being a Beethoven enthusiest

[heidi]

This is to all Beethoven fans out there that have a hard time getting people around them to understand why we love Beethoven so much, or a least love to listen to him. I'm in my thirties and I have a hard time trying to get my family and friends interested in classical music alone. Although my children are involved in choirs and play instruments and do attend concerts with me, other relatives are listening to country, rap or rock. I like classic rock (the Beatles, Pink Floyd,etc..) as my next pick. I just wondered if any one else shares this problem. I didn't elaborate on it too much but if you know what I am talking about, write back. I wont feel so alone about my taste in music.

[bak2_bay6]

I think the question is, why wouldn't you adore Beethoven? His music has it all-- immense beauty, strength, lyricism... and it's music that just keeps getting better and better. Playing and listening to Beethoven is a joy. What a gift to the world his music is!

[Poseidan73]

I only have that problem with friends. I have one or two friends who enjoy classical music, possibly more than me, but the rest of my friends can't believe me when i tell them that a box set of Beethoven's 9 symphonies were sold out within a week. They'd normally respond, "Really? Who would buy them?"

But my family, esp. on my mother's side, were/are very much into classical music only. As a matter of fact, they kind of rejoiced when i began to listen to it in earnest early last year.

[Rod]

Originally posted by heidi:
This is to all Beethoven fans out there that have a hard time getting people around them to understand why we love Beethoven so much, or a least love to listen to him. I'm in my thirties and I have a hard time trying to get my family and friends interested in classical music alone....

Well I'm in my 30's and don't know anyone who likes Beethoven or classical music of any kind in my day to day personal surroundings. Hence I came to the internet long ago. I have long given up trying to 'convert' friends and family who have no interest. It can be a lonely musical life for those with taste!



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"If I were but of noble birth..." - Rod Corkin

[lysander]

Originally posted by heidi:
This is to all Beethoven fans out there that have a hard time getting people around them to understand why we love Beethoven so much, or a least love to listen to him. I'm in my thirties and I have a hard time trying to get my family and friends interested in classical music alone. Although my children are involved in choirs and play instruments and do attend concerts with me, other relatives are listening to country, rap or rock. I like classic rock (the Beatles, Pink Floyd,etc..) as my next pick. I just wondered if any one else shares this problem. I didn't elaborate on it too much but if you know what I am talking about, write back. I wont feel so alone about my taste in music.

Heidi, I must confess to listening to Pink Floyd, myself, in my teens,
I used to like the lyrics; We don't need no education, hey teacher! leave us kids alone!

I used to like the Walker Brother's, and Simon and Garfunkel, and The Beach Boys.
This was when I lived in Canada.

Though I am a Brit. I seemed to like the American groups, though very selective.

May I say, in my own opion, I have been utterly baffled as I am now, as to what any one thought was great about the 'Beatles'.
Apart from a couple of sing a long ditties that we have all surely now unutterably tired and bored by mindless repitition. The rest of their output was surely aimed at those with a mental age of about 12 years.
this is not a question of prejudice, I can assure you , it is just that they are so vastly overrated as a group, and can think of a number of groups of the sixties who comfortabley surpass them in terms of wit, invention, melody and such as Simon and Garfunkel, who are more poetic.

It is like a peer group driven process , the point is as we mature only the Greatest works of music and literature seem to satisfy the yearnings of our inner being, and also, one is captivated by the intellectual complexities and harmonies, of someone so unspeakably as Great Beethoven.

Fortunately, I was introduced to classical music, Beethoven , bach and Handel at school .

If we were exposed more to the classics when very young, perhaps there would be less room for the poorer quality pop dirge to flourish. Though perhaps teenages have a gene that simply predisposes them to listen to rubbish and then dump it all when they grow up.

Don't get too much in a stew about it though if at the moment your kids don't show any interestin BEETHOVEN because one of these days they may well have a Damascene experience. Like I did!

My friend used to play Beethoven and Mozart to her baby a lot, and all through her childhood, I guess that is where to start, as she has now grown up to Love 'B' and classical music. And an extremely bright young lady she has turned out to be.


Perhaps you can begin to introduce Beethoven by giving them Books or films about him.
But don't nag them.

[This message has been edited by lysander (edited March 25, 2003).]

[This message has been edited by lysander (edited March 25, 2003).]

[This message has been edited by lysander (edited March 25, 2003).]

[OboeKing]

Originally posted by lysander:

Heidi, I must confess to listening to Pink Floyd, myself, in my teens,
I used to like the lyrics; We don't need no education, hey teacher! leave us kids alone!

I used to like the Walker Brother's, and Simon and Garfunkel, and The Beach Boys.
This was when I lived in Canada.

Though I am a Brit. I seemed to like the American groups, though very selective.

May I say, in my own opion, I have been utterly baffled as I am now, as to what any one thought was great about the 'Beatles'.
Apart from a couple of sing a long ditties that we have all surely now unutterably tired and bored by mindless repitition. The rest of their output was surely aimed at those with a mental age of about 12 years.
this is not a question of prejudice, I can assure you , it is just that they are so vastly overrated as a group, and can think of a number of groups of the sixties who comfortabley surpass them in terms of wit, invention, melody and such as Simon and Garfunkel, who are more poetic.

It is like a peer group driven process , the point is as we mature only the Greatest works of music and literature seem to satisfy the yearnings of our inner being, and also, one is captivated by the intellectual complexities and harmonies, of someone so unspeakably as Great Beethoven.

Fortunately, I was introduced to classical music, Beethoven , bach and Handel at school .

If we were exposed more to the classics when very young, perhaps there would be less room for the poorer quality pop dirge to flourish. Though perhaps teenages have a gene that simply predisposes them to listen to rubbish and then dump it all when they grow up.

Don't get too much in a stew about it though if at the moment your kids don't show any interestin BEETHOVEN because one of these days they may well have a Damascene experience. Like I did!

My friend used to play Beethoven and Mozart to her baby a lot, and all through her childhood, I guess that is where to start, as she has now grown up to Love 'B' and classical music. And an extremely bright young lady she has turned out to be.


Perhaps you can begin to introduce Beethoven by giving them Books or films about him.
But don't nag them.

[This message has been edited by lysander (edited March 25, 2003).]

[This message has been edited by lysander (edited March 25, 2003).]

[This message has been edited by lysander (edited March 25, 2003).]

I have finally found someone who shares the same opinion of the beatles as me! Believe me, I am not one-track minded in my views of different genres of music. In fact there are songs in every category that I can happily listen to. But the whole Beatles thing totally passes me by. Their songs were - to put it blunty - very basic. I don't think there was anything clever or remotely innovative in their style of writing. It is true that artists such as Simon and Garkunkel should be given far more credit than they are. Just listen to songs such as 'Sound of Silence,' what a little gem!!

Sorry, I know I've totally gone off the point with all that wittering!!

Being in secondary school, I am surrounded by pop-crazed zombies, ll following each other's musical taste. I am not saying I like classical music to be different, I like it cos it is good! I genuinely believe the majority of pop fans only like it because 1) They haven't been introduced to enough classical music, and 2) They just want to fit it and not have an opinion that will brand them an outsider.

I don't go out of my way to preach the joys of classicl music, but if someone asks me what I'm into I will tell the truth. I am not going to insult Beethoven, Handel, Mozart, and other great composers by following the rest of the sheep!!!

P.S Sorry for being a bit agitated in this letter - I've had a very tiring day!

Night all,
Michael.

[Peter]

Originally posted by heidi:
I'm in my thirties and I have a hard time trying to get my family and friends interested in classical music alone. I wont feel so alone about my taste in music.

From my bitter experience with friends in the past, it is a complete waste of time even trying to convert them! Fortunately my family were easier to work on, being subjected to my daily piano practice (which amazingly didn't put them off for life!). I really think it is such a personal thing that everyone has to come to it in their own way if they are going to at all - for me it was discovering one of the few classical LPs that my father owned, Haydn's 'Surprise' and 'Military' symphonies - I played it over and over again! I succeeded in converting my father from James Last to Beethoven within a matter of a few years, though he does still occasionally have lapses!

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'Man know thyself'

[Michael]

I also have given up on trying to convert friends to classical music, but my son astounded me a couple of years ago when he became a Beethoven freak almost overnight. I can only put it down to twenty years of osmosis! I never actually said to him: "Listen to this" but he could hardly have escaped the music.
Strangely enough, my wife, who is very musical, is still lukewarm about "classical" music. But the good news is that my daughter has asked for a CD of the "Emperor Concerto" to take away to college.
By the way, we all love the Beatles!

The other Michael

[Joy]

Don't even try to convert your friends, it's a waste of time. My friends will listen to classical when I have it on but they also will put on something else once my CD gets finished. Luckily my parents were into classical music when I was very young so I grew up with it. They did not listen to Beethoven though. I discovered him on my own. My Mother liked opera mostly Puccini and all that, also she played the piano which really got me interested in music listening to her play all kinds of music. My Mother's side of the family was very musical.

Joy

[This message has been edited by Joy (edited March 25, 2003).]

[Chaszz]

"May I say, in my own opinion, I have been utterly baffled as I am now, as to what any one thought was great about the 'Beatles'.
Apart from a couple of sing a long ditties that we have all surely now unutterably tired and bored by mindless repitition. The rest of their output was surely aimed at those with a mental age of about 12 years."

Yesterday? Martha My Dear? Blackbird? Penny Lane? A Day in the Life? The second side of the album "Abbey Road"? Surely these are far above the level of a 12-year old taste.

As for growing up, as I've said before somewhere on this board, when my children were younger, all they knew was heavy metal. Now they are in their 30s, and all three listening to classical music every day.

Of course this will not happen with everyone, but it will with quite a few.

Chaszz


[This message has been edited by Chaszz (edited March 25, 2003).]

[Steppenwolf]

Being 22 years of age, I suppose I am supposed to enjoy Marilyn Manson, Emimen or Britney Spears. But, defying the stereotype, I get more excited by the prospect of going to Bayreuth or Salzburg than some muddy mosh pit. So I know exactly how you feel, when you say you feel like the only one who likes classical music. It is especially lonely when you are my age.
Why don't more people like it? Hmm ... there are a few reasons. One - society in general, nowadays, is culturally decadent. Western art and culture is going down the drainpipe, and "high" modern art is even more horrible than the nasty types of pop art.
People are also less well educated these days. Look at an average letter written by an average person 100 years ago, compared to an email or letter written by someone today, to see what a difference there is.
Classical music requires an initiation. It is not something that can be picked up immediately, like all high art its strength lies in a subtlety that is not immediately obvious to the uninitiated.
Plato once wrote that music is the most important part of the education of youth. A young person initiated into serene and beautiful music will grow a serene and beautiful mind, whereas exposure only to loud and disordered music will retard intellectual and spiritual development. The irony is that young people are those BEST equipt to enjoy classical music. A young person has the sharpest mind, the greatest creativity, the greatest sensuality and love of beauty, and the thirst for idealism. But western youth are brainwashed into a diet of MTV culture from the moment they leave the cradle. What hope is there?

I don't limit myself to classical music (although I think it is the best). I too enjoy classic rock (Led Zeplin, Doors, etc), I also like 60s pop, 80s pop, and some 90s dance music.



[This message has been edited by Steppenwolf (edited March 26, 2003).]

[Rod]

Originally posted by Chaszz:


As for growing up, as I've said before somewhere on this board, when my children were younger, all they knew was heavy metal. Now they are in their 30s, and all three listening to classical music every day.

I must add my exposure to Beethoven has not dented my prior appreciation of the rock bands I was into before hand, I will still be buying AC/DC's new album later this year. On the contrary, considering that AC/DC was my benchmark for quality prior to my relatively late exposure to Beethoven (at the age of 20), my subsequent analysis of the realm of Classical Music as a whole has produced largely negative results. At this point in time I would say at least 75% of the CM I have heard, by volume, is utter garbage, barely worthy of being heard by such cultivated ears as my own. And then you get a lot of good stuff from Beethoven that never gets performed. Work out the logic of that!

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"If I were but of noble birth..." - Rod Corkin

[This message has been edited by Rod (edited March 26, 2003).]

[Peter]

Originally posted by Rod:
At this point in time I would say at least 75% of the CM I have heard, by volume, is utter garbage, barely worthy of being heard by such cultivated ears as my own. And then you get a lot of good stuff from Beethoven that never gets performed. Work out the logic of that!

Knowing your preference for AC/DC over Bach, Mozart, Chopin, Schubert, Brahms and Schumann (to name just a few who I know you put in the garbage category) I'm afraid I don't see the logic of it!

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'Man know thyself'

[Steppenwolf]

Originally posted by Rod:
I must add my exposure to Beethoven has not dented my prior appreciation of the rock bands I was into before hand, I will still be buying AC/DC's new album later this year. On the contrary, considering that AC/DC was my benchmark for quality prior to my relatively late exposure to Beethoven (at the age of 20), my subsequent analysis of the realm of Classical Music as a whole has produced largely negative results. At this point in time I would say at least 75% of the CM I have heard, by volume, is utter garbage, barely worthy of being heard by such cultivated ears as my own. And then you get a lot of good stuff from Beethoven that never gets performed. Work out the logic of that!

What would you classify as garbage? Give some examples.
If you are refering to 20th century classical music, I would agree with you.

[Rod]

I was thinking primarily of the vast majority of music composed after Beethoven's time as garbage. In this respect there is a complete logic to my position.

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"If I were but of noble birth..." - Rod Corkin

[This message has been edited by Rod (edited March 26, 2003).]