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Searching for good music... tune into classical music radio 90.3 KDFC

BY NABIL IRSHAD

Staff Reporter

Students at Sequoia should give classical music a chance and listen to it. Modern music has beats and tunes but classical music is a whole different plane. Modern music lacks some qualities that classical music has like the timing and synchronization of multiple instruments that make a rhythm of a great song.

I’m Nabil and I’m a senior, I like to drive my car even though gas prices are high and I do wrestling. I have always been aware of classical music but never paid attention to it and never gave it a chance until I listened to String Quartet No. 3, “Mishima”: VI. Mishima / Closing - Philip Glass, the Modern String Quintet, and that’s when I realized that there could be so many variations, different ways and new sounds that I have never heard before coming from violins and cellos.

I always had an idea of what these instruments sounded like and heard small snippets of them before but never in depth which made me excited to hear more and explore different instruments. It was a great learning experience to listen to many different sounds of one function of an instrument. It was very exciting hearing stuff that I would have never considered before. I was really into rap and R&B but I slowly got distasteful and discovered classical music.

Classical music can be listened anywhere,. Mainly, I listen to it in my home and while I do homework or workout. The best time for me is when I’m lying down on my bed or outside with one earphone listening to the wind brush the leaves of trees whilst listening to music. I stare at the ceiling and think about goals and what I have to do. Classical helps me organize my thoughts and dig deep into what I really want to do and why.

The roots of my thinking process begin with, “What do I have to do today? Is it homework? What assignment is late and needs to be done first before something else?” Listening to classical has helped me prioritize things and really narrow down the list to one objective and applying myself to complete it.

Listening to classical music creates a space for me to stay calm and keep my sanity while being overwhelmed with life. Inside, or outside classical music can be listened to anywhere. The only difference is my cats come to me and I have a buddy. It is a feeling of self awareness. Some days I would listen to rap and other days classical music. It’s like a mood.

Something that I do in my playlists is I add almost an interlude, where it’s a break from what I was listening to previously. I call it a musical roller coaster-- I could be listening to Marvin’s Room by Drake and then the next song is a song with more energy like Advantage Point by Chilly Gonzales and there is a sudden change of setting within your ears

and it causes goosebumps. You never really know what’s going to play next thats what it’s like switching between music styles that makes it fun. I suggest adding classical music to your interludes just as I add rap and R&B to my classical playlists.

What’s nice about classical music is it’s longer than three minutes most of the time and it has so many different sounds makes me feel elated and inspired. I like the way how not every song sounds the same, every single song has a different sound, a different feeling. This song may be very fast and transitions between high notes and low notes really well, meanwhile another song has a solid and consistent pattern and fluctuations of notes that sound nice to the ear. It brings a space of nothingness where all you are doing is being in the present to listen to the intricacies of sound.

My piano teacher, Othello Jefferson said, “I remember I was really angry, something had made me really upset at school. I came home and I played [the piano] for an hour. And I felt better. Music was a healing thing, it was a way for me to kind of deal with whatever I had gone through that day and it helped me.”

Under stress or even non stressful situations classical music, too, never fails to relieve me of tension. Compared to modern music I could do all of the things I said while listening to it but it’s not the same. It’s difficult to put into words, but it changes the way I process things. I believe that classical music is something that should be more known throughout Sequoia and given a chance.

Here are a couple of pieces that I would recommend you listen to, all of which are available on Spotify and can be accessed by scanning the codes below. The pieces vary from composer to composer. Below are all my own reviews of these songs.

Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.

Berthold Auerbach

My top 20 classical songs

My entire classical music playlist

Sicilienne, Op. 78 - Gabriel Faure & Steven Isserlis

I would listen to this one while doing homework. It should be played in the background. Sounds like a bunch of loops until (1:53). This is definitely something that would be played while you’re on hold talking to a bank.

All In Theme - Park Joung Won

This is definitely one of the first songs you want to listen to when doing an exercise warm up like stretching or rolling out or hamstrings. It’s not too intense to get you pumped and excited to workout, but it’s something that will set you up for a better performance.

Nocturne No. 2 in E-Flat Major, Op. 9 No.2 - Frederic Chopin, Daniel Barenboim

It drags you into a space where you don’t want to be bothered, it is so calming that when it’s interrupted it aggravates you a wee bit. Something like your earbud falling out could offset the balance of the song and evoke some emotions. a steady momentum gradually increasing. A good place to listen to this is when driving in the background and in the midst of going 65 - 70 MPH on the highway. It’s definitely something that makes it easier.

Liebesleid (Love’s Sorrow) - Fritz Kreisler, Sergei Rachmaninoff, RueiBin Chen

Kind of sad but it’s emotional. This can be listened to any day but I recommend it on rainy days or night time. It’s not something meant for a mind that’s still waking up.

The Four Seasons Recomposed: Spring I -

This song really feel like spring in your ear. It can be played when a friend hands you the AUX cord and you don’t have any heat to play. The car will be so heated they will need a Extinguisher to calm speakers down.

Paganini: 24 Caprices, Op. 1: No.24 in A Minor(Tema con variazioni. Quasi Presto) - Niccolò Paganini, itzhak perlman

I like this one because if you really pay attention to it there’s 11 variations of the violin in this piece. Theres a whole ton of scales in here, a scale is where the notes escalate and descend and it could be a lower note rising to a high note and descend or a high note that goes down and then goes back up. There’s different scales played in this song. They are not all the same but they are played differently. This song I remember I was really angry, something had made me really upset at school. I came home and I played [the piano] for an hour. And I felt better. Music was a healing thing, it “ transitions between was a way for me to kind of deal with the scales very whatever I had gone through that day smoothly. And after and it helped me. every scale the song changes, the tempo Othello Jefferson, Piano teacher and rhythm changes between every scale it alternates between slow and fast tempo. Also, it can be played in any setting. I find it easiest to listen to while looking outside of the windows of Sequoia and appreciating the trees and the sky and thinking nothing. Only listening to the song and seeing nature.

Handel / Orch. Hale: Keyboard Suite No. 4 In D Minor, HWV 437: III. Sarabande - George Frideric Handel, Alexander Briger, Academy of St. Martini the Fields

I also picked this one for its ability to have

String Quartet No. 3, “Mishima”: VI. Mishima / Closing - Philip Glass, the Modern String Quintet

This was one of my first songs I listened to and it resonated with me. A great time to listen to this is while you do homework or walking around campus getting to your next class with one ear phone while talking to your friend in the hallways played in the background.

Air on a G String - Johann Sebastain Bach, HAUSER, Robert Ziegler, London Symphony Orchestra

Definitely something that would be played in a waiting room while you wait for your doctor to call you in. It’s very soothing and you can fall asleep listening to this.

Advantage Point - Chilly Gonzales, NDR Radiophilharmonie, Sebastian Knauer, Michel England

After your walk, stretches or warmup on the treadmill this song could help pump you up for your actual split work out session whether its leg day, back day it can be played anyday.

Sonata For Violin in E Minor. K.304: 1. Allegro - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Hilary Hahn, Natalie Zhu

Study music for sure, although it can be something you play to your indoor plant that’s by the window getting sunlight. Amongst that action you can read a book to your plant as well it will grow wonders with the amount of

Requiem K. 626: Lacrimosa - Wolfgang Amedeus Mozart, Academy of Ancient Music, Stepehn Cleobury, Choir of King’s College, Cambridge

This is the only song on this list that has vocals. I really like this one even though I don’t understand what’s being said but there’s so much inspiration and power while this song is being played. It’s good for studying or when you are making your breakfast before school.

Palladio: I. Allegretto - Karl jenkins. NDR Radiophilharmonie, Ben Palmer

During a cruise around your neighborhood practicing for the DMV test it would be a good time to play this or while you’re stuck in bumper to bumper traffic on the highway.

Vivaldi: The Four Seasons, Violin Concerto in G Minor, Op. * No. 2, RV 315 “Summer”: III. Presto - Antonio Vivaldi, Nigel Kennedy, English Chamber Orchestra

This one is intense and I don’t know where or when you would listen to this other than when you feel like it. It would be a good background track to play while hardcore documentary is happening, like someone who achieved a lot in a sport or business talks about how they overcame challenges and it shows clips of them throwing a javelin or playing football and he slams into someone and the action shot shows their dominance as a athlete or a super successful businessman.

Piano Concerto No. 2 Op. 102 in F Major: II. Andante - Demitri Shostakovich, Alexander Melnikov, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Teodor Currentzis

This is something that would be played while your playing Assassins Creed Valhalla and you have all the good gear and your power level is 151 and your at a plateau to getting better and all you have to do is play the game and do quests to increase your power lv and farm loot to progress in the game. Another place you could listen to this is after a workout and you want to cool down and relax.

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