How to Listen to Classical Music: General Ideas

when taken as a whole classical music often seems to be moving towards irrelevance its audience seems to be mostly middle-aged middle class white and these are problems that are definitely widely known across the industry there are constant new initiatives and ideas to try to rebalance this situation spreading classical music to new audiences and some of these are hugely successful in fact statistically classical music has more listeners than ever due simply to the fact that music is now so widely available on platforms like YouTube Spotify and radio however when compared economically with pop music or other genres classical pales into insignificance to some people this means that classical music must be irrelevant and because of this funding is cut to arts education and so so much of the younger generation never even get to give classical a fighting chance before dismissing it I think the problem is that many people aren't taught how to listen well anymore in my experience classical is simply a closed door to a lot of people and because they don't know how to understand or follow it they think that it's just boring or out-of-date and so they just don't care what I want to do with this channel is make videos which introduce you to some of the greatest works of classical music in a way that really gets down to what makes each piece such a powerful work of art and through watching these videos I hope you'll learn more about music and you'll discover some of the greatest musical works in history but in these videos here I want to focus generally on how to listen well to classical music I want to give you some ideas that you can hopefully apply to a broad spectrum of classical music to enhance the way you approach and listen to it first we'll go through some general ideas about classical and later on we'll think more about how music is expressive and how we can listen to and understand classical music on an emotional level so imagine watching a Shakespeare play if you're new to Shakespeare unfamiliar with the language and you haven't been educated about his works a small number of people would get it naturally and good for them but many people will probably be bored and lost of course that doesn't mean that Shakespeare is bad or irrelevant or not worth anything in your life it just means you haven't learned to understand it yet it's the same with classical when you're new to it it's a bit of a foreign language and I think it helps immensely to have some guidance starting out of course many say there's no right way to listen to music just it affects you in whatever way it does or they say I don't want to understand it I just want to feel it as it comes naturally I see where they're coming from but when it comes to classical as a new listener I disagree completely the question I would ask is if you had to sit through a 40-minute Beethoven symphony would you be able to follow it closely would you be able to keep track of its musical argument from beginning to end constantly follow its emotional trajectory or would you get bored quickly with your mind drift on to other things and what about an hour of Tchaikovsky two hours of Marla and that's not supposed to scare you but when you learn to listen in a different way you begin to unlock these musical masterpieces and you start to find that within these masterpieces are incredible moments of beauty emotional intensity power and in some cases some of the greatest works of artistic creation at its best classical music can stir the most powerful and diverse emotions up within you and that's why I think it's so important to learn how to listen well so we can expand our emotional understanding expand our self understanding become more intimately connected with humanity so here are some initial thoughts to get you started and in the next video we'll look closer at how classical music expresses itself first off and perhaps most importantly when listening to classical you need to listen actively not passively in most cases you can't just let it wash over you it needs paying attention to just as when you're reading a good novel and I think this can be a big deterrent for many people and that's why pop music caters to the shortest attention spans with three-minute songs and repetitive chord sequences and beats but take it from me your attention span will quickly develop the more you practice listening actively and when you start doing this you start unlocking these emotional outpourings that just don't have time to unfold in pop music second if possible listen to music live this music was written to be performed live and there's something special about watching people breathing life into the music it's also worth noting that different performers and different groups have their own sounds or styles so there's a lot of diversity when it comes to performers you can listen to the same piece done by five different performers and each performance will be fresh in a unique kind of way also a performance can really make or break a piece you might be on the edge of your seat for one performance of Beethoven's fifth but be bored to tears by a different performance but there's also something just about seeing something live especially when the performers a world class or when there's a real high risk-taking energy in the room if you can't listen live then choose a world-class recording again with Spotify there are so many to choose from and it can be so satisfying to discover the perfect recording for your tastes you may begin to discover your favorite performers favorite orchestras and maybe even your favorite recording eras in any case there is a massive Bank of recordings out there importantly listen at a good volume and on good speakers or headphones if possible classical music isn't supposed to lull you gently to sleep or relax you most of my favorite pieces do the opposite they're fiercely dramatic take this apocalyptic statement from Marla you just can't appreciate that on low volume or on a phone speaker I'm not saying you need to blast it out of your car though by all means feel free classical is a rich and hugely diverse art form not a relaxant or a sleeping pill thirdly at no point do I want to denounce pop music or popular genres at all in fact I think that listening to classical is a different kind of experience from listening to pop some people say that the genres are blurred and that might be true in a small number of cases but on the whole I think it's best if they're approached differently if I listen to classical in the same way I do pop I find it boring and old if I listen to pop in the same way I do to classical I find it empty so for now let's just say that classical music needs a different approach from popular genres fourthly you might find that with certain pieces composers or styles you may need to listen many times or to several of their works before it begins to click it might not hit you the first time you listen to it and that's okay for example I have to listen to a lot of JS Bach before it all fell into place and he's considered one of the greatest composers of all time I just didn't get it at first and now I think I do I think this is simply because you're becoming familiar with a new style and gradually your ear gets used to how that style works once you are familiar with that new style genius and emotional expression begin to emerge from it fifthly concert halls can sometimes seem a bit imposing old fashioned or exclusive in their rituals and this can put some people off I think it's interesting that classical music is being played in more and more new spaces it's great to experiment with this and to try and find new ways of revitalizing the scene but most often you'll hear classical in the concert hall first it's important to realize that tickets for classical concerts can be incredibly cheap sometimes as cheap as five or six pounds for young people compare that with a pop concert or a sports match secondly there really is no need to dress up for say a Night at the Opera although some people do like to make an occasion out of it just wear what you feel comfortable wearing out thirdly I think the reason a concert hall can seem a bit like a ritual is because in a kind of way it is whereas we go to pop concerts to dance and have a great time a lot of people go to classical concerts to listen carefully and connect directly with the music in a very personal spiritual way as I said earlier it's just a different way of listening I also think that keeping the silence is out of respect for the rest of the audience do you want to enjoy this connection with the music and the so do they so out of respect for that we avoid talking or doing something that will distract others while the music plays I think all of these concert hall conventions have risen out of respect respect for the audience for the performers and most importantly for the music so those are my general ideas next we're going to look at how we can actually follow grasp on to and feel musics expression and then later on I'll make a video on how to follow a musical argument thanks for watching

Channel: Inside the Score

Views: 389,512

Keywords: classical music, classical, piano, music, how to listen, guide, tutorial, songs, guitar, education, studying, relaxation, sleeping, kids, famous, mozart, bach, beethoven, best, beginners, lessons, chopin, brahms, vivaldi, clarinet, handel, performance, listen, listening, aural, ear, ear training, cello, musician, relaxing, concert, sheet music, symphony, orchestra, violin, baroque, romantic, what is classical music, composers, singing, course, ABRSM, einaudi, emotion, emotional, sonata, sonata form, motif, leitmotif

Id: iJrI-PXYA_M

Length: 8min 11sec (491 seconds)

Published: Thu Jan 25 2018