I am a 63 year old novice

[eljr]

I was browsing the net and found this site. Seemed to be more talk and education going on than in most the audio/music sites I frequent.
Being a classical novice, I thought I'd join and learn something.

Although my first Classical recording was purchased in 1973 it was never more than a curiosity. Out of my first 1,000 albums less than 25 were classical.
In the mid 80's I tried the genre with more effort, inspired by Philip Glass's assent and his cross over appeal.

I bought a subscription to a concert series at Lincoln Center in NYC but mostly slept though the presentations. I just worked too much to be awake was more the issue as I slept though Broadway and dance as well during this era.

So, no breakthrough.

Time goes by and as circumstance often directs one's life in a path not preferred... I floundered in my music appreciation.

I tried stabs at jazz and the blues but wound up staying predominately in rock. I did at least always adapt the latest sounds and not dwell insistently in the late 60's early 70's rock that most my age do.

It was this instinctive want of new to me sounds coupled with leisure time, for the first time in my life, that brought me to classical. Just a little over two years ago.

So I am a 63 year old novice!

My entire life, music appreciation has been paramount and I probably have listened in these 2 plus years to a decade worth of music.

So at this point I have about 500 classical albums, I have a subscription the Digital Concert Hall, the Berliner Philharmoniker streaming service and I have become a regular concert goer. Since Christmas I have been to 5 concerts at Carnegie Hall.

That is the sort of it.

[Mahlerian]

There's no wrong time to get started!  What has appealed to you so far?

[Cato]

So I am a 63 year old novice!

Good for you!  I am a little bit older than you    and found classical music through 1930's/1940's cartoons in my childhood!  Your journey is not unusual by any means!

Feel free to express your opinions: those of a "novice" (which you absolutely are NOT with 500 ( ) recordings and those subscriptions) are always welcome! 

Join the Chopin "Blind Listening" under "Great Recordings."  We need a few more rankings!  0:)

[Mirror Image]

Welcome aboard! Enjoy your time here.

[aligreto]

Welcome aboard. I think that you have come to a good place to expand your musical horizons. Ask questions; there is a very knowledgeable and helpful community here. In one sense you are to be envied as you have yet to face exposure to so much wonderful music for the first time. Enjoy your time here and, more importantly, enjoy the music 

[bhodges]

Welcome, eljr, and as others have said, it's never too late to get the ball rolling! Have a good time -- you're in for many happy hours ahead.

--Bruce

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

Welcome, old padawan! Who are your favourite composers?

[mc ukrneal]

Welcome! And have fun!

[zamyrabyrd]

So, no breakthrough.

Well, probably for most of us, the music journey has been a series of breakthroughs rather than just one.
In fact we are darned lucky any of it happened at all.
It's like music calls but we have to be ready for it.
I have this problem with my adult kids who obviously had plenty of good music around them but their breakthrough mechanism is not in place yet.
So I do entertain some hope for them in the future when the penny finally drops.
Cartoons, strangely enough have been a kind of introduction to some classical music for some of us as kids.
The fact that these pieces were repeated over and over again like Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2, Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage, Waltzes by Chopin, served as a kind of imprinting process.
So if we didn't get it the first time, there were plenty of other opportunities to get acquainted.
Dance school had fascinating music. Recital time was a mother-lode of discovery like the Waltz of the Flowers played over and over again while we hobbled around to it.
As a teen I gravitated towards piano music but was sequestered as an unwilling violin player in the 2nd section deep in the back, so got the exciting feeling of what it means to be inside the music. (What an idiot I was not to appreciate violin back then!)
I had problems in certain areas of music. for instance that of JS Bach precisely because the wrong way it was taught, like doing mathematical sums. Later, upon discovering his vocal music, I realized it was same spirit in his keyboard works and started to appreciate it.
Prejudice can be the worse barrier to enjoying music, like some teacher or someone saying something negative about some performer or kind of music.
Before we get a chance to figure out for ourselves, we already have an "opinion".
This is bad in any area.
I had to get over that and also the phenomenon of having to please teachers and juries.
A real breakthrough came about 30 years ago in a masterclass given by Gyorgy Sandor in which he told me the "piano is for you".
This short phrase opened up vast vistas for me.

ZB

[Hollywood]

Hi there eljr. Greetings from the classical music capital of the world, Vienna, Austria. Welcome to the forum.

You will learn everything there is to know about classical music here and before you know it, you'll no longer be a novice. 

[Wanderer]

Welcome!

[eljr]

There's no wrong time to get started!  What has appealed to you so far?

I have numerous recording by Jordi Savall and was completely mesmerized last week when I saw he and Hesperion XXI...

Seeing the Messiah, also at Carnegie Hall, with a choir of over 200 last month also blew me away.
(although I do prefer shorter offerings)

[Karl Henning]

Well, probably for most of us, the music journey has been a series of breakthroughs rather than just one.

Good insight, zb.

And welcome, eljr!

[Karl Henning]

I have numerous recording by Jordi Savall and was completely mesmerized last week when I saw he and Hesperion XXI...

Seeing the Messiah, also at Carnegie Hall, with a choir of over 200 last month also blew me away.
(although I do prefer shorter offerings)

Very nice!

[eljr]

Welcome, old padawan! Who are your favourite composers?

Philip Glass is by far.

after that, I seem to favor Baroque and ancient sounds.  Bach and Handel from the Baroque.

Many of the 20th and 21st century composers I also enjoy.

[Karl Henning]

Philip Glass is by far.

after that, I seem to favor Baroque and ancient sounds.  Bach and Handel from the Baroque.

Permit me to suggest, for Vivaldi, Fabio Bondi & Europa Galante:

https://www.youtube.com/v/5bDIvmgyE0M

[eljr]

Hi there eljr. Greetings from the classical music capital of the world, Vienna, Austria. Welcome to the forum.

You will learn everything there is to know about classical music here and before you know it, you'll no longer be a novice. 

My grandfather was from Austria although he died when my dad was 10 so I know little of him except that he was a musician. 

I literally want to learn about the music of Austria first and foremost.

Why? Because a year or so ago I looked at a list of composers and were they were from and generally speaking found, as a group, this countries contributions.

Second, at 63, heritage becomes important.

I even looked at Expedia last month toying with the idea of travel to Vienna.

I look forward to your tutelage.

[ritter]

Welcome to GMG, eljr! I hope you have a great time here.. 

....
although I do prefer shorter offerings

You might consider leaving Die Meistersinger for a later stage, then 

Regards, from Madrid,

[eljr]

Permit me to suggest, for Vivaldi, Fabio Bondi & Europa Galante:

https://www.youtube.com/v/5bDIvmgyE0M

thanks, I just cast it to one of my systems

enjoying it now

[Cato]

I literally want to learn about the music of Austria first and foremost.


I look forward to your tutelage.

Time to chow down on Mozart, Schubert, Bruckner, Mahler, Schoenberg and many others! 0:)