What We’re All About
Welcome to Mozart For Muggles, a series that will teach you how to listen to classical music. Think of it like a “classical music for people who don’t understand classical music” course. We’re going to explore what makes music in general so compelling, and then analyze some classical music (and maybe some Bruno Mars too!).
Who am I?
My name is Leisa Michelle and I’m a classically trained violinist. I’ve played solo repertoire competitively, performed with a variety of professional and semi-professional ensembles, and taught the violin for several years. After discontinuing my classical education and performance career, I realized that despite all of the training I’d gone through, nobody ever taught me how to appreciate classical music. It just sort of… happened for me. I listened to it for so many hours over so many years that I came to genuinely enjoy it.
I think that most people would come to the conclusion that “one cannot learn to enjoy classical music; you either do or you don’t!” But I disagree. I think that the brain is pretty remarkable, and through all of those thousands of hours of listening, my brain was subconsciously working out the intricacies and inner workings of the music. It was searching for enjoyment and meaning. And it certainly found it — but the discovery remained subconscious. I never became truly aware of what was so exciting and interesting about the music I was listening to. I never understood why I got chills in one part or why I grinned at another part or, in rarer cases, why I would tear up. The best explanation I could give was, “This is AWESOME!”
So I decided to spend more time listening to my favorite pieces and symphonies with the intention of bringing the reason for my enjoyment to the surface. I believe it all boils down to two things: predictability (or, most commonly, the lack of predictability) and the stirring of feelings.
What’s in it for you…
What I hope to do in this series is give newcomers to classical music a bit of a guide book for what to listen for and what to listen to. I hope to shed some light on the mysteries of why Schubert and Debussy are still loved hundreds of years after their deaths. I plan to explore what makes music in general so compelling. Regardless of whether you’re reading these articles to actually become a sophisticated, knowledgeable classical music enthusiast or to fill up the ten minute gap at the end of your lunch break, I’m sure you’ll get something meaningful out of the time you put in.
A sneak peak of some of the music we’ll be looking at: Vaughan Williams’s Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis, Shostakovich’s String Quartet no. 11, Mahler’s Symphony no. 5, Uptown Funk by Mark Ronson and featuring Bruno Mars, All About That Bass by Meghan Trainor, and much more!
Please follow and recommend so you and your friends can fulfill your long held dreams of becoming hat-tipping, monocle-adjusting, classical music enthusiasts!
