I attribute my love for classical music to my love of intellectual stimulation. My parents actually hated classical music and my father spoke of it derogatorily as "long hair" music. This is kind of amusing because this is the 1960s and long hair was becoming the style. However, I was exposed to music early on. My mother loved musicals and easy listening types like Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra. As a teenager I loathed her music but as an adult I have grown fond of much of it simply because of my love for classic films of Hollywood (pre-1960). It is still not my primary preference but at least I no longer loath it. Maybe I have matured?
My personal choice as a teen was rock music. I listened to the likes of The Beatles, Dave Clark Five, The Turtles, The Bee Gees, Tommy James and the Shondells, etc. but as I explored rock music and I matured so did my taste and desire for things more intellectual. I started listening to Bob Dylan, The Grateful Dead, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Cat Stevens, Joni Mitchell, Judy Collins. Then I discovered Chicago, Blood Sweat and Tears, The Flock, Ides of March, Chase, which all led me to explore Jazz. My thirst for musical ideas and sounds kept me listening to ever new and challenging music. I then discovered groups like Yes, Genesis, Gentle Giant, Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Camel, Van Der Graff Generator and many others, and that led me to classical music. One other hugely influential factor in my love of classical music was hearing Beethoven's 7th symphony used as the main theme in a sci-fi film called Zardoz. Sci-fi has also been a huge passion of mine since about 5 years old and at 16 when I heard that theme used I had to stay for the credits to find out who wrote the music. Was I shocked when I saw Beethoven's name scroll by on the screen! I immediately went out and bought a copy that day. I remember it well because it was the first classical record I ever bought and it was a recording with Toscanini and the RCA Orchestra. That one record resulted in me buying hundreds of classical recordings. At first my explorations were of the standard repertoire but as I grew in my knowledge and understanding of the music I kept looking for more and more interesting things. Today I buy music by many composers who are mostly unknowns but who have written extraordinary pieces that are fun and interesting.
So where did my love of classical music come from? I can only conclude that it comes from my own innate desire to "explore" the possibilities of human existence. Whether that be in music, literature, politics, religion or life in general. I love discovering new things and thinking about things beyond my own capacity to understand because doing so has led me to understand more than I could have without this sense of exploration and discovery. I am on a journey to grow and I know that if I stop growing it will be the end of me. I must push on and expand my horizons but not at the expense of knowing which way I have come to get here. The pathway has not always been easy. It has been fraught with much conflict, misunderstanding and isolationism, and yet I move on. To this day I still do not have one close personal friend who enjoys the same things that I do. In order to have friends I often have to keep my enjoyments and pleasures to myself. Sad but true and I'm sure it's probably true of many on this forum reading these words. I cannot believe that I am alone.
Anyway, that is in brief my journey thus far. So was it external or internal factors? Only God really knows!
Kevin
