Classical music or more precisely Western classical music is often regarded as a complex and sophisticated genre for someone who is new to or has just started listening to it. It comes across as intimidating and unfathomable with its intricate and long compositional style, unfamiliar instruments, and absence of lyrics. However, beneath this daunting veil, it offers beautiful, emotive, and rich art forms that can be deeply rewarding to explore.
Learning how to start listening to classical music can open up new dimensions in your appreciation of Western music. This article will walk you through the best ways to begin your journey into the world of classical music.
We can break down the process into a few ‘simple’ steps to make things easier.
Contents
First Step: Recommended for Beginners Who Just Have Discovered Classical Music
If you are a complete beginner approaching classical music listening, as your first step, throw everything mentioned below out of the window. Just try to find out the names of classical pieces that you have heard in movies, TV shows, or literally anywhere else that caught your attention. Listen to the whole piece and explore other works of the same composer as well as their contemporaries, if it suits your fancy.
Don’t drown yourself with details like “which composer only ate foods that were white,” but rather immerse in the music created hundreds of years ago for your enjoyment. Just listen- plain and simple. Although classical music offers much more than mere entertainment, at this stage, it doesn’t matter.
Credit: Brooklyn Classical
Second Step: What Stood The Test of Time
What naturally follows after listening to classical pieces familiar to ‘you’ is trying out pieces that are well known to the masses, pieces that encapsulate the quintessential soul of Western classical music. For example, Beethoven’s powerful orchestral work Symphony No. 9 (“Ode to Joy”); Mozart’s lively, melodic, and easy-to-digest “Eine kleine Nachtmusi;” Bach’s soothing and timeless Baroque piece “Air on the G String;” or, Debussy’s dreamy “Clair de Lune,” maybe even a bit of Stravinsky’s primitive and ritualistic celebration of spring, “The Rite Of Spring.”
Credit: Essenza Cuarteto
All these works will get you familiar with listening to classical music. At the same, you will be driven to the typical structures and the unique qualities of various composers, although that’s not what you are aiming for right now.
Third Step: Periods of Classical Music
As you get comfortable with this seemingly endless collection of composers and their infinite number of pieces, it’s time to take a step forward and explore the key Classical music periods and styles. We can take a brief look at these periods now without, of course, going into too much detail.
Baroque
The Baroque period (1600-1750) features elaborate and complex counterpoint of multiple intertwined melodies to this period. One of the most defining elements of Baroque music is the harpsichord. Famous composers like Bach, Handel, and Vivaldi composed with rich harmonies, and extensive ornamentation.
Credit: Voice of Music
Classical
Influenced by Ancient Greek classics, hence, The Classical period (1750-1820) is known for clarity, balance, and simplicity. The harpsichord was replaced by the piano as the most common keyboard instrument. In the hands of composers such as Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven, this period marked the rise of symphonies, sonatas, and concertos.
Credit: Warner Classics
Romantic
The Romantic period (1820-1900) is more introspective than the preceding ones and emphasizes emotion, individualism, and dramatic expression, often through longer and more complex works. Notable composers are Chopin, Tchaikovsky, Brahms, and Schubert. Beethoven’s later works also belong to this period.
Late 19th to early 20th century, the lingering style of the Romantic era was being upgraded with more expressive melodies, complex harmonies, and expansive forms with the works of Gustav Mahler and Richard Strauss. At the same time, the impressionist movement, which was developing in parallel, focused on mood and atmosphere. Impressionist composers, namely Claude Debussy, and Maurice Ravel, used unconventional scales and harmonies to create fluid and dreamlike sounds.
Credit: Jacob’s Piano
Modern
Modern classical music (20th century–present) breaks with tradition, exploring atonality, dissonance, and new forms of musical expression. Famous composers of this period are Arnold Schoenberg, Igor Stravinsky, Philip Glass, and John Adams.
With an understanding of the different periods, you will find it easier to appreciate the stylistic shifts in classical music.
Fourth Step: Forms of classical music
Another aspect of Classical music that separates it from the music for casual listeners is how it encompasses many different forms. For example, Concertos are works for solo instruments and orchestra, where the soloist often engages in dialogue with the orchestra. Beethoven’s “Piano Concerto No. 5” (“Emperor”) is a prime example of that. However, Sonatas are shorter pieces for solo instruments, often accompanied by piano. Beethoven’s “Moonlight Sonata” is one of the most famous examples.
Knowing which form of music you are listening to would aid you in internalizing the crux of a specific period or a particular artist as well as figuring out your niche as a listener.
Fifth Step: Active Listening
Depending on your listening habits, you might need to change how you actually listen or experience music. Classical music demands deep listening, unlike popular music, which often delivers hooks immediately without building up to it. Since it is layered and complex, it requires more attention and reflection i.e. active listening is the key. For this reason, you would need to listen to a piece multiple times and how one or multiple instruments interact.
Focus on different elements each time you listen. For example, pay attention to the rhythm and tempo in one listen, and the harmonic progression or orchestration in the next. Identifying the roles of different instruments can also help you develop a richer understanding of the piece and classical music in general.
The Elephant In The Room
A fair question would be “Why go to such lengths?” The answer would be “to appreciate music along with its cultural and historical significance.” As I mentioned before, classical music is much more than mere entertainment. Each piece speaks of a specific cultural or historical event. For instance, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 is infused with a sense of triumph, since it was composed during a time of political upheaval and the composer’s personal struggle. Understanding the composer’s background and the historical context through a piece of music is an inseparable part of classical music, that’s why you need to work a bit more but only if you want.
Credit: Brandon Acker
Remember “Simplicity is the key.” You can enjoy classical music for what it is without a lesson on history or someone’s biography. However, understanding the causal relation between music and its technicalities as well as historical significance will, without a doubt, enhance your experience as a listener.
Final Words
We tried to draw an overall picture of how to start listening to classical music from the beginner’s point of view to the advanced level of classical music enthusiasts. Hopefully, this article will enlighten your vision and inspire you to explore classical music more. Thanks for reading this far and let us know your thoughts in the comment.