How can I move on from Bach?

Originally Posted by gms5287

Hell, you could even, I dunno, NOT listen to classical music exclusively

Elton John is quite good ya know

HAHAHAHAHA. Elton John.
Yea, no he is good lol, i just laughed because you said him.

You've got me feeling emulsions .... er .... emotions ......

Originally Posted by goodridge_winners

HAHAHAHAHA. Elton John.
Yea, no he is good lol, i just laughed because you said him.

Your avatar makes me want to kill every scene kid I see walking from class to class

Originally Posted by gms5287

Your avatar makes me want to kill every scene kid I see walking from class to class

HAHAHAHAHA.
For your convenience, I will change it. When i can be stuffed.




and for the record...im not emo...or scene.

I was in a huge Bach phase about a year or so ago... and immediately after jumped into late romantics... but that's really just me.

As a composer, Bach is a genuine goldmine for inspirations, so I would personally continue listening to Bach, but still listen to others from different eras (that's what I'm doing, anyway). I would personally recommend Brahms and Rachmaninoff; they both, especially the former, use quite advanced contrapuntal technique and still introduce amazing Romantic stylistic depth.

A couple years ago (when I was 13-ish), I listened pretty much exclusively to John Williams and a couple other film composers. I found most classical/romantic/baroque/modern music boring. What really broke me out of this was joining an orchestra and playing other types of music. I also think that you learn to enjoy what you listen to. I used to dislike Copland, but someone gave me a CD of his music and I began listening to it. Now I really enjoy his music. So, my advice is: Listen to other music and you will probably start enjoying it. I don't think there's any need to "ban yourself" from listening to Bach (I still listen to John Williams quite a bit), but don't listen exclusively to Bach and you will grow to like other music. I think. Maybe.

If I could hesitate to recommend a few composers, I would recommend this...

Listen to the guys that Bach revered as the "greats," both contemporary and earlier composers; learn where he found his inspiration, learn what he considered good. It's relatively common knowledge that he considered Handel to be the greatest musician alive (if he didn't consider himself the greatest), and Vivaldi the individual who "taught" him music. As for counterpoint, although both of them were much more homophonically-driven, they can be contrapuntalists in the serious, strict sense- take a look at their fugues, I find them much more liberating than Bach's, and no less brilliant or inspired.

If "strict" counterpoint is what you must have to satisfy yourself, take a look at the masters who developed "true" counterpoint, where the notes aren't necessarily written to create harmonies; Machaut's Missa de Notre Dame, Leonin and Perotin all wrote melodies without paying as much attention to where the harmonic progressions would lead.

Finally, if you want to "free-" and I use the word free very liberally, I consider counterpoint to be a necessity in most music, at least a bass melody and soprano melody- yourself from strict counterpoint, try the Bach sons and Quantz, or rather, look at Bach's gallant pieces (flute sonatas, musical offering's trio sonata, etc)... he wrote pieces without counterpoint, and they sound just as brilliant as those with it.

I'd say more, but I'm late for something.