Amusing Encounters With Non-Classical Listeners

[Mirror Image]

It's story time. I'll try and make it short:

One day, I was in the break room at work and I overheard a fellow coworker mentioning she had classical music on her cellphone. I butted into the conversation as I couldn't contain myself any longer and asked her what composers she had on her cellphone. She mentioned Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms and Tchaikovsky. I said "Oh, that's nice. Any favorite pieces from those particular composers?" She looked at me for a few seconds and said "I love the song by Mozart called Requiem." Trying to be as delicate as I can, I replied "Actually Sarah, in classical music, they're not called songs. They're called either pieces or works unless you're talking about lieder, which is, indeed, a song." She just looked at me with a lot of anger, stood up and exclaimed "You're lame!" She slammed the chair into the table and stormed off. I could've let it go perhaps, but I felt that she needed to be corrected in order to understand what she's actually saying and how to use the terminology. Anyway, from this particular point forward, unless I know for sure I'm speaking with a classical music listener, I've kept my mouth shut.

Okay, your turn. Any stories you'd like to share about your encounters with the non-classical populous?

[DavidW]

I have one that I'm sure you will love MI.

When I was a freshman in college, I would play music on my boombox.  One day when I was talking with a friend, someone else on our hall (in the dorms) asked what was that cool music he heard earlier!?  I was like "it was Brahms piano concerto #2, isn't it great!?" he's like "no not that."  It was what my friend was playing... which was Sibelius.  Sibelius triumphing over Brahms!?!  I was furious!

[Mirror Image]

I have one that I'm sure you will love MI.

When I was a freshman in college, I would play music on my boombox.  One day when I was talking with a friend, someone else on our hall (in the dorms) asked what was that cool music he heard earlier!?  I was like "it was Brahms piano concerto #2, isn't it great!?" he's like "no not that."  It was what my friend was playing... which was Sibelius.  Sibelius triumphing over Brahms!?!  I was furious!

Oh...that's funny as hell! Haha. Sibelius for the win!

[DaveF]

I quite often (quite seriously) attempt to annoy lovers of non-classical music by referring to their preferred items, whether they be "songs", "tracks", "numbers" or whatever, as "pieces".  So far no-one has commented; perhaps they're less exacting about terminology than we are.

A recent encounter with what I hoped would be classical listeners, and which was anything but amusing: I tuned in to Radio 3 (the BBC's erstwhile music and arts station), not somewhere I go very often apart from to hear Michael Berkeley's excellent Private Passions programme, to be met with a perky voice saying "We'll be playing you some stunning tracks that we just can't stop listening to".  God help us.  I retuned quickly to Radio 5 Live (sports channel) where you get all the football you want from people who actually know what they're talking about.

[DavidW]

I retuned quickly to Radio 5 Live (sports channel) where you get all the football you want from people who actually know what they're talking about.

  (an accurate depiction of British sports radio I'm sure)

You do remind me I used to annoy my friends.  When they would talk about music they were listening to and then ask me I would be like "oh you mean NON-CLASSICAL" they hated that!!

[71 dB]

Long ago I asked on a forum why people there don't listen to classical music. The answers were like these:

- No electric guitar
- Too elitist
- It is music for old ladies who wear mink coats

My own attitude has changed over the years. It doesn't matter if you listen to classical music or not as long as you enjoy the music you do. I speak positively about classical music to those who don't listen to it, but it is their choice whether they start exploring it or not and I respect it.

If someone calls Mozart's Requiem a song, maybe the nicest way to address it is by calling it a work yourself introducing the more correct terminology in a subconscious manner.

[Brian]

In the 1970s Midwest, when cruising around in cars was a big teenage hobby, my dad used to cruise around with all the windows down blasting the opera radio station at top volume.

I'll have to think about my own encounters....

oh wait got one

In college our student orchestra put on Janacek's Sinfonietta, which none of us (including me) had ever heard before. Half our dorm went to the concert, not because everyone was music buffs who wanted to experience Janacek, but because we had a lot of the music students in our dorm so we were friends with everyone in the orchestra. So there was a mix of classical buffs like me and total novices.

After the concert, when we were all walking back through the moonlit quads of campus, someone mentioned the ending of the Sinfonietta and a sophomore girl from Panama who'd had jobs as a swimsuit model yelled, "That was ORGASMIC!!!!!" It echoed off all the buildings nearby. And it was true. Still probably my favorite ever example of music appreciation 

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

I don't consider myself a "classical music listener." Yes, If I were allowed, I would like to call works "songs" rather than piece.
I don't find only classical music elitist. All music has some, partial elitist characteristics/element.

[foxandpeng]

All music has some, partial elitist characteristics/element.

Absolutely. Metalheads have a snooty elitism once a band reaches a certain amount of followers, after which they are deemed to have 'sold out', 'forgotten their roots', 'taken the money'... etc. You can't honestly be a real metalhead unless nobody else has heard of your favourite ten bands or if anyone can make out the pile of sticks in the logos/band names sewn to your sleeveless battle jacket.

People are strange, tribal, elitist weirdos.

[Mirror Image]

Long ago I asked on a forum why people there don't listen to classical music. The answers were like these:

- No electric guitar
- Too elitist
- It is music for old ladies who wear mink coats

My own attitude has changed over the years. It doesn't matter if you listen to classical music or not as long as you enjoy the music you do. I speak positively about classical music to those who don't listen to it, but it is their choice whether they start exploring it or not and I respect it.

If someone calls Mozart's Requiem a song, maybe the nicest way to address it is by calling it a work yourself introducing the more correct terminology in a subconscious manner.

It doesn't surprise me that people who have no idea about classical music would subscribe to such blind stereotyping. I think if any of these people heard Stravinsky's Le sacre du printemps, Varèse's Amériques or Penderecki's Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima for example, they would be shocked by what they heard.

[Jo498]

"piece" should be a completely harmless general term that includes songs. (That's how it is in German, I doubt that anyone would be estranged if one called a rock song "Musikstück" or "Stück", although Werk (work) would not sound idiomatic and be applied more to classical and/or larger scale pieces. I think it is deplorable ignorance to not be aware that not all musical pieces are "songs" but it is also rather unnecessary to pointedly point out such ignorance...

[Maestro267]

Absolutely. Metalheads have a snooty elitism once a band reaches a certain amount of followers, after which they are deemed to have 'sold out', 'forgotten their roots', 'taken the money'... etc. You can't honestly be a real metalhead unless nobody else has heard of your favourite ten bands or if anyone can make out the pile of sticks in the logos/band names sewn to your sleeveless battle jacket.

People are strange, tribal, elitist weirdos.

We want to believe that the music we like matters. That it is Important in the grand scheme of history and the world. By extension, we want to believe that WE matter. We want to claim a particular band or artist as ours and ours alone, whether as an individual or as a group.

[foxandpeng]

We want to believe that the music we like matters. That it is Important in the grand scheme of history and the world. By extension, we want to believe that WE matter. We want to claim a particular band or artist as ours and ours alone, whether as an individual or as a group.

This

[Mirror Image]

I think it is deplorable ignorance to not be aware that not all musical pieces are "songs" but it is also rather unnecessary to pointedly point out such ignorance...

I'm not sure I feel that strongly, but I do feel it is necessary to educate people on what it is they're speaking about, especially if they're not accurate with their information. My particular incident was handled with kid gloves on my end and I wasn't insulting or belittling in any way. The fact that this person stormed off in a huff simply displays an unwillingness to learn and is, ultimately, their problem not mine.

[Florestan]

During my stay in The Netherlands (2002-2004) I befriended Ernesto, a very nice and easy-going Cuban guy. When I told him I loved "classical music" he retorted that's not something he listened to. "Why?", I asked --- and he replied "It's not our (ie, Cuban people''s) music!" At the time I had no idea Jorge Bolet was Cuban and hadn't heard about Ernesto Lecuona or Leo Brouwer otherwise I'd have offered them as evidence that "classical music" has no fatherland and is actually one of the most cosmopolitan forms of music.

If that is not funny enough, I have another. Back in the times when I regularly attended the concerts of the Romanian RSO I once noticed in the row just behind me a littlle girl accompanied by her grandfather (I suppose). I don't remember what they played but I vividly remember that the little girl was very attentive while the grandfather fell asleep and started to audibly snorr.

[Florestan]

I'm not sure I feel that strongly, but I do feel it is necessary to educate people on what it is they're speaking about, especially if they're not accurate with their information. My particular incident was handled with kid gloves on my end and I wasn't insulting or belittling in any way. The fact that this person stormed off in a huff simply displays an unwillingness to learn and is, ultimately, their problem not mine.

I'm with you 100%.

[Mirror Image]

During my stay in The Netherlands (2002-2004) I befriended Ernesto, a very nice and easy-going Cuban guy. When I told him I loved "classical music" he retorted that's not something he listened to. "Why?", I asked --- and he replied "It's not our (ie, Cuban people''s) music!" At the time I had no idea Jorge Bolet was Cuban and hadn't heard about Ernesto Lecuona or Leo Brouwer otherwise I'd have offered them as evidence that "classical music" has no fatherland and is actually one of the most cosmopolitan forms of music.

If that is not funny enough, I have another. Back in the times when I regularly attended the concerts of the Romanian RSO I once noticed in the row just behind me a littlle girl accompanied by her grandfather (I suppose). I don't remember what they played but I vividly remember that the little girl was very attentive while the grandfather fell asleep and started to audibly snorr.

Hah! The grandfather probably told the little girl to wake him when its over. The Cuban guy didn't sound like much of a music lover to me.

[Szykneij]

The Cuban guy didn't sound like much of a music lover to me.

Also doesn't sound like someone I'd like to spend time with. I understand how important and personal music is to individuals, but when the music of others is looked down upon, it suggests possible overall conceit. ( BTW Ernesto Lecuona's Andalucia is a favorite of mine.)

[Florestan]

Long ago I asked on a forum why people there don't listen to classical music. The answers were like these:

- No electric guitar

Which only shows how narrowly provincial and intellectually limited the mental horizon of such people is. They don't realize, or don't care about, the fact that (1) music-making predates the advent of power generation by several thousands of years and (2) high quality music had been wriiten, performed and played long before they were born.

- Too elitist

Well, the music we love spans several centuries, requires tens of different and evolving instruments, if vocal is sung in at least five modern languages and two ancient ones and the composers and performers are spread across all continents. The music they love is at most a few decades old, invoilves mostly a handful of unchanging instruments, is sung in one single language and its composers and performers stem mostly from two continents. Who's the real elitist, I wonder?

- It is music for old ladies who wear mink coats

Why, of course, what could be less elitist and more democratic than disdaining old ladies who wear mink coats...

[Mirror Image]

Also doesn't sound like someone I'd like to spend time with. I understand how important and personal music is to individuals, but when the music of others is looked down upon, it suggests possible overall conceit. ( BTW Ernesto Lecuona's Andalucia is a favorite of mine.)

Absolutely. For example, if all I did was listen to American composers, then I'd be depriving myself of the riches that await me from the rest of the world. To close yourself off to only one nationality because of national pride, ignorance or whatever comes across as disingenuous.