FREQUENTLY
ASKED QUESTIONS
understanding of classical music: contemplation. To be able to apprehend
an entire piece of classical music whether it is short in duration or long, is
an accomplishment. If one attempts to develop a contemplative ardor for
the music, then a new mode of listening experience will dawn with some time and
practice. In this new and highly contemplative
mode the mind is available to unify in the understanding of the work with
the work, even as it unfolds. In such a contemplative state of realization
of the music, there is no sense of being lost or stranded or perplexed somehow
by any passage or statement being presently heard. Thus the music gains a
richness in its own context as it is heard, with no remarkable effort to tie any
part or division or movement into an overall understanding.
2.In order to accept and understand the
soothing effects that classical music may have, one must indeed find the essence
of classical music and surrender to its very nature. For if one is
expecting to hear the same type of music to which one is conditioned,
then one will never really have the receptivity of 
mind necessary to make the transformation over to classical music.
The essay REFLECTIONS ON MUSIC
says this about the classical art form:
However, the primary motive of a classical piece is to depict the integrity of the simple beauty of euphony, or combinations of sounds that agree with one another, and have a pleasing effect therefore. (From REFLECTIONS ON MUSIC.)
Knowing this, one can learn to expect and
then appreciate what is there in this style of music as compared to others.
Indeed, there is always the beauty and harmony of nature to remind one of the
place of symmetry and perfection in the very nature of reality about us.
If the nature of sound is found in its perfectly proportioned harmonics, then a
musical expression 
which reflects that profound perfection at the grosser levels of actual works
comprised of sound, music, then the very real nature of sound itself has been
honored. Please refer to REFLECTIONS
for a careful exposition of the nature of art in order to develop an
understanding of classical music for what it is as a musical art form. If
one extols peace and harmony in everyday living and experience, then the analogy
of classical music as a soporific agent will not be so threatening to the
newcomer to the beautiful world of classical music.
3.Did you ever notice that some people are
likely to relate events and interests in a more abstract way than others?
Many people are practical-minded, and are not likely to embark on a conversation
about how they developed a certain hobby or a well-developed knowledge of a
certain area of interest. Most of the people who understand the subtlety
of truth also have a mind which is more likely to conceptualize readily in the
abstract plane. When two such differing people talk, an observer can often
discern the basic difference in the types of minds which are expressing, one
being disposed to the abstract, while another being more disposed to the
practical realm. 
Thus,
some people will easily discuss the weather as if it is all-important, since
they are focused on reasoning their way through the physical world. Others
will not even understand that focus on the physical realm, taking for granted
the usual pattern of living as they observe and perhaps generalize about
people and things. The same innate characteristics found in people
for the type of mind they enjoy as they live their lives, will express
then 
again in their aesthetic sensitivities for music. Those who tend to
conceptualize more from an abstract viewpoint continuously will also find a
kinship with the abstract nature of classical music.
For reverberations of the truth of music quite happenstantial to a moment in a forest, say, or on a mountainside on a summer's day, or by a placid pond at sunset, will forever feed the inspiration and forever kindle the aspiration of a musician who wishes to reflect the creation in the language of music. (From REVERBERATIONS ON MUSIC.)
To one who is consumed in the concrete
matters of living, rather than being aware of the more subtle truth and beauty
of the world about us, there is no particular inspiration to be found in the
wonder that is the world. The mind of such a doer in life is perhaps not
available for the cadence in the crickets' calls, and might be more preoccupied
with simple matters, and grosser level observations relating to how to abide in
the next change in the weather, for example. If you are the kind of person
who admires the perplexities of life and the call of the sunset, or the beauty
of the snow instead of its need for removal, then perhaps you would be suited to
learning to appreciate and love the abstract nature of classical music, as well.
Many who would have naturally taken to classical have been perhaps acclimated to
other kinds of music in the popular realm, and do not even understand themselves
as potential devotees of this more ancient form of music. The true measure
of the brilliance of classical music does not therefore lie in the numbers of
people who are devoted to it, or who like it or even prefer it. It is a
question of the likelihood of exposure to classical music in a society
whose tastes for music are formed more from a popular
venue which comes to them of a day, so that the actual choice to learn
about classical is perhaps never even made one way or the other. Yet, many
of those whose cognitive abilities have never been exercised in finding their
truest sensitivities for music at all, are actually equipped by predilection for
the more abstract kind of music, classical, and may not know it.
Consult the Web page entitled, 'WORKS'
for a brief discussion of our current era
as regards the musical art. This essay might assist you in analyzing how
it is that we are not a classically oriented culture in the music sector of art.
There might be an emotional burden for some who basically love classical music,
but never own up to it deeply or fully due to a lack of awareness as to
why it does not abound in our every day surround.
5.The basic difference between classical
and semi-classical music is found in the formality which is lent to the
classical style, and which formality derives from the more structured form of
the classical work. Although there are of course many different kinds of
classical pieces to consider, the one feature which prevails in all of them is a
certain definition of structure in the overall piece according to its own
particular genre. Semi-classical music, on the other hand, relies for its
appeal less on the formality in statement which is so characteristic of
classical music, and more upon its fluid and less 
imposing phrases. These phrases may not interconnect past the power of
melody and variation on melody, for instance, which might be lent by rhythmic
changes. Thus, there is likely to be a greater simplicity of statement in
a semi-classical piece. Many will take shelter in this more easy-going
sound, since it does not require so much focus of attention. In classical
works the focus is in figuring out how the overall message of the musical piece
is to be found past the partitions of macro-structure, or beyond the divisions
of movements, as in a symphony. This takes the exercise of memory
cognitively, and becomes easier once an ear for classical music is developed:
Such a movement, or even a recurring
theme of short extent, a leitmotif, for example, of course knows its own
mathematical composition or harmonics. However, that very composition has a
meaning, or a certain inherent message, which finds its source in its contrast
to or in its indirect apposition to a neighboring part of the overall work. (
From REMEMBRANCES ON MUSIC.) 
From the quote above taken from the essay REMEMBRANCES, one can begin to see how the classical piece must be connected together by the memory of what had come before a given passage. The mellifluous phrase and harmony of composition in what might be called the infrastructure of the classical work is used then to propound a higher level statement through the use of an overall change in meaning and mood perhaps, as the work moves dynamically into a new mode or movement, that which constitutes its overall structure, its macrostructure. Semi-classical music may only involve a type of sound which matches classical music for the euphony, the sweet-sounding melodious and soothing rhythmic character which lulls the senses. And there it finds its completion, it stops, and yet it is still in progress to be heard. In a very real sense, semi-classical music makes a unilateral statement. The similarities between semi-classical music and classical music are remarkable, especially in this day when loudness and rebelliousness are often communicated through the musical sphere of the popular music culture; yet classical and semi-classical music are different in that classical music employs more than one mode of temperament in order to satisfy its full sense of expression. It is no wonder that the two styles of music, classical and semi-classical, are often understood by casual listeners as about the same--but they are far from equivalent to one another. And semi-classical is easier to understand, since it lives to say one message in as non-descript a way as possible, and prefers for its measure of brilliance an holistic statement of a single outstanding feature. That feature might be its catchy melody, or its alluring rhythmics or its complex harmony interfaced with a leading progression of melody over and over again. This simplicity in semi-classical music as compared to classical music is why it might be considered a watered-down version of classical, since their outstanding similarities in euphonious composition cause one to strongly associate the two styles, one with the other. In terms of the question of liking semi-classical more than classical, an analogy might serve to make the moot point: this is similar to asking whether a simple plot is better than an involving and complex plot in a drama. For a simple plot may have a great didactic import, which cannot be matched only because its simplicity says the most; yet, there will always be those who admire the long and involved dramas, feeling that such dramas reflect more accurately the real nature of life and living. Similarly, a classical music piece is more complex and involving than a semi-classical piece; a classical piece can be much more indirect than a semi-classical piece, and in order to understand it fully, the listener must comprehend each passage as it relates to what had come before. This is similar to figuring out a plot at a theater performance in a sense. Further, imagine having a sense of what is to come next in a symphony, say, so that when it is heard, there is a certain requitement of your sensibilities. This also describes the joy of the more varied musical presentation that is the classical art form as compared to the semi-classical art form.
There is a definite common sense to keying into 
semi-classical music as a leading exercise before embarking upon the classical
music journey, although it is not necessarily required. This preliminary
familiarization with semi-classical music before attempting to understand and
enjoy classical music might be especially advisable for someone who has
submerged into habituating sense desires by the highly graphical music imagery
of the rock culture, for example.
6.Children are more receptive to music than we might realize readily, since they
have not yet developed the inhibitions likely to be placed upon them by their
immediate cultural milieu, which environment will have its own expectations of
them and its own effects of simple placement. If a child is given an
opportunity to cognize a higher art form such as classical music, then a
definite learning process will have taken seed and also form for that child.
Such a seed can be incalculably influential across time, such that even after
years of exposure to the stories of torment and tragedy often told so
vociferously and expressionistically by the bards of hard luck in some of the
popular cults of sense-driven music, the early influences and learning through
classical, which had visited a child still in the formative stage of artistic
appreciation and awareness, will remain there to be tapped for that youth, or
youth now grown. Since holistic music orders the mind much as any
pleasant language would, it is conceivable that an infant can also be blessed by
the presence of classical music. Even then, the selections for listening
might be chosen so as not to inculcate upset and tumultuous emotional content
for those in their infancies who live for the constant reassurance and security
which parenthood provides, quite unawares of that feat of living as willful.
Music which supports that context of thematic harmony and peace found in the
household can actually uplift and help form a personality which is nurtured by
contentment; and the contentedness of the language of the classical music art
form is built-in through its grace, its often peace-generating messages and
melodies. Mozart is an excellent composer for children of all ages.
He is also a child prodigy, so that children feel a sense of belonging to
Mozart when told of his early 
beginnings. His music is filled with easily achieved resolutions, and
through a dynamic enterprise which is seemingly effortless. Children like
that kind of statement musically, since it makes them feel protected and assured
of good outcome. Brahms is also highly recommended for young listeners, who
should be taught the finer and more subtle nuances of the language of music as
early as possible. Strauss is a genius who should visit anyone's life,
young or younger, and especially if the parent sees a dancer or a figure skater
in the child, and wants to cultivate the physical culture alongside the musical
edification of the youth.
Yet, such say needed to be said as never before, even had time alone courted its day for the giving. In the wake of such visitation, at having heard what was being created extemporaneously thus so, does the composer settle in the knowledge of the message much like an ear giving audience to a new accord, a sublime word connoting faith and high truth. For this is the most elevated passage of classical worth, whose moment and the birth of that moment can only be described as on the order of revelation itself. (From REVELATIONS ON MUSIC.)
This brief quote from the essay REVELATIONS
may describe the inspiration from which this classical composer derives
music. However, in order for the newcomer to classical music to better
understand why it is desirable to undergo a reformational change to this style
of music, it becomes necessary to seek an introductory level readiness for the
learning experience at hand. There is not likely to be an immediate grasp
of the kind of ultimate source in inspiration for the act of composing when a
newcomer first hears the composition. However, when on faith such a
newcomer learns, if only by reading, how deeply engrossing is the process of
composing in classical music, then a receptivity of mind has been in turn
inspired for the new student of this most beautiful and uplifting musical art
form, classical music. This should set a goal-mindedness in the newcomer
as an interest and an understanding of the elevated style of classical takes
formation. For if the music had arisen from a higher source, then this
exact attribute of greater level for the composer can be cognized by a skilled
listener. It is also true that the more profoundly inspired works can
become more immediately understood by anyone who listens to classical music,
experienced or not experienced, because those works of more profound
inspirational source are of a more universal level truth. Therefore, a
highly inspired composer, or a composer whose inspiration is especially
prominent in a given piece, is likely to be understood more easily and sooner.
These are fine points, yet, they lead to the final understanding of why it is
desirable to become educated in classical music at all; for if the composer of a
classical work feels uplifted to the point of enlightenment through realizing a
composition in the act of composing it, then that constitutes evidence that
classical music has the power to enlighten others, as well. This is true
for myself as a composer, since such religiously-inspired composers as
Vivaldi, Handel, Haydn, Johann Sebastian Bach and others had
uplifted and enlightened myself before I ever composed classical music. Of
all the
composers who have formed my
knowledge of music, Bach is the most realized, and thus has taught me the most.
Bach is beyond measure to me.
8.Knowing that in
classical music there is an outstanding form of musical art to be
interpreted by yourself shows faith. To further act upon this faith and to
begin to understand classical, is to build more than the knowledge by hearsay
which had inspired your curiosity: it is to test the evidence that
classical music is worthwhile, a bold undertaking, since the evidence spans
centuries across antiquity. Yet even so, you must discover classical music
for yourself as an individual in your own right. This remarkable history
of classical music seems to frighten some people, and feeling incapable of such
a proven great musical art, they humbly put it aside, feeling outside of it.
This places a mental block which will temper their enthusiasm to actually ever
try to accept classical music fundamentally. Since this music
requires an awareness which turns into a cultivation as it is more fully
appreciated, such people may never learn to love classical music. Now you
may beg the question, and say that this analysis makes you doubt that classical
music is actually so great, or else it would be immediately loved by anyone.
In answer to that it must be stated that there is an indirectness in the
language of classical music which must be confronted before classical can
be admitted to the mind as somewhat integrated for the newcomer. This
barrier to immediate apprehension of the indirectness in classical music is more
easily crossed by some than by others. It is your task as an individual to
patiently work at finding how to transcend your own particular obstacle to
really hearing classical music for its message, as well as for your enjoyment of
it. This may take time, and it may take strategy. A good strategy
might be to test how open your mind actually is to this music genre, simply
by
exposing yourself to a wide
variety of classical music for a while, such as by listening to classical music
radio stations. If you find that you are receptive to it in a
general sense, then half the task is accomplished, since that is the basic
requirement. If you find that your mind balks at the music, and you cannot
endure listening to it for long out of botheration, then you might try a more
narrow approach: find a single piece of music which you like somewhat, and
memorize it mentally. Learn to hear what comes next before you hear it,
and this will develop for you the memory which is requisite to understanding
classical music in general. It is similar to learning a song, and it might
help you to think of it in this way. If you start with a short piece, then
your task should be easier for you. Start with just one or two classical
works which you can begin to grasp, and from there you will progress.
Learning to listen to an entire symphony may take some time and practice for
you, so patience in this pastime is of the utmost importance. There is no
sense in dismissing classical music only because your first efforts gave no
discernable fruits. Each person has a learning curve which is unique, and
learning to appreciate classical music is like learning a new language.
Keep this in mind, and simply persevere according to the philosophy that efforts
to learn require a vision which encompasses the ignorance you wish to replace
with knowledge. Do not decry your retained ignorance; rather, look forward
to conquering what is left of your ignorance once you retain a beginner's
familiarity with the enchanting world of classical music.
9.Please read the answer to
question three (3) above on this FAQ page for the basic characteristics of a
person most likely to learn to love the language of classical music.
Understand also that there will be those whose learning of classical music may
bring them to a new vision of reality way beyond their own natural traits of
ideation in all other endeavors and modes of activity in life, since classical
music has the uncanny power to inspire a new and deeper self-realization.
Therefore, the primary consideration in the question of suitability in an
individual to the classical style of music is more of a question of that
individual's interest in it. Therefore, if you are in a quandary over the
classical music art form and whether or not to cultivate an interest in it, then
your only answer is to satisfy your curiosity and go forth on a program of
educating yourself in classical music. Even if you did not excel in the
abstract 
discipline of mathematics, for example, do not therefore dismiss your interest
in classical music. Music is akin to mathematics, true; but if your
mathematical abilities have never been truly tapped, for example, then you may
not know that classical music is for you. Also, individuals can evolve in
a single lifetime as according to the power of universal truth to enlighten
them, so that classical music can enlighten them past their own proven levels of
accomplishments and tendencies, or even abilities, in all other sectors in the
arts and sciences. The key for anyone interested in the possibility of
becoming acquainted with classical music simply is to open the mind to this
remarkable gift to mankind, classical music.
10.Yes, there is a way
for you. If you are determined, then there is a way for you to progress
into coming to know how to listen to and enjoy classical music. It takes
more effort for some than for others to study classical music as enjoyers; but
if you envision the reward for your efforts in learning more of classical music,
then you should not fret and focus on the current state of affairs for you
yourself. Rather, try a new strategy, and continue to have the faith that
memory will come to you in its own time. For you in particular, the
power of memory is not in tact properly so that you can follow the progression
in a longer piece, even though you have probably developed your memory somewhat,
at least at the level of familiarity, which is the first step, from what
you have said. There is a problem of attention span, it seems, and there
is a way to circumnavigate this setback for you. Instead of approaching
the music directly, you should try an indirect and more subliminal approach, so
that you will develop a familiarity at a more intuitive level. In order to
accomplish an indirect approach, you must listen to classical music in a
non-concentrative fashion. This can be done by playing it while working on
other things, such as while puttering around the house, or while enjoying
something at which you excel, a hobby, or a menial task or tasks. At the
same time that you preoccupy your mind with other concerns, you can play the
chosen classical works at a lowered volume. You will find that using
these two techniques of learning to listen to classical music, you will
occasionally focus in on the piece, and then change your focus back to
your work at hand. Thus, your work will feed your ability to stay as if in
the listening mode over much longer periods of time, since you will transfer the
sense of satisfaction from the task or tasks external to the music to the music
itself. Also, much of the learning which is bound to occur in this
indirect method will be untested until one day you realize how far you have
actually progressed. In your case this is critical, since your deficit is
in level of concentration. You will find that it becomes easier to
concentrate on classical music the more familiar you become with it, even if
this familiarity is less direct. I recommend this indirect method of
learning to enjoy classical music as a past-time from my own personal
experience, since that is how I first began to 
systematically study symphony works. After hearing the symphonies of
Beethoven while studying science simultaneously over weeks together, I would
separate them from the act of studying, and listen single-pointedly to them.
My mind was much more open to the music after this indirect approach.
Also, I found that the music helped me study, and the studies also accompanied
the music, so to speak. If you drive frequently, and play some pieces or a
chosen piece at a lowered volume, so that your concentration on the music is
second to the road, then it will also seep into your memory well without the
interference of worry that you cannot sustain your concentration long enough to
develop a memory or a love for the classical music art. Great things do
not come easily. A realistic appreciation of the greatness of classical music
even before you learn to enjoy it, will temper your dissatisfaction as you
contend with any impatience which will be bound to crop up as you learn to
nurture a devotion to classical. 
11.It is commendable
to be able to recognize a composer, and further to be able to name a composition
by that composer. There are knowers of classical music who have a
prodigious record of such factual knowledge, and some of those knowledgeable
people also understand even more of what underlies the music they so site for
its place in the development of the composer in mind. This is a more
advanced and also refined knowledge of classical music to which anyone
would naturally aspire. If you find that such a goal lies within your
conceptual reach, then start now and educate yourself accordingly.
However, it is also critical as you progress in your study to find the message
of the given composer in and through the music, so that you do not mistake sheer
factual information as a more ultimate level of knowledge. If a devotee of
classical music grasps well a single composer who had achieved a certain level
of expertise through his enlightenment, then in turn, if you take that
composer's work into your cognizance as potentially enlightening, you will also
find an enlightenment as you grasp the composer's musical work or works.
This more elevated grasp of music is actually the finest goal to which you can
aspire, and you may find that you naturally achieve this understanding of a
composer, so that the actual catalogue of works by various composers seems less
impressive in your store of knowledge than does the message made possible behind
the language of classical music. Therefore, at the same time that you
develop an ear for the sound and the various pieces of each composer whom
you study, concentrate further on the greater meaning which lies therein.
This is the finest moment in music for the listener: when the essential message
of the classical work which sounds its story, reaches through all
barriers, doubt and ignorance, calling the truth in its most universal reach, to
the fore of the mind and spirit, so as to make a most total statement of
incalculable and invaluable worth. For that statement of truth has
the power to further reach into the everyday life of the music devotee, and
guide inestimably the thoughts, deeds and pursuit of happiness according to the
extent of the reach so realized. Combining the goal of learning the
individual sound of each composer, and perhaps even his various works by title,
if you are so inclined, with the more subtle task yet of realizing the message
behind the composer's own variance in language as a writer, is the way for you
which will give you the greatest yield of truth through classical music.
Thus, as in all disciplines where the utmost in refined knowledge creates the
body of knowledge at hand for consideration, factual knowledge of classical
music should become a platform for the most subtle truth, the greater
essence of the truth, which underlies the knowledge conferred by the language of
classical music. This is the way of education in classical
music: to offer the truth to the devotee, whose understanding will begin when
the match between objective reality and the subjective will to seek greater
self-realization is made successfully through the experience of listening to
classical music. The fact that such deeper self-realization is available
through classical music is precisely why classical music never dies.
AFTERWORD :
In view of the foregoing guidance offered
you as you begin your journey into the majestic realm of classical music, may
you be blessed to find that for which you seek in this enlightening art
form. I encourage you to read the articles in this Web site to help you
formulate your vision of music as you come closer to your goal of understanding
classical music. Some theoretical analysis should be very helpful to you
as you begin to find yourself in classical music, so that these articles may
thus act like guides for you. Moreover, the prospectus for more articles
at Starkmusic.com should also inspire you, since you may continue learning even
after you feel comfortable with the introduction you gain from these early
essays, which should provide you your first acquaintance through reading and
study and listening. Once you find yourself playing a certain piece by a
certain composer for upliftment and peace of mind, then you will know that you
have arrived at a deeper realization of self. Once this process of
self-realization has taken seed form, a great gift to you has been conferred.
May that gift abound in your life. This is my vision and prayer for you.
The Composer who cares,
Marilynn Stark December 29, 2002
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The above math graphic was taken from "Graphics for the Calculus Classroom" by Douglas N. Arnold. The URL for this Web site is: http://www.ima.umn.edu/~arnold/graphics.html
©2000-2007 By Marilynn Stark All Rights Reserved
