Everyone Loves Classical Music

 

I have watched a truly inspiring TED talk by the Mr. Benjamin  Zander, entitled, "The Transformative Power of Classical Music," and I related to his topic: that all people actually do enjoy classical music-- they just have yet to find a piece of music to relate to. In his TED talk, Zander plays one song multiple times in multiple different ways, and sort of familiarizes the audience with the piece he is playing, mimicking how different ages of children would play this piece, explaining different ways that professionals play and how it affects the way the piece sounds. After all of this, he uses these techniques and tells the audience to think of someone that they miss or that they have lost. Keep in mind, this audience was not 100% classical music enthusiasts. Some of them pretend to be, and Zander mentioned that some people would be. When he plays this same piece with the techniques he described, with the audience thinking of someone they lost or miss, they suddenly had a connection. After Zander was done playing the piece, he ran around clapping for the audience while they clapped for him, which confused some people. He explained that he was clapping for them because they connected, they understood the meaning of the piece! After he played, there were so many more people in the audience that liked classical music than when he first gave statistics of how many people were there because they liked classical music or not. He was so excited because they had shining eyes. They had a connection with what the composer meant while writing it, and with their own lives.

Giving people a thing to connect to while listening to classical music is a very good thing. You are better able to understand's the composer's intentions in that way. There are so many people in the world that rag on classical music, and it could all go away if we played classical music and had something to tell people to think of while listening, so that they can understand and love the piece. I've been a violist for seven years, and I've always loved listening to classical music. Granted, there are some styles of classical music that I'm not fond of that is so much harder to connect to, and most times I don't bother. When that happens, yes, I stress certain notes like I'm supposed to, or where it feels right, but there's no meaning behind my music. It may be gorgeous, but at the same time be flat and emotionless. If I took a piece of music from Vivaldi and sat down to listen to it, I would be much better able to find a connection to the piece, because I like the style of Vivaldi's pieces. It's much easier when you like what you're listening to to find meaning in it than when you don't. All people like classical music, they just have yet to find the right composer, style, and piece that they can connect to. If we all could connect to one piece of classical music, I think we could all understand each other somewhat better than we do now, and could learn to love other types of classical music.