Blog Post 5

I’ve never really listened to classic music often, but when I did I either hated it or loved it. I couldn’t identify why I loved one piece while the other was boring to me, when everyone else thought they sound the same. Different composers evoked different feelings in me, based on how they used sound. Swan Lake vs Symphony 9 are great examples of  the way in which each composer utilizes sound in their own unique way. That sound also influences the story or rule of  piece.  A rule takes the place of a story in music and in swan lake it is easy to see that rule. The music’s rule can be identified very easily. Swan lake has a purpose that most listeners can guess. Even the title of the piece helps the listeners assume what is going on, while Beethoven’s Symphony 9 has a title that does not help in the process of finding a meaning to his music. The title adds more to the unpredictability of his music, because although he has other symphony’s, each is very different than the other and the listener is just thrown in and not told what to expect.  When I first heard it, I can imagine a ballet show going on. The plot of the ballet show is always the same, no matter how many times I reheard it or skipped around. However, Beethoven’s Symphony 9 made me think of something new every time. At first I thought it was like a conversation between two people and more and more people joined and it got louder. Then after a four hour nap and coming back to this post, it reminded me of the music that used to play in Tom and Jerry all the time when they were chasing each other. It is a song that depending on what is happening to you at the time or what emotion you are feeling, you can make up a story or meaning that goes along with the music.