Classical Music
At last, a non-meme post here. :) I'd begun to think that I'd forgotten how to use my LiveJournal for anything else. ;)
Anyway, I've been thinking again about Classical music. Hardly surprising, I suppose, since I spend a fair amount of time immersed in it, and I have from a fairly young age. But the thing is-whenever I'm listening to it, I can't help but wonder how on Earth anyone could possibly think that Classical music is boring. Sometimes confusing, maybe, or perhaps overwhelming, especially the more complex stuff, but never boring.
It may be a psychological thing-for a long time, Classical music has had a reputation for being a type of music that's appreciated only by snobbish upper-class twits, the sort of thing you say you like because you want to seem cultured and intelligent, not because you actually like listening to it. Perhaps I'm reading too much into this (and it wouldn't be the first time), but I do often wonder if more people would give Classical music a chance if it didn't have such a stuffy reputation. After all, I've known a lot of people over the years who, despite saying that they find Classical music boring, they love the soundtracks to "Back to the Future" or "Star Wars" or "Indiana Jones" or "The Lord of the Rings". The fact that most of the music in these films is performed by an orchestra seems totally irrelevant.
I'm not quite sure where I'm going with this, actually, but I do think it's an interesting thought. Sure, not all music is for everybody (I could hardly say that everyone should listen to Classical when there are a couple of genres I can't stand to listen to for various reasons), but still-how many more people would actually like Classical music if it weren't popularly thought of as such a snobbish, boring, inaccessible genre?
Anyway, I've been thinking again about Classical music. Hardly surprising, I suppose, since I spend a fair amount of time immersed in it, and I have from a fairly young age. But the thing is-whenever I'm listening to it, I can't help but wonder how on Earth anyone could possibly think that Classical music is boring. Sometimes confusing, maybe, or perhaps overwhelming, especially the more complex stuff, but never boring.
It may be a psychological thing-for a long time, Classical music has had a reputation for being a type of music that's appreciated only by snobbish upper-class twits, the sort of thing you say you like because you want to seem cultured and intelligent, not because you actually like listening to it. Perhaps I'm reading too much into this (and it wouldn't be the first time), but I do often wonder if more people would give Classical music a chance if it didn't have such a stuffy reputation. After all, I've known a lot of people over the years who, despite saying that they find Classical music boring, they love the soundtracks to "Back to the Future" or "Star Wars" or "Indiana Jones" or "The Lord of the Rings". The fact that most of the music in these films is performed by an orchestra seems totally irrelevant.
I'm not quite sure where I'm going with this, actually, but I do think it's an interesting thought. Sure, not all music is for everybody (I could hardly say that everyone should listen to Classical when there are a couple of genres I can't stand to listen to for various reasons), but still-how many more people would actually like Classical music if it weren't popularly thought of as such a snobbish, boring, inaccessible genre?