sometimes classical music gives you that extra push of creative juice...not to sound like a pansy or anything

I listen to it too quite a bit. Hell, I wrote the big grand finale to Biohazard listening to Dvorak's 'From the New World.' New Dawn I don't listen to anything but classical. Sometimes it just fits better than anything else.

Shaman,

Real men listen to classical music!  I'd like to reference my contribution to noting the music (classical and folk) in the Patrick O'Brian series of Aubrey and Maturin books (a.k.a. the "Master and Commander" books) back when I used my "gang name" Donald Boose.  I was pretty fanatical back then and after having gone through the series once, I put together a mix tape to listen to when I read the series a second time so I could listen to the music that was being played in the book while I read the books.

Ah, those heady days when only Nancy Boys didn't listen to classical music.

Now I listen to "The Wheels on the Bus."

Don

The wheels on the bus go 'round and 'round,
'round and 'round,
'round and 'round.
The wheels on the bus go 'round and 'round...

Classical music is really wonderful. Sometimes I just get absolutely fed up with popular music (although my popular music was popular about 30 years ago, but still) and just want to listen something else. I particularly like Stravinsky and Beethoven and especially the minimalists like Steve Reich and Philip Glass. That's the kind of music I'd try to write if I'd wanted to write music.

Before I started writing screenplays, I wrote short stories.  A teacher once told me that listening to classical music helps the mind to think and become more productive.  For some reason I cannot fathom, it seems to work for me.  And this is coming from a person who really doesn't like classical music.

Yeah, I'm mostly just a rock person, but classical music is still fucking cool. As a musician I really admire their skills at writing melodies and such. Very cool indeed.

I love all kinds of Maurice Ravel espeacially "Bolero" and I love Tschaikowsky espeacially "Winterdaydreams" with the Hamlet-Overture.... What I like too is Rondo-Veneziano and I really love the Opera "CARMINA BURANA"....it is the soundtrack of "Damien", you remember the scary shocker movie with Gregory Peck in wich he is an American Ambassador and he and his wife adopt a little boy and they recognize the speacial powers of this boy and they recognize that he is the "devil" ......uahhhhh, really scary, I think that was in the 70´or early 80´....

I love Erik Satie, Debussy, Ravel, Chopin and (is it really Classical?) George Gershwin... and ALL the Ave Maria.

Michel

Sine this thread has been necromanced, I thought I'd note the amusing nature of the post right before Michel's where the poster refers to this one movie with Gregory Peck. I think it's funny he refers to Damien, the sequel to Omen, as opposed to The Omen itself.

To stay on topic, I'm personally partial to the Russian composers, primarily Igor Stravinsky, though the French hold a tight second. I haven't had the opportunity to write to music in quite some time, though, since all my writing is done at work.

I like Classical music but I like soundtrack music much more. And I mean soundtracks from stuff like Lord of the Rings, Chronicles of Narnia, Harry Potter (though I hate the movies), Star Wars, etc. Anything that is from an orchestra and not a band.

-Chris

As a big rap/hip hop fan I do confess that classical is the sh**. It's relaxing, can be exciting, and is very inspirational.

There's nothing that gets me writing like a little "Moonlight Sonata" maybe that and little Wu-Tang Clan.

I guess my tastes are a little strange. I tend to like the up tempo energizing pieces or the extremely sad moving pieces. I don’t care much for the ballet pieces. My favorites all come from the Classical and Romantic era and I’m staggeringly ignorant of the Baroque, Renaissance, or Medieval era composers.

I like Bizet (Carmen) and Rossini (The Barber of Seville, William Tell). I think Beethoven is pound for pound the best of them all. I find his whole life fascinating.

And I believe that some of our modern film composers such as John Williams are modern day counterparts to the operatic composers of the past. Williams’ scores for films such as Star Wars are, in my opinion, little different in purpose and inspiration than Le Nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro) by Mozart.

Star Wars was an allegory denouncing fascism and Le Nozze di Figaro was banned in Vienna for mimicking and showing scorn for the upper class. Both became enormously successful during their time.