Why is classical advertised as relaxing?
 

Not many people I know listen to classical at all, and most who do only listen to it when they're studying or trying to fall asleep. The pieces they know are generally limited to Moonlight Sonata or Clair de Lune. They're both great pieces, and I try not to act like a snob, but when someone says, "Yeah, I really like classical. Especially Moonlight Sonata. It's great sleep/studying music," I get really frustrated because I know that means they don't really care about it/think it's boring/haven't explored it much.

The worst part is when I ask, "Which movement is your favorite?" and they give me a funny look.

"Movement? What do you mean?" they say.

:banghead:

I mean, I don't know that much about classical, but I at least know THAT. Of course, I don't want to act like a snob, so I do my best to patiently explain to them what a movement is and why it's there.

But the main point of this slightly rambling paragraph is WHY THE HECK IS IT ADVERTISED AS RELAXING? If we want people to explore it more and really appreciate it for the art form it is, why call it sleep music? That's basically saying, "It's boring. You can fall asleep to it really easily."

Just... why? I'm wondering if this bugs anyone else.

I know what you mean ...A lot of classical requires concentration -- not relaxation.
Delius, Debussy, Bach, Elgar to name a few

Because it works well as relaxing background music.
Sure it's kind of a waste to listen to it that way, but most people aren't all that interested in the finer details of a composition, no matter what genre.
No reason to get upset about that.

Doesn't bug me. People like what they like. Don't take it personally if they don't like what you like or think boring what you think is interesting/amazing.

Just remember: there's no reason for you to have proprietary pride or shame or whatever in taste in music. You didn't write, perform, or produce the music, so no matter how much you love or identify with your favorite music, it really has nothing to do with you. Therefore, if someone dislikes what you like, it has nothing to do with you. So...there's no reason to get upset.

A lot of times that is true. When I listen to classical, I have a couple of options. I can listen to it actively and work to feel the emotion the composer was trying to communicate, or I can let it fade to the back of my head as I work on other things. Good point.

But... I think you're sort of missing the point. I'm not frustrated with the fact that people don't really want to spend the time and effort to learn all about classical music, I'm frustrated with the fact that the supporters of classical are calling it relaxing sleep music, which is just another way of calling it boring and will likely dissuade people from learning more about it and cause them to trivialize it and lump all classical music in with that category.

For that matter, there are some pop fans I know who can name the entire list of albums an artist has produced, sing half their songs from beginning to end word for word, name the artist's siblings, favorite color, favorite food, etc. People absolutely care enough. When they start talking about how they like so-and-so and how they're the best band in the world, and I say I don't know who they are, they act like I'm an idiot for not knowing how supposedly great their music is. If I started telling them about Chopin and how I think he was the greatest composer to walk the planet, they said, "Who's that?" and I acted the same way they do when I don't know the band they're talking about, I would immediately be singled out as an elitist snob. I don't want to sound like I'm trying to belittle what you're saying, I just think you're missing some things.

It doesn't bug me when someone doesn't have the same musical tastes as I do. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. It bugs me when people don't even TRY it because they automatically see it as boring. I don't particularly like pop, but I used to, and I've at least tried it. Honestly? If you say classical music is boring... well... classical music spans hundreds of years. If you look hard enough, you'll find something you like. To be honest, it has more variation than most pop music out there. Makes you wonder why there are so many genres of pop music, but classical music is lumped into one category.

I don't think anyone who is seriously into classical music sees it as just that.
As to why casual listeners describe it that way, I've already answered that. Because it works well that way.


I was talking about composition and how some people are more interested in it than others. What does all that have to do with it?

I know virtually nothing about the composition of classical music. I like it because it's music, and if people can learn about their favorite bands, they can learn just as much about different composers. I'm sorry if what I said sounded grouchy and irrelevant. That's all I meant.

Again, why? Why are you annoyed? Did you write, perform, or produce the music? Are you related to the musicians/composers? No? Then it has nothing to do with you, and your proprietary sense of annoyance makes no sense.

Huh... and here I was thinking we were talking just about music and not about learning about composers and/or artists' siblings' favourite colour.

Why don't you make the effort to learn more about the private life of some pop starlet? Maybe it would make you appreciate her fabulous edginess more.

Sorry... I guess I did get a little off topic. I'll work on making my comments more relevant and less... well... I sort of did sound like a jerk in my previous comments. I'll work on making my comments better in general.

Like I said before, I like the music because it's music. I know very little about the composition or the composers. To be honest, I probably know more about pop bands than I do classical composers. I just wish some more people my age would listen to it more, without using it to fall asleep or study better.

Wow, we're getting way off topic from my first post.

So this thread predictably really is basically just about how it sucks that people around you have different tastes and interests?

No. I said I was frustrated that classical is being advertised the wrong way. Like I said, people see it as sleep music because it's advertised that way. We got off topic. I'm sorry if I was unclear.

Advertised by whom, how and towards whom?
How would you prefer it to be advertised?

I honestly can't say I know. I'm not going to pretend that I'm an advertising expert and say that I know something that I don't, but I can tell you that essentially advertising it as boring is not going to do so well. If no one learns to appreciate it as an art instead of some kind of magical sleep potion, what's going to happen to it?

Classical music is widely and almost universally regarded as the artsiest form of music there is. What are you talking about?

There are a lot of people who, yes, call it a high art form, but let's say there's someone who says they appreciate classical music but doesn't listen to it often unless they're in the mood. Ask them the last time the listened to classical music of their own accord when they weren't studying or sleeping. Most likely they won't be able to answer. Of course, not all people are like this. Generalizations always have exceptions. But in my experience, they've been in the minority. I know maybe 4 people who actually listen to classical music on a regular basis, and only one is under 40. And she's a music major!

It's also often regarded as elitist and too high-class. There are always two sides to a coin.

.

That's not what I'm saying. Stop twisting my words.
I said classical is being advertised wrong, which would not help more people enjoy it more. You're saying that it is regarded as very artsy. I responded and said that whether or not people supposedly think that, it's not really having that much of an impact on what people really think. I don't care if some people have different tastes than I do. I care if they refuse to appreciate it at all.

OP, are you a classical composer or performer? Are you closely related to someone directly involved in classical music?

First of all, this thread was not supposed to be my annoyance at people for not appreciating classical music; it was supposed to be about my annoyance at classical advertisers and the way they advertise it.

But let's say someone dissed Lincoln and said that all the work he did for his country was stupid. Would you get annoyed? I don't know you, and I can't read your mind or anything, but if you had an appreciation for what he did, I would guess you would at least a little bit. Why? Because he did a lot of good things and people should appreciate that. Why shouldn't I get annoyed when people call the work of the great composers of the past boring?

Or maybe I see people telling me that my musical taste is dumb as an attack against me. Let's say I like watching dramas on TV. I don't, but let's go with it. Someone comes up to me and says that the movies I watch are dumb. Does that mean they see me as dumb for liking them? It's certainly possible. I have reasons for getting annoyed. When I mention that I like classical to someone, I feel like I was just categorized as the boring nerd.

Which, again, is a matter of other people having different tastes and interests.

No, in this case, it's more of a matter of people not trying to listen to it and instead being prejudiced against it. If someone has only listened to Moonlight Sonata and Fur Elise, they can't really say that they don't like classical. If I only listened to Justin Bieber's Baby and Boyfriend, can I really be justified in saying I think pop is stupid? No, of course not. I have to listen to different songs, because I had only just scratched the surface. I can't judge an entire genre based on two songs. It's the same with classical music. If someone has actually looked at all sorts of different periods and varieties of classical music and decided that it's not their thing, I don't have a problem with it. But if they have only listened to Moonlight Sonata and say it's boring, they aren't really justified in saying that.

Who says its relaxing? Who advertises classical really? I mean adverts in your local paper for your town symphony orchestra doesn't count.I've heard it makes you smarter.....in utero. But thats litterally the last big media sensation classical has made in my memory anyways.

And where and how does this mysterious advertising come into play?

EDIT: Roxy beat me to it.

On the website for Classical MPR, I saw an advertisement trying to encourage people to support "another year of relaxing music". There are all sorts of albums of classical music that say "Relaxing Classical for Sleeping","Music for Studying", "Calm Piano Sleep Music ", etc. Maybe there aren't even that many advertisements, but the few advertisements that are there do have an effect. If that's what the supporters of classical music advertise it as, wouldn't someone assume that they must be right, and that relaxing is all it is.

Just look up "relaxing classical" on Google, iTunes, Spotify, Youtube, Amazon, etc. There will be all sorts of those albums.

Why you a slave to da man homie?

I'm sorry, I really have no idea what you mean. :confused:

Those are people selling a product, not supporters or fans.
They sell this product as a kind of functional music. They do this because a lot of classical music works really, really well that way.
It just does, no matter how it's advertised.

To see beyond this deceptively bland, relaxing facade, people would have to pay close attention to the details of the music. Much closer than with most pop/rock etc., since those usually have a simpler, immediately catchier compositional structure and therefore require less attention to appreciate.
Wait, didn't someone already say all that somewhere in this thread?

See signature....

Well. That's kind of a cynical, depressing way to look at it. It doesn't exactly make the future of classical music look very bright. But I suppose it's true, sort of.

I'm pretty sure there was no point in history where classical music was the predominant and most popular form.
It still prevailed unfazed, having a steady stream of dedicated composers, performers and fans.
Nothing depressing or cynical here, unless you really try to bend it that way.

Well... not really. It wasn't that long ago when other musical genres started to take hold. Before then, classical was the big thing. I'm pretty sure classical music spans more centuries than all other musical genres combined. Of course, by classical, I am referring to all periods (baroque, classical, romantic, etc.) not just the classical period. I wouldn't say that classical "doomsday prophets" who predict the death of classical are right, but there has been a decline in popularity in the last century or so.

Even in its heyday it was the music of the upper classes. A pretty thin slice of a population which mostly still prefered simpler, catchier folk music.
And even those upper classes probably listened to it more because it was hip and trendy, or as functional music for socializing (crowds at concerts back then were notoriously chatty and rowdy), relaxing and dancing. And you, as we know, wouldn't approve of that.
I'm not saying there aren't fluctuations in popularity, but the music is going nowhere. So sit back in a comfy chair, put on some relaxing Chopin and stop worrying about ridiculous stuff.

I suppose it's not that big of a deal, and not worth arguing or getting mad about.

:beer:

To be honest, putting a thought process into listening to classical music only makes the music a little worse for me. I enjoy symphony 1 by Beethoven just by listening to it, and not trying to pay too much attention to it. A lot of music requires more listening and focus. Classical never really required much focus for me. I just listen, and enjoy no matter what I'm doing.

I find some classical very relaxing. Or maybe I should say some classical music relaxes me. I bought an Einaudi Ludovico album a few weeks ago and when I play it, my thoughts slip away and I feel very relaxed. And the more realxed I feel the more I'm able to focus on and appreciate it. I feel similarly listening to goa trance music too. I think it's the lack of lyrics. Lyrics tend to distract me and set my mind a-thinking and a-feeling.

But that's just me.

I think if they found that putting blue monkeys holding string cheese while playing the accordion sold product, you'd see them (the monkeys) all over the cover art.

The thing I immediately think of, though, is how that sounds to the artist/composer - "I like your music because it puts me to sleep."