How do you discover new music?

[Luke]

I'd be more than happy if I could become proficient enough to play Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star... 

Or indeed, Twinkle, Twinkle, Yo Yo Ma...

[Florestan]

Learning to read a single line, or maybe two,* to play an instrument is of course a much easier skill than learning to read 20 or 30 at once (though in practice you're never really doing that when you're score reading). On the other hand you have to actually play that single line whereas usually with a score you're just hearing it internally.

*3 if you're an organist. 4 if you're playing e.g. Rachmaninov. 10 if you're playing Xenakis'Synaphai   

I think I'll stick to air-conducting, this is something I'm really good at. I mean, I can conduct my favorite symphonies, concertos and operas without the score and never miss an entrance, be it of the brass, the woodwinds or the soloist(s). 

[Papy Oli]

To the OP's questions...

For years, I followed a spreadsheet of maiden composers to keep a tab on music I should explore as and when, beyond the works I was listening to and enjoying (mostly Bruckner, Beethoven and Mahler at the times - in hindsight, too much of all of them).

This created a problem in itself as I used to get really hung up on the fact that I didn't get such and such composer (why don't I get Sibelius or Vaughan Williams, what do others hear in Shostakovich or Baroque music that I can't...what's wrong with ME?? I'm French, I should "get" Debussy or Ravel). Add to that the fact that my memory retention of a work is quite poor (and I have no musical technical knowledge at all. Like @Florestan and @foxandpeng, a score means nothing to me    ) and that brought a great deal of frustration and lack of pleasure in classical music, often leaving me to take long hiatus from this forum.

The key eventually has been in accepting to letting it all go:

- Not to worry about the musical retention, I focus on my listening NOW. if something sticks and warrants another listen soon, great, if not, no worries either. I might go back to it anyway, in my own time or not.

- Explore at my own pace without any pressure. Try a handful of works for a maiden composer and see if an entry point talks to me. If it does, great, continue exploring as and when. If not, shelve it for weeks or months. No biggie.

- I usually don't worry too much about booklets and background information  I let the music do the talking (I will dive back into the booklets or some book chapters if a work or composer particularly impresses me though). 

- I can't read a score, I am fine with that. 

- I don't worry about getting the piece anymore either. If it intrigues me or I just enjoy it (even if I can't describe why or how), that's plenty for me.

As a result, my classical experience over the last 3-4 years has become much broader and open-minded than it ever was in the previous 12 or so. JS Bach is now part of my weekly, if not daily, musical diet. With the help and pointers of fellow members here, I knocked down some other serious mental blocks in French composers, British composers, Russian composers, Organ music, Operas, etc... all for the better really.

I still have a few remnants of my maiden composers list I keep chipping away at months apart, Boulez and Schnittke come to mind. These two intrigue me even if they are challenging.

As for anything else, any new music is generally down to members' postings and advocacy here that now and then tickle my curiosity (e.g. @foxandpeng posting about Vasks, Rautaavara and Tabakov). If I am in the mood, I'll stream such new names and see what sticks.

[Florestan]

^^^^

Excellent post, Olivier!

[Karl Henning]

My thoughts exactly.  There's not one skill called "reading music" which you either can or can't do, but a huge range of competence ranging from the Oliver Knussen end, who could read a new score by Carter and hear it as if being performed, to the ability to follow a single line that goes up and down, which I guess almost anyone can do.  I would liken the latter to listening to an unfamiliar language - I can follow a Janáček opera fairly well with only an English translation, even though I know almost no Czech.  (A more exact metaphor would be following a Czech translation of a Britten opera, but that's not something I do so often.)

Another excellent source of scores, especially of contemporary works still in copyright, is Scores on Demand - https://issuu.com/scoresondemand.  All legal, apparently.  If you click on the Stacks tab, you get the scores arranged by composer. It's been my way into the few works by Carter (him again) that I've managed to get my head around.

Post of the Day!

[foxandpeng]

To the OP's questions...

For years, I followed a spreadsheet of maiden composers to keep a tab on music I should explore as and when, beyond the works I was listening to and enjoying (mostly Bruckner, Beethoven and Mahler at the times - in hindsight, too much of all of them).

This created a problem in itself as I used to get really hung up on the fact that I didn't get such and such composer (why don't I get Sibelius or Vaughan Williams, what do others hear in Shostakovich or Baroque music that I can't...what's wrong with ME?? I'm French, I should "get" Debussy or Ravel). Add to that the fact that my memory retention of a work is quite poor (and I have no musical technical knowledge at all. Like @Florestan and @foxandpeng, a score means nothing to me    ) and that brought a great deal of frustration and lack of pleasure in classical music, often leaving me to take long hiatus from this forum.

The key eventually has been in accepting to letting it all go:

- Not to worry about the musical retention, I focus on my listening NOW. if something sticks and warrants another listen soon, great, if not, no worries either. I might go back to it anyway, in my own time or not.

- Explore at my own pace without any pressure. Try a handful of works for a maiden composer and see if an entry point talks to me. If it does, great, continue exploring as and when. If not, shelve it for weeks or months. No biggie.

- I usually don't worry too much about booklets and background information  I let the music do the talking (I will dive back into the booklets or some book chapters if a work or composer particularly impresses me though). 

- I can't read a score, I am fine with that. 

- I don't worry about getting the piece anymore either. If it intrigues me or I just enjoy it (even if I can't describe why or how), that's plenty for me.

As a result, my classical experience over the last 3-4 years has become much broader and open-minded than it ever was in the previous 12 or so. JS Bach is now part of my weekly, if not daily, musical diet. With the help and pointers of fellow members here, I knocked down some other serious mental blocks in French composers, British composers, Russian composers, Organ music, Operas, etc... all for the better really.

I still have a few remnants of my maiden composers list I keep chipping away at months apart, Boulez and Schnittke come to mind. These two intrigue me even if they are challenging.

As for anything else, any new music is generally down to members' postings and advocacy here that now and then tickle my curiosity (e.g. @foxandpeng posting about Vasks, Rautaavara and Tabakov). If I am in the mood, I'll stream such new names and see what sticks.

Immensely helpful.

I've said elsewhere that I've struggled in the past with the 'shoulds' and 'oughts'. I know I don't know anything about some of the composers that others here know intimately. I also know that I have glaring gaps in areas many might see as the basic staples of a classical music education. Like Oli, I'm increasingly good with that - in no small part because of the friendship and help from folk here.

We sometimes flag up the shortcomings and spats that can be seen on GMG, but important to recognise the more clearly visible collegiate and friendly spirit that pervades this group. Without the knowledge and recommendations of many members here, my musical education and enjoyment would be so much narrower.

[DaveF]

Post of the Day!

Well thank you, young fellow  .  Sadly, at https://issuu.com/scoresondemand/stacks, there's nothing between "Hely-Hutchinson" and "Henze".

[Papy Oli]

Immensely helpful.

I've said elsewhere that I've struggled in the past with the 'shoulds' and 'oughts'. I know I don't know anything about some of the composers that others here know intimately. I also know that I have glaring gaps in areas many might see as the basic staples of a classical music education. Like Oli, I'm increasingly good with that - in no small part because of the friendship and help from folk here.

We sometimes flag up the shortcomings and spats that can be seen on GMG, but important to recognise the more clearly visible collegiate and friendly spirit that pervades this group. Without the knowledge and recommendations of many members here, my musical education and enjoyment would be so much narrower.

Amen to that. The richness of information or recommendations I have found in some particular threads years later once I got into a particular work or composer or performer is to be commanded (e.g. The Bach Cantatas, Wagner, Callas, heck, anything via the composers Index... etc...).   

[Karl Henning]

I hear you, my friend. I will continue to try, because growth is important, fun and stretching. I do want to increase and become more, but I suspect my grasp and success may only be slightly greater than that of my pet labrador😄

Keep encouraging us!

Tangentially, Danny, I've appreciated your enthusiasm for Myaskovsky which, together with Jeffrey's long-standing advocacy has nudged me at last to survey all the symphonies.

[foxandpeng]

Tangentially, Danny, I've appreciated your enthusiasm for Myaskovsky which, together with Jeffrey's long-standing advocacy has nudged me at last to survey all the symphonies.

Thank you, young sir!

[Karl Henning]

Between 1975 and 1976? 

Would the someone else be Britten, perchance?

I was just patting myself on the back with that guess.

[Karl Henning]

Now THAT made me laugh, and being a miserable bugger, I don't often do that.

Oh, we must try to provoke you to laugh oftener.

[Karl Henning]

Well thank you, young fellow  .  Sadly, at https://issuu.com/scoresondemand/stacks, there's nothing between "Hely-Hutchinson" and "Henze".

No, the big publishers are uninterested in my work. Great resource, though. Thanks!

[Karl Henning]

Come now! A glance at my avatar and no back-patting required!!

There's that, too, though after a time, the avs become so familiar, my eye no longer processes them as "live info."

[Florestan]

the answer to any question ever posed to me by anyone in any circumstance is very, very likely to end up at 'Benjamin Britten', one way or another!

Quick: who was the worst composer of the 20th century?   

[Florestan]

Boulez, because he didn't appreciate Benjamin Britten.
(You see how this works, right...?!)

What time is it in England right now? 

[Florestan]

At The Red House, it will be 7, 55 precisely....

Monomaniacal, indeed. 

[Florestan]

As a semi-serious addition to the topic of how you get into new music, I'd also personally recommend getting to know a composer, a conductor, an orchestra... something or someone whose work you generally like. Then when they branch out into things unknown, you follow.

My own experience of this was, as a teenager, >cough<, Benjamin Britten. He'd conducted or played Schubert, Purcell, Elgar, Schumann, Haydn, Wolf, Mozart, Bach, etc. It was because he was conducting or playing that I listened to those other composers. And once you get into (say) Elgar, visits to Vaughan Williams and Holst (for example) are not far behind. Chain reaction-like, the thing spirals and compounds and soon enough you know a decently-broad canon.

Let those you admire be your guides, basically.

Good post.

[ritter]

As a semi-serious addition to the topic of how you get into new music, I'd also personally recommend getting to know a composer, a conductor, an orchestra... something or someone whose work you generally like. Then when they branch out into things unknown, you follow.

My own experience of this was, as a teenager, >cough<, Benjamin Britten. He'd conducted or played Schubert, Purcell, Elgar, Schumann, Haydn, Wolf, Mozart, Bach, etc. It was because he was conducting or playing that I listened to those other composers. And once you get into (say) Elgar, visits to Vaughan Williams and Holst (for example) are not far behind. Chain reaction-like, the thing spirals and compounds and soon enough you know a decently-broad canon.

Let those you admire be your guides, basically.

That I can relate to.

In my own experience, during an early (but still unwavering) enthusiasm for Wagner, my dad gave me Pierre Boulez's recording of Parsifal as a present. I really liked what I heard, and this led me to explore other music Boulez championed. Initially it was Schoenberg —my musical world was still rather Austro-Germanic-centred at the time—, but then Stravinsky, Debussy, Ravel, Bartók, Boulez's own music, etc. followed in quick succession ). I will always be grateful to him for having opened those great musical horizons to me.

[ritter]

I'm going to guess that the "him" to whom you are going to be grateful are, in equal measure, your father and Pierre?

You are right  . If my father had given me Knappertsbusch's recording of Parsifal instead of Boulez's, I might have never ventured beyond Bruckner, Strauss, etc...