How to Listen to Classical Music: Expression and Emotion

Episode 2: EMOTION. A multi-part guide on how to get THE MOST out of classical music.
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This is the second part of a short series of videos on how to listen to classical music. This video focuses on how we feel emotion when listening to music. It looks at different kinds of musical expression and emotional music, including what makes us dance, how lyrics affect us, and how performers such as Beyonce and Chester Bennington are so successfully expressive. It looks at how we perceive movement in music, as well as qualities, and forces such as musical tension and climax. It also crucially reviews Roger Scruton's idea of the Dance of Sympathy, which is key to feeling emotion when listening to classical music.
While many people use classical music for studying, relaxing and relaxation, or sleeping, far fewer people actually enjoy listening actively. Due to the difficult state of music education, most people don't know how to follow a symphony, or how the best composers wrote and structured their works. While it has been proven that classical music can be beneficial to the mental development of babies and kids, I believe it has life enhancing qualities for all ages, and as an art form deserves to be shared, whether through outreach, or tutorials and lessons like these.
Classical music, at its best, can be richly emotional, and I believe that its emotion can be unlocked by anyone willing to follow these guides through. The principles that I will go through apply to all music, whether live in concert or on CD or Spotify, and whether you're listening to Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, Handel, Brahms, Chopin, Wagner, Verdi, or Puccini, and whether listening to Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, Romantic, Orchestral, Choral, or Chamber music.
Many programs suggest that learning an instrument such as the piano, violin, guitar, cello, oboe, clarinet, or singing in a choir, is crucial for music appreciation. Well I think these skills, as well as learning to read sheet music and training your ear, can be extremely useful, I believe that almost anyone can learn to enjoy classical music with minimal training and music theory. Therefore, this short series will be very light on music theory, and will only use it when necessary to highlight certain forms such as sonata, rondo, and other typical forms.
While I originally got into classical music via movie scores and film composers such as Howard Shore, John Williams, and Hans Zimmer, I discovered this way of listening which has completely changed the way I approach and enjoy classical music. I hope through these videos I can share that with you.
--- LIST OF MEDIA IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE (not including those named in video):
Daft Punk - Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger
Parrot Dancing Gangnam Style
James Bond - Main Theme from Casino Royale
The Last of Us - All Gone
James Brown - I Feel Good
Beyonce - Love on Top (Live at Roseland)
Linkin Park - No More Sorrow
Crystal Castles - Alice Practice
Bernstein conducts Mahler 5 Adagietto
Saint-Saens - Organ Symphony - Slow Movement
Mozart - Great Mass in C minor - Kyrie
Mozart - Rondo alla Turka
Debussy - Reflets dans l'eau
Ella Fitzgerald - It Don't Mean a Thing (live at Cote d'Azur)
Anoushka Shankar - Raga
Mozart - Piano Concerto in A major, no. 23 - Slow Movement
Mozart - Flute and Harp Concerto - Slow Movement
Jurassic Park - 'They're inside'
Rembrandt - Self Portrait
Breaking Bad - Season 3 Finale - 'Full Measure'
Tchaikovsky - The Nutcracker - Pas de Deux
Lots of Dancing Stock Footage...
Conducting Stock Footage including Carlos Kleiber, Barenboim, and Abbado
Barenboim plays Beethoven's Emperor Concerto
Please Subscribe if you want to see more like this, as well as video essays and analysis on movie music and classical music!

[@marcosrodrigues6585]

Awesome videos! Every musician should watch those! I'm so happy and grateful for your dedication to share all this knowledge with us! Thank you so much!

[@InsidetheScore]

Thank you! This one is one of my favourites. I loved making it - I'm glad you're enjoying them!

[@mygod2529]

​@@InsidetheScorewhat piece is it? 6:11? The Debussy one? Please tell me 🥺

[@bust2death]

"Music can't be literally heavy" Books of sheet music: *smirks*

[@AshThumbsUp]

oh.. ughhhhhhh XDDD

[@livb6945]

Sheet music isnt MUSIC though

[@bust2death]

@@livb6945 I mean its sheet "music" so...

[@tristramgordon8252]

When you emotionally connect, you are the only person in the universe, it's sublime.

[@RD-dy7pp]

This channel should be mandatory curriculum at every high school and university

[@InsidetheScore]

Haha thank you - ambitious!!

[@cardboardhero2294]

Nope. By making anything mandatory, you produce general disgust towards it in people, especially children. They won't learn a thing and the popularity of classical music will remain the same.

[@ask4matt1996]

@@InsidetheScore I'm attending a college and required to watch this video for a 150-200 word paragraph describing music. This video was really well put together and I can see why my teacher recommended it.

[@super-sizedmcshizzle6235]

Cardboard Hero I need to watch this my teacher made me and I like it

[@RachelJanineHarris]

I am watching this for a college assignment haha.

[@SABRMatt2010]

I love the way he expresses the theory so artfully

[@InsidetheScore]

Thank you - this was possibly the most fulfilling video to make out of any - I remember walking around Central Park in NYC for hours trying to put these thoughts into coherent words. So it's really nice of you to say that.

[@arnieus866]

Music history was mind-numbingly dull and incomprehensible when I was trying to get a music degree 50 years ago. Life would have been different if teachers like you would have been available. Thanks you deserve a wide audience.

[@nathanbarros2703]

I burst to tears when you described the climax of tchaikovsky's swan lake at 7:44

[@nichitamatei]

oh my fucking what dude literally same??? what are the odds?

[@gratiano_sig]

How does this man only have 1,800 subscribers

[@InsidetheScore]

Haha it's a hard grind

[@sebastiaankruis3006]

keep it up :-) great work!

[@alexkije]

Because it is a no-brainer to those of us into it.

[@jo-vf8jx]

SigniorGratiano He’s now up to 40K! I think that’s fabulous!

[@BenjaminGessel]

The number of subscribers someone has, has really no bearing on the qualities of a person-good or evil, intelligent or less so, brutish or refined, etc. It's just a "pop" thing... Its a lot of bells and whistles, knowing what most people want to see, and how they want to see it, plus doing all the video editing, getting higher quality equipment, etc. Those who have the most subscribers on KZbin are generally those who project (whether an "act" or something more real) qualities like silliness, fun, trendiness, mischief, the reinforcement of "memes" and more widespread current mannerisms, etc., various juvenile behaviors, impersonations, pranks, etc., KZbin "drama", "hard to believe" sorts of videos, etc.-cheap, crass, lowest common denominator "entertainment" basically, rather than more ennobling and truly meaningful content... So it's kind of not really all that important, but money is great, so...

[@video_gabes]

You've perfectly articulated exactly what I've been thinking about for so long thank you

[@tonyvierstra2685]

metoo

[@TuringMachine001]

This channel got recommended to me after I starting listening to Bach on KZbin. The algorithm works pretty well sometimes.

[@miketran661]

I came across these videos RANDOMLY on KZbin, but oh boy I'm glad I found them. They are very well done, well written guide on classical music which teach me so much about this forgotten art form. Thank you for your great work! Keep it up!

[@InsidetheScore]

So good to hear - thank you so much :)

[@algo_rhytm_trdr]

Would you ever consider uploading a classical piece with application from this lecture? Whether that means using words on the screen or your voice as guidance throughout it? Thank you for your contribution to keeping classical music alive.

[@rvladimiro]

I've been trying to write new music for the past 3 months and I've been failing, to be honest. After watching this video and with tears in my eyes, I have to say that I know what and why I want to write. I don't know if I'll be able to, but I found a direction, right here. Thank you.

[@whaddup5417]

This video is fantastic. I've never heard someone try to really dig into why classical music does what it does. It's something that (as you noted) is incredibly difficult to put into words. Really makes me wonder what that book goes into. If I was to try to describe the feeling of classical music to people, I would probably jump to show them my favorite scenes from different movies. They admit yeah that scene is awesome. Without the score... not so much. With that in mind, I tell them that classical music is a sort of medium where I can take something that has happened in my life and edit it into my own sort of imaginative movie using the music as a road map. With movies, they all have a score that complements the scene perfectly. It acts as the underlying monologue which constantly foreshadows what is to come or applies the emotional context to the scene without even having seen what will happen yet. With classical music, the script can be written by me. It doesn't even have to be something exactly in my life, but just anything that elicits emotion from me. Even if Swan Lake has a ballet that already accompanies it, I can still freely write my own script over it. This is different from most contemporary music, where there is a lot more imposed upon what the accompanying "movie" should be. The very addition of lyrics already restricts what the music can represent. Thanks so much for the videos. It has really got me thinking.

[@InsidetheScore]

It took me a while to learn to divorce a score from the picture. I don't know why, I always used to imagine a movie in my head when listening to Classical. And then feel like 'no, this music doesn't really work, it's not filmic enough'. Now I think of it like this flowing, moving channel of emotional ebb and flow which we can emotionally tap into and metaphorically move/dance alongside. It's an abstract emotional journey - there's not necessarily any 'plot' or story or anything at all. It's just an emotional journey for the sake of the journey.

[@vaimantobe3034]

If you want another good illustration of the power of music, watch Disney's Fantasia (the 1940s one). It's entirely built around creating visuals for the music and can be quite 'plotless' because lf it. But it's rich, vibrant and full of all kinds of movement, textures and colours. Although it was made by master animators, this was all based on the musical pieces. This goes to show how rich they are. And yes, I agree that classical can allow you a lot more freedom in experiencing ot your own way. But in a sense that is inherent in all instrumental music that isn't associated with lyrics in any way. The message is in the music, not in the language of the vocals (but sometimes in their tone).

[@charlietian9843]

Watch Adam Neely and sideways

[@charliemcdougall]

Profound and transcendent! Thanks so much for expressing what we all feel. My favourite line from this video: "...art is one of the most powerful forms of emotional education." Nailed it!

[@EmilyGloeggler7984]

Music is not art unless one can visualize music - which not everyone can, and those for who do so, then music can become an art. However, Music in is itself is euphony, it is aural, yet it is medicinal unlike art. I’ve found nothing medicinal or healing in art but music I have found healing and empathy.

[@livb6945]

"Art is one of the most important forms of emotional education" !!! You didn't even write that down!! The best sentence in the video!

[@DavidS_Tan]

When he plays the 2nd movement concerto for flute and harp by Mozart, i can't help but relax and paying much attention to the piece

[@tigereyes5]

One of my favourite expressions is in Tchaikovsky's act 2 pas de deux in Swan Lake when a violin and cello duet is used to express when Odette reciprocates Siegfried's love. It's like a conversation

[@cziffrathegreat666]

I love how nearly all of these statements relate to both western and indian classical music

[@tristramgordon8252]

Well done. It's worth noting, that it's worth while learning music, not learning an instrument, just learning to read music from the staff, helps enormously in understanding harmony.

[@B3astMass]

God the score to The Last of Us was great, first time I’d heard a fragment of it in over a year and still gave me chills.

[@akarshsain8263]

Your videos r an invaluable n indispensable asset for classical music... Simply admirable ❤️🇮🇳

[@mickeyzhang7173]

I'm a music major and your videos are making me aware of my purpose.

[@ErikCPianoman]

All these videos are great, especially the way you so clearly and eloquently talk about music. I'm going to recommend these videos to some of my students!

[@Alfamon717]

These videos are great. Often in musical education I find that the concept of movement and the phrasing that comes with it is lost, which results the great majority of young music students quitting or not developing further than a score-reading machine. I will recommend this video to all my friends who might want to get into classical music. Great job!

[@InsidetheScore]

Wow! Thanks - I'm really glad you enjoyed this. This one was one of my favourites to make. Do check out some of my others :)

[@Mel-nc3yo]

Love the way you explain everything!!!!

[@Charlie-rh8od]

One of the most beautiful videos I’ve seen. Thank you so much.

[@RMLLcrazy]

This channel is so good. Love you.

[@simo947]

What a way to end a video, you are so good at putting emotions into words

[@flusel4949]

I've always loved all kinds of music and dancing. This video made me cry. I'd say mission accomplished

[@louiswhittell958]

these videos have shown me the light - thank you!

[@rauansatbekov8973]

I'm so grateful for discovering this channel. I truly enjoy your videos and thoughts you are conveying. Thank you!

[@ffabris]

Brilliantly done, well explained!

[@AnuragDutt_gary]

You have explained the concept of musical expression beautifully. Great work

[@mayurmahendrajadhav]

Great video! Your effort is appreciated. I'm glad to have seen your content.

[@madfoxcityemnau6414]

Thank you for these!

[@Linz0r1s]

you managed to put words to explain musical expression, that's amazing! thank you, thank you

[@advogado3118]

One of the best KZbin videos I’ve ever seen. I’m a classical trainer pianist, and your video captured “it.” That thing I want to share with my friends and family who don’t understand.

[@Ai-fj4ht]

It's such a bless i could find this channel

[@blankplank2181]

Bro, thank you for this video. I appreciate the time and effort you put towards this.

[@sarahharper7725]

This series is FANTASTIC. I teach music history in a more contemporary music school as well as music appreciation, and these are SO helpful! Thank you!

[@yes7855]

Soo beautiful, thank you 💗

[@ahmedalkadi1060]

I always wanted to find a channel like this one.. Thank you 🙏🏼

[@concussionoflight]

This is truly remarkable! I’m just beginning to discover classical music and this channel is just what I was looking for to help me approach. This video was moving for me and makes me very excited to discover and enter into more of this music. Thank you so much!

[@gavintoohey6604]

Thank you for this wonderful video, helping me appreciating classical, and other musical genres :)

[@yungao3077]

Your channel blows me away. Thank you for sharing your profound knowledge on classical music with us for free. Priceless!

[@yaramahdy2920]

I've searching for a channel that can help me understand music for so long. I love classical music more than anything but I failed to dig in deep, so thank you ♥

[@nappo6666]

This channel is pure gold! I'm happy I have discovered it, you express every opinion in such a spot on, transparent and thoughtful way and I cannot but agree and relate to all you say. Also I find yours to be a noble cause to spread awareness and knowledge on the lost art of classical music, which is something we need to preserve and treasure. Bravo!

[@willosee]

This is stunning

[@lufry0011]

Great job on this video!

[@everlyd4550]

Amazing! I'm so glad you shared this, I've learned so much and I'm ready for a concert I'm going for next year☺️❤️

[@febry9948]

Why on earth I just know now your youtube channel? as a newbie listener to classical music, I'm glad I found your videos 😍

[@vidaasefy7378]

This channel is amazing 👌🏻

[@alaaobaid3363]

That was very illuminating , I've been listening to classical music for years and I never knew how to explain the emotions I feel or why I feel them , Thank you very very very much

[@gianlucafelice2630]

Thanks for uploading!

[@amaldesilva9366]

Fabulous. Thank you so much

[@AlsoSprach_Zarathustra]

Great video. Le jardin féerique was an excellent choice to conclude this lesson.

[@InsidetheScore]

Thanks - it was fun choosing which examples to use for different points! Stay tuned for more

[@ihunterx59]

There is no available classes for such things in my country so I'm following my passion here , thank you this was very enlightening sir you just opened a door i never thought existed

[@d.mavridopoulos66]

Congratulations for introducing Roger Scruton to a bigger audience. He's written many marvelous articles on Music that they may be interested to look up : The Tyranny of Pop, Music as a Civilizing Force, David Matthews at 70, Reflections On Deaths in Venice, My Mozart, Review of Richard Taruskin. All his books are liberally sprinkled with observations on Music ( perhaps my favourite is I Drink Therefore I Am). Have you read Taruskin's 4-volume History of Western Music ?

[@userwheretogo]

this channel is such a gem on KZbin!

[@iambigfou]

Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

[@Fatimah-rj4fn]

I'm 17 year-old and I want to go to med school but also music is a big part of my life and I'm so into classic music . I'm trying to learn piano and your videos are great help for me so thanks a lot. P.S: sorry for my bad English

[@swaroov9236]

carry on

[@Domestofobia]

how is it going so far?

[@xYonowaaru]

It's actually possible to connect both passions: www.immm.hmtm-hannover.de/en/institute/idea/

[@thesentientneuron6550]

Your English is just fine

[@akhilmaru6999]

I'm learning classical guitar! It's a great journey. All the best.

[@Aedhon]

man, you're brilliant. I was always a bit scared of classical, but I now want to give it a better chance also because I think it could help me making better music. Thanks for the very instructive and inspiring videos!

[@beau4588]

Probably one of my favorite videos of all time⭐ i activley felt the music in this video and you descriptions changed my whole perspective on Classical music, emotional education, intuitive exercise, sympathetic dance...just Wow thank you so much💛🐉

[@zeeschelp]

i love how you put that music at the end. when you came to the conclusion that we listen to music as simply being i was immensly fascinated and thought how beautiful emotion is. like the world opens through music, like you just walked into a space you were looking for

[@philipdutton9435]

I really enjoy your work. Thank you.

[@demon3476]

Thank you for another wonderful video, explaining much more in detail about emotion and how we express it through music. The suggestions on tension were spot on and has led me to understand how it can be expressed in music much more than I knew. Also you showed me a couple songs that I haven't heard before, yet still recognized because of other musicians taking inspiration from them.

[@EstuardoHernandezPianist]

Wow! As a classical musician I just thought I want to create a video of how to listen to classical music in my channel and I found this. It is simply beautifully explained! Thanks a lot, it really inspired me!

[@sempermutabilibus8300]

Wow, I didn't think I'd be tearing up watching this video when I clicked on it! Great work and thank you.

[@isapp2024]

Wooow you're the rock!! Love your metaphors, your musical descriptions... my classical musical taste have just increased tons!!! Can't I thank you enough!! I subscribed!!

[@LeonardoJrGo]

Very informative video. Thank you for your great effort in creating this video.

[@shawnellemartineaux6212]

This was brilliant. You're brilliant!

[@aysoodaagh3167]

I truly and deeply appreciate the time and effort you put through these videos. And as a Classical music lover, it's unbelievabley fascinating for me to watch your videos. Thanks a lot❤️

[@rosenkreuzer8305]

That's the content for which i would pay money !! Thank you for this

[@ordainedbunion]

So fascinating!!! Keep it coming!

[@InsidetheScore]

Will do - stay tuned!

[@FifthofEleven]

Got chills when the music from The Last of Us came on. So many memories and feelings linked to my experience with that awesome game!

[@FutureStoics]

Hi I tried listening to swan lake but I just couldn’t finish the song because it gave me goosebumps and a major eargasm. Thank u for teaching me to listen intently. Although I already do but I felt a deep connection. Ok I’ll try one more time lol. Cheers

[@livb6945]

When the harp and flute concert came on in the backg, I completely lost track of you speaking. It's so heavenly

[@BritishRacingGreen]

I just found this channel and it's great. Keep up the good work.

[@VictorAnaliza]

Thanks for this amazing philosophical reflection. For the moment this is my favorite video by you. The relation that you show between music movement and tension with body movement through the feelings is brilliant. I think it teaches to us the essence of art as vehicle for emotions.

[@sydneyt9057]

I love this series so much thank you 💜

[@InsidetheScore]

:D So glad you're enjoying them, makes it worthwhile - more videos coming this week, do subscribe if you're enjoying

[@avinashbahirwad7959]

Man..Thank you so much for such amazing explanations and your vivid view on classical masterpieces of great ones. "Music is to feel not to listen or hear". it's transcendent. Much love from India. :)

[@donde2k]

That little clip of Daniel Barenboim playing the Beethoven 4th Piano Concerto gave me chills!

[@cacadavtr]

Thank you for this video!

[@dallas998]

Great to see the success of the channel. In this time when so much music is dumbed-down, I hope there will be a resurgence of interest in classical music, also an interest in piano learning, using real pianos. All the other instruments are wonderful, but the piano is by far the best instrument for the basis of understanding, also they're great fun to command an orchestra at the fingertips!

[@gameboy-bt7nk]

I think that another good example of movement in music is rachmaninoff's prelude in C# minor. To me, it feels like some entity trying to escape from a dark pit, trying multiple times until falling all the way back down. Then, it gives its all to try and escape, only to fail and accept his fate, slowly fading away to be forgotten.

[@joseph.r1122]

Very helpful. Thank you.

[@ahmadalhashmi4829]

Great content , respect 🙏

[@blackmakup]

I'm trying this journey of classical music as I never got deep into it (though I appreciated a few pieces, just naturally). I always really enjoyed music though. I was always more interested in the music than the lyrics and have felt all those things you are describing, so I can't say it's unique to classical music. (I really enjoy prog, rock, metal, darkwave and video games soudtracks like elder scrolls to name a few). Can't wait to learn more about classical music :) thanks!

[@bjb0808]

Beautiful.

[@christinae8062]

thank you for sharing , your video is such a beautiful way to explain about listening to such rich music .

[@TheUnalteredMyth]

You're describing things I didn't know people described even though I've been doing it for a while

[@jernejoblak7633]

You, my man, are a legend

[@InsidetheScore]

Haha thank you

[@SpinkingKK]

You are awesome, bro. What a great video and the voice over. I did post all my doubts in your previous video. But, couldn't wait to watch this one. Now, I think I must have been a natural in classical listening. When you explain it, I realize my own reason why I may have enjoyed my ABC classics station in Australia. Superb explanations with fantastic philosophical touch.👌👌👌💯💯🙏🙏🙏

[@thefool2007]

That was excellent.

[@LRPMQLRPC]

This video is a masterpiece.

[@athinagorask]

Absolutely Phenomenal. Thank you!

[@tatianakonstantinidi153]

Athinagoras Konstantinidis good

[@athinagorask]

@@tatianakonstantinidi153 very good

[@MaTT-oo8de]

Difficult topic! Well done! Thank you!

[@zeeschelp]

very interesting, i am going to look into this kind of philosophy

[@Beanie84]

Goodness THANK YOU for making this series! I'm a visual artist who adores music, using it a vehicle to calm my anxious brain, daydream, and jumpstart my creativity. I tend to gravitate towards new age instrumentals over traditional classical music and recently, well, I learned just how reviled my favorite type of music is in the classical world. Reading comments like "*Popular new age instrumentalist* is McDonald's garbage for smooth brains. They're so BORING like beige wallpaper." has made me doubt why I loved it in the first place. Music is such an integral part of my life and while I'd love to gain a deeper connection to classical music, the vitriol often hurled from classical purists soured my pursuit of understanding it. Plus, while my father played all the classics when I was little, a lot of it sounded so stodgy and rigid that most of it never resonated with me. The repetitive, meditative nature of new age instrumentals (the very reason for all the hatred) is exactly what I find so interesting and appealing. That's why I appreciate your passionate, sympathetic approach to explaining why classical music resonates with you. Instead of trashing others' musical tastes, you graciously open the door and take us on a journey into an often misunderstood world of music. Thank you.