When I was 18 years old I knew very little about the great music of the masters. It seemed like it was so long and drawn out like having way too many notes. I would get too impatient to listen to an entire symphony in one sitting and to sit through a concert, which actually was never possible in my hometown, would have been torture.
When you are young and have a lot of energy you have no patience to sit still for so long and just…listen.
You live in a sub-culture of society of either high school or college where the things that are most important are things like pop music, friends and probably have some hobbies like sports or some sort of other outdoor activity.
Classical music was a waste of time. It took way too much time to listen to it and besides it didn’t give you the immediate satisfaction that pop or rock gives you, so why bother?
Growing up in the age where there were three television stations, no internet, and you had to use a phone on cord. Your tests in school were that blue printed sort that smelled good if they were fresh. Back then, the news reported the news, without all of the pundits that pervade the media today. They were actually good at what they did.
Today, we live in a society full of the noise of media, a thousand TV stations, an endless stream of internet content and computerized music creation that has nothing to do with any instrument. Video takes are all of 5 seconds long and everyone is an expert no matter how incredibly stupid they are, and people believe them.
So, today, when I pull out a Mozart symphony and listen to it, it is like an oasis away from the mad world. No words to interpret, no craziness to take in, only sublime, deep, rich, beautiful music which fills you with a message that it is still possible for sanity to exist.
The great music of the masters my be our only resource for sanity heading into the future. You can have art works, literary works, and theater or movies all creating thought provoking material, but music is the only thing I can think of that is full of greatness yet has nothing specific to say to us. It is a call to consciousness.
Classical music gives us the ability to become masters of real instruments and to listen with a deeper consciousness than what can be found in words, visions or deeds.
Here Beethoven’s 7th Symphony, which is untitled but is a very inspirational and meditative piece of pure music.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MqrBauptrE?rel=0&controls=0&showinfo=0]