Music Appreciation Class

Many people are very good at making vast �generalisations� about music of particular types and thumb their nose to thoughts of music appreciation classes or music appreciation courses. The critics and even the computer people nowadays try to call them �genres� and categorize music as if it was something from a supermarket shelf. �Do you want baked beans or classical music, corn flakes or modern jazz? We have 10 different brands of each�.



Whilst these generalisations are all very well and good for some people, there are others who have somewhat more discerning tastes and are looking for more. These are very often the people who appreciate music. It really does not matter what type of music you �like�, whether it�s rock, Baroque, rave or Ravel you do appreciate �your type of music�.



�Musically blinkered� has been the thought of many people appreciative of different kinds, types and even specific �genres� of music. Why stick to one when there are so many out there?



Music appreciation classes are very often the answer. They will teach you to listen to music with much more of an open mind. For instance, many people who �don�t like classical music� can sit through a whole class and keep on saying �Oh yes I really like that one but I didn�t know it was classical music�. A good music appreciation class will be able to give anyone between the ages of 5 and 95+ a taste of what they did not know was classical music. They can do the same for jazz and many others.



It is no secret that it is not a question of �not liking� the music but failing to �understand� it. The simple equation backwards would be �I do not understand this music therefore I do not like it�.



Some people have been lucky enough to go to schools or colleges who had compulsory classes in this very important subject which will lead to pleasure for the rest of their lives, and some have been even luckier and have undertaken music appreciation courses.



The whole point of these classes is to enable you to open up your senses of hearing and to keep an open mind about the music you�re listening to. If you are asked to close you�re eyes or all the lights are turned off you may gain an entirely different perspective of a piece of music you thought you �did not like�.



You will be exposed to all sorts of music during your music appreciation course and each piece will be explained to you either before or afterwards. Possibly you will be told to listen out for the oboe solo in the middle of the piece, and of course you will remember what an oboe sounds like. The bass viola stands out because of it�s dissimilarity from the double bass.



You learn that Paganini wrote pieces for the violin which cannot be equalled to this day; that J.S. Bach had 21 children (therefore his own family orchestra in his later years); that a clarinet only came into being in Mozart's time and when taken abroad into hot climates split, (the answer being to make them out of metal and, when they wanted a deeper tone, to bend it like a trumpet and make 3 types of saxophone out of it, all of which have similar fingering, the 4th, the soprano, remaining straight).



So you've been on your music appreciation course and what do you do now? Maybe you will listen to a piece of music you have not heard before, and before judging it you will listen with new ears. You may recognise the French horn, the violas, the contralto or the harpsichord. You will understand a lot more about the music now and perhaps understand a lot more about what the composer is trying to say. You have learned a new language without realizing it. All thanks to your music appreciation class!