turned off by operatic singing. We just got back from a trip to Australia where we went to an operatic performance at the incredible Sydney Opera House. It was an unforgettable experience...the maghificent hall, the great singers and orchestra. The Opera was Puccini's La Boheme.

I've usually had a problem with the word "classical" as applied to music. It can mean many things. I prefer to refer to music in its style and period of origin. "Classical" in my woods could mean anything from Thelonius to Duane and Greg to Hank Willliams to Bach or Mozart.

I happen to like classical music, but as a 27 year old I learned precisely squat about it in school. I just heard some and I liked it so I listened to some more and so on. I can identify approximately 3 pieces, and one of those is Pachelbel and the other 2 Tchaikovsky. I actually used to know how to spell that. I think I got it right, but not sure anymore. Okay, maybe I could identify a few Mozart's, Beethoven's, and Bach's, but I rarely know the names of the songs. We have a classical station here I listen to when I'm stressed, but a lot of the time they're playing dry, boring talk radio instead of music in the hopes of getting at least a few listeners.

Many schools have cut music programs completely, and the ones that haven't aren't teaching classical.