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Introduction? Unless we're born and raised on a desert isle, remote cave or Malibu hippie commune, we don't ever need any kind of formal introduction to the classics. From infancy, we're exposed to it every day and night. Our moms croon Brahms' "Lullaby" to put us to sleep. We get our little selves propped up in front of the TV set to watch Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny cartoons with sound tracks that feature all kinds of of classical music, from passages from Verdi operas and Beethoven symphonies.

Unless we're home schooled by isolated hip hop or Tibetan gong fanatic parents, we're exposed daily to classical music all through our kindergarten to high school years. Everything from Chopin's "Minute Waltz" as we move our stubby little fingers in our first piano lessons, and progress through the years to Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture" we bang out on drums and cymbals on graduation day.

Yeah, so what? Now that we're all grown up and have broken away from all that classical stuff, we can surround ourselves with the real good stuff. You know, what all the cool musicians are doing today and not so long ago to escape from all that boring old music. Beatles, Elvis, Ludacris, Usher and all those real cool cats of our times. Forget about what all those long-haired creeps wrote. The pop musicians of our generation are into their own creative, totally original music sounds for today's hip-hoppin' youth. Oh, sure. Let's give a few f''rinstances of that originality:

A favorite Beatles number is "Blackbird, was based on Bach's "Suite in E Minor". Not incidentally, so was Jethro Tull's "Bourree". How about the Beatles really great song "Because". Ya gotta know Paul or one of the other guys originated it. No, it was ripped from Beethoven's "Piano Sonata #14."

Yeah, but everyone knows Elvis got his music from the traditions of the Deep South, not those old Italians. Like "It's Now Or Never". Not likely, Elvis. Every Italian lover knows it's di Capua's "O Solo Mio". Gee, I remember makin' out to another original Elvis love song, "Can't Help Falling In Love With You". Nope. Another old Italian, Martini called it in French, "Plaisir d'Amour".

How 'bout some more contemporary singers? They don't need to get any help from the old classics. Guys like Ludacris' "Coming to America". Sorry, but he swiped it from parts of Mozart's "Requiem". When Mary J. Blige shouts about "Love", you should know she got the music from Greig's "In The Hall of the Mountain King" from the "Peer Gynt Suite". Are you surprised that Usher's "Black Black Heart" music is from Delibes' opera, "Lakme"?

Do we need more reminders? Santana's "Love Of My Life" is derived from Brahms' "Symphony #3". Queen's "Its A Hard Life" is easy to recognize as swiped from Leoncavallo's "Pagliacci" Enrico Caruso and Mario Lanza did it much better two or three generations ago. Who can forget "Great Expectations" by the clown-painted Kiss gang? However, old Ludwig Beethoven did it first in "Sonata #8 in C", from his great "Pathetique". Talking about stolen numbers, Neil Diamond's "Song Sung Blue" is from Mozart's "Piano Concerto #21".

In conclusion, most of us, young or old, don't really need an introduction to classical music. Distorted, discordant and stolen as much of it is, it is around us all the time to remind us of the days when creative, melodic and enjoyable music was a positive part of our lives. We can only hope it will survive to rise above the noise and bring its pure and original pleasure to generations to follow.

Learn more about this author, Ted Sherman.
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