Classical Music: A How-To Guide for Beginners

The place to start is with classical radio. This is so easy in these days of streaming audio. Most major cities have classical music stations. This will be the easiest way to expose yourself to a wide range of the most loved compositions. Just listen and take note of what you like and don't like. That said, certain composers tend to have certain strengths. For instance, if you like beautiful melodies, Mozart and Schubert will be your guys. If vocal harmony is what moves you, Bach cannot be surpassed. Beethoven uses rhythm in ways that transform very simple tunes into the most profound musical statements. But all of these statements are generalizations. This is why classical radio is your friend. You may find it especially useful to listen for broadcasts of the concerts of major orchestras in the evenings. They are many times accompanied by lectures which will help you understand the music. Happy listening!

On a recent TV series Michael Tilson Thomas (a well known conductor for the SFO) talked about progression in classical music starting with simple forms and moving on gradually to the more complex. He described how some one could/would transition from music that was initially principally dependent on rhythm and melody to, ultimately music which was dissonant, atonal, and to the uninitiated sounded like nothing much more than noise.

His point was that when you first hear a new music what you hear is foreign and may be hard to grasp or appreciate, but as time passes and your mind absorbs this new music, it will make sense to you. This is not an academic thing, it is a natural process, and FWIW mirrors my personal experience.

Many folks come to classical music because they think they should (like being told you should read classical books or taking vitamin pills, its good for you!). They are used to short pop/rock/country tunes and have developened nothing much more than the short musical attention spans required and can't understand the form of much that lasts over 5 minutes.

Many of these folks start off with small scale classical music loaded with melody and rhythm. They like the beat and the ability to hum alone. Its a natural thing, but eventually they will become curious about what else is out there so they go to larger orchestral pieces, often overtures from operas, concertos, and symphonies, which are generously represented in the lists of 'Warhorses' and are found on most all compilation disc's which are easier for them to assimilate.

Ultimately, for those suitably impressed, they move on to the more complex musical forms, that which must often be heard many times to fully understand and as often, to appreciate. We've learned never to discard music we can't appreciate. We just put it on the shelf and take it down every few years. It is amazing how often when I do this I can not understand why I didn't like it before and why I though it was so difficult.

So classical music is a journey which can sustain you for a life time if you give it a chance in the beginning. You don't need to be a musicologist, just a person with an open mind.

BTW, don't worry if you can't understand what the reviewers are saying. Their reviews are no different than the reviews in audio. Some of the reviewers are nothing more than vacuous self-important gas bags and others, those who will share your musical values, will appear with time and be helpful. Initially, it is best if you want to depend on reviews is to operate on a 'consensus' just like folks do here for audio stuff.

Anyway for me it was very rewarding. I grew up on hillbilly (blue grass for those of you with sensitivities), pop, and rock with no musical background. While I still love the old toe tapping fiddle loaded hillbilly stuff, I spend 95% of my listening time with classical, and have pretty much replaced pop and rock with jazz.

Hope you guys stick with it and enjoy it as much as I have.

I just left a movie, "Shutter Island" with Leonardo Dicaprio that had some interesting classical music. Maybe you know what it is?

The music of various composers has been cobbled together to create the music in this movie. Google and you shall learn all. :-)

newbee, thanks for the info. There is a scene showing an old record player with music sounding like todays best analog rig.