Hey guys! Hope y’all are staying healthy and staying home. Finals are in just a few weeks, and I don’t know about you guys, but I feel like I have to study extra hard because of the online format. No one knows what to expect, and we’re all feeling the repercussions of being quarantined.

 

Anyways, this is the last week of passion blogs, so I’m just going to write about classical music in general. I didn’t get to write about everyone that I wanted to – there’s still Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Copland, and so many others that are just as great contributors to music as the ones I’ve covered so far. But I hope that I was able to give you a taste of what classical music is about.

 

For me, classical music has always been about emotion. Not to diss pop music or anything, but a lot of music nowadays is simpler. When I listen to pop music, I often can’t find the subtle phrasing and rhythms that really make classical music come alive. Even when you listen to the (overplayed) first movement of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 – somehow, this man was able to convey so much raw emotion in just the first four notes!

 

Yes, I do believe that the first movement is overplayed and overused, so much so that we don’t appreciate the subtleties of the harmonies – our society just focuses on the first notes. But it’s what comes after those notes that we should really be paying attention to. I’m listening to the other movements of the Symphony as I write this, and to me they deserve just as much attention.

 

I think a possible reason for society’s lack of interest in classical music today is that people don’t have the patience for it. Most people don’t want to take the time to fully invest in a 45-minute long symphony, and I don’t blame them – life moves so quickly nowadays that it’s hard to find that time.

 

I am not saying that music today isn’t artistry. Musicians of all genres are so talented in that they can  bring emotion to their audiences through chords and words, whether it’s happiness, love, pain, or grief. What I am saying is that we should not forget or dismiss the artists of the past just because their music is supposedly outdated or boring from the outside looking in.

 

We’ve all done that thing where we write off a song at first that’s played on the radio all the time, so we just change the station. Then one day, we actually listen to the whole thing and we’re amazed that we ignored it for that long! I hope you can find yourself doing that with classical music as well, even if it’s just a little bit.

 

YouTube has endless mixes of classical music for studying (they really help me get in the zone) that can kickstart your discovery. I don’t know if you guys have ever realized how lucky we are to have all this access to music. Back in the days of Mozart we would’ve had to wait years for new pieces to come out, and we’d probably have to be upper class to pay for the concerts. But now it’s all available for us to explore!

 

I’m just going to leave you with a couple of suggestions. First, while I’ve been in quarantine, I discovered this YouTube channel called TwoSet Violin – they’re classical violinists and they’re hilarious. And they’re young!! They really get the point across that classical music isn’t just for old people.

 

Second, Liszt’s arrangement of Schumann’s Widmung (piano version), the second movement of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7, the third movement of Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata (the first movement is overrated), Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 (Allegro), and I think I’ll stop there before I go on too long.

 

Finally, and most importantly, if you EVER go to a classical music concert (which I really hope you do!!) and it’s your first time, DON’T CLAP UNTIL THE WHOLE PIECE IS OVER. Trust me, I’ve clapped between movements and gotten the death stares from my neighbors. Just so you know and don’t have to face that embarrassment! Then when the piece is over, don’t hold back your enthusiasm.

 

Thank you all for accompanying me on our journey! I hope you continue discovering music in all its forms. As the great Leonard Bernstein said, “Music can name the unnameable and communicate the unknowable.” Music is the best language of them all. Now, Bach to your regularly scheduled programming…

 

Of course, I couldn’t end without one last musical meme of the week!