Classical music

I don't know if it's a sign of all the chaos that is happening out there or not, but I've lately craved the structure and order of classical music, the balance and symmetry.

If there is one thing in this world I will never get tired of, it is classical music.  I have performed in many symphonies since I first started playing viola in the fourth grade.  In my sophomore year of High School I switched instruments and started playing the double bass.  I don't really know what made me switch.  I just decided one day to do something new.  I loved playing the bass.  Bass is the most important part to any musical works, it is the most relied on instrument in an orchestra, and it is one of the hardest instruments to master.  The notes on the bass are the lowest notes played by a string instrument, because of the low sound, it is often hard to get the correct tuning when playing or just simply tuning your own instrument before playing.  The bass also has some of the thickest strings too. It is exceptionally hard to move your bow in the precise way to produce the desired note in the desired tone.  It takes an exceptional amount of arm strength to play most bass parts in a symphony.  While it is hard to play the bass, its quite rewarding when comparing the bass to other instruments in the orchestra.  The bass can not only reach the lowest notes, but the bass can also play notes in the same range of a violin.  The tone of playing these notes is much deeper, robust, and darker.  The bass, while a large and in charge instrument, is beautiful and I cannot wait to be home to play mine again.

I love listening to classical music while I study.  I am not interrupted by lyrics, and in many cases, listening to classical music allows me to think more in depth about a certain topic (I have no scientific evidence of this, I am not a scientist.  Its just a personal opinion; however, it has been proven that listening to Mozart while studying not only increases your I.Q. while listening but for 10 minutes after too.  It has also been proven that listening to Mozart while trying to memorize words, ideas, and thoughts, will increase your memory recall making it easier to memorize your subject matter.).  When I am not studying I still find myself listening to classical music too, one of my favorite times to listen to classical music is right before bed.  :)

Some of my favorite works of all time are:

Dmitri Shostakovich: string quartet number 8 in c minor

Smetana: Ma Vlast Moldau

Prokofiev: Romeo and Juliet suite

Mahler: symphony 1 "Titan" Movement 3

Schubert: Unfinished Symphony

Dmitri Shostakovich: Symphony No. 6 in b minor

Mozart: Requiem

Antonin Dvorak: Requiem

And there are so many more that I have played that I cannot remember at the moment to type them here. :P  While most of the pieces are fun to play, the history behind the pieces is just as entertaining.