Quote: (01-09-2013 01:01 PM)thedude3737 Wrote:
When you're listening to this stuff, listen with INTENTION. Most people listen to classical music as background; I've never understood this. Listen to the music the way you'd listen to your grandparents tell a story. Notice the details and background notes. Classical music requires an attention span, but like an old muscle that gets some long-needed exercise, it feels amazing when you use it.
For this reason it can be very enlightening to study the classical music forms and basic music theory principles. Although being preoccupied with identifying forms and theoretical features will probably harm enjoyment for most people, a basic understanding of the concepts of harmonic progression, phrasing, key relationships, thematic variation and maybe polyphony can go a long way to helping someone understand the point of classical music.
The basic idea of classical music is that you start with a stable chord and key. You introduce motion conflict by adding dissonance, scales, chords, and sequences that create an expectation of a particular resolution. Much like an author or playwright, the great composers excel at delaying the resolution in creative and interesting ways.
Some classical music uses standard progressions that introduce and resolve conflict in predictable ways and then ornament those progressions. National Anthems and similar hymns typically use standard classical progressions. Many of these progressions are still being used in modern pop music.
So classical music is grouped into "phrases" and themes that explore different ways of establishing and resolving conflict. There are too many different concepts to cover here, but it should be enough to know that they're there.
Also, classical music is much more focused on thematic variation and polyphony than modern music. Modern music innovates with new sounds, technology, dance-oriented beats and rhythms, lyrics, and unique performances from rare individual talents. Classical music is much more about presenting a single musical idea and then showing all the different music that can be derived from that original idea. The 4th movement of Beethoven's 9th symphony (the 'Ode to Joy') is a classic example of thematic variation. I often use Mozart's variations on "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" since it's a melody that many already know.
Polyphony is about multiple independent 'voices' being played simultaneously. While modern music does often "harmonize," classical music is much more thorough about this. The harmonizing you hear in a song like LMFAO's "Party Rock Anthem" (eg on the words "...house tonight") is more about background music to the lyrics than polyphony. Polyphony would be more like what you hear in the chorus of Akon's song Lonely. One voice is the sampled "Mr. Lonely" and Akon sings a simple counterpoint to that original melody.
Anyway, that could be a start on appreciating classical music beyond merely being impressed by the skill of a particular performer. Anyway I realized I did not link any actual classical performances above so here is one: Beethoven 'Waldstein' Piano Sonata