Is it possible to understand and enjoy classical music just by listening, without music theory knowledge?

Question

Pretty much every book out there which claims to teach the readers to appreciate classical music, has significant amount of theory in it. Ex: What to listen for in Music by Aaron Copland. Is it not possible to enjoy a classical piece without having any theoretical knowledge? If it is possible, kindly point to correct resources which helps in achieving the goal.

Answer 1

Hi!

I was having this conversation just the other day, and I think it's an important one.

I don't watch football, and I don't LIKE watching football, but mostly because I don't understand what's going on. To me, it's just a bunch of people running around with a ball, because I don't understand the intricacies of it.

However, I don't think I would have to read a textbook on football and learn its complete history and rulebook to enjoy it, and anybody who tells me otherwise is, quite frankly, a snob.

There are absolutely certain theoretical elements of classical music that will help you to better appreciate a performance. I would encourage you first to learn to identify thematic material in a piece (a melody or rhythmic pattern that keeps coming back, and even changes slightly to become a new part of the music). This will help you follow the composer's pattern of thought and feel a sense of familiarity and comfort when the theme returns. Along with this, understanding form may be of use (binary, tertiary, rondo, etc.)

Learning the basics of music history (time periods, major composers) may also help you to understand the background and context for a performance as well. Even as a professional classical musician, I like to read about the context of a piece before listening to it, even if I have previous knowledge of the composer. Classical pieces can be interpreted in an infinite number of ways, and it's nice to understand how the composer interpreted his or her own work. I think this helps to understand the emotional progression of the work.

"Inside the Score" on YouTube has some great videos on this topic that I like to share with my students. I'm not sure if this may be too simple for your level of knowledge or experience, but I hope that you get some enjoyment from them.

Happy listening!

Answer 2

Of course it's possible. But you don't need a book for that, you just need to listen to a lot of classical music. This will get your brain used to what to expect, so that the surprises and cool moments stand out from the rest the way they're supposed to.

Humans appreciate music on a lot of levels at once: the sounds themselves, and the ways they make us want to move, for instance. One of those ways is a kind of in-the-moment analysis (hey! I just heard the recapitulation start!) and knowing a little bit of music theory often helps with that. I'd recommend learning what you can about the forms of classical music first, though—how sonata form works, e.g.—before trying to get into keys and cadences and whatnot.