I am very much interested what place classical music has in your life?
Let me try to explain what it does in my life, so as to understand the question better!
A day without classical music is for me a lost day.
That gives me mental pain. I need to hear the notes every day, be it short, but it must be there!
Otherwise my day is incomplete, and takes the soul out of my life.
To take the music out of my life, is like taking my life!
So how is it with you folks?
I feel much the same, Harry. I feel very deprived if I can't listen at least to a Bach cantata every day. I do a lot of sewing and craft work and it's essential for me to hear music whilst I work; not just background music, but something I choose for my mood. One time my CD player broke down, and I felt as if I'd had a limb amputated!
I find if I have the classical station tuned in I soon want to put on a CD of my choice, so not just anything will do!
As a teacher I work with imperfection every day, fixing wrong notes, bad phrasing, incorrect tone, etc. Even a good band often plays things wrong in rehearsal. I'm not complaining because its my job to fix those things, but listening to Classical Music is my way of experiencing musical perfection and liberating myself from my work. So I guess you could call it therapy! :)
I love music, and it inspires me more than anything else. Can I live without it? I sure hope so. I go many days where all I want to hear is silence, and that can be a beautiful thing in itself (or perhaps not silence in the strictest sense, but the subtle sounds of my surroundings).
Quote from: CS on April 30, 2007, 03:17:07 AM
I love music, and it inspires me more than anything else. Can I live without it? I sure hope so. I go many days where all I want to hear is silence, and that can be a beautiful thing in itself (or perhaps not silence in the strictest sense, but the subtle sounds of my surroundings).
I long for the day when the sounds of my surroundings are subtle. :-\
Until then, Jay Z, a loud neighbor or a piercing firetruck siren will continue to interrupt my enjoyment of classical music on a daily basis. :-[
This is a very interesting question. Just because we are all enthusiasts in some way for classical music, doesn't mean that it has the same place in our lives or represents the same values. Still less does it mean that, the role that music plays for each of as individuals is what music is.
For me, music is essentially celebratory - it's something special, which adds flavour to life. This means that, above all else, it is not ordinary.
Someone else might describe this as a "Dionysian" attitude - which is not my way - although there are similarities in the role which music plays in my life compared with other Bacchic life-enhancements such as wine. I don't drink every day, and I wouldn't drink just anything - and if I ever got to the stage where I had to drink every day, and I would drink anything, then I'd give up completely. Because at that point it would have ceased to be special.
I go days - weeks, sometimes - without listening to music. At other times I will have all-night listening-sessions with friends. A party is great ... so long as it isn't every day.
Quote from: Harry on April 30, 2007, 02:36:04 AM
I am very much interested what place classical music has in your life?
Let me try to explain what it does in my life, so as to understand the question better!
A day without classical music is for me a lost day.
That gives me mental pain. I need to hear the notes every day, be it short, but it must be there!
Otherwise my day is incomplete, and takes the soul out of my life.
To take the music out of my life, is like taking my life!
So how is it with you folks?
I find that classical music can shift/alter my mood easily, too easily and I use it accordingly:
1) if I am feeling depressed and want to feel better I will usually play MOZART or BACH, those Brandenberg Concertos never fail to make me feel better
2) if I am feeling depressed and want to stay that way then Chopin, Liszt, Puccini, Tchaikovsky and some of Beethoven's sonatas will do just fine.
3) on my way to the gym its usually Beethoven's symphonies or something from Wagner's Ring or one of Verdi's powerful operas, helps get those juices pumping
who needs drugs, anti-depressants, stimulants when classical music provides it all. Incidently, if I feel nothing from a peice of music I loose interest in the peice, I wonder if others feel the same way I do.
marvin
Quote from: Harry on April 30, 2007, 02:36:04 AM
I am very much interested what place classical music has in your life?
Let me try to explain what it does in my life, so as to understand the question better!
A day without classical music is for me a lost day.
That gives me mental pain. I need to hear the notes every day, be it short, but it must be there!
Otherwise my day is incomplete, and takes the soul out of my life.
To take the music out of my life, is like taking my life!
So how is it with you folks?
I don't feel the same at all, you bleeding heart you! :D
I can go for weeks without listening to anything.
Quote from: DavidW on April 30, 2007, 05:45:22 AM
I don't feel the same at all, you bleeding heart you! :D
I can go for weeks without listening to anything.
You'll do well if you ever get married. ;D
Choo Choo, that's what I want now-- my listening experience to be special. i used to listen to classical music all the time, and it became a commodity. Now I listen to classical music when I'm in the mood, instead of as a constant distraction.
Quote from: George on April 30, 2007, 05:46:51 AM
You'll do well if you ever get married. ;D
But my nose is always in a book, tuning out the rest of the world. I don't know if a wife would put up with that. ;D
Quote from: DavidW on April 30, 2007, 05:48:14 AM
Choo Choo, that's what I want now-- my listening experience to be special. i used to listen to classical music all the time, and it became a commodity. Now I listen to classical music when I'm in the mood, instead of as a constant distraction.
Indeed. Less is more IMO. :)
Quote from: DavidW on April 30, 2007, 05:49:15 AM
But my nose is always in a book, tuning out the rest of the world. I don't know if a wife would put up with that. ;D
True.
I, for one, am trying to master the Chris Rock technique: to simply listen, nod and at 10 minute intervals say "I told you that bitch crazy!" ;D
Quote from: Harry on April 30, 2007, 02:36:04 AM
I am very much interested what place classical music has in your life?
Let me try to explain what it does in my life, so as to understand the question better!
A day without classical music is for me a lost day.
That gives me mental pain. I need to hear the notes every day, be it short, but it must be there!
Otherwise my day is incomplete, and takes the soul out of my life.
To take the music out of my life, is like taking my life!
So how is it with you folks?
same for me. Not that there aren't other interests, but without music, the day kinda feels incomplete.
I listen to classical music recordings at home almost every morning or evening or both. I listen in my car on the way to and from work. Sometimes I listen at work to take a break and be transported to another world. Several times a year I attend live performances. Life without great music would lose much of its color; it would be like living in a black and white world. Great music nourishes my soul and reminds me constantly that there's more to life than the madness.
Quote from: George on April 30, 2007, 05:46:51 AM
You'll do well if you ever get married. ;D
Amen! 0:)
See my latest posting under "Serialism" on wives and musical taste and the sublimation of desire to hear Schoenberg!
a hobby
Excellent topic thread, Harry
Classical Music, just like great literature, provides an opportunity to experience the sublime in ordinary life. It is a feast for the intellect and for the spirit. For me, its the fodder of my everyday life. It would pain me, to conceive of a world without it.
I listen for a few hours every day unless I'm on vacation. Bach always gets me out of the doldrums.
Music rank second in my life, a long way behind my wife Vanessa. I prefer to have music every day, but I can, and have lived without it for a couple of weeks at a time. But I would not like to be without Vanessa for that long! When I did not or could not have music with me, I can close my eyes and play it in my head, with or without humming and air-conducting. It is not the same thing but it works to a certain extent.
For what it's worth, music ranks way above career, money, and all the other things that people seem to care about a lot more. But I won't put it above family.
Quote from: sunnyside_up on April 30, 2007, 03:06:19 AM
I feel much the same, Harry. I feel very deprived if I can't listen at least to a Bach cantata every day. I do a lot of sewing and craft work and it's essential for me to hear music whilst I work; not just background music, but something I choose for my mood. One time my CD player broke down, and I felt as if I'd had a limb amputated!
I find if I have the classical station tuned in I soon want to put on a CD of my choice, so not just anything will do!
Well I am glad
Sunnyside, for a moment I thought that I belonged to a rare breed. Feel much the same is good, very good, thank you! :)
Quote from: Harry on April 30, 2007, 08:22:19 AM
Well I am glad Sunnyside, for a moment I thought that I belonged to a rare breed.
I believe its safe to say that there's only one Harry! $:)
Quote from: George on April 30, 2007, 03:25:33 AM
I long for the day when the sounds of my surroundings are subtle. :-\
Until then, Jay Z, a loud neighbor or a piercing firetruck siren will continue to interrupt my enjoyment of classical music on a daily basis. :-[
The terrible disruptor, noise of other people! I feel with you
George, have the same in my surroundings. That is also a reason for me to move house.
Quote from: Steve on April 30, 2007, 07:59:57 AM
Excellent topic thread, Harry
Classical Music, just like great literature, provides an opportunity to experience the sublime in ordinary life. It is a feast for the intellect and for the spirit. For me, its the fodder of my everyday life. It would pain me, to conceive of a world without it.
See, that's the spirit, a soul akin, that is lots of souls akin, well the group is bigger as I thought.
Good! :)
Quote from: springrite on April 30, 2007, 08:20:56 AM
Music rank second in my life, a long way behind my wife Vanessa. I prefer to have music every day, but I can, and have lived without it for a couple of weeks at a time. But I would not like to be without Vanessa for that long! When I did not or could not have music with me, I can close my eyes and play it in my head, with or without humming and air-conducting. It is not the same thing but it works to a certain extent.
For what it's worth, music ranks way above career, money, and all the other things that people seem to care about a lot more. But I won't put it above family.
Excellent reaction, thank you my friend! :)
Quote from: George on April 30, 2007, 08:24:14 AM
I believe its safe to say that there's only one Harry! $:)
And certainly only one
George 0:)
Harry, YHM, mijn vriend!
Quote from: karlhenning on April 30, 2007, 08:33:48 AM
Harry, YHM, mijn vriend!
Hmmmmmmmm would that mean "You have me"?
Sorry
Karl, I am not that good in telegram style ;D
Mail, not me . . . .
Having a job which can sometimes keep me at my post for 14 hour days, sometimes I am forced to go without music. We even have a radio ban which is terrible, not only does this bring morale down but the days seem longer when its double shift time.
In life Music for me comes second on the list.
Family, Music, Football, Reading, Good Booze Up..................Work.
Although Work pays the bills and allows me to indulge in the first 5 on the list.
I try not to go without music, although once I was in the middle of nowhere working and had zero access to the internet or any type of music bar the test card ;D
One thing also Harry, what about Forum Time as part of ones life...only a couple, maybe 3 hours per day reading and posting. I must say I read more on the Forums than I actually post.
Quote from: AnthonyAthletic on April 30, 2007, 08:55:18 AM
Having a job which can sometimes keep me at my post for 14 hour days, sometimes I am forced to go without music. We even have a radio ban which is terrible, not only does this bring morale down but the days seem longer when its double shift time.
In life Music for me comes second on the list.
Family, Music, Football, Reading, Good Booze Up..................Work.
Although Work pays the bills and allows me to indulge in the first 5 on the list.
I try not to go without music, although once I was in the middle of nowhere working and had zero access to the internet or any type of music bar the test card ;D
One thing also Harry, what about Forum Time as part of ones life...only a couple, maybe 3 hours per day reading and posting. I must say I read more on the Forums than I actually post.
Good point
Tony, the time on the forum is also closely connected with the enjoyment of classical music.
If I dont have my ipod on Im humming tunes in my head. Its made me quite the outcast because when people talk Im usually just humming tunes to myself.
Proust wrote:
"Music helped me to decend into myself, to discover new things: the variety that I sought in vain in life, in travel, but a longing for which was none the less renewed in me by this sonorous tide whose sunlit waves now came to expire at my feet."
Classical music is one of the most important things in my life -- whether it's "the" most is debatable, since I love time spent with friends and family, as well as taking advantage of other things to do in New York (e.g., theater, film, art exhibits, restaurants, etc.).
But I try to listen to something every day. If I go to a concert (roughly 2-3 times a week) I generally don't listen to much else, either before or after. Last night I'd intended to watch Peter Eötvös' opera, Angels in America on PBS, but after three concerts during the weekend, all I could think of was Maurizio Pollini's stunning recital just a few hours before the broadcast. So I wasn't really in the mood for much of anything else. Also, after you hear something great -- especially a great live concert -- it's wonderful to let it sit with you, let it resonate in your head for awhile, before hearing something else.
But I try to allot roughly 2-3 hours a day of focused listening, i.e., listening without doing anything else, whether live or recorded.
Just saw johnshade's beautiful Proust quote... I would just add that hearing contemporary music, in particular, makes me feel renewed.
--Bruce
Quote from: Harry on April 30, 2007, 09:04:18 AM
Good point Tony, the time on the forum is also closely connected with with the enjoyment of classical music.
Yes, I wonder how many hours of a regular day would be related to classical if we included this forum, listening, reading, buying, researching and even thinking about classical music?
Quote from: bhodges on April 30, 2007, 09:25:52 AM
If I go to a concert (roughly 2-3 times a week) I generally don't listen to much else, either before or after.
I fully agree with this policy. :)
Quote from: Steve on April 30, 2007, 07:59:57 AM
Classical Music, just like great literature, provides an opportunity to experience the sublime in ordinary life. It is a feast for the intellect and for the spirit. For me, its the fodder of my everyday life. It would pain me, to conceive of a world without it.
Well said.
Baseball (NY Mets), gambling, eating in fine restaurants, using my digital camera, watching my High Definition TV, Sleeping late, going to bed equally late, attending as many "live" concerts in Disney Hall as I can, paying attention to my health needs, traveling.
Those are my priorities at the moment. And although I love classical music, especially the "romantic" symphonies and pot-boiler operas, I can live without listening to recordings far longer than I can do without those priorities.
However when I'm in need of a soporific or an emetic, I do not hesitate to turn to the music of J.S. Bach or Mozart. They ALWAYS have the desired effect.
Discovering clasical music 20 years ago was an awe-inspiring experience. I was about 14 then and I remember perfectly the first compositions I've heard:
Tchaikovsky's First Piano Concerto
Grieg's First Piano Concerto
Chopin's Polonaise Heroique op. 53
Mozart's Symphony No. 40
Bizet's Carmen (actually it was a film with Placido Domingo and Julia Migenes-Johnson)
A whole new world opened up for me. It was like a revelation that struck me with overwhelming force. An instant rapture.
Since then classical music has been a daily presence in my life and along with literature is my dearest hobby.
I've been listening only to classical music, excluding all other genres, up to my second year in college when I started listening to heavy metal, too. I was a big Metallica fan then but now my enthusiasm for this kind of music is gone forever. Today the music that I listen to voluntarily is 99% classical.
There is no better way to sum up my own experience as a classical music lover than this quote:
A life without music would be an error. - Friedrich Nietzsche
Quote from: Florestan on April 30, 2007, 12:54:49 PM
There is no better way to sum up my own experience as a classical music lover than this quote:
A life without music would be an error. - Friedrich Nietzsche
One of my alltime favorite musical quotations! (Might even be "the" favorite.)
--Bruce
Quote from: bhodges on April 30, 2007, 12:57:00 PM
One of my alltime favorite musical quotations! (Might even be "the" favorite.)
--Bruce
From the same source:
There is no difference between music and tears.
Quote from: Florestan on April 30, 2007, 12:58:26 PM
From the same source:
There is no difference between music and tears.
I just wonder why Nietzsche hated Schumann so much.
Quote from: bhodges on April 30, 2007, 12:57:00 PM
One of my alltime favorite musical quotations! (Might even be "the" favorite.)
--Bruce
Add the enjoyment of great literature, and you have the perfect quote.
Quote from: Iago on April 30, 2007, 12:39:13 PM
Baseball (NY Mets), gambling, eating in fine restaurants, using my digital camera, watching my High Definition TV, Sleeping late, going to bed equally late, attending as many "live" concerts in Disney Hall as I can, paying attention to my health needs, traveling.
Nice list of priorities...
For myself, my school work comes first, then in no order, eating out (who can AVOID this hobby in NYC), going to concerts, being with friends, family, good films, and last but not least, girls. I hope to add travelling to the list, but haven't done much of it up to this point.
Quote from: CS on April 30, 2007, 05:34:36 PM
Nice list of priorities...
For myself, my school work comes first, then in no order, eating out (who can AVOID this hobby in NYC), going to concerts, being with friends, family, good films, and last but not least, girls. I hope to add travelling to the list, but haven't done much of it up to this point.
It is, indeed. :)
I go to school for it.
I gave up classical music in the last period, for a number of reasons. One of them is that I noticed it became a sort of compulsion; I lack of method, so put before the great amount of music available, I simply lost the way and the pleasure to listen carefully and methodically.
Another thing I've noticed and didn't like is my tendency to over-intellectualize music; I've learned almost nothing from books and things like that, I've forced myself to forge opinions and/or absolute tastes and/or judgements and the whole matter just spoiled my enthusiasm.
So I'm trying to get back to a sort of pure and simple, aware but light listening but in the meanwhile I gave up to meditate.
To say it with mr Lennon "I'm watching the wheels"..
Last but not least my hi-fi is ko and I'm working a lot.
What's life without the permanence of classical music?
Last I checked it didn't look so swell...
Music was the be-all and end-all in earlier years. Death was unacceptable feeling viscerally, I would miss it even then. What! never to listen to a single symphony for ALL of eternity?? But what is left is only a homunculus of the giant it was. Nevertheless, there still remains a certain potency and whenever I get too secular in my feelings I still yearn for the Bruckner experience, Schubert's Masses and the Cimarosa Requiem. I guess allot of this depreciation comes from listening yourself into a rut over time.
I love to read the replies, it sure is a issue with you all.
Fine to read that! :)
I can't imagine what life would be like without good music, Harry. I listen to it all the time (even while doing chores). :D
Quote from: Danny on May 01, 2007, 12:29:05 AM
I can't imagine what life would be like without good music, Harry. I listen to it all the time (even while doing chores). :D
That makes two of us! I can't imagine cleaning up my dorm room without some Bach. :)
Quote from: Danny on May 01, 2007, 12:29:05 AM
I can't imagine what life would be like without good music, Harry. I listen to it all the time (even while doing chores). :D
Same with me
Danny whatever I do, music is always a part of it. :)
Quote from: Steve on May 01, 2007, 12:33:51 AM
That makes two of us! I can't imagine cleaning up my dorm room without some Bach. :)
Well yes, Bach & the Broom, work perfectly together! ;D
Except for the basic needs in life and my wife/family/friends, music is the most important thing in my life (together with travelling and meeting people). I listen to music all the time (now mostly classical) when not being at work or watching a movie or reading a book. Classical music I listen to at home, while I enjoy other types of music on my Ipod while training or travelling. So far I have the impression that classical music benefit much more from an adequate hi-fi system. I'm seriously addicted to music, and I get abstinence effects when being without it.
Quote from: rubio on May 01, 2007, 03:21:50 AM
Except for the basic needs in life and my wife/family/friends, music is the most important thing in my life (together with travelling and meeting people). I listen to music all the time (now mostly classical) when not being at work or watching a movie or reading a book. Classical music I listen to at home, while I enjoy other types of music on my Ipod while training or travelling. So far I have the impression that classical music benefit much more from an adequate hi-fi system. I'm seriously addicted to music, and I get abstinence effects when being without it.
Well that's a positive addiction I would say my friend! :)
It enriches your life, and brings your soul in balance!
I think the background to one's listening may also have an impact.
When I lived in the city I played music much more than I do now.
Now I'm fortunate to live in the country surrounded by trees, and my office is part of the house. This morning is fine and warm, I have all doors and windows open, and the air is full of birdsong. 15 minutes ago I took this picture from my office window:
(http://img219.imageshack.us/img219/162/g2np0.jpg)
I'm not playing music because that would involve closing doors and windows (out of respect for my neighbours) and, in a sense, shutting out the world. Or playing through headphones (and, even more, shutting myself off.)
That's kind of what I mean about music enhancing life (rather than being a background to it.) I don't think that's either right or wrong - and is very likely a minority view - it just fits with this life (such as it is ::) )
Quote from: Choo Choo on May 01, 2007, 04:29:01 AM
(http://img219.imageshack.us/img219/162/g2np0.jpg)
it just fits with this life (such as it is ::) )
Hey, I wouldn't mind having a part of
that! :D 8)
(such as it is ::))
Quote from: Danny on April 30, 2007, 02:50:22 PM
I just wonder why Nietzsche hated Schumann so much.
Its interesting that you say this (I assume jokingly) - Schumann was Nietzsche's favourite composer and his own compositions are very influenced by him. This was in his youth until he met Wagner, but of course he rejected Wagner in the end.
If not jokingly, then why did you think that?
Classical is definitely in the grand rotation, but not the only type of music I enjoy. I pretty much like all genres of music. So, I don't need to hear classical every day, no.
Quote from: Danny on April 30, 2007, 02:50:22 PM
I just wonder why Nietzsche hated Schumann so much.
Beats me. Anyway, I love Schumann more than Nietzsche. ;D
Quote from: Steve on April 30, 2007, 02:54:35 PM
Add the enjoyment of great literature, and you have the perfect quote.
Steve, you're a man after my own heart!
Quote from: Guido on May 01, 2007, 07:11:33 AM
Its interesting that you say this (I assume jokingly) - Schumann was Nietzsche's favourite composer and his own compositions are very influenced by him. This was in his youth until he met Wagner, but of course he rejected Wagner in the end.
If not jokingly, then why did you think that?
Quote from: Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil--chapter eight
But with regard to Robert Schumann, who took things seriously, and has been taken seriously from the first--he was the last that founded a school,--do we not now regard it as a satisfaction, a relief, a deliverance, that this very Romanticism of Schumann's has been surmounted? Schumann, fleeing into the "Saxon Switzerland" of his soul, with a half Werther-like, half Jean-Paul-like nature (assuredly not like Beethoven! assuredly not like Byron!)--his MANFRED music is a mistake and a misunderstanding to the extent of injustice; Schumann, with his taste, which was fundamentally a PETTY taste (that is to say, a dangerous propensity--doubly dangerous among Germans--for quiet lyricism and intoxication of the feelings), going constantly apart, timidly withdrawing and retiring, a noble weakling who revelled in nothing but anonymous joy and sorrow, from the beginning a sort of girl and NOLI ME TANGERE--this Schumann was already merely a GERMAN event in music, and no longer a European event, as Beethoven had been, as in a still greater degree Mozart had been; with Schumann German music was threatened with its greatest danger, that of LOSING THE VOICE FOR THE SOUL OF EUROPE and sinking into a merely national affair.
Fascinating. In his youth (or at least well before BGE) there are many letters that he wrote extollimg the virtues of Schumann's work - truly reverential words. But Nietzsche is not known for his consistency!
Quote from: Guido on May 01, 2007, 12:25:35 PM
Fascinating. In his youth (or at least well before BGE) there are many letters that he wrote extollimg the virtues of Schumann's work - truly reverential words. But Nietzsche is not known for his consistency!
True, true! :D
But when you suffer from syphilis for most of your adult life, I doubt that consistency can really be had. ;D
Quote from: Guido on May 01, 2007, 12:25:35 PM
Fascinating. In his youth (or at least well before BGE) there are many letters that he wrote extollimg the virtues of Schumann's work - truly reverential words. But Nietzsche is not known for his consistency!
There were times when he was known for his consistency.
Then, there were
the other times . . . .
8)
Quote from: Guido on May 01, 2007, 12:25:35 PM
Fascinating. In his youth (or at least well before BGE) there are many letters that he wrote extollimg the virtues of Schumann's work - truly reverential words. But Nietzsche is not known for his consistency!
Perhaps Schumann wronged him in some way? Perhaps he was in love with fair Clara?
Quote from: Iago on April 30, 2007, 12:39:13 PM
However when I'm in need of a soporific or an emetic, I do not hesitate to turn to the music of J.S. Bach or Mozart. They ALWAYS have the desired effect.
Ah, music, the universal panacea ...
May I all thank you, this was for me a most interesting thread, and I learned again a lot. :)
Quote from: Harry on April 30, 2007, 02:36:04 AM
I am very much interested what place classical music has in your life?
Let me try to explain what it does in my life, so as to understand the question better!
A day without classical music is for me a lost day.
That gives me mental pain. I need to hear the notes every day, be it short, but it must be there!
Otherwise my day is incomplete, and takes the soul out of my life.
To take the music out of my life, is like taking my life!
So how is it with you folks?
Music is, to me, the greatest of all the arts, for more reasons than I have time or space to enumerate. And I'm finding, as the years go on, that classical music -- or rather
art music, as very little of it is from the Classical period -- is becoming ever more of my musical diet, overtaking rock and jazz by quite a margin.