It is always quite sad that on such a large community, when I enter a forum such as this one, I am choking in dust... I am quite new to these forums... so first: HELLO! Classical music is my life, I was raised by it, and I have been studying music (notablely the piano) for 12 years. I am currently doing my Bachellor's degree in music at the Conservatoire de Musique de Montreal and my current repretoire consists of Rachmaninov's first piano concerto, Chopin's 3rd Scherzo, Schumann's Symphonic Etudes, and many Beethoven piano sonatas, along with a few Liszt etudes. Most of my teen years I spent jumping from one kind of music to another. I started on Bach and somehow found myself at Radiohead, Metallica, Tupac, and Diana Krall. There came a point where I was able to say "I love ALL music", but once I became a full-time music student I realized that there was NO music that could give me the same "high" that classical can. The tragic side of this knowlege was knowing that I was nearly alone; people deny that they have rejected classical music, but the reality is that they have. In order to enjoy classical music you can't just listen to a piece once and then make your judgement; classical music is SO dense, powerful, and full of substance that every time you listen to a piece you hear something new, and you love it more. Even after hearing the same piece 70 times still then you understand and appreciate it more. Now I love Billy Talent and Green Day as well, and I do admit that their songs will grow off me the more I listen to them; but not so after I have heared a song more than 20 times! Classical music and "music of today" can't be separated. Classical music is the trunk, and any other form of music are branches of the tree. The more I learn about music and it's history, the more I am saddened that people don't take the time immerse themselves in classical; it is an art of geniuses and has not been repeated since the death of Rachmaninov, Stravinsky, Prokofiev, and Scriabin. (Yes, the Russian composers were the last ones for a reason.) The biggest problem is that people think they know what classical music is, but they really don't. IT'S HUGE! I have been listening to classical music since I was 3 years old, I study it, and I am now 18, I would be shocked to find anyone on these forums who would know more about it than myself, and STILL I can honestly say I know so little about it. By saying this I do not mean that people know so little, as much as the world of classical is so huge! Think of all the music that has been written in the past 60 years... yes, Elvis, the Beatles, Steppenwolf, the Ramones, Rammstein, Britney Spears, and Coldplay... all of it... Classical music was being written for nearly 400 years! My friends all know I listen to classical music, so maybe on my birthday they will buy me a CD with a title that reads something like: "Greatest Classical Hits" or maybe "15 Greatest and Most Listened Classical Compositions". What they don't realize is that this is the equivalence of you telling me that you listen to "rock music" and me buying you an Elton John CD. So yes, I usually do endup throwing out that CD, or maybe selling it on eBay. The most listened classical compositions happen to be the ones that I like the least, because they are overplayed, popular, commercialized, and the easiest ones to listen to! Ignorance is bliss? You are happy with the music you already have? You have no idea what you are missing.
