As with most independent artists, I work a day job in order to pay for my studio and performance expenses. Yesterday, something alarming happened: I turned on the radio in the office and when I put on the Classical music station, boy oh boy did I hear some pretty scary stuff!!! "Oh, I put that on when I want my daughter to go asleep"; "Why do you have that sleepy music on?"; " How can you listen to that stuff?" I mean, COME ON people! Is Classical music really all THAT bad??? LOL Admittedly, I have heard some pretty boring pieces myself but thankfully I never condemned the music to an audio purgatory!!! Then the same people who made those comments explained to me why they felt that way: they came up in an educational system where it was hammered in their heads during college by a dogmatic professor. Now that is a tragedy! learning about this great art form should not be bogged down by dates and memorizing pieces. I think that more music teachers today should make the learning process much more fun. Talk about Mozart's love for billiards, and Beethoven's estranged relationship with his nephew. How about Wagner's penchant for womanizing ? Tchaikovsky struggled with his homosexuality for years! No one ever talks about things like that. I'm sure that when you read these things here, you wanted to know more, right? It should be noted that these great composers were human beings first and foremost! Also, I hear this siully talk that the music is simply boring. well, that is certainly not the case if you really do some listening. In my part to quell this horrible persecution of Classical music, check out my reccomendations for rip-roaring rambuctious pieces that are NOT sleep-inducing: (A) Holst's "The Planets" (first movement) It starts sof but when it gets some serious momentum, look out!! John Williams took this as inspiration for his Star Wars main theme. Gustav Holst was inspired to write this music by the impending horrors of World War 1. (B) Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture": today is Tchaikovsky's birthday, by the way, and this piece even ends with the famous cannon blasting in unison with the cacophony of orchestral instruments. (C) Orff's "Carmina Burana"(first movement) This is a choral/orchestral piece that never lets go from being to end. Carl Orff's masterpiece has even been usued in films like "The Omen" and one of my all-time faves, "Excalibur"(remember the scene when King Arthur and the remainder of his Knights are riding through a rejuvenating land because he regained the Grail and is preparing for his final battle?) This was the music that was playing. (D) Sergei Prokofiev Alexander Nevsky: the Battle on the Ice" I think the name of the piece speaks for itself. And those are just a FEW examples! Feel free to write me with some of your suggestions as well! Classical music made me a far better musician than I deamed of! I could have never scored the string and oboe parts for my CD, Dreamwalk, if I did not go to school and STUDIED! BKT