Introduction/First Foray into Classical

Let me first introduce myself and my background.  I have been studying music in some form since the age of 6.  From ages 6-11, I took piano lessons where I showed I had inherited my grandma's natural ear for pitch.  At the age of 11, I picked up the Clarinet, which I stopped playing at the age of 13.  At that time, I found that my ear for pitch and my decent singing voice lent itself well to choir.  I was involved with choir for several years.  I now play the piano, sing, and can play a bit of guitar.  The music I like ranges from Johann Bach, to The Beatles, to Pink Floyd, to Daft Punk.  I love listening to complex music build on itself.




For my first Foray into classical music, it makes sense to start at the beginning.  Bach is to all of music as Sophocles, Euripides, and Aeschylus combined were to Theatre.  They were really the people who laid the groundwork for all theatre that succeeded them.  Bach was one of the first musicians to realize the symbiotic relationship between rhythm and melody.  Bach had a great ear for music and made music that still stands as some of the most intricate pieces of music today.

Watch the top, and then the bottom video.  Do you notice melodic similarities?  Jem used the opening part to the above piece in her song "They".  Its not a bad thing, it is just such a hauntingly beautiful melody by Bach and she does it justice.  The key of F minor if used right, can be so great because it is a somewhat eerie minor key, but has an elegance to it.

Now, what I present here is another situation like above.  The Beach Boys based the melody for Lady Lynda on Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring.  This was during one of the periods where all of the original Beach Boys were together recording.  This piece of Bach's shows more complexity than the one above.  It should be familiar because it is one of his most famous pieces.

What I like doing about this is showing that not only are these musicians from 500 years ago great, but that the musicians now are also great too.  I can often be a purist on this kind of thing, but I actually like the newer versions at least as much.   The newer technology offers more depth to be able to be added to a song and if done well, it doesn't sound like a cheap cover but an improvement.  As a current artist, you cannot go wrong picking classical music to sample, especially the works of Bach, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, or Mozart (I mention these because they are my favorite artists).