h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

>>I don't know Beefheart, but it sounds like metal.

Not at all, but it can be meNtal.
RIP

I should add that I'm tone deaf, and whilst I can respond to music on a emotional level I can't hear the difference between the different parts or the different notes.

I was listening to some Dvorak on i Player and I found it rather jolly. I wanted to turn the volume mistook the 'scroll forward button for the volume, and merrily scrolled through about five minutes worth.

I honestly could tell the difference between the music that was playing now, and the music that was five minutes ago. I scrolled forward 10 minutes and the same thing happened. I scrolled several times to random places and I couldn't hear any difference between the music at different points in the piece. It sounded like exactly the same sound throughout, constant with no variation.

Despite this I enjoyed listening to it and found it rather jolly.

Sorry one small but important typo.

I honestly could tell the difference between the music that was playing now, and the music that was five minutes ago. I scrolled forward 10 minutes and the same thing happened. I scrolled several times to random places and I couldn't hear any difference between the music at different points in the piece. It sounded like exactly the same sound throughout, constant with no variation.

I could *not* tell the differnce.

That's unusual, because generally classical music (with the exception of Johann Strauss) varies much more than other types of music.

The most important thing about music is that you should enjoy listening to it. It was written to please the listeners, unless you're talking about 20th Century "modern" music.

I was brought up with 'Peter and the Wolf' and 'Fantasia' on the radiogramme.........
and then I discovered Zappa! Here he is accompanied by Beefheart:

Frank Zappa - Willie The Pimp (1969)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EaCCKrpCQDM

Classic fm (100-102 fm) is a good way of hearing a reasonable range of stuff that is recognised and appreciated by most people because it's accessible and pleasant to listen to.

You do get adverts, of course, but it does mean that you don't have to make a choice, which is often the hardest part!

Brahms, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Schubert, Beethoven, Weber, Berlioz and Saint-Saëns are a nice mix from that sort of era, as others have mentioned. They write tuuuuunes.

Hi there,
I’d tentatively suggest you could try getting a copy of the sound track to 2001 A Space Odyssey. Featured are two Straussesssss… plus a number of other very different tracks. In particular is the complete ‘Blue Danube’ performed by the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra which is arguably the best rendition … ever. Just get the headphones on and chill out.

Or you might try a bit of opera. In particular there is Puccini’s Madam Butterfly. I defy anyone to have a dry eye after listening to ‘One Fine Day’.

Deke

I can't hear the words in Opera, so how can it make me cry?

But otherwise good suggestions.

>>That's unusual, because generally classical music (with the exception of Johann Strauss) varies much more than other types of music.

Another exception is Arvo Pärt.

The Gorecki Symphony No 3 I linked is very, very different to Strauss also. About as far as you can get. You couldnae waltz to it. I linked it because that version (with soloist Dawn Upshaw) was a surprise massive breakthrough, on top of the classical charts for several weeks.

The justification for linking something so distant to Strauss? Well lots of people seem to like it. So might Z.

For the Pärt and Tavener and Tippet...what better criterion, Gnomon, than a personal recommendation? I didn't think Z was asking what music is there that is musicologically similar to Strauss. He was asking for something he might like. Correct?

Deke:

>>I’d tentatively suggest you could try getting a copy of the sound track to 2001 A Space Odyssey. Featured are two Strausses

And also some Ligeti.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnuAaKiX1sg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnuAaKiX1sg

Here's a fun game for anyone wanting to test their sense of pitch:
http://www.nidcd.nih.gov/tunetest/Pages/Default.aspx

I scored 26/26, so there must be some other explantion for my taste in music...

I would strongly urge you to go and see an opera rather than listen to one. It's so much more than an auditory experience. It's something quite unique and you'll either love it or hate it.

And I hated it.

The same with ballet as well. Sometimes it can make it comes to life, to see it as well as to hear it.

I also hated opera. There was a reason I failed that module at uni...

I don't get opera. Yet.

I'm a complete balletomane, however. It's not so much the music - I've seen it performed to everything from Handel to Public Image Limited. It's the physicality. It's important to sit near the front of the stalls so you can hear their feet.

I think I'd prefer them in this order:

Rock/pop Concert
Classical/choral concert
Rock Opera
Ballet
Classical Opera
Andrew Lloyd Webber

Depends what you mean by ballet, mind. The first ballet company I say The Ballet Rambert. In recent years thet've dropped the 'ballet' and trade as 'Rambert Dance'. But I saw them recently and they're more ballet than ever.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frFQJrcu_MA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCMbImAuN-g

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ah_7bmcFM4Q

On the first of those they collaborated with Nicky Clayton, Professor of Comparitive Cognition. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b017cd0v

If you have the time and the patience, Z, try playing a little music yourself. Get yourself a harmonica or a small keyboard (if you use earphones with the latter, no one can hear you). You don't need to read music, or play "by ear" (especially as you seem to think you don't have the ear for music) but try differentiating between lower notes, higher notes, pleasant and unpleasant sounds and mixtures of notes.


When listening to music, you can also take a short passage and try and work out if one note is higher than the other, if the music is getting faster, quieter, louder. Breaking it right down to the smallest atoms might not be everyone's cup of , but if you try it, it might help you train your ear a bit and get even more enjoyment out of the melodies.


Lots of Strauss's stuff is waltzes, in three-four time. That means that the first beat of every three is emphasised. Listen out for rhythms, which you should be able to discern, even if you can't figure out what the tune is.


Most other music is in 4/4 time. By listening to the bass line, or the percussion if there is any, you can sometimes work out quite easily where the beat starts and count 1,2,3,4 along with the music.


Or try another approach by singling out individual instruments in the orchestra and following what they are doing - are they leading or accompanying?


But don't lose sight of the wood for the trees and forget to stand back and just enjoy the whole effect wash over you - that's what music is. At those times you can leave the details to the composer and the interpreters and listen to the forest of sound.

My personal favourite is Dvorak, and Mozart has lots of jolly tunes, many of them very well-known.

HTH