So, in our last installment, I had purchased a bunch of classical music off iTunes, and pledged to listen to it while away at DAMOP last week. I was pretty good about it, too– I kept the classical playlist going on the iPod all the way through the flights down there, and for listening during the week. I did abandon it for the trip back up, but only because I found myself seated in the Squalling Infant Section of the plane, and needed the more even volume distribution provided by pop music to cover the noise.
So, what were the results of the experiment? Look below the fold for details…
The preliminary verdict? About the same as previously, actually. I listened to the music, but very little of it really made an impression.
The list of purchased tracks, in case you forgot:
- “Rhapsody in Blue”
- “The Planets” by Holst.
- “The Rite of Spring” and “The Firebird” by Stravinsky.
- “Symphony 9 (the New World)” by Dvorak.
- “Symphony 1 (Classical)” by Prokofiev.
- “Appalachin Spring” by Copland.
- “New York Counterpoint” by Steve Reich.
Of these, I had heard “Rhapsody in Blue” and the “Rodeo” bit from “Appalachin Spring” (Beef: It’s what’s for dinner!) previously, so those I recognized right away. Other than those two, the only thing to really catch my attention has been a couple of movements of the Dvorak, specifically the “Allegro con fuoco,” which sounds like the thing that John Williams has been ripping off for all those movie soundtracks. (The “Carnival Overture,” which just finished playing, was also pretty good.)
Weirdly, I have no recollection at all of the “New York Counterpoint” tracks. They must’ve played at some point, but I don’t recall them at all, and I had been worried that they would be actively annoying.
An earlier round had also yielded:
My only solid opinion is that the conceit of the Rumsfeld songs (great press conference quotes from Donald Rumsfeld, sung to somewhat abstract classical music) is cute, but the execution left me a little cold. This is often the case with art that’s making an intellectual point of some sort, though, so I’m not surprised.
Other than that, my lingering impression is just one of Opera Voice, which generally rendered the lyrics all but incomprehensible, removing the benefits of having lyrics in the first place. I wound up skipping over a lot of the Britten tracks at one point, just because I was sick of the singing.
The Copland was an exception in terms of comprehensibility, but didn’t really gain by it, as I didn’t care for the way it re-cast traditional songs. The whole thing came off as sort of pompous– as I said in an earlier post, there’s something almost perverse about giving the Shaker hymn “Simple Gifts” the Three Tenors treatment.
So, anyway, I wouldn’t call this a resounding success as a self-improvement project. With the exception of the tiresome Opera Voice, I like it all just fine while it’s playing, but very few of the pieces made me sit up and take notice.
The obvious objection, pre-emptively raised by several people in earlier comment threads, is that I wasn’t approaching this the right way– that these pieces aren’t suited to use as background music for other activities, so listening to them while reading Rainbows End on a crowded airplane isn’t a fair test. To which I can only say that if the only way to appreciate classical music is to quietly and contemplatively listen to it while doing absolutely nothing else, then classical music is going to have to continue to get along without my appreciation for another eight hundred years or so.
It’s not that I didn’t try, you understand– I did make a few attempts to just listen to the music, without reading something, or doing anything else. The result was the same as it usually is when I attempt this: nap time. I’m just not good at sitting still and listening to music with nothing else going on– I’m not a quietly contemplative sort of guy, and I either get really twitchy at the enforced inactivity, or I doze off, neither of which really enhances the experience of the music.
I’ll make another attempt at it sometime this weekend, maybe, when I’m more well-rested, and not spending mornings running from one talk to the next. But if that’s the only basis on which the music can be appreciated, then it’s not going to do me a whole lot of good, because that’s just not the way I operate.
Of course, it’s interesting to note that pop music functions just fine for me as both background noise and a primary experience. That is, I can put pop songs on in the background while I do something else, and I still notice particularly good tunes when they come up (I keep a list of songs that grab me when I have KEXP playing at work, so I can buy them later on iTunes). That’s something that doesn’t really happen with the classical pieces I’ve tried, and I’m not sure quite what the difference is.
Anyway, I’ll try to give these songs another listen in a more pleasant setting (i.e., neither an airplane nor an airport), and see if anything jumps out at me then, but for the moment, the experiment hasn’t really been a success.
I’d try some late classical or early romantic stuff if you do it again. Worth a shot. I’m not sure where to go to get the sort of pop music ‘hook’ it seems you’re looking for, but the earlier stuff may have more of that than the later stuff, especially the 20th century stuff.
I’m a bit surprised “Mars” didn’t stick with you, though. It’s been stolen over and over for movie music.
“The Planets” has some serious Star Wars ties.
Regarding John Williams, it’s pretty common practice for directors to point to existing music to capture the feel of a scene, even to the point of working with music they don’t have the copyright to, then having the score added afterwards. Composers then have to balance the new score with the existing conceptions held by the director.
Long ago, my class got tickets to a pre-release showing of an animated film that didn’t had the music finalized yet. In a couple of scenes, they used music from Star Wars as the temporary soundtrack. IIRC, the final music was strongly “influenced” by that.
To which I can only say that if the only way to appreciate classical music is to quietly and contemplatively listen to it while doing absolutely nothing else, then classical music is going to have to continue to get along without my appreciation for another eight hundred years or so.
Another casualty of the modern attention span (& pace of life).
You do realize that this makes you an unregenerate and irredeemable barbarian, a blot on the intellectual landscape, a dull and plodding pedestrian beside the dazzling highway of culture? That ACD will have no choice but to dismiss you as unsalvageable jetsam tossed uncomprehendingly to and fro by the mighty ocean of (real) music?
On the “existing music”, LWF’s right – as temp music for the review edits, Lucas had specifically used “Mars” for the death star explosion build-up and Williams (rather regrettably he says) had to duplicate that ending rhythm in the final score.
Things like this really came to a head for 2001: A Space Odyssey. A composer had been hired and was actually done recording the score, but Kubrick was so attached to the “temp” classical pieces (thanks to their positive reception at a screening for the studio execs) that he stuck with them (and wound up seriously annoying the hired composer who wasn’t told and only found out when he saw the film in the theater).
I don’t think it’s the modern attention span; I think that’s just Chad’s personality.
Since I live with him, I think I can say this with reasonable authority.
Next time you feel like trying to expand your musical taste, I would very strongly recommend starting with Baroque or Classical rather than Modern pieces. They are much more “catchy” in general, believe me. I have Handel playing as I write this, and I really need to restrain myself in order no to try and sing, whistle or dance along (depending on the piece).
So, is that like absolutely every movie trailer using Ministry’s “Jesus Built My Hotrod” or White Zombie’s “More Human Than Human” for about a two-year stretch in the late 1990s?
Classical music, like any type, is not for everyone. You tried. Make your peace with pop music. I once again humbly suggest the Drive By Truckers, the best (IMHO) group out there today. Dark edged alt country.
Unlikely to be just attention span. I know at least one professional musician who “gets really twitchy” over passive listening.
Best way to get into classical music, or any music, is to play it. Beg borrow or, er, hire an instrument, find a good teacher, and away you go. Couple of years application should see you playing Bach or whatever, maybe not well, but well enough to see what it’s about.
Wouldn’t say it’s easier or harder than physics – differently hard, so to speak.
“Another casualty of the modern attention span (& pace of life)”
Find me one pre-modern aeroplane where you can listen to symphonic music on pipe, and I’ll agree with you 🙂
Just run out and buy the latest Lordi album already.
Hmm. As Aaron pointed out, Holst is actually much more movie soundtrack-like than Dvorak, as is (in my opinion) The Firebird, which also has a couple of often-played tunes. But given that you liked Dvorak’s lyricism and emotionalism, you might want to explore other Romantic symphonies: Dvorak’s 7th and 8th symphonies, Beethoven’s 5th (everyone knows the theme from its first movement), Tchaikovsky’s 4th-6th.
Incidentally, Steve Reich’s music has a lot more in common with Bach’s than with Stravinsky or Shostakovich, so I would resist classifying them all as Modern.
A lot of the more modern stuff that you picked out probably isn’t so good in terms of active listening, first time around. Rhapsody in Blue is probably more akin to something you’d want, something that you can easily sink your teeth into without needing to pay close attention to every nuance. Stuff like Beethovan’s 5th, the Carnival of the Animals (by Saint-Saens), Danse Macabre (also by Saint-Saens), Rimsky-Korsakov’s Sheherezade or his Capriccio Espanol. They’re all very melodically oriented and “catchy”, in the way that Rhapsody in Blue is…
I find the best way to appreciate classical music is to listen to it mixed up with other things. It has a really soothing effect, so if you listen to it in between some really intense music then it is very nice. I think that too many people who listen to classical will listen only to that, and that’s why it is so looked down on by regular people. Maybe they really like it, and that is alright, but classical gets very monotonous if you don’t have the time to note all the fine details. And, like anything, you get tired of it if you listen to it over and over and over… Like songs on the radio.
I agree with Georg above. In my experience, physical scientists have an affinity for Bach and that era, and I fit that stereotype myself. The 2nd Brandenburg Concerto or the first movement of the Sixth would be good places to start.
Just to nitpick, Rodeo isn’t part of Appalachain Spring — it’s a separate piece often put on the same CD. And the beef ad is the fourth movement of the Rodeo, entitled Hoe-down, if you’re really exact about your iTunes tags.
I’m not a big fan of classical music, though there are some that I do like. But if you want to “improve” your taste and do some experimenting with music that is a bit more complicated than pop or rock give JAZZ a shot. Jazz is not as far from pop and rock as classical music is and you can ease your way into it by listening to blues and the more melodical types of jazz and then if you like progress into more “heavy” jazz. I’d recommend to start with a return to forever CD or maybe a Diana Krall.
Try Shostakovitch’s 5th symphony, or his Romeo and Juliet ballet score. Both big and exciting pieces! Also you might try some Chopin piano works. Short and great melodies. There’s also a great CD that is Van Cliburn’s favorite piano music. Good listening. I find solo piano is sometimes easier to listen to than symphonic music. It has a completely different mood.