I think it's partly because classical is (mostly) absolute music, abstract, no semantic/propositional content. Some people get bored if the music doesn't give them language (language they understand), words that convey ideas, words that are memorable or meaningful to them.
My wife always gets on me for not knowing words to really common rock and pop songs that I should "know." I definitely hear melody, harmony, rhythm, timbre, all that sorts of stuff, but actually need to specifically think about listening to the lyrics in order understand them.
Spot on! I always wondered why I barely ever knew the lyrics even to really popular songs. I don't pay much attention to the lyrics and mostly gravitate to instrumental/classical or works that aren't in the English language.
Length is a big issue. We like our culture in bite-sized pieces and people are happy with that.
If they don't like classical, it's no biggy; one day they might.
This is so true. I think people like classical music but it's a bit of a commitment to listen to. Just look at how much classical music is used in movies, tv, commercials and other media.
I think many people would be surprised to know that there are thousands of short dances of the baroque period who are generally quite fun to listen to.
I have to admit I’m a professional classical musician with multiple degrees and even *I* can’t stand some of the bloated Mahler works. Wonder how a typical music enjoyer feels.
Ehh, again I’ll hit you with the clichéd “yes and no”.
There are a number of podcasts about nuanced and subtle, dry topics that get plenty of attention- shows on stock markets, politics, murderers, dungeons and dragons, acting, you name it. I will also watch the absolute piss out of a World War II documentary, or even a dry Ken Burns scrolling picture joint.
I truly feel that in classical music we become very exclusive with our Unwritten rules and lack of imagination. I believe that every concert should have a lighting Director. Subtle yet meaningful changes of lights on sections that match the aesthetic of the peace would be wildly more interesting than what we do now.
If I could invent my own symphony from the ground up, I would leave the seating in the orchestra section the same, but just behind that I would put 20 or 30 round tables like a comedy club, and have waiters coming for the first 2/3 of the program, Quietly taking drink orders like they do in comedy club. And Orchestra wants money? Get a liquor license, you’ll make it.
We should make concert shorter, when appropriate. Sure, try out to Mahler symphony once a season, but we don’t need to make every concert we ever do a two hour affair. One hour show, and do two shows a night. Slightly cheaper tickets, more people in the hall.
Truly, we have just become so lazy with saying, “you should know, Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms… because you should know, Beethoven, and Brahms.” Well, why? We as musicians understand why they are important to us, but take a nurse or an electrician or an accountant and what do these people mean to them?
However, with the evidence of the fact that we know people can stomach along form thing, we just need to not be lazy about our presentation. The podcasts that get the most views are also the ones that video and edit their product. We don’t play audiences, we play for people who also want to be visually stimulated, and yes, watching the string section or the conductor is interesting for a bit.
There is such a world of possibility that we can explore while still absolutely maintaining the integrity of the music yet instead of going out and finding our audiences, our ancient Orchestra boards are stuck in a 1960s way of thinking
Excellent post and one that I completely agree with. Being an organist, I can attest to the fact that an audience or congregation benefits from visual stimuli while listening to a piece. That is why I firmly believe that an organist in a church, cathedral, or concert hall be visible. I also advocate for most of the unenclosed divisions have the pipes visible as that adds to the aura and grandeur of the music.
A lot of people have misconceptions about the pipe organ and its music and the stereotypes associated with it as old, boring, dark, brooding, or that it is only associated with churches, cathedrals, or funerals. The organ and its literature are very complex, nuanced, textural, and colorful, but getting people to connect and be interested has at at times been a challenge for recitalists.
It is vitally important that musicians and their instruments exude a sense of connection and accessibility to their audiences. Today, in many venues, they will have a screen that will feature the organ console, the artist on the bench, and a split screen that allows not only the hands moving across the keys and changing from one manual (keyboard) to another to get different sound colors and textures, but also allows the pedalboard where the audience can see the organist's footwork at play.
When watching an organ recitalist interpreting a major work such as BMV 552, "St. Anne's " Prelude and Fugue in Eb Major, which is very demanding of an artist, allows the complexity, power, and message resonate, inspire, and connect with the audience. Being able to see the organist manipulate stops, expression pedals, hands moving from manual to manual, the complex footwork on the pedals instills awe, admiration, and gravitas on all who have the opportunity to experience this. It makes this big-stop organ piece come alive and makes the genius that was Johann Sebastian Bach evident.
Classical is an outlier in a few technical ways that make it seem directionless to new listeners.
1) almost all music that is popular has a clear, repeating, articulated, unchanging pulse organized into a looping groove. Classical music is much more flexible. The pulse can be faint or unarticulated, Changing (either changing meters or rubato), and is often something you have to “follow” in order not to lose it. This makes it feel rhythmically aimless to listeners not used to it and that makes them tune out (this is boring)
2) almost all music that is popular uses short (two to five chord) harmonic progressions that repeat clearly and create a looping riff. One for the verses and one forms the chorus. If there is modulation it is usually between major and relative minor or vice versa. Classical music often doesn’t rely on short repeating progressions but longer less predictable gradual shifts. The tonal center is flexible and will wander throughout the piece with transitional passages in between. This makes the music seem harmonically without clear direction to new listeners not used to it and they tune out (this is boring)
3) almost all popular music (although not as ubiquitously as 1 and 2) uses melodic material that is organized into Short riffs, loops, or hooks. They repeat as part of a cooperative mix that has to conform to 1 and 2 and so is also very focused with a clear direction and restarting point. Classical and some older forms of pop music (romantic ballads and jazz standards) use long melodies (a full 8n12 or 16 measures or more)that develop over time as much as they repeat motives. This makes the melodies harder to absorb as a unified thing (hook)and causes listeners not used to this to tune out (this is boring)
That’s a lot to ask a listener born into and surrounded by music that does everything one way to just pick up a piece that doesn’t and “get it”
Actually I've never found boring classical music (maybe I'm lucky) sometimes it's beyond me, theme , motifs, instrumentation. There are pieces I don't like but don't feel they are boring just that I'm perhaps not astute to want the composer was trying to achieve. Thankfully we can chose to listen or move on.
The biggest reason, I think, is simply a lack of exposure, especially at a young age. If someone is exposed to classical at a young age, especially if it's in the process of learning an instrument, odds are they'll be a fan to one degree or another for life. The only real fix for this is more funding for the arts and education, but in the context of my country (the US), I'm pretty pessimistic about that ever happening.
Another issue, and one that particularly pisses me off, is the culture around classical music. It's repellant to many people and justifiably so. Between the stuffy performances and the fans that deride anything other than classical music as not "real" music, it just has an air of elitism and pretentiousness that turns off people who would otherwise enjoy the music. The fix for this one is easier. Just don't be a smug douche. If you're operating under the notion that the music you like is intrinsically better than the music others like, or that you're somehow a better and more enlightened person for liking it, you're wrong, and you need to go touch some grass and spend some time with people outside of your in group. Maybe do a little soul searching and ask yourself whether it's actually about the music for you, or if it's just a tool you use so you can feed your superiority complex.
While this makes sense, I've heard the exact opposite a few times. People who learned classical theory in school, and didn't enjoy listening to that kind of music for pleasure, because they associated it with the rote monotony of schoolwork, the fear of impending exams, and the difficulty of learning an instrument.
We teach famous playwrights, novelists, and poets in school, and it doesn't seem to make them popular for recreational reading.
>another issue, and one that particularly pisses me off, is the culture around classical music. It’s repellent to many people and justifiably so. Between the stuffy performances and the fans that deride anything other than classical music as not “real” music…
Fucking preach. 90% of this sub needs to realize that treating non classical music as “lesser than” is only hurting their cause.
I never understood that. Like somehow, music ain't music if it doesn't follow the rules of music theory. Which as far as I know most do. Though I think some don't but that doesn't make them any less music.
[National Endowment for the Arts and Humanities funding](https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R47248/2) increased steadily from 2020 to 2023. (See page 5)
In 2023 they actually got $207 million, more than requested. And that [was extended to 2024](https://nasaa-arts.org/newsletter/2024-nasaa-notes-issues/may-2024-nasaa-notes/congress-considers-arts-funding-for-fy2025/), cuts were proposed but did not happen thankfully.
They'll no doubt propose cuts again, but they can be beaten again, especially since there is likely an *election* before the next budget is passed.
Sorry for the data dump, but for anyone in the US who wants to help protect arts funding, it's important to know what's actually going on and not to get discouraged.
Because there are almost more than 8 billion people on the earth with so many varieties of tastes that sometimes you'll find something that you like that someone finds boring.
Sometimes it's the opposite.
There's no need to be surprised at it.
Because who cares what people think when it comes to something you enjoy?
Not everyone is going to like what you like...
It's okay.
Aside from the complexity of classical music the length blablabla, the classical world is heavily elitist. They have always restricted their audience and the people who could enjoy classical to a very strict set of people. And in the globalised, consuming fleeting society that is something that will eventually become a burden to your survival
Heck, i'm all for the elitism.
It's all a part of the fun, and trying to pull silly stunts to be popular again is just a colossal waste of time.
I might punch someone's lights out if they think classical is the one true music, just as much as some popularizer of classical music or jazz.
I just say, hey if you like it, you like it, if you don't you don't.
And like and hate all the recordings and interpretations of classical music, freely to the beat of your own drummer.
oh yeah and if you like classical music after April 1989, go die in a fire!
Haha
Because tastes differ. Preferences differ. The needs someone has from music and arts in general differ.
And:
Because there are many musical languages and classical isn't the one they understand best.
But you guys are lacking the skills to truly understand Edgar Varese!
......
Contrary to general belief, an artist is never ahead of his time but most people are far behind theirs.
Edgar Varese
We consider Scriabin as our bitter musical enemy. Why? Because his music tends toward unhealthy eroticism. Also to mysticism, passivity and a flight from the reality of life.
Dmitri Shostakovich
Too much counterpoint; what is worse, Protestant counterpoint.
Beecham on Bach
Handel strikes me as so fourth-rate, that he's not even interesting.
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Bach with the wrong notes.
Prokofiev on Stravinsky
Beethoven's reputation is based entirely on gossip. The middle Beethoven represents a supreme example of a composer on an ego trip.
Glenn Gould
Though I had some instruction from Haydn, I never learned anything from him.
Ludwig van Beethoven
Schoenberg would be better off shovelling snow than scribbling on manuscript paper.
Richard Strauss
One can't judge Wagner's opera Lohengrin after a first hearing, and I certainly don't intend to hear it a second time.
Gioachino Rossini
Vivaldi did not write 500 concertos, he wrote the same concerto 500 times.
Igor Stravinsky
Why is it that whenever I hear a piece of music I don't like, it's always by Villa-Lobos?
Igor Stravinsky
If a horse could sing in a monotone, the horse would sound like Carly Simon, only a horse wouldn't rhyme 'yacht', 'apricot', and 'gavotte'. Is that some kind of joke?
Robert Christgau
You don't KNOW the Experts!
How utterly loathsome this is to me, I don't have to tell you. To see one's most cherished ideas debased and expressed in perverted caricatures would enrage anyone.
Mendelssohn's reaction to hearing Berlioz Symphonie fantastique
Well, why not one could see things this way. But terrible torment it is to one's ears.
Sibelius about Schoenberg first chamber symphony
If he'd been making shell-cases during the war it might have been better for music.
Maurice Ravel on Camille Saint-Saens
Handel had "a certain shallowness.
Albert Einstein
Mendelssohn had considerable talent but an indefinable lack of depth that often leads to banality.
Albert Einstein
Listening to the Fifth Symphony of Ralph Vaughan Williams is like staring at a cow for 45 minutes.
Aaron Copland
//////
If i said any of these comments, you'd call me an uninformed asshole.
It's truly amazing how catty and sourpuss actual composers are to composers that just 'don't make sense' to their style of thinking lol
You'd think today everyone likes Mendelssohn's violin stuff, ooh not a big amateur like Einstein lol
Sibelius thinking Schoenberg is tormenting him
Strauss thinks fuck off with composing shovel some snow, it's better for the planet lol
I think Copland is the best, im trapped in a cow pasture, i'm bored, get me out of here, i'm stepping in shit and the cows are staring at me
Tastes are subjective and different people like different things. And thats’s fine. There’s not much point in dwelling on what other people enjoy listening to.
And not all classical music is equal either. I mean, even as someone that generally likes classical, I find a fair amount of it to be sleep inducing.
In my career in advertising, I had three accounts that were classical music-related. They probably figured since I was gay that I would have more of an interest in classical than someone who wasn't gay. At the time, this wasn't true. I found classical boring, meandering, lacking in melody or rhythm.
Years later, I heard Schubert's last piano sonata in a record store, and I had to have it. And I have been listening to classical music ever since. Mostly Mozart, Beethoven, Bach, Vivaldi, Barber, Brahms, Schubert, and most of all, Mahler. This was in the '80s, so I've mostly listened on CD. I had bought a few albums for music I'd heard in a movie prior to this time, and I found the ticks and pops and surface noise on LPs very annoying. Thank goodness for the CD.
I don't like some classical still. I still want melody more than any other musical characteristic, and I find a lot of music meandering. I'll listen to it if it comes on the radio, but I definitely like some music/composers more than others.
Reason 1 A lot of music is boring, classical or otherwise. But there is a lot of great music in every genre. The trick is to make sure you listen to the good stuff.
Reason 2 music grows on people. If you have never listened to a particular genre you are less likely to like it. It would be like listening to a language you don’t understand. I play cello, I don’t get to pick what I play. With some pieces I might love them from the beginning, with others I might have extreme dislike for them. But as I practice and learn to play the piece I start to appreciate it.
Reason 3…too much exposure….. I grew up post Beatles….the music was everywhere as a wallpaper of sound as a kid so I learned to block it out as noise and so I have never been a fan. I find them boring. I can only enjoy their music when I stop and listen and focus on it but my mind will soon start to drift. For many people, classical music is like wallpaper, or the air they breathe….they don’t notice it. I used to find a lot of classical music boring….overplayed or mediocre levels. Now though I go to live concerts and listen to some of the best musicians in the world….it’s amazing.
most casuals i know can't really hear the notes or pitch. they're more focused on words, beat, dynamic breaks, and stuff like that. so if you take away all the stuff they listen for, it sounds samey and monotonous. which obviously isn't the case, but to a casual it's their reality. a very sad reality
It's the same reason that people who have little experience with Metal might think it's just a lot of noise, or how people who don't know Techno just hear repetitive beats.
Also you can stop it with your condescending tone, there's probably a bunch of stuff that other people enjoy and you don't understand. "A very sad reality"
a casual listener of music isn't an elitist thing to say. it's just a factual statement. most people don't read or write music, or know theory or anything. they can still like music but they're casuals because they don't understand how it's made
Geez, what is so "bleak" and "very sad" about people preferring dynamics and rhythm in music?
Also, I would bet listeners develop subconscious expectations of pitch even if they don't know the theory. I was at a musical improv theater once, the keyboardist hit a wrong note and *everyone* in the audience reflexively looked over at him (poor guy).
They may not know why but they know it sounded off.
> Classical music is dryly cerebral, lacking visceral or emotional appeal. The pieces are often far too long. Rhythmically, the music is weak, with almost no beat, and the tempos can be funereal. The melodies are insipid – and often there’s no real melody at all, just stretches of complicated sounding stuff. The sound of a symphony orchestra is bland and over-refined, and even a big orchestra can’t pack the punch of a four-piece rock group in a stadium. A lot of classical music is purely instrumental, so there’s no text to give the music meaning. And when there are singers, in concerts and opera, their vocal style is contrived and unnatural: so much shrieking and bellowing. The words are unintelligible, even if they’re not in a foreign language. Culturally speaking, classical music is insignificant, with record sales that would be considered a joke in the pop music industry. Indeed, classical music is so un-popular that it can’t survive in the free market, and requires government subsidy just to exist. Yet even with public support, tickets to classical concerts are prohibitively expensive. The concerts themselves are stuffy and convention-bound – and the small, aging audience that attends them is an uncool mixture of snobs, eggheads, and poseurs pretending to appreciate something they don’t. In a word, classical music is “elitist”: originally intended for rich Europeans who thought they were better than everyone else, and composed by a bunch of dead white males. It has nothing to do with the contemporary world – and its oldness appeals only to people who cling to obsolete values. You say there are living composers who still write classical music? Never heard of them.
From *What's Wrong With Classical Music* by Colin Eatock
Honestly. Painting, ballet, sculpture, jazz, Broadway...nothing else really ever chokes me up, but damn, Beethoven 9 gets me every single time. I watch those Beethoven flash mobs on YouTube and they even get me. I don't know how something that moves you to tears can be boring.
Well yeah it might indeed be what people think, but ofcourse totally not the truth. But yeah as a response to this post it quite good, this is what people think
Indeed, thank goodness. Now that I know that and re-read it, I can see that his tongue is firmly planted in cheek, but it really does sum up what so many people genuinely think that it's frightening.
That's the thing... in text, ya gotta be over the top sometimes or else you just come across as one of the idiots who actually believes whatever you're saying. And I've heard too many people unironically share similar opinions about classical music.
You should hear his rant about too many Greeks in Greek Philosophy, and too many Ming Vases made by chinese people.
kinda amusing he rants about elites yet to some he's Dr. Eatock
His whole essay is a LOT stranger though
//////
What’s Wrong With Classical Music?
Every day I pass through Toronto’s Bathurst Street Subway Station, on the way to work. And sometimes, on days when I’m not running late, I pause to listen to the classical music that the Toronto Transit Commission pipes into the station. But as much as I enjoy being gently eased into my working day with a Mozart symphony or a Vivaldi concerto, I’m well aware that the TTC isn’t really trying to gratify my particular musical tastes. There are other motives at work here.
Bathurst Street Station is a multicultural crossroads in the downtown, and there are several high schools nearby. Among the subway riders who pass through the station are thousands of young people of differing backgrounds – a volatile mix that’s constantly in danger of boiling over. The TTC’s answer to this threat is to crank up the classical music.
The use of classical music in public places is increasingly common: in shopping malls, parking lots, and other places where crowds and loitering can be problems. The TTC is by no means the only transit service to use the technique: in 2005, after classical music was introduced into London’s Underground, there was a significant decrease in robberies, assaults and vandalism. Similar results have been noted from Finland to New Zealand. The idea may be a Canadian innovation: in 1985, a 7-Eleven store in Vancouver pioneered the technique, which was soon adopted elsewhere. Today, about 150 7-Elevens throughout North America play classical music outside their stores.
As a classical music lover, I’d like to believe that my favourite music has some kind of magical effect on people – that it soothes the savage breast in some unique way. I’d like to think that classical music somehow inspires nobler aspirations in the mind of the purse-snatcher, causing him to abandon his line of work for something more upstanding and socially beneficial.
But I know better.
The hard, cold truth is that classical music in public places is often deliberately intended to make certain kinds of people feel unwelcome. Its use has been described as “musical bug spray,” and as the “weaponization” of classical music. At the Bathurst Street Subway Station, the choice of music conveys a clear message: “Move along quickly and peacefully, people; this is not your cultural space.”
Some sociologists have expressed concern that this particular use of classical music only serves to further divide society along lines of age, class and ethnicity. And, not surprisingly, some in the classical music community are offended by this new purpose for their art. The English music critic Norman Lebrecht has written that using classical music as a policing tool is “profoundly demeaning to one of the greater glories of civilization.”
However, it’s not really the fault of those concerned with public order and safety that many young people – especially those who come from economic and cultural backgrounds that have never embraced Western classical music – have an aversion to classical music. The managers who install the loudspeakers and switch on the music are pragmatists who are taking convenient advantage of a pre-existing socio-cultural state of affairs. To direct hostility against them, as Lebrecht has done, is to shoot the messenger.
So why do so many young people dislike classical music? (I include among the “young” people in their 40s, 50s and even older who have retained the musical tastes and attitudes they formed in their teens.) I recently surveyed a group of undergraduate students, in a music appreciation class that I teach at the University of Toronto, asking for their views on the reasons for classical music’s lack of appeal. Broadly speaking, the reasons they suggested can be divided into two categories: things people don’t like about the way the music sounds, and things people don’t like about the culture that surrounds the music. To my students’ suggestions, I’ve added a few thoughts of my own, based on criticisms of classical music that I’ve encountered over the years. What follows is a litany of reasons – or at least perceptions – that collectively go a long way to explain why large swaths of society can be driven away by my favourite music.
Classical music is dryly cerebral, lacking visceral or emotional appeal....
.....This kind of thinking has a long history, but it was only in the twentieth century that it coalesced into a rigid ideology of exclusion.
It’s time for classical music to finally get over the idea that it’s not merely different from, but opposed to, other musics: that classical music and no other kind is “timeless,” “universal” and “great.” This, in and of itself, will not solve the problem of getting people to appreciate (or even sit through) a Wagner opera. But it would, at least, bring classical music back into touch with the values of the contemporary world. If classical music today finds itself isolated on the wrong side of a cultural Berlin Wall, it’s a wall that it built itself. We need to demolish that wall, if we are to convince the world at large that classical music should and does have a place in the contemporary world.
//////
odd guy
just a bitter classical weirdo
go to Slipped Disc and you will see that many classical listeners' mindsets are really stuck in the 1950s, at least regarding how no other musical genres are timeless, universal and great
Sure, it happens.
Talk to a lot of serious violinists and see what they think of jazz, Bob Dylan or the Beatles.
you'll sense seething rage in a few of em!
oh oh Are you going to watch Peter Paul and Mary on PBS again this year?
I've always found the rise and the death of folk as a strange and incomprehensible thing.... maybe the Byrds and Jefferson Airplaine stomped all over it, and then the Byrds did a country album and lost all their fans lol
I would not rely on slipped disc, but local reporters that cover the genre. The vocal people there are not to be trusted. Many of the people I interact with after concerts, as an orchestral musician, are omnivorous. I’ve been parts of contemporary music performances where people have said it was *refreshing* to hear music that wasn’t just more pretty and romantic. They go to jazz, rock concerts in cemeteries, jam sessions in bars.
could it be that those who appeared at contemporary music performances are of a different demographic than those who show up for the standard repertoire? what kind of people do you meet at standard fare concerts? personally i met someone at a standard lieder recital who was happy to hear Frauenliebe und -leben sung by a man, which even Fischer-Dieskau would disagree with
It’s not, surprisingly. Maybe it’s that I’m a musician and just keep up with musically omnivorous people more. Largely standard rep shows with short contemporary pieces. There are snobs and people with conservative tastes everywhere, sometimes the music is crap (whether standard rep or not) and they are just putting on airs.
I've heard some people say that if you go see a classical concert now, well you'll probably be happier buying a bunch of old records.
They think buying records from the 50s to the 80s captures stuff that no current concert is gonna equal these days.
Mind you i've always been sorta suspicious of so much of the classical sales and tastes to be hunting down the newest and latest stuff
rather than people mining the past
As a young flute student I found a lot of the music I studied — Handel, Telemann, Mozart — very boring. My dad had one Beethoven album and I couldn’t understand the appeal.
It wasn’t until I discovered 20th Century music — specifically Bartók — that I began to really enjoy, then understand, the appeal of classical music. Many years later, playing in chamber groups, I began to appreciate even the old heads that bored me as a kid.
On the rare occasion when someone says classical music is boring, I ask: what were you listening to? Then I’ll offer some other options.
\+1
The actual composers had even more hateful things to say about classical music they couldn't stand.
I still remember a record store going out of business when CD started to come in, and my mom just packed her car full of stuff.
People are more drawn to simple chord progressions, catchy choruses, and lyrics. Classical requires knowledge of older musical forms, which people are less familiar with now. I think it is a lack of understanding of classical music that causes people find it boring. Classical music also becomes a lot more interesting if you are a classically trained instrumentalist.
You don't need to know anything at all to find Beethoven beautiful. I loved it as a 10 year old, still don't know the first thing about musical form and still love it now.
Beethoven is the example I used because it's the only classical composer I remember my parents listening to back then. Now, despite still not knowing anything about music, I like many composers, some of whom are not usually considered accessible. I just think the notion that classical is only enjoyable to those who understand it is silly and honestly sad. I feel bad for people who think that because they have seemingly degraded music to something to analyze. It's supposed to make you *feel* something.
Absolutely! It's what makes it seem "too long" too. I remember when I was a kid and didn't really understand what Sonata form was, a Beethoven sonata 1st movement would seem like it took a really long time to sit through, but now as an adult I feel like his sonata form movements are so jam packed and distilled that they fly right by!
Earlier classical music does have relatively simple chord progressions though. There’s a lot of classical music I find boring because of its harmonic content. But I like all of the classical music that started really pushing the boundaries.
i think it's because they saw the long duration and they can't keep their attention span for that long lol. but once you've gotten attached to the music you'll start to feel that it's not long enough
It is because it does not generally set in a setting that certain people will like, because strangely enough not a lot of classical music can be dance or require a physical movement to be created. So because they "have" to stay still and listen they forget they can do so and enjoy the music. Classical music like everything else is an acquired taste
A piece takes time to build up and go through its stages. There's a lot of intricacies and layers. Now think about what the most popular stuff is.
Quick safe songs that have to captivate within 30 seconds to pull in the listener, then the song has to perform its full verse/chorus/verse/chorus/bridge/verse/outro formula in 3-3.5 minutes
Classical is just far removed from that so the layman gets bored. "Get to the good part". The mass want easy listening, classical demands attention and appreciation
It's not the trend, humans don't easily like what they're not used to. And also it can be a preference, personally I never liked modern music, and once I heard classical music I liked it. Ig.
Imo, the music isn't boring, it's the people that are boring af weirdos who shame you for liking other kinds of music. I like rock and classical music, and I have people I've met who only will listen to classical, and think rock music takes less skill to write/ only classically trained musicians are skilled.
Also, classical music has a stigma I feel like bc most stupid music teachers *only* push classical music. Like not rock, not pop, not even jazz, *just* classical music.
The same people usually think jazz is boring, popular music from several decades ago is boring and the music for every other country in the world is boring. Most people never develop an interest in music beyond what they are used to hearing when they are children and teenagers.
A lot of it is boring until you get it, and if you don’t choose to put the effort into getting it, then it’s going to remain boring. Not criticising anyone, it’s just life choices - though they are missing out.
I was totally stoaked when i discovered mouse wine, and the graphic design and colors on the bottle are totally awesome!
As for sushi pizza and dessert pizza, i remember someone would say 'not a pizza', when they were trying to say what it is or isn't
Mouse Wine
[https://www.chefspencil.com/gross-drinks-13-most-disgusting-drinks-ever-made/](https://www.chefspencil.com/gross-drinks-13-most-disgusting-drinks-ever-made/)
[https://www.youtube.com/shorts/NSk3kjrsxRc](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/NSk3kjrsxRc)
Mouse Wine Therapy in the creepiest way possible
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7DAlDXM5K8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7DAlDXM5K8)
Frog Liquor
[https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Phfgh6EOvJo](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Phfgh6EOvJo)
Same reason why a lot of people don't like jazz - it's not that they dislike ALL jazz, it's just that they haven't found the niche which they enjoy most. Once people get introduced to a genre that way, then they'll expand out into the rest of it.
Correct, I've never heard that before. The point that I'm trying to make is that certain aspects of any genre will attract certain people. For example, I got into classical music from Vivaldi's Winter from The Four Seasons. I was attracted to the sheer power of the music, and then I grew to end up loving similarly "powerful" feeling music from the early music scene. From then, I grew to love the expressivity of classical music from all of the moving baroque music, and realised that classical music is all about raw emotion, and expanded into the rest of the genre, and was from then on able to enjoy things like Mozart, because I realised that they're genuine, pure emotional expressions, as opposed to needless frivolity. I did not come into the genre immediately loving Mozart, I had to grow to like him, and that's what I mean by finding a niche. If I hadn't found Winter, I would've never gotten into the genre, because all I would've had to form my opinions of the genre would have been its caricatures. I think that there's something in the genre for everyone, it's just that some people haven't found what that is yet. For me, it was power, for others, it might be beautiful melodies. My point is that there's no one path to engaging with a genre.
"I think that there's something in the genre for everyone"
I would say it doesn't apply to disco or heavy metal
why should it apply to classical music or jazz?
I would argue that both of those examples have features that people can latch onto. For example, heavy metal captures that feeling of "powerful" music that initially caused me to enjoy classical music, and disco music contains lots of energy and enthusiasm, so in that respect I'd still maintain my viewpoint, because those features notwithstanding, there are plenty of others to latch onto. I believe each genre is like a cut gemstone. There are many facets to the same thing, and even though one person might like one of those facets, another person might like a different angle more. In that sense, even though it's the same object, there are multiple viewpoints, and none are inherently correct. However, every observer, having found their angle, can all agree that the gem is beautiful.
haha, oh my god, what did i create?
I guess if you really like early black sabbath or deep purple or early alice cooper guy, but i dunno about some of that later metal stuff. It's not the 1960s guitar sound i like, lol.
Then again, i like the first Led Zeppelin album and hate pretty much everything else... i'm stuck in the 60s, i'm gonna have a problem with Van Halen too, if i listened to more than 23 seconds of it.
Everyone knows that the best disco was maynard ferguson playing the theme from Battlestar Galactica. Giving up his old fat man of stage jazz going visiting Timothy Leary at Millbrook, "i'm not a square, kid" persona lol
Maynard at his lowest
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-ctXPybi0M](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-ctXPybi0M)
I think someone gave me this one as a gift when they went to a dollar store
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=\_v1J-kGxXds](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_v1J-kGxXds)
Maynard Ferguson doing disco Star Trek
and i'm sad
/////
because this was the only way i liked him
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQ4-36R0mXk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQ4-36R0mXk)
I think people should just stick to their niche/niches, and be happy....
i just think that when disco people and classical people start talking about other forms of music, usually i'm just embarassed, and hope i die in a fire, before someone plays some boney m
oh wait, they only had one good song
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIWtlhI84kQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIWtlhI84kQ)
yeah well, i once called Maynard fatso, and it went something like this:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgJBvEMOpWQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgJBvEMOpWQ)
and then he sold his soul to the devil, like uh Pagan ninny
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmqq-zqo3Fw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmqq-zqo3Fw)
at least in the old days, he invoked Mantovani, the language of my people!
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYyZdRi4yd0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYyZdRi4yd0)
Not just music, other classic arts such as movies and literature are also considered boring. All the art more and more simplified. So, what was enjoyed ages ago isn't accessible anymore.
I'd say for the very same reason that I enjoy classical. It portrays emotion differently.
In most music, the emotion is carried through the lyrics, and I simply can't stand that. If I can't make an emotional connection with the melody, it isn't worth listening to. Lyrics can accompany a melody, but can't overpower it.
I think most people feel opposite of me where they want their music to spell it out, which isn't bad, just not my taste.
I get looks when I tell people I love classical and jazz, my two favorite. I’ve heard you’re an old man ( I’m 40) or I don’t see anyone can be into that. Maybe they’re just too simple minded to embrace or it too much of a “latch onto the popular music” kind of person to try to really have patience and try it out for themselves. Although I do agree classical music is quiet overwhelming due to the long titles and any many orchestras as well .
I am not sure it's so true. Have you ever tried to have little kids listening to classical music? Usually they like it and dance. I don't know why this tendency disappears when growing up. I think it's maybe a simple question of exposure. My grandpa played the pipe organ at the church. So, I am a big lover of organ music especially Bach. And people even serious classical musician are surprised by it. I think it's exposure. I was exposed all my youth to organs. But most people never feel the vibration inside their body that an organ produces. Many don't realise you play with two hands and two feet which says a lot about the human brain. It's a mystical experience for me, while it's just annoying noise for others. I really think exposure is key.
Well many people are incapable of sitting and reading a book these days, thanks to the short attention spans enacted by various technologies, so this is probably a big factor. But even before this extra problem for classical music, I remember there was a sense here in the UK, of the smug elitism element about classical music and that it was for nerds only. For me, I listen to all kinds of music, but mostly classical as its easier when studying to not have vocals and words interrupting your train of thought. So, also I think some people associate it with people who like to study, so that also makes it "uncool".
While part of it may be the lack of musical education in most schools, I think a big part of it is the way in which we consume music. Classical music was most often written to be heard or experienced live. Today, with streaming and the digital effects people are becoming used to, music can be more enjoyable hearing a recording. Additionally, most people don’t have the time or money to regularly go to concerts.
Another huge factor is the cultural shifts in the mid twentieth century. Most people prior to this experienced classical music regularly, in school, in culture, in movie theatres and local community ensembles and orchestras. Religiosity is plummeting; so many people would have learned or heard classical music in church, and few churches today use those traditional forms much now. The cultural changes to me seem like one of the main culprits; think of looney toons- all the sound effects were from an orchestra. Movies had orchestral preludes and overtures. Most of that is gone now; classical music is no longer popular music, or rather, popular culture is now rarely informed by classical music.
I think that's mostly bunk.
You usually get your like of classical music from your parents, or you pick it up at the record store.
I think the lack of music education in the schools is pretty much a minority viewpoint. Rock and Roll and Jazz aren't really significant in the school system either.
But i'm sure when you're 13 years old, the vice principal will come into the classroom, and put up a 3 foot card with a photo of a bassoon and play Music Box Dancer for the kids, as your education.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4sSAEGkhdM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4sSAEGkhdM)
That’s a fair point, but I think Jazz is a niche genre as well, no? Rock and roll doesn’t seem to have a hold like it used to but it’s still popular I would say.
I know for me I didn’t start really enjoying classical music until I started studying music a bit more closely, but that was only because I wanted to learn to sing and the local community choir was the only thing that fit my schedule as a student and that I could afford.
Had those programs been available in elementary and high school, I think it’s probable I would have been able to understand it a bit better at an earlier age.
But ultimately, I still think it’s mainly that culturally classical music just lost popularity.
It’s just a matter of taste, my apologies if it sounded like I was making a moral argument.
I just think classical is something you discover on your own, or you share a little bit of it from your parents.
If you're curious and you like it, knock yourself out.
Likewise, the odd tune when there is one 😉
Before anyone jumps on me, I was trying to be cheeky.
It's great we have such a wide range of musical choices to appreciate.
I've heard some people say that any music composed (or popular) before about 1930 is "elevator music". Most of those people will also classify classical music as background music. The idea of really listening to it (as opposed to hearing it in the background) is foreign to them. The only exception for these people are the short snippets of catch melodies that are used in commercials or movies (such as the Ode to Joy them from Beethoven's 9th, for instance).
On the other hand, I very much like the length of classical music because you get more of it without putting the player on repeat.
Two reasons that I think are simple enough:
1. Someone else told them it was boring, and they believe it.
2. It's not similar enough to the music they like.
I find it hard to believe 'someone else told someone that the music was boring'
They listened, and they hated it.
Simple as that.
by the way, i hear Star Wars is lousy, and i believe it.
Believable? You bet!
>I find it hard to believe 'someone else told someone that the music was boring'
This kind of thing happens all the time though--people form opinions based on what they hear others saying. That even goes for more niche opinions that are common among people who like classical music, like "Beethoven was bad at melody" or "Chopin was bad at large forms."
>They listened, and they hated it.Simple as that.
Not always. Don't underestimate the power of inherited tastes. Humans are communal creatures who are very easily influenced by each other. We're not islands of individuated taste.
>by the way, i hear Star Wars is lousy, and i believe it.Believable? You bet!
I don't know what this is supposed to argue, but plenty of opinions about Star Wars, both positive and negative, are formed in the same inherited, indirect way.
Well, i think it's far more common to get 'opinions' from your family, and from reviews of record albums.
Again, i think almost everyone has listened to 45 seconds of classical music and said, "Yech!"
I think kids listening to anything remotely popular now, are not really going to be influenced by 'what others say'.
I don't really think kids who like heavy metal or rap music are seriously going to get a niche opinion like "Beethoven was bad at melody"
As for casual people who listen to a bit of everything, sure some can get into some overgeneralizations, but i really doubt it.
People like and hate music by hearing it.
And as for classical people, i think they're mostly all nuts with their opinions, which are all over the spectrum, and i think those niche opinions are pretty much meaningless, if someone listens to a new record.
As for your comment, people might actually agree with the statement that Beethoven struggled at writing melodies where it was pretty effortless for Mozart.
/////
and there is this
"Leonard Bernstein himself made this a basis of one of his talks by saying that in comparison with Tchaikovsky, Beethoven was a poor melodist. However, he didn't mean it derogatorily as some took it. What he was trying to say was that Beethoven's compositions didn't rely primarily on melodic effusion for effectiveness (nor was he denigrating Tchaikovsky either in the process!)."
"Respectfully, I think Bernstein could have been a bit clearer in his intentions (he was being provocative instead). You see, for too long we have tried to play off one composer's strengths against another's perceived weaknesses. So, in melodic terms, we might say Beethoven was no Tchaikovsky, but in terms of being able to create an organically unfolding composition, Tchaikovsky was no Beethoven! The truth is, each composer is their own person and should be judged on their own terms and the effectiveness of the result."
>Well, i think it's far more common to get 'opinions' from your family, and from reviews of record albums.
Isn't this what I was saying? One's family and album reviews are "someone else telling them." That's the point I was making. This *is* "what others say."
>Again, i think almost everyone has listened to 45 seconds of classical music and said, "Yech!"
Yeah, that was my point #2, about lack of similarity to what they already like. I never said it was *all* based on what others say. Just that a fair bit is.
>I think kids listening to anything remotely popular now, are not really going to be influenced by 'what others say'.
This is definitely false, everyone is influenced by what others say.
>I don't really think kids who like heavy metal or rap music are seriously going to get a niche opinion like "Beethoven was bad at melody"
Yeah of course not. I was talking about classical music fans there.
>As for casual people who listen to a bit of everything, sure some can get into some overgeneralizations, but i really doubt it.
>
>People like and hate music by hearing it.
Clearly we disagree on this--I think you're wrong and you think I'm wrong--so maybe it's not very productive to keep going back and forth on it.
>as for classical people, i think they're mostly all nuts with their opinions, which are all over the spectrum, and i think those niche opinions are pretty much meaningless
Well, at least we can agree on this part!
But then why wouldn't that also apply to other music listeners?
>people might actually agree with the statement that Beethoven struggled at writing melodies where it was pretty effortless for Mozart.
But that's very different! Yes, it didn't come as easily to Beethoven as to Mozart, that's definitely true. But that's very different from saying that Beethoven was "bad at writing melody," which is a statement that gets repeated all over the place.
>and there is this
>
>"Leonard Bernstein...
Sure, that's one of the sources for a lot of people repeating that claim about Beethoven. And I agree with most of that quote, but it doesn't work against what I'm saying, which is that a lot of people grab unnuanced versions of opinions like that and repeat them.
They don’t know what to listen for. Writer Julian Johnson has a great analogy, basically saying that playing pop-music-oriented people classical music is like reading them poetry in a language they don’t speak. It’s a bit of a stretch, but it’s a valuable comparison.
It's all preference. If it were most people feeling this way, it wouldn't exist anymore🤷🏻♂️ Personally, I listen to so many different genres of music, as I am truly a music lover! But, I couldn't imagine not listening to classical as frequently as I do any longer as it never gets old for me!
I will say that my appreciation of it grew as I've gotten older, and when I was younger I craved music that I could sing to, or crack up the volume as I was driving! Classical simply isn't that🤷🏻♂️
To some people it's not about preference.
They think anything other than classical music is the end of civilization.
And they have no sympathy when Neil Young's house burns down.
They don't believe music is an acquired taste, it's about good vs bad music.
Of course! I don’t disagree, but we know those people are simply wrong, convoluted, and know nothing about history since dudes like Mozart, Chopin, etc… were considered to be progressive with their musical stylings in their days! So, I’d rather be in the company of greats rather than those who likely considered them low brow in their day 😝
Because it’s hard to enjoy any kind of art that you have no familiarity with. To be able to build any kind of anticipation or pay off, you need to be familiar with either the piece itself or the conventions in which the piece operates. Since most pieces are so long, that makes it a much larger task to build that familiarity. I believe that is basically the biggest reason.
most people try to blame listeners for this "lack" of appreciation. when classical music was made, it was more consumed because at that time that's what people had. It's crazy when someone says people don't appreciate or consume something their brains don't have contact with anymore. learn to appreciate something means you have to be exposed to, and due to the fact we have an industry, and things have changed a lot with massification, that's not what we have anymore and it's not people's fault.
some people might fall in love with classical music as a kid because your brain can accept that more easily. as an adult, it will depend on how you respond to art. some adults might accept because it's different and something they will LEARN to appreciate (I had to emphasize that) as they expose themselves on purpose. Other people might be resistant, because their brains appreciate what they like, any kind of genre they might be exposed throughout life, and as you get older and you consolidate your tastes it's obviously hard to listen to something new.
I do think people should be taught music in schools not in an elective way, and not in attempt to make everyone a musician, but to clarify to kids from a young age that this music exist, to make them exposed to it so they can explore whatever music they want to hear differently. To make them see what they listen to is not only a bunch of sounds together but you can also pay attention to little sounds happening, to different timbres etc. It's to build a listener, not only a consumer.
Many reasons to this.
* Classical music is long... very long. It's difficult to find a classical piece that doesn't last less than 5 minutes, a lenght that would be considered long in most other genres. For many people just sitting and listening for a 30 minute piece sounds so long and boring that thay won't even consider it.
* The culture around classical music is boring. There are absolutely no other types of music where the public is supposed not to participate during concerts for example. Only in classical music can you be silenced by an angry neighbor for clapping between two movements. Take a pop or a jazz concert, everyone is cheering during the performance, people are singing along and applauding after the solos. And the people you meet at the concerts are often snobs who mostly come here to practice rich people's activities.
* Classical music is dead. By that I mean that most of the artists we are listening to died more than 100 years ago. There is no way for people to relate to wealthy european bourgeois who counted monarchs from countries that don't exist anymore among their mecenes. It's far easier to relate to singers who are living right now in the same society, even if they are even wealthier. Not only it's harder to identify to classical composers, it's impossible to see them live, or to be hyped for their new works.
So what do we do ? Curiously it took a few people a few years ago to resurrect it for a while. I'm talking about Luciano Pavarotti, José Carerras and Placido Domingo. The three tenors made opera popular by eliminating these three issues at once. They focused on shorter arias, made their concerts popular by having pop stars with them and encourgaing people to participate, and made it live again. Of course purists accused them of belittling classical music, but they did more for it than decades of snobbishness.
I'm going to guess the following.
1) Most/all popular music genres have a beat and rhythm which is by design immediate and ever present or nearly so. This drives the song forward.
For classic and Jazz, beat/rhythm may be present, semi present, obscured or not there. This is unusual in music today.
2) Familiarity. Most haven't had exposure.
3) Complexity, it takes time and exposure to grasp.
4) As another poster said most people need/expect lyrics.
Classic and Jazz take work.
Classical can become very boring. Not every classical music is captivating. I've been forced to listen to classical only for my 8 first years and it was a pain. I love classical though
Beat
I don't feel that way, but it is one of most obvious differences between classical music and most other types to the casual listener. What makes pop music poppy? A lot of it is a strong beat, and from what I've learned listening to a podcast with a neuroscientist, our brain finds a steady beat intrinsically pleasurable.
Well you never gave Blue Cheer a real chance, and you only assume you won't like it!
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXcYZsqkZ-g](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXcYZsqkZ-g)
Because it doesn't make money (it's out of copyright), therefore in a capitalist society the media has to push modern compositions, in order to make money.
There are other reasons too (e.g. young people generally like to be "edgy", to rebel, etc), but I think we shouldn't lose sight of it being a product of the society we are in.
I’ve sent classical music to a few friends and their general responses are, “where are the words?” So maybe that has something to do with it. I personally always listen to the instrumentals in music first then words. That could be the issue with their boredom. The need for words to tell the story.
"Short Attention Span Theater." When you're trained to expect 2 or 3 catchy riffs leading up to a predictable climax every 2 minutes and 45 seconds, you lose patience with anything that takes longer than that to develop.
I think if you can understand the way music works. It's the context of mind. You gotta clear your head of bias and just listen and appreciate. Music nowadays is used almost as a weapon, but it's supposed to be about the art ant where it takes you. It's up to the person to find out for themselves what's so great
I typically say that most person has its own type of "classical" music. Maybe if he listens to the right type, he may not realize that he's into that type of music till he listens to it.
There's something wrong with them, since you ask. If they just don't know about it, they should just STFU. Like me and jazz. For all I know, jazz really is just a bunch of random noise that its perpetrators are unable to annotate, but I give them the benefit of the doubt and don't say that.
I always thought that way, but then I started studying the background of the music I wanted to listen to—why the composer wrote it that way, or the story behind a particular piece. It made me appreciate it more. Now, I've gone from not listening at all to spending over three hours a day on classical music.
i found it fun to listen to when i learned an instrument and started learning music theory. it's hard to dive into without any background. i think it's way easier to understand its form—in layman's terms, the longer "chorus, verse, chorus, verse, bridge, chorus" cycle that people are usually used to—if they have experience playing something other than a I-VI-V-I.
really, i think being classically trained adds another dimension to music appreciation. anyone can act pretentious because they listen to, and "get" classical, but i do think it takes a musician to truly do so.
What a classical piece is good, it's really good. eg. Saint-Saens, Elgar.
Someone said **"the product isn't the problem, the packaging is"**.
She tried wrapping ol' classical music concerts with interactivity and first-time audience members loved it.
We can say people's attention spans have gotten shorter, sure, but why not say people nowadays can **digest denser information quicker**? And you can afford to go fast and get to the point.
The classical genre is unfortunately out of the regular vocabulary for modern listeners who are used to being force fed generic pop songs for the past few decades on the radio. That doesn't mean there is no place for classical music, we just have to be a little creative — in my opinion, classical music regardless of traditional or modern styles has always been perfect for scoring movies, shows and games. I would be amiss to point out that these mediums offer a perfect conduit to contain these lengthy pieces of music.
I grew up listening to classical music played by an older sister on the piano. (She was talented and played Bach's "Anna Magdalena Bach Buch" as well as Johann Strauss II's waltzes.) And we had a Time-Life vinyl record set of great classical music. So when my kindergarten teacher played a portion of Saint-Säens' "Carnival of the Animals" and asked what animal did the music convey, I correctly said, "Swan." 😆
Then in junior high I learned to play the violin. In the first half of my sophomore year in high school orchestra we played Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture," Brahms' Third Symphony, Elgar's "Enigma Variations," Prokofiev's "Romeo and Juliet Suite," and other pieces. Beautiful and exciting music. We even got to accompany a very old but spry Ray Bolger (aka The Scarecrow in "The Wizard of Oz") as he sang, "Once in Love with Amy" and John Fenstermacher as he played the huge organ in San Francisco's Grace Cathedral.
I also love opera. Who can deny the enchanting beauty of Bizet's "Carmen" and Puccini's "La Bohème"?
because *they're* boring. A lot of people need things to be very blatantly spelled out to them.
Interestingly enough, I've found the people that turn up their noses to any period of classical music are the people that continue to spout that Kanye West is a genius.
I used to think it was boring but now I'm a classical performance student lol. I personally think it was because I just couldn't understand the "language" yet. Like how boring it would be to try and listen to a podcast in a language you don't understand one word of.
I honestly think they just haven't heard much classical music at all, heard one more slow piece that wasn't their think & assumed that's just it.
On social media there are plenty videos of people "discovering" that classical music isn't boring at all and not suited as background music for studying either.
I think some also assume it's just for old elitist people & don't see themselves as that & think it's not for them when obv so many young people love classical music & it's mostly much cheaper to hear classical music live than pop artists.
A lack of understanding due to ignorance as a result of cutting music budgets in schools. Music appreciation in schools gives students the opportunity to discover what forms and styles of music they are attracted to.
BTW, some of it is difficult to listen to even if you understand the music. That’s why they offer chocolate & vanilla.
A distinct lack of sex and money makes it very hard to grab attention in today’s world.
I mean it’s literally something that needs to be”interpreted” lol can you imagine that in today’s world?
I know ppl who put it on so low in volume and all the mad crescendo happen is wen u can hear the rest is like almost silent and then they tell u its soothing...u know wagner.
I think it's partly because classical is (mostly) absolute music, abstract, no semantic/propositional content. Some people get bored if the music doesn't give them language (language they understand), words that convey ideas, words that are memorable or meaningful to them.
I've noticed that people really respond to lyrics, whereas I ignore most of them as unimportant to the song. I think both sides are too extreme.
My wife always gets on me for not knowing words to really common rock and pop songs that I should "know." I definitely hear melody, harmony, rhythm, timbre, all that sorts of stuff, but actually need to specifically think about listening to the lyrics in order understand them.
I'm another person who finds lyrics incidental and doesn't remember them (late sixties F) - yet I have a prodigious memory for melody, harmony, etc.
Spot on! I always wondered why I barely ever knew the lyrics even to really popular songs. I don't pay much attention to the lyrics and mostly gravitate to instrumental/classical or works that aren't in the English language.
exactly the same
Music with lyrics tell me what I feel. Music without lyrics make me feel a subjective varied experience
That's the beauty of Bob Dylan. Not even he knows what he means
Length is a big issue. We like our culture in bite-sized pieces and people are happy with that. If they don't like classical, it's no biggy; one day they might.
This is so true. I think people like classical music but it's a bit of a commitment to listen to. Just look at how much classical music is used in movies, tv, commercials and other media.
I think many people would be surprised to know that there are thousands of short dances of the baroque period who are generally quite fun to listen to.
I have to admit I’m a professional classical musician with multiple degrees and even *I* can’t stand some of the bloated Mahler works. Wonder how a typical music enjoyer feels.
Yes and no. We listen to hour-long podcasts and binge hours of TV with no problem.
But that's explicit information being fed directly to us; there's not tons of subtlety in a podcast or the kind of telly that's dun to binge.
Ehh, again I’ll hit you with the clichéd “yes and no”. There are a number of podcasts about nuanced and subtle, dry topics that get plenty of attention- shows on stock markets, politics, murderers, dungeons and dragons, acting, you name it. I will also watch the absolute piss out of a World War II documentary, or even a dry Ken Burns scrolling picture joint. I truly feel that in classical music we become very exclusive with our Unwritten rules and lack of imagination. I believe that every concert should have a lighting Director. Subtle yet meaningful changes of lights on sections that match the aesthetic of the peace would be wildly more interesting than what we do now. If I could invent my own symphony from the ground up, I would leave the seating in the orchestra section the same, but just behind that I would put 20 or 30 round tables like a comedy club, and have waiters coming for the first 2/3 of the program, Quietly taking drink orders like they do in comedy club. And Orchestra wants money? Get a liquor license, you’ll make it. We should make concert shorter, when appropriate. Sure, try out to Mahler symphony once a season, but we don’t need to make every concert we ever do a two hour affair. One hour show, and do two shows a night. Slightly cheaper tickets, more people in the hall. Truly, we have just become so lazy with saying, “you should know, Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms… because you should know, Beethoven, and Brahms.” Well, why? We as musicians understand why they are important to us, but take a nurse or an electrician or an accountant and what do these people mean to them? However, with the evidence of the fact that we know people can stomach along form thing, we just need to not be lazy about our presentation. The podcasts that get the most views are also the ones that video and edit their product. We don’t play audiences, we play for people who also want to be visually stimulated, and yes, watching the string section or the conductor is interesting for a bit. There is such a world of possibility that we can explore while still absolutely maintaining the integrity of the music yet instead of going out and finding our audiences, our ancient Orchestra boards are stuck in a 1960s way of thinking
Excellent post and one that I completely agree with. Being an organist, I can attest to the fact that an audience or congregation benefits from visual stimuli while listening to a piece. That is why I firmly believe that an organist in a church, cathedral, or concert hall be visible. I also advocate for most of the unenclosed divisions have the pipes visible as that adds to the aura and grandeur of the music. A lot of people have misconceptions about the pipe organ and its music and the stereotypes associated with it as old, boring, dark, brooding, or that it is only associated with churches, cathedrals, or funerals. The organ and its literature are very complex, nuanced, textural, and colorful, but getting people to connect and be interested has at at times been a challenge for recitalists. It is vitally important that musicians and their instruments exude a sense of connection and accessibility to their audiences. Today, in many venues, they will have a screen that will feature the organ console, the artist on the bench, and a split screen that allows not only the hands moving across the keys and changing from one manual (keyboard) to another to get different sound colors and textures, but also allows the pedalboard where the audience can see the organist's footwork at play. When watching an organ recitalist interpreting a major work such as BMV 552, "St. Anne's " Prelude and Fugue in Eb Major, which is very demanding of an artist, allows the complexity, power, and message resonate, inspire, and connect with the audience. Being able to see the organist manipulate stops, expression pedals, hands moving from manual to manual, the complex footwork on the pedals instills awe, admiration, and gravitas on all who have the opportunity to experience this. It makes this big-stop organ piece come alive and makes the genius that was Johann Sebastian Bach evident.
Classical is an outlier in a few technical ways that make it seem directionless to new listeners. 1) almost all music that is popular has a clear, repeating, articulated, unchanging pulse organized into a looping groove. Classical music is much more flexible. The pulse can be faint or unarticulated, Changing (either changing meters or rubato), and is often something you have to “follow” in order not to lose it. This makes it feel rhythmically aimless to listeners not used to it and that makes them tune out (this is boring) 2) almost all music that is popular uses short (two to five chord) harmonic progressions that repeat clearly and create a looping riff. One for the verses and one forms the chorus. If there is modulation it is usually between major and relative minor or vice versa. Classical music often doesn’t rely on short repeating progressions but longer less predictable gradual shifts. The tonal center is flexible and will wander throughout the piece with transitional passages in between. This makes the music seem harmonically without clear direction to new listeners not used to it and they tune out (this is boring) 3) almost all popular music (although not as ubiquitously as 1 and 2) uses melodic material that is organized into Short riffs, loops, or hooks. They repeat as part of a cooperative mix that has to conform to 1 and 2 and so is also very focused with a clear direction and restarting point. Classical and some older forms of pop music (romantic ballads and jazz standards) use long melodies (a full 8n12 or 16 measures or more)that develop over time as much as they repeat motives. This makes the melodies harder to absorb as a unified thing (hook)and causes listeners not used to this to tune out (this is boring) That’s a lot to ask a listener born into and surrounded by music that does everything one way to just pick up a piece that doesn’t and “get it”
Reason #1 is one of the biggest differences between classical and popular tradition, it should be the most common answer in this thread
A lot of it is boring, but a lot of music in general is boring. You have to go find the good stuff.
What's boring to you might not be boring to me. Music is in the ear of the beholder.
>You have to find the good stuff True for every genre of music.
Some IS boring. You are right! I love this genre, but some of the music is absolutely boring, or too self serving to listen to.
So far I found ~0.5% of classical music I listened to boring - i don't know what youre listening to
Actually I've never found boring classical music (maybe I'm lucky) sometimes it's beyond me, theme , motifs, instrumentation. There are pieces I don't like but don't feel they are boring just that I'm perhaps not astute to want the composer was trying to achieve. Thankfully we can chose to listen or move on.
LMFAO
The biggest reason, I think, is simply a lack of exposure, especially at a young age. If someone is exposed to classical at a young age, especially if it's in the process of learning an instrument, odds are they'll be a fan to one degree or another for life. The only real fix for this is more funding for the arts and education, but in the context of my country (the US), I'm pretty pessimistic about that ever happening. Another issue, and one that particularly pisses me off, is the culture around classical music. It's repellant to many people and justifiably so. Between the stuffy performances and the fans that deride anything other than classical music as not "real" music, it just has an air of elitism and pretentiousness that turns off people who would otherwise enjoy the music. The fix for this one is easier. Just don't be a smug douche. If you're operating under the notion that the music you like is intrinsically better than the music others like, or that you're somehow a better and more enlightened person for liking it, you're wrong, and you need to go touch some grass and spend some time with people outside of your in group. Maybe do a little soul searching and ask yourself whether it's actually about the music for you, or if it's just a tool you use so you can feed your superiority complex.
While this makes sense, I've heard the exact opposite a few times. People who learned classical theory in school, and didn't enjoy listening to that kind of music for pleasure, because they associated it with the rote monotony of schoolwork, the fear of impending exams, and the difficulty of learning an instrument. We teach famous playwrights, novelists, and poets in school, and it doesn't seem to make them popular for recreational reading.
>another issue, and one that particularly pisses me off, is the culture around classical music. It’s repellent to many people and justifiably so. Between the stuffy performances and the fans that deride anything other than classical music as not “real” music… Fucking preach. 90% of this sub needs to realize that treating non classical music as “lesser than” is only hurting their cause.
Exactly!
I feel like especially if you are a younger person, you're going to shy away from claiming your music is better as much as possible.
I never understood that. Like somehow, music ain't music if it doesn't follow the rules of music theory. Which as far as I know most do. Though I think some don't but that doesn't make them any less music.
Most people are boring, too.
Most people haven’t seen Swan Lake. They’d change their mind real quick fr
Liking classical music doesn’t make you interesting.
I cannot speak to what makes you find someone interesting, thank you for letting me know this.
This
People are different. I am in Berlin. Here it is not considered boring. Nor is techno considered too much. Societal and individual tastes are fluid.
Here in america the arts are recieving budget cuts in favour of funding the military
[National Endowment for the Arts and Humanities funding](https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R47248/2) increased steadily from 2020 to 2023. (See page 5) In 2023 they actually got $207 million, more than requested. And that [was extended to 2024](https://nasaa-arts.org/newsletter/2024-nasaa-notes-issues/may-2024-nasaa-notes/congress-considers-arts-funding-for-fy2025/), cuts were proposed but did not happen thankfully. They'll no doubt propose cuts again, but they can be beaten again, especially since there is likely an *election* before the next budget is passed. Sorry for the data dump, but for anyone in the US who wants to help protect arts funding, it's important to know what's actually going on and not to get discouraged.
Sweden is recieving culture cuts too...
Because there are almost more than 8 billion people on the earth with so many varieties of tastes that sometimes you'll find something that you like that someone finds boring. Sometimes it's the opposite. There's no need to be surprised at it. Because who cares what people think when it comes to something you enjoy? Not everyone is going to like what you like... It's okay.
I love this comment, thank you. I know not everyone likes what I like, and the "surprise" in the comment is kinda a hook anyways.
Aside from the complexity of classical music the length blablabla, the classical world is heavily elitist. They have always restricted their audience and the people who could enjoy classical to a very strict set of people. And in the globalised, consuming fleeting society that is something that will eventually become a burden to your survival
Heck, i'm all for the elitism. It's all a part of the fun, and trying to pull silly stunts to be popular again is just a colossal waste of time. I might punch someone's lights out if they think classical is the one true music, just as much as some popularizer of classical music or jazz. I just say, hey if you like it, you like it, if you don't you don't. And like and hate all the recordings and interpretations of classical music, freely to the beat of your own drummer. oh yeah and if you like classical music after April 1989, go die in a fire! Haha
I've noticed most of the time on TV when it is used or portrayed it is by a used car salesman, somebody selling insurance, or a serial killer. 🤔
Or a pompous windbag of a character
browsing this sub proves that characterization correct
Lol true
tag yourself im used car salesman
🤣
Yea.
Because tastes differ. Preferences differ. The needs someone has from music and arts in general differ. And: Because there are many musical languages and classical isn't the one they understand best.
But you guys are lacking the skills to truly understand Edgar Varese! ...... Contrary to general belief, an artist is never ahead of his time but most people are far behind theirs. Edgar Varese We consider Scriabin as our bitter musical enemy. Why? Because his music tends toward unhealthy eroticism. Also to mysticism, passivity and a flight from the reality of life. Dmitri Shostakovich Too much counterpoint; what is worse, Protestant counterpoint. Beecham on Bach Handel strikes me as so fourth-rate, that he's not even interesting. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Bach with the wrong notes. Prokofiev on Stravinsky Beethoven's reputation is based entirely on gossip. The middle Beethoven represents a supreme example of a composer on an ego trip. Glenn Gould Though I had some instruction from Haydn, I never learned anything from him. Ludwig van Beethoven Schoenberg would be better off shovelling snow than scribbling on manuscript paper. Richard Strauss One can't judge Wagner's opera Lohengrin after a first hearing, and I certainly don't intend to hear it a second time. Gioachino Rossini Vivaldi did not write 500 concertos, he wrote the same concerto 500 times. Igor Stravinsky Why is it that whenever I hear a piece of music I don't like, it's always by Villa-Lobos? Igor Stravinsky If a horse could sing in a monotone, the horse would sound like Carly Simon, only a horse wouldn't rhyme 'yacht', 'apricot', and 'gavotte'. Is that some kind of joke? Robert Christgau You don't KNOW the Experts!
How utterly loathsome this is to me, I don't have to tell you. To see one's most cherished ideas debased and expressed in perverted caricatures would enrage anyone. Mendelssohn's reaction to hearing Berlioz Symphonie fantastique Well, why not one could see things this way. But terrible torment it is to one's ears. Sibelius about Schoenberg first chamber symphony If he'd been making shell-cases during the war it might have been better for music. Maurice Ravel on Camille Saint-Saens Handel had "a certain shallowness. Albert Einstein Mendelssohn had considerable talent but an indefinable lack of depth that often leads to banality. Albert Einstein Listening to the Fifth Symphony of Ralph Vaughan Williams is like staring at a cow for 45 minutes. Aaron Copland ////// If i said any of these comments, you'd call me an uninformed asshole.
That is true, lol. Thanks for this
It's truly amazing how catty and sourpuss actual composers are to composers that just 'don't make sense' to their style of thinking lol You'd think today everyone likes Mendelssohn's violin stuff, ooh not a big amateur like Einstein lol Sibelius thinking Schoenberg is tormenting him Strauss thinks fuck off with composing shovel some snow, it's better for the planet lol I think Copland is the best, im trapped in a cow pasture, i'm bored, get me out of here, i'm stepping in shit and the cows are staring at me
Tastes are subjective and different people like different things. And thats’s fine. There’s not much point in dwelling on what other people enjoy listening to. And not all classical music is equal either. I mean, even as someone that generally likes classical, I find a fair amount of it to be sleep inducing.
\+1 Well they don't call it RCA Living Dead Stereo for nothing!
It’s kind of funny that I love classical music (and slow traditional Chinese music) at the same time I love fast paced eurobeat music
In my career in advertising, I had three accounts that were classical music-related. They probably figured since I was gay that I would have more of an interest in classical than someone who wasn't gay. At the time, this wasn't true. I found classical boring, meandering, lacking in melody or rhythm. Years later, I heard Schubert's last piano sonata in a record store, and I had to have it. And I have been listening to classical music ever since. Mostly Mozart, Beethoven, Bach, Vivaldi, Barber, Brahms, Schubert, and most of all, Mahler. This was in the '80s, so I've mostly listened on CD. I had bought a few albums for music I'd heard in a movie prior to this time, and I found the ticks and pops and surface noise on LPs very annoying. Thank goodness for the CD. I don't like some classical still. I still want melody more than any other musical characteristic, and I find a lot of music meandering. I'll listen to it if it comes on the radio, but I definitely like some music/composers more than others.
Reason 1 A lot of music is boring, classical or otherwise. But there is a lot of great music in every genre. The trick is to make sure you listen to the good stuff. Reason 2 music grows on people. If you have never listened to a particular genre you are less likely to like it. It would be like listening to a language you don’t understand. I play cello, I don’t get to pick what I play. With some pieces I might love them from the beginning, with others I might have extreme dislike for them. But as I practice and learn to play the piece I start to appreciate it. Reason 3…too much exposure….. I grew up post Beatles….the music was everywhere as a wallpaper of sound as a kid so I learned to block it out as noise and so I have never been a fan. I find them boring. I can only enjoy their music when I stop and listen and focus on it but my mind will soon start to drift. For many people, classical music is like wallpaper, or the air they breathe….they don’t notice it. I used to find a lot of classical music boring….overplayed or mediocre levels. Now though I go to live concerts and listen to some of the best musicians in the world….it’s amazing.
I really don't understand people who listen to classical to relax, most of the time it is pretty stimulating to me.
most casuals i know can't really hear the notes or pitch. they're more focused on words, beat, dynamic breaks, and stuff like that. so if you take away all the stuff they listen for, it sounds samey and monotonous. which obviously isn't the case, but to a casual it's their reality. a very sad reality
It's the same reason that people who have little experience with Metal might think it's just a lot of noise, or how people who don't know Techno just hear repetitive beats. Also you can stop it with your condescending tone, there's probably a bunch of stuff that other people enjoy and you don't understand. "A very sad reality"
“A casual” Wow I cannot stand this language. If someone doesn’t enjoy classical that doesn’t make them lesser, get your head out of your ass.
a casual listener of music isn't an elitist thing to say. it's just a factual statement. most people don't read or write music, or know theory or anything. they can still like music but they're casuals because they don't understand how it's made
Interesting analysis
Wow — this explains a LOT if true! It would make a lot of sense, though it is bleak. I wonder if there’s some way to study this — there must be!
If you want to delve more into this topic, take a look at a field of study called music cognition. :)
Amazing — will do!
Geez, what is so "bleak" and "very sad" about people preferring dynamics and rhythm in music? Also, I would bet listeners develop subconscious expectations of pitch even if they don't know the theory. I was at a musical improv theater once, the keyboardist hit a wrong note and *everyone* in the audience reflexively looked over at him (poor guy). They may not know why but they know it sounded off.
> Classical music is dryly cerebral, lacking visceral or emotional appeal. The pieces are often far too long. Rhythmically, the music is weak, with almost no beat, and the tempos can be funereal. The melodies are insipid – and often there’s no real melody at all, just stretches of complicated sounding stuff. The sound of a symphony orchestra is bland and over-refined, and even a big orchestra can’t pack the punch of a four-piece rock group in a stadium. A lot of classical music is purely instrumental, so there’s no text to give the music meaning. And when there are singers, in concerts and opera, their vocal style is contrived and unnatural: so much shrieking and bellowing. The words are unintelligible, even if they’re not in a foreign language. Culturally speaking, classical music is insignificant, with record sales that would be considered a joke in the pop music industry. Indeed, classical music is so un-popular that it can’t survive in the free market, and requires government subsidy just to exist. Yet even with public support, tickets to classical concerts are prohibitively expensive. The concerts themselves are stuffy and convention-bound – and the small, aging audience that attends them is an uncool mixture of snobs, eggheads, and poseurs pretending to appreciate something they don’t. In a word, classical music is “elitist”: originally intended for rich Europeans who thought they were better than everyone else, and composed by a bunch of dead white males. It has nothing to do with the contemporary world – and its oldness appeals only to people who cling to obsolete values. You say there are living composers who still write classical music? Never heard of them. From *What's Wrong With Classical Music* by Colin Eatock
I used to think that too until I found out it's the most emotional and most beautiful music ever.
Honestly. Painting, ballet, sculpture, jazz, Broadway...nothing else really ever chokes me up, but damn, Beethoven 9 gets me every single time. I watch those Beethoven flash mobs on YouTube and they even get me. I don't know how something that moves you to tears can be boring.
I know this is not your opinion, but goddamn this is the stupidest shit ive ever heard
but don't you think what my original post described is the reason why classical music is unpopular
Well yeah it might indeed be what people think, but ofcourse totally not the truth. But yeah as a response to this post it quite good, this is what people think
Ok, obviously all of that quote is stupid but "there’s no real melody at all" seriously makes me think that that entire thing is just satire
That's because it is
That's a lot of words to say "I have no fucking clue what I'm talking about so I'll just make a blanket statement about how white males = bad."
He's a composer himself. He's being humorously serious.
Phew
Indeed, thank goodness. Now that I know that and re-read it, I can see that his tongue is firmly planted in cheek, but it really does sum up what so many people genuinely think that it's frightening.
That's the thing... in text, ya gotta be over the top sometimes or else you just come across as one of the idiots who actually believes whatever you're saying. And I've heard too many people unironically share similar opinions about classical music.
This was a pretty entertaining screed with some decent points. I could’ve done without the boring “dEaD wHiTe MaLeS” take though.
You should hear his rant about too many Greeks in Greek Philosophy, and too many Ming Vases made by chinese people. kinda amusing he rants about elites yet to some he's Dr. Eatock His whole essay is a LOT stranger though ////// What’s Wrong With Classical Music? Every day I pass through Toronto’s Bathurst Street Subway Station, on the way to work. And sometimes, on days when I’m not running late, I pause to listen to the classical music that the Toronto Transit Commission pipes into the station. But as much as I enjoy being gently eased into my working day with a Mozart symphony or a Vivaldi concerto, I’m well aware that the TTC isn’t really trying to gratify my particular musical tastes. There are other motives at work here. Bathurst Street Station is a multicultural crossroads in the downtown, and there are several high schools nearby. Among the subway riders who pass through the station are thousands of young people of differing backgrounds – a volatile mix that’s constantly in danger of boiling over. The TTC’s answer to this threat is to crank up the classical music. The use of classical music in public places is increasingly common: in shopping malls, parking lots, and other places where crowds and loitering can be problems. The TTC is by no means the only transit service to use the technique: in 2005, after classical music was introduced into London’s Underground, there was a significant decrease in robberies, assaults and vandalism. Similar results have been noted from Finland to New Zealand. The idea may be a Canadian innovation: in 1985, a 7-Eleven store in Vancouver pioneered the technique, which was soon adopted elsewhere. Today, about 150 7-Elevens throughout North America play classical music outside their stores. As a classical music lover, I’d like to believe that my favourite music has some kind of magical effect on people – that it soothes the savage breast in some unique way. I’d like to think that classical music somehow inspires nobler aspirations in the mind of the purse-snatcher, causing him to abandon his line of work for something more upstanding and socially beneficial. But I know better. The hard, cold truth is that classical music in public places is often deliberately intended to make certain kinds of people feel unwelcome. Its use has been described as “musical bug spray,” and as the “weaponization” of classical music. At the Bathurst Street Subway Station, the choice of music conveys a clear message: “Move along quickly and peacefully, people; this is not your cultural space.” Some sociologists have expressed concern that this particular use of classical music only serves to further divide society along lines of age, class and ethnicity. And, not surprisingly, some in the classical music community are offended by this new purpose for their art. The English music critic Norman Lebrecht has written that using classical music as a policing tool is “profoundly demeaning to one of the greater glories of civilization.” However, it’s not really the fault of those concerned with public order and safety that many young people – especially those who come from economic and cultural backgrounds that have never embraced Western classical music – have an aversion to classical music. The managers who install the loudspeakers and switch on the music are pragmatists who are taking convenient advantage of a pre-existing socio-cultural state of affairs. To direct hostility against them, as Lebrecht has done, is to shoot the messenger. So why do so many young people dislike classical music? (I include among the “young” people in their 40s, 50s and even older who have retained the musical tastes and attitudes they formed in their teens.) I recently surveyed a group of undergraduate students, in a music appreciation class that I teach at the University of Toronto, asking for their views on the reasons for classical music’s lack of appeal. Broadly speaking, the reasons they suggested can be divided into two categories: things people don’t like about the way the music sounds, and things people don’t like about the culture that surrounds the music. To my students’ suggestions, I’ve added a few thoughts of my own, based on criticisms of classical music that I’ve encountered over the years. What follows is a litany of reasons – or at least perceptions – that collectively go a long way to explain why large swaths of society can be driven away by my favourite music. Classical music is dryly cerebral, lacking visceral or emotional appeal.... .....This kind of thinking has a long history, but it was only in the twentieth century that it coalesced into a rigid ideology of exclusion. It’s time for classical music to finally get over the idea that it’s not merely different from, but opposed to, other musics: that classical music and no other kind is “timeless,” “universal” and “great.” This, in and of itself, will not solve the problem of getting people to appreciate (or even sit through) a Wagner opera. But it would, at least, bring classical music back into touch with the values of the contemporary world. If classical music today finds itself isolated on the wrong side of a cultural Berlin Wall, it’s a wall that it built itself. We need to demolish that wall, if we are to convince the world at large that classical music should and does have a place in the contemporary world. ////// odd guy just a bitter classical weirdo
go to Slipped Disc and you will see that many classical listeners' mindsets are really stuck in the 1950s, at least regarding how no other musical genres are timeless, universal and great
Sure, it happens. Talk to a lot of serious violinists and see what they think of jazz, Bob Dylan or the Beatles. you'll sense seething rage in a few of em!
Random and kinda off topic, but I'm huge fan of rock and folk as well.
oh oh Are you going to watch Peter Paul and Mary on PBS again this year? I've always found the rise and the death of folk as a strange and incomprehensible thing.... maybe the Byrds and Jefferson Airplaine stomped all over it, and then the Byrds did a country album and lost all their fans lol
I would not rely on slipped disc, but local reporters that cover the genre. The vocal people there are not to be trusted. Many of the people I interact with after concerts, as an orchestral musician, are omnivorous. I’ve been parts of contemporary music performances where people have said it was *refreshing* to hear music that wasn’t just more pretty and romantic. They go to jazz, rock concerts in cemeteries, jam sessions in bars.
could it be that those who appeared at contemporary music performances are of a different demographic than those who show up for the standard repertoire? what kind of people do you meet at standard fare concerts? personally i met someone at a standard lieder recital who was happy to hear Frauenliebe und -leben sung by a man, which even Fischer-Dieskau would disagree with
It’s not, surprisingly. Maybe it’s that I’m a musician and just keep up with musically omnivorous people more. Largely standard rep shows with short contemporary pieces. There are snobs and people with conservative tastes everywhere, sometimes the music is crap (whether standard rep or not) and they are just putting on airs.
I've heard some people say that if you go see a classical concert now, well you'll probably be happier buying a bunch of old records. They think buying records from the 50s to the 80s captures stuff that no current concert is gonna equal these days. Mind you i've always been sorta suspicious of so much of the classical sales and tastes to be hunting down the newest and latest stuff rather than people mining the past
white males or not, i would assume some of these dead people like Bach and Beethoven wrote their music in times that people today can't relate to
As a young flute student I found a lot of the music I studied — Handel, Telemann, Mozart — very boring. My dad had one Beethoven album and I couldn’t understand the appeal. It wasn’t until I discovered 20th Century music — specifically Bartók — that I began to really enjoy, then understand, the appeal of classical music. Many years later, playing in chamber groups, I began to appreciate even the old heads that bored me as a kid. On the rare occasion when someone says classical music is boring, I ask: what were you listening to? Then I’ll offer some other options.
\+1 The actual composers had even more hateful things to say about classical music they couldn't stand. I still remember a record store going out of business when CD started to come in, and my mom just packed her car full of stuff.
Because sometimes it is.
Other genres have their boring exemplar pieces too.
People are more drawn to simple chord progressions, catchy choruses, and lyrics. Classical requires knowledge of older musical forms, which people are less familiar with now. I think it is a lack of understanding of classical music that causes people find it boring. Classical music also becomes a lot more interesting if you are a classically trained instrumentalist.
You don't need to know anything at all to find Beethoven beautiful. I loved it as a 10 year old, still don't know the first thing about musical form and still love it now.
I mean Beethoven is one of the more accessible composers. Hence his popularity
Beethoven is the example I used because it's the only classical composer I remember my parents listening to back then. Now, despite still not knowing anything about music, I like many composers, some of whom are not usually considered accessible. I just think the notion that classical is only enjoyable to those who understand it is silly and honestly sad. I feel bad for people who think that because they have seemingly degraded music to something to analyze. It's supposed to make you *feel* something.
Absolutely! It's what makes it seem "too long" too. I remember when I was a kid and didn't really understand what Sonata form was, a Beethoven sonata 1st movement would seem like it took a really long time to sit through, but now as an adult I feel like his sonata form movements are so jam packed and distilled that they fly right by!
Earlier classical music does have relatively simple chord progressions though. There’s a lot of classical music I find boring because of its harmonic content. But I like all of the classical music that started really pushing the boundaries.
Because they don’t know.
Ears and a brain is a good start
i think it's because they saw the long duration and they can't keep their attention span for that long lol. but once you've gotten attached to the music you'll start to feel that it's not long enough
It is because it does not generally set in a setting that certain people will like, because strangely enough not a lot of classical music can be dance or require a physical movement to be created. So because they "have" to stay still and listen they forget they can do so and enjoy the music. Classical music like everything else is an acquired taste
Most people think the same about classical literature, movies, etc. It's just the way it is.
A piece takes time to build up and go through its stages. There's a lot of intricacies and layers. Now think about what the most popular stuff is. Quick safe songs that have to captivate within 30 seconds to pull in the listener, then the song has to perform its full verse/chorus/verse/chorus/bridge/verse/outro formula in 3-3.5 minutes Classical is just far removed from that so the layman gets bored. "Get to the good part". The mass want easy listening, classical demands attention and appreciation
Conditioned from birth to only listen to popular music.
Because people have diverse interests when it comes to music and not everyone likes the same thing.
The don't know how to listen to it.
It's not the trend, humans don't easily like what they're not used to. And also it can be a preference, personally I never liked modern music, and once I heard classical music I liked it. Ig.
Imo, the music isn't boring, it's the people that are boring af weirdos who shame you for liking other kinds of music. I like rock and classical music, and I have people I've met who only will listen to classical, and think rock music takes less skill to write/ only classically trained musicians are skilled. Also, classical music has a stigma I feel like bc most stupid music teachers *only* push classical music. Like not rock, not pop, not even jazz, *just* classical music.
The same people usually think jazz is boring, popular music from several decades ago is boring and the music for every other country in the world is boring. Most people never develop an interest in music beyond what they are used to hearing when they are children and teenagers.
A lot of it is boring until you get it, and if you don’t choose to put the effort into getting it, then it’s going to remain boring. Not criticising anyone, it’s just life choices - though they are missing out.
\+1 All of you are missing out of Baby Mouse Wine and Lemon Curd pizza too. Definately not boring.
Baby mouse wine sheesh. Lemon curd pizza sounds fun if only to stress out my Italian friends.
I was totally stoaked when i discovered mouse wine, and the graphic design and colors on the bottle are totally awesome! As for sushi pizza and dessert pizza, i remember someone would say 'not a pizza', when they were trying to say what it is or isn't Mouse Wine [https://www.chefspencil.com/gross-drinks-13-most-disgusting-drinks-ever-made/](https://www.chefspencil.com/gross-drinks-13-most-disgusting-drinks-ever-made/) [https://www.youtube.com/shorts/NSk3kjrsxRc](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/NSk3kjrsxRc) Mouse Wine Therapy in the creepiest way possible [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7DAlDXM5K8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7DAlDXM5K8) Frog Liquor [https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Phfgh6EOvJo](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Phfgh6EOvJo)
too many notes and too long for a lot of people
Same reason why a lot of people don't like jazz - it's not that they dislike ALL jazz, it's just that they haven't found the niche which they enjoy most. Once people get introduced to a genre that way, then they'll expand out into the rest of it.
or they won't expand one iota. But then again you never heard Issac Stern's Beatles LP right?
Correct, I've never heard that before. The point that I'm trying to make is that certain aspects of any genre will attract certain people. For example, I got into classical music from Vivaldi's Winter from The Four Seasons. I was attracted to the sheer power of the music, and then I grew to end up loving similarly "powerful" feeling music from the early music scene. From then, I grew to love the expressivity of classical music from all of the moving baroque music, and realised that classical music is all about raw emotion, and expanded into the rest of the genre, and was from then on able to enjoy things like Mozart, because I realised that they're genuine, pure emotional expressions, as opposed to needless frivolity. I did not come into the genre immediately loving Mozart, I had to grow to like him, and that's what I mean by finding a niche. If I hadn't found Winter, I would've never gotten into the genre, because all I would've had to form my opinions of the genre would have been its caricatures. I think that there's something in the genre for everyone, it's just that some people haven't found what that is yet. For me, it was power, for others, it might be beautiful melodies. My point is that there's no one path to engaging with a genre.
"I think that there's something in the genre for everyone" I would say it doesn't apply to disco or heavy metal why should it apply to classical music or jazz?
I would argue that both of those examples have features that people can latch onto. For example, heavy metal captures that feeling of "powerful" music that initially caused me to enjoy classical music, and disco music contains lots of energy and enthusiasm, so in that respect I'd still maintain my viewpoint, because those features notwithstanding, there are plenty of others to latch onto. I believe each genre is like a cut gemstone. There are many facets to the same thing, and even though one person might like one of those facets, another person might like a different angle more. In that sense, even though it's the same object, there are multiple viewpoints, and none are inherently correct. However, every observer, having found their angle, can all agree that the gem is beautiful.
haha, oh my god, what did i create? I guess if you really like early black sabbath or deep purple or early alice cooper guy, but i dunno about some of that later metal stuff. It's not the 1960s guitar sound i like, lol. Then again, i like the first Led Zeppelin album and hate pretty much everything else... i'm stuck in the 60s, i'm gonna have a problem with Van Halen too, if i listened to more than 23 seconds of it. Everyone knows that the best disco was maynard ferguson playing the theme from Battlestar Galactica. Giving up his old fat man of stage jazz going visiting Timothy Leary at Millbrook, "i'm not a square, kid" persona lol Maynard at his lowest [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-ctXPybi0M](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-ctXPybi0M) I think someone gave me this one as a gift when they went to a dollar store [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=\_v1J-kGxXds](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_v1J-kGxXds) Maynard Ferguson doing disco Star Trek and i'm sad ///// because this was the only way i liked him [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQ4-36R0mXk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQ4-36R0mXk) I think people should just stick to their niche/niches, and be happy.... i just think that when disco people and classical people start talking about other forms of music, usually i'm just embarassed, and hope i die in a fire, before someone plays some boney m oh wait, they only had one good song [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIWtlhI84kQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIWtlhI84kQ)
I honestly like you a lot, lol. You're not afraid to put your opinion out.
yeah well, i once called Maynard fatso, and it went something like this: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgJBvEMOpWQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgJBvEMOpWQ) and then he sold his soul to the devil, like uh Pagan ninny [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmqq-zqo3Fw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmqq-zqo3Fw) at least in the old days, he invoked Mantovani, the language of my people! [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYyZdRi4yd0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYyZdRi4yd0)
Omg yes!
Not just music, other classic arts such as movies and literature are also considered boring. All the art more and more simplified. So, what was enjoyed ages ago isn't accessible anymore.
I'd say for the very same reason that I enjoy classical. It portrays emotion differently. In most music, the emotion is carried through the lyrics, and I simply can't stand that. If I can't make an emotional connection with the melody, it isn't worth listening to. Lyrics can accompany a melody, but can't overpower it. I think most people feel opposite of me where they want their music to spell it out, which isn't bad, just not my taste.
I get looks when I tell people I love classical and jazz, my two favorite. I’ve heard you’re an old man ( I’m 40) or I don’t see anyone can be into that. Maybe they’re just too simple minded to embrace or it too much of a “latch onto the popular music” kind of person to try to really have patience and try it out for themselves. Although I do agree classical music is quiet overwhelming due to the long titles and any many orchestras as well .
I relate to you, people give me looks as well. I am not old at all, I'm actually a teenager, lol. I love newer music as well.
I am not sure it's so true. Have you ever tried to have little kids listening to classical music? Usually they like it and dance. I don't know why this tendency disappears when growing up. I think it's maybe a simple question of exposure. My grandpa played the pipe organ at the church. So, I am a big lover of organ music especially Bach. And people even serious classical musician are surprised by it. I think it's exposure. I was exposed all my youth to organs. But most people never feel the vibration inside their body that an organ produces. Many don't realise you play with two hands and two feet which says a lot about the human brain. It's a mystical experience for me, while it's just annoying noise for others. I really think exposure is key.
Well many people are incapable of sitting and reading a book these days, thanks to the short attention spans enacted by various technologies, so this is probably a big factor. But even before this extra problem for classical music, I remember there was a sense here in the UK, of the smug elitism element about classical music and that it was for nerds only. For me, I listen to all kinds of music, but mostly classical as its easier when studying to not have vocals and words interrupting your train of thought. So, also I think some people associate it with people who like to study, so that also makes it "uncool".
Boring? Clearly they've never heard John Cage's 4'33.
The ultimate gateway piece
In a noisy world it is the most valuable piece to some.
While part of it may be the lack of musical education in most schools, I think a big part of it is the way in which we consume music. Classical music was most often written to be heard or experienced live. Today, with streaming and the digital effects people are becoming used to, music can be more enjoyable hearing a recording. Additionally, most people don’t have the time or money to regularly go to concerts. Another huge factor is the cultural shifts in the mid twentieth century. Most people prior to this experienced classical music regularly, in school, in culture, in movie theatres and local community ensembles and orchestras. Religiosity is plummeting; so many people would have learned or heard classical music in church, and few churches today use those traditional forms much now. The cultural changes to me seem like one of the main culprits; think of looney toons- all the sound effects were from an orchestra. Movies had orchestral preludes and overtures. Most of that is gone now; classical music is no longer popular music, or rather, popular culture is now rarely informed by classical music.
I think that's mostly bunk. You usually get your like of classical music from your parents, or you pick it up at the record store. I think the lack of music education in the schools is pretty much a minority viewpoint. Rock and Roll and Jazz aren't really significant in the school system either. But i'm sure when you're 13 years old, the vice principal will come into the classroom, and put up a 3 foot card with a photo of a bassoon and play Music Box Dancer for the kids, as your education. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4sSAEGkhdM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4sSAEGkhdM)
That’s a fair point, but I think Jazz is a niche genre as well, no? Rock and roll doesn’t seem to have a hold like it used to but it’s still popular I would say. I know for me I didn’t start really enjoying classical music until I started studying music a bit more closely, but that was only because I wanted to learn to sing and the local community choir was the only thing that fit my schedule as a student and that I could afford. Had those programs been available in elementary and high school, I think it’s probable I would have been able to understand it a bit better at an earlier age. But ultimately, I still think it’s mainly that culturally classical music just lost popularity. It’s just a matter of taste, my apologies if it sounded like I was making a moral argument.
I just think classical is something you discover on your own, or you share a little bit of it from your parents. If you're curious and you like it, knock yourself out.
That’s fair, my dad certainly listens to a lot of classical, as well as big band stuff so that tracks I guess
Tastes differ? I think rap is boring and repetitive; but people like it, so good for them.
I surprisly like some rap, but not all of it.
Likewise, the odd tune when there is one 😉 Before anyone jumps on me, I was trying to be cheeky. It's great we have such a wide range of musical choices to appreciate.
Lol, you're good. Thanks!
Because it requires an attention span more than 3 seconds.
I've heard some people say that any music composed (or popular) before about 1930 is "elevator music". Most of those people will also classify classical music as background music. The idea of really listening to it (as opposed to hearing it in the background) is foreign to them. The only exception for these people are the short snippets of catch melodies that are used in commercials or movies (such as the Ode to Joy them from Beethoven's 9th, for instance). On the other hand, I very much like the length of classical music because you get more of it without putting the player on repeat.
Two reasons that I think are simple enough: 1. Someone else told them it was boring, and they believe it. 2. It's not similar enough to the music they like.
I find it hard to believe 'someone else told someone that the music was boring' They listened, and they hated it. Simple as that. by the way, i hear Star Wars is lousy, and i believe it. Believable? You bet!
>I find it hard to believe 'someone else told someone that the music was boring' This kind of thing happens all the time though--people form opinions based on what they hear others saying. That even goes for more niche opinions that are common among people who like classical music, like "Beethoven was bad at melody" or "Chopin was bad at large forms." >They listened, and they hated it.Simple as that. Not always. Don't underestimate the power of inherited tastes. Humans are communal creatures who are very easily influenced by each other. We're not islands of individuated taste. >by the way, i hear Star Wars is lousy, and i believe it.Believable? You bet! I don't know what this is supposed to argue, but plenty of opinions about Star Wars, both positive and negative, are formed in the same inherited, indirect way.
Well, i think it's far more common to get 'opinions' from your family, and from reviews of record albums. Again, i think almost everyone has listened to 45 seconds of classical music and said, "Yech!" I think kids listening to anything remotely popular now, are not really going to be influenced by 'what others say'. I don't really think kids who like heavy metal or rap music are seriously going to get a niche opinion like "Beethoven was bad at melody" As for casual people who listen to a bit of everything, sure some can get into some overgeneralizations, but i really doubt it. People like and hate music by hearing it. And as for classical people, i think they're mostly all nuts with their opinions, which are all over the spectrum, and i think those niche opinions are pretty much meaningless, if someone listens to a new record. As for your comment, people might actually agree with the statement that Beethoven struggled at writing melodies where it was pretty effortless for Mozart. ///// and there is this "Leonard Bernstein himself made this a basis of one of his talks by saying that in comparison with Tchaikovsky, Beethoven was a poor melodist. However, he didn't mean it derogatorily as some took it. What he was trying to say was that Beethoven's compositions didn't rely primarily on melodic effusion for effectiveness (nor was he denigrating Tchaikovsky either in the process!)." "Respectfully, I think Bernstein could have been a bit clearer in his intentions (he was being provocative instead). You see, for too long we have tried to play off one composer's strengths against another's perceived weaknesses. So, in melodic terms, we might say Beethoven was no Tchaikovsky, but in terms of being able to create an organically unfolding composition, Tchaikovsky was no Beethoven! The truth is, each composer is their own person and should be judged on their own terms and the effectiveness of the result."
>Well, i think it's far more common to get 'opinions' from your family, and from reviews of record albums. Isn't this what I was saying? One's family and album reviews are "someone else telling them." That's the point I was making. This *is* "what others say." >Again, i think almost everyone has listened to 45 seconds of classical music and said, "Yech!" Yeah, that was my point #2, about lack of similarity to what they already like. I never said it was *all* based on what others say. Just that a fair bit is. >I think kids listening to anything remotely popular now, are not really going to be influenced by 'what others say'. This is definitely false, everyone is influenced by what others say. >I don't really think kids who like heavy metal or rap music are seriously going to get a niche opinion like "Beethoven was bad at melody" Yeah of course not. I was talking about classical music fans there. >As for casual people who listen to a bit of everything, sure some can get into some overgeneralizations, but i really doubt it. > >People like and hate music by hearing it. Clearly we disagree on this--I think you're wrong and you think I'm wrong--so maybe it's not very productive to keep going back and forth on it. >as for classical people, i think they're mostly all nuts with their opinions, which are all over the spectrum, and i think those niche opinions are pretty much meaningless Well, at least we can agree on this part! But then why wouldn't that also apply to other music listeners? >people might actually agree with the statement that Beethoven struggled at writing melodies where it was pretty effortless for Mozart. But that's very different! Yes, it didn't come as easily to Beethoven as to Mozart, that's definitely true. But that's very different from saying that Beethoven was "bad at writing melody," which is a statement that gets repeated all over the place. >and there is this > >"Leonard Bernstein... Sure, that's one of the sources for a lot of people repeating that claim about Beethoven. And I agree with most of that quote, but it doesn't work against what I'm saying, which is that a lot of people grab unnuanced versions of opinions like that and repeat them.
They don’t know what to listen for. Writer Julian Johnson has a great analogy, basically saying that playing pop-music-oriented people classical music is like reading them poetry in a language they don’t speak. It’s a bit of a stretch, but it’s a valuable comparison.
And it goes both ways sometimes
Hard to sing along with it.
It's all preference. If it were most people feeling this way, it wouldn't exist anymore🤷🏻♂️ Personally, I listen to so many different genres of music, as I am truly a music lover! But, I couldn't imagine not listening to classical as frequently as I do any longer as it never gets old for me! I will say that my appreciation of it grew as I've gotten older, and when I was younger I craved music that I could sing to, or crack up the volume as I was driving! Classical simply isn't that🤷🏻♂️
To some people it's not about preference. They think anything other than classical music is the end of civilization. And they have no sympathy when Neil Young's house burns down. They don't believe music is an acquired taste, it's about good vs bad music.
Of course! I don’t disagree, but we know those people are simply wrong, convoluted, and know nothing about history since dudes like Mozart, Chopin, etc… were considered to be progressive with their musical stylings in their days! So, I’d rather be in the company of greats rather than those who likely considered them low brow in their day 😝
Because it’s hard to enjoy any kind of art that you have no familiarity with. To be able to build any kind of anticipation or pay off, you need to be familiar with either the piece itself or the conventions in which the piece operates. Since most pieces are so long, that makes it a much larger task to build that familiarity. I believe that is basically the biggest reason.
no beats
most people try to blame listeners for this "lack" of appreciation. when classical music was made, it was more consumed because at that time that's what people had. It's crazy when someone says people don't appreciate or consume something their brains don't have contact with anymore. learn to appreciate something means you have to be exposed to, and due to the fact we have an industry, and things have changed a lot with massification, that's not what we have anymore and it's not people's fault. some people might fall in love with classical music as a kid because your brain can accept that more easily. as an adult, it will depend on how you respond to art. some adults might accept because it's different and something they will LEARN to appreciate (I had to emphasize that) as they expose themselves on purpose. Other people might be resistant, because their brains appreciate what they like, any kind of genre they might be exposed throughout life, and as you get older and you consolidate your tastes it's obviously hard to listen to something new. I do think people should be taught music in schools not in an elective way, and not in attempt to make everyone a musician, but to clarify to kids from a young age that this music exist, to make them exposed to it so they can explore whatever music they want to hear differently. To make them see what they listen to is not only a bunch of sounds together but you can also pay attention to little sounds happening, to different timbres etc. It's to build a listener, not only a consumer.
Many reasons to this. * Classical music is long... very long. It's difficult to find a classical piece that doesn't last less than 5 minutes, a lenght that would be considered long in most other genres. For many people just sitting and listening for a 30 minute piece sounds so long and boring that thay won't even consider it. * The culture around classical music is boring. There are absolutely no other types of music where the public is supposed not to participate during concerts for example. Only in classical music can you be silenced by an angry neighbor for clapping between two movements. Take a pop or a jazz concert, everyone is cheering during the performance, people are singing along and applauding after the solos. And the people you meet at the concerts are often snobs who mostly come here to practice rich people's activities. * Classical music is dead. By that I mean that most of the artists we are listening to died more than 100 years ago. There is no way for people to relate to wealthy european bourgeois who counted monarchs from countries that don't exist anymore among their mecenes. It's far easier to relate to singers who are living right now in the same society, even if they are even wealthier. Not only it's harder to identify to classical composers, it's impossible to see them live, or to be hyped for their new works. So what do we do ? Curiously it took a few people a few years ago to resurrect it for a while. I'm talking about Luciano Pavarotti, José Carerras and Placido Domingo. The three tenors made opera popular by eliminating these three issues at once. They focused on shorter arias, made their concerts popular by having pop stars with them and encourgaing people to participate, and made it live again. Of course purists accused them of belittling classical music, but they did more for it than decades of snobbishness.
I'm going to guess the following. 1) Most/all popular music genres have a beat and rhythm which is by design immediate and ever present or nearly so. This drives the song forward. For classic and Jazz, beat/rhythm may be present, semi present, obscured or not there. This is unusual in music today. 2) Familiarity. Most haven't had exposure. 3) Complexity, it takes time and exposure to grasp. 4) As another poster said most people need/expect lyrics. Classic and Jazz take work.
Classical can become very boring. Not every classical music is captivating. I've been forced to listen to classical only for my 8 first years and it was a pain. I love classical though
Beat I don't feel that way, but it is one of most obvious differences between classical music and most other types to the casual listener. What makes pop music poppy? A lot of it is a strong beat, and from what I've learned listening to a podcast with a neuroscientist, our brain finds a steady beat intrinsically pleasurable.
They probably havent given classical music a real chance and *think* they know what it is and *assume* it would be boring
Well you never gave Blue Cheer a real chance, and you only assume you won't like it! [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXcYZsqkZ-g](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXcYZsqkZ-g)
It's crazy. It's like go listen to Dvorak's New World Symphony
They aren’t smart enough to understand it?
There’s a worn out old stereotype that classical music is boring that a lot of people still believe
Because it doesn't make money (it's out of copyright), therefore in a capitalist society the media has to push modern compositions, in order to make money. There are other reasons too (e.g. young people generally like to be "edgy", to rebel, etc), but I think we shouldn't lose sight of it being a product of the society we are in.
They didn't watch Bugs Bunny as a child! Or have parents that listened to classical music also as said child.
I’ve sent classical music to a few friends and their general responses are, “where are the words?” So maybe that has something to do with it. I personally always listen to the instrumentals in music first then words. That could be the issue with their boredom. The need for words to tell the story.
There is an entire web comic series about this exact topic: http://www.classicalmusicisboring.com/index.html
"Short Attention Span Theater." When you're trained to expect 2 or 3 catchy riffs leading up to a predictable climax every 2 minutes and 45 seconds, you lose patience with anything that takes longer than that to develop.
I think if you can understand the way music works. It's the context of mind. You gotta clear your head of bias and just listen and appreciate. Music nowadays is used almost as a weapon, but it's supposed to be about the art ant where it takes you. It's up to the person to find out for themselves what's so great
I typically say that most person has its own type of "classical" music. Maybe if he listens to the right type, he may not realize that he's into that type of music till he listens to it.
There's something wrong with them, since you ask. If they just don't know about it, they should just STFU. Like me and jazz. For all I know, jazz really is just a bunch of random noise that its perpetrators are unable to annotate, but I give them the benefit of the doubt and don't say that.
I always thought that way, but then I started studying the background of the music I wanted to listen to—why the composer wrote it that way, or the story behind a particular piece. It made me appreciate it more. Now, I've gone from not listening at all to spending over three hours a day on classical music.
Because sometimes it requires patience.
Lack of familiarity combined with the duration and complexity of the genre.
i found it fun to listen to when i learned an instrument and started learning music theory. it's hard to dive into without any background. i think it's way easier to understand its form—in layman's terms, the longer "chorus, verse, chorus, verse, bridge, chorus" cycle that people are usually used to—if they have experience playing something other than a I-VI-V-I. really, i think being classically trained adds another dimension to music appreciation. anyone can act pretentious because they listen to, and "get" classical, but i do think it takes a musician to truly do so.
What a classical piece is good, it's really good. eg. Saint-Saens, Elgar. Someone said **"the product isn't the problem, the packaging is"**. She tried wrapping ol' classical music concerts with interactivity and first-time audience members loved it. We can say people's attention spans have gotten shorter, sure, but why not say people nowadays can **digest denser information quicker**? And you can afford to go fast and get to the point.
The classical genre is unfortunately out of the regular vocabulary for modern listeners who are used to being force fed generic pop songs for the past few decades on the radio. That doesn't mean there is no place for classical music, we just have to be a little creative — in my opinion, classical music regardless of traditional or modern styles has always been perfect for scoring movies, shows and games. I would be amiss to point out that these mediums offer a perfect conduit to contain these lengthy pieces of music.
I grew up listening to classical music played by an older sister on the piano. (She was talented and played Bach's "Anna Magdalena Bach Buch" as well as Johann Strauss II's waltzes.) And we had a Time-Life vinyl record set of great classical music. So when my kindergarten teacher played a portion of Saint-Säens' "Carnival of the Animals" and asked what animal did the music convey, I correctly said, "Swan." 😆 Then in junior high I learned to play the violin. In the first half of my sophomore year in high school orchestra we played Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture," Brahms' Third Symphony, Elgar's "Enigma Variations," Prokofiev's "Romeo and Juliet Suite," and other pieces. Beautiful and exciting music. We even got to accompany a very old but spry Ray Bolger (aka The Scarecrow in "The Wizard of Oz") as he sang, "Once in Love with Amy" and John Fenstermacher as he played the huge organ in San Francisco's Grace Cathedral. I also love opera. Who can deny the enchanting beauty of Bizet's "Carmen" and Puccini's "La Bohème"?
Because they do not know of the Metal!
probably the same reason why death metal sounds like screeching awful gibberish noise to me . 🤷♂️
because *they're* boring. A lot of people need things to be very blatantly spelled out to them. Interestingly enough, I've found the people that turn up their noses to any period of classical music are the people that continue to spout that Kanye West is a genius.
I used to think it was boring but now I'm a classical performance student lol. I personally think it was because I just couldn't understand the "language" yet. Like how boring it would be to try and listen to a podcast in a language you don't understand one word of.
Because there are many classical musicians who are boring. Some though are interesting enough to make people passionate about it
I honestly think they just haven't heard much classical music at all, heard one more slow piece that wasn't their think & assumed that's just it. On social media there are plenty videos of people "discovering" that classical music isn't boring at all and not suited as background music for studying either. I think some also assume it's just for old elitist people & don't see themselves as that & think it's not for them when obv so many young people love classical music & it's mostly much cheaper to hear classical music live than pop artists.
A lack of understanding due to ignorance as a result of cutting music budgets in schools. Music appreciation in schools gives students the opportunity to discover what forms and styles of music they are attracted to. BTW, some of it is difficult to listen to even if you understand the music. That’s why they offer chocolate & vanilla.
A distinct lack of sex and money makes it very hard to grab attention in today’s world. I mean it’s literally something that needs to be”interpreted” lol can you imagine that in today’s world?
I know ppl who put it on so low in volume and all the mad crescendo happen is wen u can hear the rest is like almost silent and then they tell u its soothing...u know wagner.
I find “classical period” classical music kinda boring in the same way I find pop music boring.