What place has classical music in your life?

[Harry]

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?

[sunnyside_up]

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!

[hornteacher]

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!  

[cx]

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).

[George]

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. 

[Choo Choo]

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.

[marvinbrown]

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

[DavidW]

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!

I can go for weeks without listening to anything.

[George]

I don't feel the same at all, you bleeding heart you!

I can go for weeks without listening to anything.

You'll do well if you ever get married. 

[DavidW]

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.

[DavidW]

You'll do well if you ever get married. 

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.

[George]

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. 

[George]

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.

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!" 

[greg]

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.

[longears]

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.

[Cato]

You'll do well if you ever get married. 

Amen!    0:)

See my latest posting under "Serialism" on wives and musical taste and the sublimation of desire to hear Schoenberg!

[mahlertitan]

a hobby

[Steve]

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.

[Don]

I listen for a few hours every day unless I'm on vacation.  Bach always gets me out of the doldrums. 

[springrite]

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.