I love classical, opera not so much. Vivaldi's four seasons and Holst's the planets are my favorites.
I like a wide variety from big band to modern rock alternative. I hate country music.

Quote from: fflintstone on December 12, 2011, 07:55:23 PM
I love classical, opera not so much. Vivaldi's four seasons and Holst's the planets are my favorites.
I like a wide variety from big band to modern rock alternative. I hate country music.

I'm going to be embarrassed if I've already said this, but, when I lived/ went to school at Oxford,  I had the opportunity to walk into some small, gorgeous church, and listen to the four seasons. This is a terrible cliche that persons often say, but, "I thought I landed in heaven."  Just for a few moments, I felt like the whole world was mine.... beautiful, without faults, without persons that were 1st 2nd or 3rd class.  As stupid as it may sound, I had a few moments where the world actually seemed like an OK place to live in. 
       The feeling didn't last long, but, while it did.....  it was the greatest feeling in the world.
cheers,
bird.

Speaking of music, one of the many good things about Christmas, for KatBird and me, is Mannheim Steamroller.  Due to my dialysis schedule we couldn't make the Mannheim Steamroller concert in Chattagnooga.  Maybe next year, but there is always cd's.
P.S. I'm listening to MS's "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" as I'm posting. 

Well, now I'm going to have to break out my "mannheim Steamroller" tapes!!!  When I first heard them, the whole "synthesizer"  idea was odd to me. In order to accomplish the sound they had, they had to have computers or (in my terms... some computer thing that makes things sound different) .
       I suppose I've ventured into the land of technology again.  I've learned that kids know all kinds of stuff we don't know because  Kids now were born with the internet, born in the year two thousandxxxxx..  It seems strange to me, but at some point soon ,  we are going to realize that we are considered ancient because we were born in the 1900s!
Anyhow, cheers,
bird

Opera is definitely a different kind of musical genre. It can be hard to get into. My favorite classical is Rachmaninoff. That guy new how to really create a peaceful mood. Also, if you are feeling like some more intense in-your-face music check out "The Planets" by Holst.

   In my closet, wrapped carefully for preservation, is a mint Kitten. With all its paperwork.
The original synth was Moog of course. Handmade and the size of a pickup truck!
     But among the first available commercial synthesizers, was the Cat.
Next year they decided to make a portable model, the Kitten.
  Its portable alright, but still 35 pounds and nearly 3 feet square!

This thing will reproduce almost any sound the human ear can perceive!
Except it won't do -anything- on purpose. Never! 
You never heard such screechy, shrieking, whomping, gurgling, divebombs and generally totally out of control random sounds in your life!
   Touch a single button, switch or slider (out of its several dozen),
  and off you go into still more dimensions.
  Its like a 29 foot monster straining at a shoelace to get loose and come after you!

     How anybody ever played Mary had a Little Lamb on one, is beyond me.
That's why its still mint all these years later.
     yours Scott

ScottG, that's how I feel about guitars.  I bought only 1.  I played it for a whole West Pac cruise in '66.  After 9 months, I could play 1 song but I would have to tell people what I was going to play so they could recognize it.  HaHaHaHa

I listen to a lot of classical music.  I never remember who wrote what but I find it easier to listen to and work that country or the newer rock stuff.

Quote from: bird on December 11, 2011, 11:55:10 PM
I'm with you---- opera challenged me to have a "wider range" of music in my head. I went to the "Phantom of the Opera."  It was quite impressive to me......much of that music couldn't really be categorized as "opera" music.  I thank my folks for taking me to musicals, concerts, plays, blugreass shows, ect.  I don't think many persons have the opportunity to be exposed to so many types of music. There's not a day that goes by that I don't thank my folks to introducing me into every type of music there was.





quote author=scottg link=topic=2819.msg16806#msg16806 date=1323372181]
  Opera never.  It all sounds like a cow stuck in a mud bog hollering for help to me.
I realize screaming to the back of a large hall with no microphone takes lungs. 

Classical is hit n miss. I love it, I hate it.  Everything good was invented in classical.
   A stuffy puffy stick up the butt conductor makes me turn away in seconds.
No imagination, like a marionette.
   Leonard Bernstein could bring my heart to my throat and tears to my eyes. Leap all the way up into the air, and play for keeps. He begged his musicians for their absolute best and let er rip! 

   Music is all about emotion to me. I couldn't care less how fast or fancy or any kind of skill.
Costumes,  dancers, light show..................snoooooooore.

  Show me your heart or go far far away!

I walked out on Jimi Hendrix once. He was awful that night. Put a nickel in the jukebox awful. Like a wind up toy.
 
  I cried like a little girl for the kids in the local jr high school band one time.
    It was "In the Mood" and they laid their little heads all the way back and blew for the sky with every single bit of everything they had.   It was gorgeous.
        When it was over, we all stood up and hammered our hands together until they hurt.

  There are only 2 kinds of music, good and bad.  It doesn't matter a bit what style or flavor.
Show me heart.
     yours Scott
 

[/quote]


ARE YOU KIDDING ME???? YOU WALKED OUT ON JIMI HENDRIX???  Wow, I'm jealous and disappointed (in Jimi). I've been fortunate in seeing several good performances from now "old timers."  Ralph Stanley, Doc Watson, and perhaps the best performance I've seen in a while, John Prine.   Dad told me one of the worst concerts he went to was a Gordon Lightfoot concert....  that was disappointing to hear.
     Oh, before I forget, you can't top "In the Mood."  If you want to go up against the Glenn Miller Band, you better have something really great to play.... because a song like "In the Mood" is virtually impossible to beat. I used to play the saxophone.  In our jazz school band, I played the baritone saxophone, and Glenn Miller was eye opening to me!
     I'm ready to challenge anyone who doesn't believe that big band was a gateway into jazz, pop, and a general dynamic that lends itself to all types of music.
      If anyone isn't familiar with Glenn Miller, just listen to his music for a while.  I'll bet 90 to 1 , you'll end up watching your foot start to tap.......  even though you haven't "asked your foot to tap."...  it's the nature of the music!
cheers,
bird

Bird, I was surprised to read that your Dad was disappointed in a Gordon Lightfoot concert.  KatBird and me did one of his in Huntsville.  It was a small concert and we had good seats, middle 4th row.  It was like he was sitting in a room singing to you.  It was great.

I agree about big band music.  It moves and puts you in the mood to move if you will pardon the pun. LOL

I love baritone sax.

Yeah it was tragic, but you would have walked too. He forced you to.  Nobody bats 1000.
   Johnny Winter had already just made immortal magic in the first degree that night.
Heart in your throat, what the hell just happened.... music.
   I guess Jimi was indisposed and just couldn't follow that.

  Even worse story. I laid in a van out in the parking lot, with a ticket in my pocket, for Band of Gypsies, the following year.  And they were truly lighting the sky on fire!
  I was too sick to even stand up. Pneumonia at 103-4.
  Some lullaby.
 
But I'm old. Known a little music.
I saw the Who, general admission 6 dollars.  Which included all the rides you wanted to ride at an amusement park, and a hot dog and a coke. 
     Years later, saw the Who at the absolute pinnacle of their power. And power they had, to spare. 

Most memorable of my life? The original Moody Blues just after the release of To Our Children's Children's Children. The band was still all together and playing for keeps and it was just a religious experience. 
    A guy named  Mike Pinder, was at the center of that band. I didn't know that until I saw it. 
  Everyone in the band was plugged into him (or rather his early synthesizer, the Mellotron).
   He sat in a rocking chair, softly moving, a bit jerky, like a marionette on a string. 
With one hand he produced the music as it happened. With the other hand he played out the power and majesty of the universe,
  and in his third hand?  His third hand was wrapped tight around every heart in the building.   So powerful people were literally gasping for breath.

  I always loved Glenn Miller, and Benny Goodman, since the very first second I ever heard either of them.  Duke Ellington was a miracle on feet as well.
  Since I am originally from the south, I know Louis Amstrong music pretty well too.
Never underestimate the power of true Dixieland. The mother of us all.
People go on and on about the blues, but nobody really cared much about the blues until it stood up and marched down the street, lighting the world on fire.
  yours Scott   

Bird: 

I listen to classical music. ITunes Radio-Classical offers dozens of classical music stations.  My favorite is Venice Classical from Venice, Italy.  They play a lot great classical music including the music from Venice's heyday as the music capital of the world. This includes, but is no way limited to, Boccherini, Vivaldi, Cimaroso, Locatelli, Gabrieli, and Cima.  There are no commercials on this station, just occasional station breaks from a sexy-voiced Italian woman.

All-in-all, I find this music calming.

Thur. night KatBird surprised me with Mannheim Steamroller Live from Omaha NE on RFD TV.  We were able to enjoy not only the music but the light show/special effects.  Great WOW.