how to interest people in classical piano

[demented cow]

What have been your experiences in interesting people in classical piano music who previously did not like it or did not know anything about it?
My (non-)experiences:

a) The only person I ever managed to interest in class. piano was with a guy I know who was a serious collector of rock/pop. 10 years ago, he educated me about Led Zeppelin etc. and I lent him classical stuff (not only piano). He had good taste: he liked Chopin's ballades but thought the waltzes were trivial, he liked the Beehoven's 4th concerto better than the 5th (and I didn't tell him that this was my view beforehand). He didn't like op.111 at first, but that was only because he listened to the last 4 sonatas in one sitting. He still listens to such things occasionally, though he's not an avid collector.

b) Years ago I put on Barere's recording of Gnomenreigen in the middle of a discussion among my guitar-playing friends about who the fastest guitarist was, and they were stunned (they initially thought I was playing the record at 45rpm instead of 33). They asked me whether I had 'more stuff like that', and I obliged, though I don't think they ended up liking the music. They just respected the musicianship.

c) Otherwise, the only comments I hear about classical piano are negative. The very same octave passage in the middle of the 1st movement of the Emperor that used to give me goosebumps prompted a friend of mine to tell me to turn it off, saying 'why do we need to listen to this heavy sh*t'? (What this person was doing studying cello at university, I will never know.) From another person, the last movt. of the Apassionata prompted the response 'This music's got no rhythm in it. Can you put something else on'.
These days I don't even play classical music in the background when I have visitors just in case I will have to deal with negative feelings towards somebody else who happens to denigrate music that means a lot to me.

[thalbergmad]

The lady I work with has a 2 year old boy who is always screaming his head off when she drives him to nursery.

One day i said, you should play him some Mozart instead of having Radio One on.

I gave her a tape of Sonatas played by Schiff (i think) and lo and behold the kid stops bawling and listens.

Another convert. Best get em whilst they're young.

[rc]

One time I ended up at a party with some friends where there was a piano, so I was glad to show what I'd been working on the past months, which was a simple movement from a Beethoven sonata. I was still pretty new to piano, most of them didn't suspect I played, so there was the whole party-trick-novelty aspect. But I must've done a good enough job of it, the next day one friend asked to borrow a recording of it. Same friend a few weeks later has a Mozart disk in his collection.

At work I have CBC playing classical all day. I work in construction... Well, I get occasional compliments from homeowners. Rarely other workers will ask what the hell I'm listening to, often they just give me an odd look, heh heh. The worst is when somebody sympathetically affirms my tastes, "It's OK that you listen to classical music", which I hate the most.

At work I've gotten two people interested in classical music. One coworker who was willing to listen to it day after day, soon found a lot to like. The other is a music fan, we like to talk music all the time, but his area is more pop-culture. I should mention comedy is what this guy loves, humour is highly valued... One day Beethovens 3rd PC comes in the middle of some toilet humour. I point out the music, and we end up making a running dialogue of toilet humour to the music. Well, it worked, he spent the rest of the week listening to CBC and so far as I know still is.

Getting people into the music is always an ulterior motive of mine . They may not be actively interested, but the people around me have accepted classical music and will listen to it openly. Planting the seeds. But don't worry if someone doesn't like it, there are a lot of people who won't like it and some who aren't ready for it... Just don't go shoving it down peoples throats, "Listen to classical music, it's good for ya!", that doesn't work.

[pianistimo]

agreed with thalbergmad. unless they're young, it's a lost cause.   unless, of course, we could take over the world and force all the grocery stores, clothing stores, restaurants, hospitals, and the like, to play classical music non-stop.  a sort of brain washing of the general population over time might work.

[perfect_pitch]

These days I don't even play classical music in the background when I have visitors just in case I will have to deal with negative feelings towards somebody else who happens to denigrate music that means a lot to me.

I'd say Bugger that... If you want classical music running in the background and you have friends over - You tell them that YOU are listening to it. They can just not focus on it if they want. I ALWAYS have Classical Music playing at my house.

[ted]

As a rule I don't bother trying to interest people in music of any sort these days. I did when I was young but found such interest as I thought I aroused was usually already in the person to some extent. It had often been dormant or suppressed owing to life circumstances. At best all I did was expose them to sounds they hadn't heard which I thought they might like.

Very occasionally, about once or twice in a lifetime, you do get someone who suddenly discovers a powerful understanding and hitherto unrealised abilities. I remember a woman who worked in a factory adjacent to my office many years ago approached me because she was considering buying a piano. I helped her with that task and then, in the course of playing for her, found she could tell by ear all the voicings of any chord I played. "Oh, I always wondered why each of those made me feel differently" I taught her for a while but she had no technique and needed a proper teacher for adult beginners. There was a hell of a musical sensitivity there though and I'm sure I played a part in waking it up.

So you do get the occasional adult who just needs the gates opened a little, but they're pretty rare.

[chromatickler]

SPEED
FURY
n CG

[rafant]

I listen to my classical music CD's all the time while I drive my car, going to my work or back to home. Along the years I have taken several neighbors, who were then forced to listen an hour of classical music.
Of course I was glad whenever one of my passengers asked: "Nice piece: what's 'its name?" or "I'm going to buy that CD".
The pieces that arose more comments or praises were: Tchaikovsky's 5th Symphony, Mozart's 21th concerto, Rachmaninnoff's 2nd concerto, Mendelssohn's venetian boat songs and Field's Nocturnes.