There are free tons of materials on the internet that can help you get into classical music. Often times, what we lack is the motivation and commitment to get started. That’s why I recommend you to watch this great talk from Benjamin Zander to first. It inspires you to get started.
I just came across this great TED speech on YouTube today talking about classical music. The speech is so inspiring that I want to share it to everyone that I know of! No matter you are into classical music or not, you’ll find it inspiring. Its influence is beyond music. It even changed the way I look at life. How magical it is!
This video has been sitting in my “watch later” list for months. It just doesn’t look like something that interesting at first glance. Definitely not as interesting as these cute dog videos, street food travel vlog videos that consume so much of my time. But as soon as I started watching, I could not stop. It grabbed all of my attention immediately. I felt a bursting stream of passion coming out of the cold phone screen.
The speaker was Benjamin Zander, the conductor of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra. I spent 6 years in Boston and was lucky enough to go to one of his performances. Even after so many years, I still remember how energetic he was on the stage. The speech happened in 2008, more than a dozen years back, but it is still inspiring so many people to love music, love life.
There are so many great quotes from this speech, here are a few of my favorite. It is worth remembering them forever.
No one is tone-deaf!
I will not go on until every single person in this room, downstairs and in Aspen and everyone else looking, will come to love and understand classical music… There is not the slightest doubt in my mind that this is going to work.
I have to stop thinking about every note along the way, and thinking about the long long tine from B to E.
[telling about story of a street boy hearing Chopin piece…] Classical music is for everyone
They [the music professions] say 3 percent of the population likes classical music. If only we could move it to 4 percent, our problems will be over.
Everybody loves classical music, they just haven’t found out about it yet.
The conductor in an orchestra doesn’t make a sound. … I realized that my job was to awaken possibility in other people. If their eyes are shining, you know you’re doing it.
I have a definition of success, for me it is very simple, it is not about wealth and fame and power. It is about how many shining eyes I have around me.
[a women survived from Auschwitz said this] I will never say anything that couldn’t stand as the last thing I ever say
– Benjamin Zander
Please watch this great talk and share with me what touches you the most!
