Gade and beagles

[kolaboy]

OK, I'm being completely serious here:

I recently acquired a beagle puppy, and within the span of a month he has been subjected to a great variety of music - most of which he displays a raging ambivalence to. But I discovered quite by chance that the op.42 Piano Trio of Niels Gade turns an otherwise rambunctious puppy into a placid and - by the end of the 2nd movement - snoozing beast. Bach, Chopin, Bennett, Fesca -  have no effect at all.

I've noted two other reactions: a piece by Pink Floyd titled "Dogs" will cause him to cock his head to the side (synthesized barking, et al), and ANY Boulez will run him out of the room.

Just wondering if any of you folks have noted any pet reactions via the music you listen to  (serious, or otherwise)?

[petershott@btinternet.com]

I've become aware that if I hear any John Taverner then I invariably go to sleep.

[britishcomposer]

I've become aware that if I hear any John Taverner then I invariably go to sleep.

Do you mean the renaissance Taverner or the contemporary Tavener, Peter? 

[kolaboy]

I've become aware that if I hear any John Taverner then I invariably go to sleep.

The NEW Taverner tends to make me a bit drowsy. Not so with the old fellow.

[britishcomposer]

May I advise you both to omit the 'r' from the 'new' Tavener?
There is no need to distinguish between a new and an old one: the old has an r, the new hasn't. 

[kolaboy]

Just so. That's what happens when the r-less Tavener makes you drowsy

[Jonathan]

One of my old cats used to sit beside me when I was playing the piano.  The more difficult the music, the happier she seemed.  The other one seemed totally uninterested and ran away when I started playing!

[eschiss1]

A friend tells me her guinea pig very much likes some of the classical music I bring in to work (I tend to bring quieter chamber works, not Pettersson's 13th, though there's still variety within the former, from Schubert to Martinu - and have been asked by others to remove some Schmidt clarinet works, which I do. That said, I like having a workplace where I'm often encouraged to bring my music- but that's off topic- sorry! )

[mbhaub]

Remove the Schmidt clarinet quintets! That means war! Take in some Bartok, Schoenberg or Webern and your fellow workers will be pleading for Schmidt.
My basset hounds seem to enjoy my feeble attempts at playing piano, don't mind bassoon, but when I run through my snare drum rudiments to keep in shape they can't be found.

[thalbergmad]

I have a venus fly trap called Grizwold who only seems to catch flies when I am playing Clementi.

Thal

[Mark Thomas]

The proof of the old adage: "There's no flies on Clementi"?

[kolaboy]

I have a venus fly trap called Grizwold who only seems to catch flies when I am playing Clementi.

Thal

Geez, what does he catch when you play Steibelt? Those flying arpeggios are legion this time of year...

[ahinton]

I have a venus fly trap called Grizwold who only seems to catch flies when I am playing Clementi.

I can therefore only presume that its purchase was something of a waste of your money but, knowing how successful a businessman Clementi was (and I'm presuming that you refer here to Muzio and not Aldo!), it would nevertheless not surprise me were I to discover that Clementi had patented this device. If I were you, I'd consider buying an insecticide to poison these pests and/or acquiring a UV device to electrocute them, since neither places any obligation upon you to play anything in order that they be effective - and, if push comes to shove, you could always swat the wretched things with a banjo...

[Patrick Murtha]

I'm new here - I live and teach in Mexico. Of my two one-year-old sister cats, Remedios (named after the Mexican painter Remedios Varo), likes classical CDs of all kinds and positions herself near the speakers to listen. Frida (named after Frida Kahlo) is less musically inclined, but likes to watch movies with me, and looks straight at the screen - I wonder what exactly she sees. Both cats seem fond of books, which is not too unusual for felines. They are very companionable pets. 

[eschiss1]

I need to resist asking if the books they like include certain mystery novels that often involve cats and sometimes classical music... (some of which I enjoyed particularly were a pair of cats in a series whose author died at a goodly age last year. ... anyway.)