Have you ever heard of anyone over the age of 21 who went from a position of not getting classical music to really enjoying and appreciating it? If so, how old, what gender, and how did it happen? Did it take a lot of work? Could anyone do it?
I was raised on classical music-my Dad loved it, and of course, I hated it. I tended to favor rock (and old country/bluegrass) throughout my 20’s and 30’s, but tried classical again. It was like an old friend, and along with a reappreciation of classical, I have embraced good jazz - not the elevator jazz-Monk, Coltrane, Adderly, Brubeck jazz.
I learned to appreciate classical music in my late 30s, IIRC, mostly by listening to public radio.
I didn’t hate classical music as a kid, but it wasn’t my favorite thing in the world. For one thing, at least in high school, I was surrounded by it constantly because I played the violin/viola. I liked the pieces my orchestra played, but that was about it.
Recently (over the past five years), I’ve reconnected with my viola and started to cultivate a real interest. I think one thing that makes the whole task daunting as an adult is that a lot of classical stuff sucks. Just like any other musical category. You eventually have to learn that if you’re sitting through something after the second or third listen and you’re still not “feeling it”, it’s alright move on to something else. I think some people are afraid that if they don’t enjoy everything classical, it means they’re unsophisticated or not trying hard enough. Even Mozart and Beethoven had some flops.
My recommendation for a neophyte is to start off with a Top 100 list of classical pieces (do a google search) and work your way down. Find the composers and periods that speak to you and then stick with them. Randomly pulling albums off of shelves and giving them a spin may work for some, but it’s a strategy more likely to lead to disappointments, IMHO.
Yes, adulthood is when I really developed my love for (some) classical music. As monstro points out, classical does not equal good. And even so-called “good” does not equal what you like. You have to sift through to find what you like.
I found what worked for me was finding an instrument I liked (violin in my case), and then looking for pieces specifically in that instrument.
I’ve always been superficially fond of classical, but listening to Classic FM in the car certainly broadened my education. (It just happened that I started doing a lot of long car journeys a couple of years after the channel was launched.)
I am male and I was in my mid-30s when I found *some *classical music that I like.
I vividly remember the first time I enjoyed classical music. It was Mantovani. I wasn’t over 21, but I wasn’t much younger either.
I didn’t develop mine until college. Three of my closest friends were music majors. I got involved with the glee club because of them. From there I attended concerts and the occasional class with them. It’s difficult NOT to be swept away by the grandeur and subtlety of it all 
I no longer sing, but I listen to our local classical station as much as possible. I wish I had somebody to attend a concert with sigh
I got into the music of Andrew Lloyd Webber when I was around 30, and discovered his brother classical cellist Julian Lloyd Webber because of it.
When I was growing up, my parents had a lot of Boston Pops albums, and we had the soundtrack from Disney’s Fantasia. So, among all the Leroy Anderson and Sousa, there was quite a bit of “light” classical around the house, and I was probably predisposed to like it. But I didn’t really start listnening to a broader range of classical music until I was in my 30s. Now, I usually listen to WFMT (possibly the best classical radio station ever) all day at work and often in the car.
I found that when I went to college for music, I developed more of a love for classical. Mainly it was opera, choral, and piano for me. Some pieces DO take a lot of work, some do not… I think it’s just finding what you relate to.
Yes, there is such a thing. And yes, I’m into it. Blame the innertubes. Everything’s on the innertubes.
I’ve played jazz sax since age, oh, 12 or so. Over a decade ago I got into vintage 1920s-'40s instruments, as that’s my pet era musically, and found my way to sax newsgroups and webboards. Imagine my surprise when self-appointed authorities - mostly music ed majors with classical degrees from 4 or 5 schools - began bloviating that vintage saxophones are not suitable for jazz playing.
I started checking their playing out just to see if they were complete musical bozos. Surprisingly they weren’t - they played some incredibly complex and interesting stuff. More “contemporary concert music” than classical, as there wasn’t a lot written for saxophones before the 1930s.
I’ve since done summer workshops with some of these same self-appointed authorities, and even had the chance to teach one of two of them about jazz. Some didn’t even realize jazz existed back when their horns were new.
My husband got into classical and especially jazz in his 20’s. I don’t think a lot of kids listen to it much unless their parents are really into it or they are taking music lessons, so for many they don’t even get exposed to it until adulthood.
As a child I knew about it since I took piano and studied all the big composers and such, but I didn’t really find it enjoyable until I grew up more. Kids usually think it is boring, like talk radio.
I knew I was an adult when NPR and classical / jazz stations joined the top 40’s presets in the car.
I don’t think you and I are using the same definition of “classical”. Could someone post one?
Sorry, that should have read “and also jazz.” I would give examples of classical as Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, etc.
(bolding mine)
Yeah, just try doing that with the viola! 
(Says the guy who played viola from ages eight through eighteen, and who’s been diggin’ the classics since his early teens.)
And **monstro’s ** right–not all classical music is good (understanding, of course, that “good” can be–and often is–highly subjective). For instance, most modern (20th century, forward) classical music? Ugh!
I was fairly indifferent to classical music when I was younger but started exploring it when I reached 21. I now have a fairly respectable classical and baroque music library and I get more all the time. My favourite composer is Bach closely followed by Vivaldi, heavenly.
I agree that it’s not compulsory to like all classical music - it’s such a broad category that that would be impossible.
Sort of. My earliest interest pre-dated 21, but only in very minor ways.
Started out with soul/funk ( my step-brothers were a major influence and they lived in the Fruitvale district of Oakland, where such predominated ), got into classic rock as a mid-teen ( mostly on my own ). At that point Emerson, Lake and Palmer created a vague ( and isolated ) interest in bombastic Mussorgsky.
A friend of the family/neighbor got me into first blues, then jazz in my late teens which led to a brief self-created flirtation with jazz-fusion. He also introduced me to Zappa, which led me to Stravinsky.
Was introduced to punk/post-punk/new wave/hardcore in my early twenties by friends in college. Developed an interest on my own in world music and ethnic folk music in my late twenties, which brought back into congruence with my father. Shortly thereafter I began slowly listening to more classical and weirdly enough, I think it was rewatching the film Clockwork Orange one night that kindled an interest in Beethoven - got a copy of that hoary old Ninth Symphony and was mesmerized.
Since then I’ve dabbled lightly, but a bit more broadly. I guess you could say I’d stop dismissing it entirely by my ELP days, but didn’t develop a serious appreciation until I was ~30.
Hey! 
-ErinPuff, 21st-century composer and someone who honestly does like a lot of 20th-century classical music