How to music: Classical

Which of these sets of words come to mind when you think of classical music? Elitist, old and dead? Or universal, timeless and alive? I know myself that I would choose the latter but it seems nowadays, with the emphasis on popular music and the increasing relegation of classical music to the realms of the rich and elderly that very few people my age would agree with me. It is constantly portrayed in the media as a somewhat snobby pastime, a dead art form more suited to the elderly middle classes than to the likes of you and me.

However this is a ridiculous way of thinking. Classical music was the rock music of its time. Mozart was the equivalent of Mick Jagger when he was around, complete with hallucinogenic drugs, plenty of sex and general shenanigans, finishing up with a pauper’s death due to gambling and alcoholism. Verdi’s operas were held in huge stadia, were generally riotous and were eagerly attended by millions. Bach had several wives and twenty children. Nothing boring about those guys.

Nowadays, the term “classical music” lumps everything together but it actually contains so many genres including Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, Romantic and Contemporary. I can assure you that if you compared a piece of music from each genre, you would immediately notice that the difference between baroque and romantic is as noticeable as the difference between Radiohead and Rihanna.

Many classical pieces also have much in common both rhythmically and melodically with much of today’s modern music and are often borrowed by modern-day songwriters. How many of you realise that the Vitamin C Graduation Song was unceremoniously filched from Pachebel’s canon written in 1680, or that Rob Dougan’s huge hit Clubbed to Death was almost solely based on excerpts from Elgar’s Enigma variations. Then there’s the fact that one of the biggest dance tracks of 2008 was a horrible electronic version of Samuel Barber’s Adagio for strings which was lapped up and adored by “ordinary people” all over the world.

There are many different ways for students to appreciate classical music in Dublin. For instance, The National Concert Hall on Earlsfort Terrace has student tickets to all concerts for €4. There are also a multitude of performing groups in Dublin like the Dublin Symphony Orchestra, the Hibernian Orchestra, The Irish Chamber Choir and many more, all of whom generally offer student discounts to concerts. Tower Records and HMV both have excellent classical music sections and certain labels like Naxos offer classical CDs at bargain basement prices and are a great way to get started in this vast and varied field.

What I am trying to get across is that there is much more to classical music than dressing up in a tux to go see a string orchestra or listening to opera while smoking a pipe. It is a wide, varied, fascinating area in which you can discover a whole new world of music, come to terms with obscure instruments and sometimes even have a cheap night out.