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About LinkBacksI actually know quite a few people personally. I guess I am lucky!
I actually know quite a few people personally. I guess I am lucky!
"Music is not philosophy." --Akira Ifukube
I once worked as a teacher in a private college, here in Canada. It was the day Pavarotti died. I told my students I am sad, and mentioned his name. I looked at them and I realized that they they did not understand what I was talking about. I asked them if they have ever heard of Pavarotti. (the students were between 18 and 40 y.o). Only one older European student seem to know, and said to her colleagues "It's that fat guy singing Opera". My best student (Canadian), told me, as an excuse, opera is not popular in Canada! QED! That's where our discussion ended. Sad. Pavarotti did his best to be popular, but it looks he was popular only among those loving opera/classical music.
Spirit is killed by ignorance!
Imagine how someone relatively young such as myself feels (20). I'm still at the age where my musical interests earn me a title as a "geek": but I think my tastes make for a quality of great interest.
Even studying music in college: most of my peers know of little more than the most well-known composers but are not familiar with the repertoire. Hardly any of of them listen to classical music outside the classroom or without academic obligation.
As much as I should feel isolated: I don't. I think the company of the music itself is far better than the company of friends while listening to said music. No one begging me to put something else on after five minutes of a Mahler Symphony.
Well, you got me there. I have my bias too. However I'm not talking about the music so much as I'm talking about the lyrics that promote drugs, violence and promiscuity.Originally Posted by tdc
Being a 16 yr old boy active on sports teams, I definitely feel isolated with my love for classical music. I always try to stay true to myself, though, so if anyone asks me what I listen to I always answer 'classical'.
Thankfully it's rare that someone will say 'What kind of music do you listen to?', so I'm in the clear most times
Exactly. These musicians are my heroes as well. Of course they were human just like everyone else, they had their personal flaws and weaknesses, but they did give a huge amount of good things to humanity. For me, they are up there on the level of people like Mohandas Ghandi or Dr Martin Luther King. They continue to inspire us all on a daily basis, and the same can be said of all of our great musicians, both the famous and not so famous, who continue to share with us their wonderful music...The truth is, not isolated at all... I've got my friends Liszt, Chopin, Schumann, Mendelssohn, Alkan. Some pretty cool blokes, these friends of mine are.
Honest differences are often a healthy sign of progress - Mohandas K. Gandhi.
I'm glad you realized that my comment was not completely tongue-in-cheek but actually speaking in truth as well. I personally feel that musicians from the past, just like authors from the past and great heroes from the past, have the capacity to speak to us just like the important people in our life do - family, friends, and mentors - and are continually there for us just like the rest of the world is. Having the entire musical world opened to us is similar to being able to connect to all the people, cultures, and eras where this music can bring one to. And in a way, forming personal connections with these composers and their music can only make one feel less lonely, not more lonely, if you know what I mean. It's only when you begin to compartmentalize your musical life and begin to judge these compartments to those of the people around you that such an isolation becomes obligatory. It doesn't have to happen.
"Summit or death, either way, I win" ~R. Schumann
I'm quite lucky in that my parents are both quite into classical music,my mother especially, however as regards to people I know socially or people I work with I don't really feel that they would understand or appreciate me going off on a rant about Satie or talking about Stravinsky's 'The Firebird', so I tend to keep quiet until I can come and look at posts on this forum to feel that I'm not so alone!
“Without music, life would be an error”
What, here on a desert island where I am all alone? Not a chance!Anyone else feel a bit isolated with their love of classical music?
When I hear John Cage’s 4’33”, I reach for my earplugs.
"Music begins where words end." - Goethe
Because I can't say it better myself:The truth is, not isolated at all... I've got my friends Liszt, Chopin, Schumann, Mendelssohn, Alkan. Some pretty cool blokes, these friends of mine are.
(A friend sent this to me yesterday and I thought it was apropos.)
Holy crud, that's brilliant! Thanks for sharing, Meaghan.
Interconnected across space and time is certainly how I feel when I listen to something like Richter's Schubert. It's true that not only every composer, but every performer too has something wonderful to share - translating the score to make it something personal that they are able to communicate to the listeners. Definitely, I feel it's a three way relationship - even more than a three way relationship actually if there are multiple performers, singers, etc. And of course the fact that every composer was influenced by a myriad of composers themselves means that all these influences are capable of being "sensed" and can bring you to special places. And Chopin and Ashkenazy are most definitely my bros.
If you don't mind, I think I'm going to blog your post.
Last edited by Air; Jun-23-2011 at 18:50.
"Summit or death, either way, I win" ~R. Schumann
Thanks Meaghan.
That's just how I feel when a much loved singer sings from an opera I adore.
Annie
Definitely!
But I hope that feeling will subside once I return to my home planet.
I love that sense of being connected to the past. In addition to music, you can get it from literature, religion, and so on.
This word "connected" is really more important than most of us realize. It's amazing to think about what goes into a single recording of a symphony: the composer, his (or her) original patrons, the generations of listeners who've informed us of their preferences, all the performers, their teachers, whoever paid for their lessons, the recording engineers, the architect(s) who designed the concert hall or studio, the people who cleaned it, the people who designed the cover art, wrote the liner notes, figured out CD technology, built the factory to produce the CDs, marketed the CDs, distributed them, all the people involved in the shipping, the people who shelved it at your store or created its page on amazon (or whatever) - and then your stereo had to be built too.
The modern world is so complex; almost everything we touch is the result of the accumulated cooperation of tens of thousands of people. Music is especially touching, of course, because a lot of those people were putting their souls into it, doing it for the love as well as or even instead of the money.
When you talk to them, do they talk back?The truth is, not isolated at all... I've got my friends Liszt, Chopin, Schumann, Mendelssohn, Alkan. Some pretty cool blokes, these friends of mine are.
It's a relief that there are people out there who feel the same as I. My family aren't into classical (except my grandfather), they even think it boring. Most friends are similar in that mindset, though few listen to it occasionally, but talk about it never (I just found very few -about 4 or 5- on their playlist, one of which is Pachelbel's Canon).
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