Reason we prefer classical: It's too large a chunk

[faulty_damper]

From reading Bernhard's reply: repeat of passages 7 times until it is memorized but if it can't be memorized then the chunk is too large.  This is the reason we prefer classical music: we can't comprehend it completely or can we remember it all at once.

Classical music is:
1. complex
2. lengthy

Since we can't memorize things that are both complex and lengthy at multiply sittings, classical music has that alure of being repeated multiple times and not be boring.  In fact, it can be repeated hundreds of times without being boring.  Just refer to your own listening habits.

Comparatively, pop music is always short - usually under 4 minutes in length, and usually simple in tonal structure.  But, these songs usually go out of fashion in a short period of time.  That is because the music can be fully comprehended by the mind and as as such, the mind decides that it is no longer of interest as all aspects of the stimuli have been understood.  Also, the simplicity of the music and the short length is played back perfectly each time - the hubris of recording media playback - there is no change to that stimuli which helps us to disregard it after multiple listenings

If we were to apply the memorization of information into smaller chunks from the whole, and then proceed to memorize the entirety of the piece from this pattern, then the classical music would turn into pop music.  Here is an example:

On the classical FM radio station, they usually play back a short bit of a specific piece with some pre-recorded dialogue during the interlude from the lengthy pieces of music.  The classical FM station I listen to is 102.1 FM, KDFC.  They have been playing one of these interludes which include a short piano piece (less than 4 seconds long) while some soothing voice says "classical... one 'O' two point one, FM.  Your source of classical music."  I did not know what piece of music the piano clip was from until I heard the station play one of Beethoven's piano sonatas many months later.  When I heard the music from the short clip, I immediately recognized it and the entire tone of the sonata changed so drammatically.  I was enjoying it quite much until I recognized the clip!  For some reason, it didn't sound right, as if I already knew exactly what was going to happen next (I've heard the music clip several dozen times out of context).  I thought "So this is where they took the clip from".  But after listening the the sonata on other occasions, the piece seemed so trivial.  It wasn't as enjoyable because every time that 4 seconds would play, I would reconize it like a nipple on a breast.

I was disgusted by the stations use of taking music clips out of context and repeating it endlessly between programs.  And with other 4 second clips of music that they use for their interludes, I have the same reaction when I hear the entire piece.  That fierce recognition of that 4 seconds turns me off.

So the repeat of 4 seconds of music over and over becomes deeply ingrained in the brain.  4 seconds is a very short chunk of information to comprehend.  And since the stimuli does not vary, there is no other interest and the mind disregards it.

Classical music is often lengthy and our minds cannot comprehend fully 10 minutes of sophisticated music even with hundreds of sittings - the same joy in the music is created everytime it is played.  This is also why we are able to hear more after multiple sittings - we did not notice it the first several times around.  The dominant melody is usually the focus of our attention as it is the most pronounced.  But under that melody may lie inner melodies.  And the bass structure, often subdued, will recieve its due of attention when we are able to comprehend other facets of the music.

This complexity and length is what makes classical music 'classical'.  This and the fact that we can't remember large chunks of information.

[Tash]

that's really interesting and i must say i agree with it. i very rarely get bored of listening to classical music, even the pieces i play everyday which can go for almost a year when preparing them for exams- i may get sick of playing them for like a week but that's usually out of frustration and i need a break from it just to give it some space.

meanwhile my friends who listen to non-classical music easily get bored of songs which is why the whole top 40 thing exists and is continuously changing.

which reminds me of last year when our music class was picking pieces to play for our final exams and throughout the year the 4 singers were always changing their minds cos they either didn't like the song or were bored of it. as for me, i stuck only switched one piece and that was basically out of forceage because my teacher didn't think i had enough contrast, and even at the beginning of the year she was worried that i would get bored of playing the same piece but i showed her!

also, the whole taking musical clips out of their contexts i find annoying, eg. with debussy's clair de lune i see it from a perspective that knows about debussy's music and the ideas he was trying to convey in it, in contrast to my friends, who when they hear it randomly automatically think the film 'ocean's 11' cos it was played at the end of it. aghhh i find it so annying!

[Spatula]

True true, I wholeheartedly agree with both your posts.
I find that in no other type of music, either be it jazz, rap, rock and roll, blah blah woof woof, they tend to focus more either not in the music itself, but for monetary reasons and such which I don't fee like getting into right now.

Think of Mozart for example.  He was no where near the status of a millionaire, although he did hold some prestige with the Emperor, but I read that in his early childhood, he had to eat the scrapes of whatever food was dropped or leftover from the royal table, how insulting!  His family wasn’t terrible rich, although they somehow found ways and means to make a living.  

Composers in those days probably lived in not that great conditions and were born with a talent only they could harvest and put on a piece of paper.  Their medium of communicating the complexity of their thoughts was not so much in language of phonics, but the language of music.  Shakespeare used the pen and paper for poems, plays etc, and those were his medium.  Whereas the composers used the staff and musical notation to express their ideas.  

Do you ever think Britney Spears could ever come up with one single song that could match a sonata,  lest a piano concerto?!   Perhaps not in style but in complexity?

Another thing that classical music uses that I find no other form of music exerts is the whole phenomenon of DYNAMICS.  There are crescendos and staccatos and slurs, ties, etc etc, and why do I not hear these such essence of music in backstreet boys?  
Note that I respect what other’s listen to, but still I find Classical music the most rewarding to listen to of all.  I could listen to Beethoven’s Appassionato, or the Rach 3 concerto a hundred times over and not get bored in a lifetime!

As a matter of fact I listened to the Rach 3 six times in one day!  

I find I enjoy the music the most when I sit down and read along the score as well as listen to the music simultaneously to get both an audio and visual experience, its kinda like a read along but involves you to witness how the musical passages are executed.  

That’s my two cents

[bet33]

"I find that in no other type of music, either be it jazz..."

-quote on musicians in it for the money...



you dont know what youre talking about, jazz musicians make less then classical musicians most of the time... jazz is also highly complex, alot of times more so then classical music...

id much rather hear classical myself... but your statement is false...

[Spatula]

Jazz is more based on improvs, nevertheless it still has merits in musical quality.  

[bet33]

sure, alot of jazz is highly dependent on improvisation...

but what does that have to do with your first quote?

which is what i didnt agree with...

[ThEmUsIcMaNBJ]

Jazz is more based on improvs

So was classical for a great amount of time.  

I can't understand why all of these self-proclaimed elitists keep talking down on jazz.  If you are talking about complexity jazz is extremely complex.  There is TONS of music and theory etc etc...  in jazz...  freak...  I don't want to get into it right now.  But my guess is, you're either ignorant to what is going on just like most people are to classical, or you havn't heard REAL jazz, you just have heard the commercialized kenny g. type jazz.  That kind of jazz is just a step above pop music.