Neocities

3 years ago

I've been thinking about writing a beginner's guide for getting into (western) classical music, but unfortunately I'm not exactly sure what it is about it that most discourages and/or confuses people. Anyone wanna give their input?

6 likes

teethinvitro 3 years ago

Since you haven't described your ideas so far, I'd say split them by era (stylistically) with prominent composers and a description of what "makes" the era (introduction of an instrument or a style at that time), but with music theory kept simple for those without the background.

2 likes

geouniversal 3 years ago

for me, many of the peices written hundreds of years ago have many different symphonies and recordings available. even if i love a song i hear on cbc classical time, when i look it up it is played ever so different. hard to nail down a performance for every piece

1 like

pseudepigraph 3 years ago

@teethinvitro Good idea!! I was also thinking of a little chart where I recommend pieces based on other genres or moods of music that a reader may already be into

pseudepigraph 3 years ago

@geouniversal Ah yes, the eternal problem... I feel you there!!

pseudepigraph 3 years ago

Personally I like having lots of recordings to peruse and consider but I can be very particular at times

theliterarybisexual 3 years ago

I like the chart idea! In my experience getting into new *anything* can be overwheling because of the sheer amount of choice you're faced with without having the knowledge about what's considered essiental and great and what's accessible for newbies. Like even if you've heard of all the famous composers, where do you start with their oeuvres?

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theliterarybisexual 3 years ago

I've heard advice for people getting into classical lit for the first time - start with something short and very narrative driven to ease you into more complex prose. Maybe including the music equivallent of that would make sense?

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pseudepigraph 3 years ago

@theliterarybisexual Yep, huge agree!! I feel like leaving out 'the greats' would be reductive, but I also don't want to exclusively recommend what everyone knows -- I think that leaves out a lot of diversity and variety in the classical space

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kalechips 3 years ago

One idea - start with famous composers and/or pieces, then offer recommendations for less-known music for each one? That would, of course, require you to decide what is mainstream enough to count as well-known lol

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buryevil 3 years ago

YouTube is certainly the best place to discover classical recordings, streaming platforms like Spotify showcase just recorded albums and don’t usually have live recordings which makes up a large portion of classical music, they’re also not great at organizing composers’ works together because Spotify prioritizes easily digestible pieces and often leave out the composer in track titles and only include the performer…

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buryevil 3 years ago

… or orchestra so it’s sometimes difficult to know what a piece is by if you aren’t already aware, but in terms of YouTube, many channels like hr-sinfonieorchester have full high quality recordings of repetoire which you might enjoy.

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pseudepigraph 3 years ago

Everything that @fretnoize said !! Spotify also loves chopping up pieces that are meant to be continuous just because of a movement or segment difference...

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anolesquailsandmaybecattails 3 years ago

That's a great idea! I've seen people make fun of classical music (idk why) so maybe that's one reason they don't get into it. Also, it is a very specific topic, people like things that explain what is what, whether something is baroque style, etc. I like the idea of a chart, that's a good visual for anything confusing.

anolesquailsandmaybecattails 3 years ago

Also, it seems like people like music by people they can identify with. So by including people like Clara Schumann, Fanny Mendelssohn, Florence Price, Scott Joplin, etc, that could possibly encourage people who don't feel like they have much in common with the most famous composers.

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3 years ago