Do any of you intentionally fall asleep to classical music?

[IcedNote]

On those rare occasions that I don't have to get up in the morning, I find it very soothing to fall asleep to classical music. My favorite discs to listen to are actually the 20 discs of the Naxos Night Music collection. They're quite nice because most of the pieces remain dynamically stable throughout. This is obviously better than any number of pieces that go from pianissimo to fortissimo in a second! Just when you're about to fall asleep...WHAM!! Not very relaxing.

So yeah...do any of you do the same?

On a side note, when I listen to choral works, 95% of the time the people in my dream will be singing! I love it!

-G

[Corlyss_D]

When I was in my sponge state, mid 60s-mid70s, I did it all the time. I considered it sleep learning. I don't do it anymore on purpose.

[jbuck919]

This response is going to sound strange to everyone here who knows me, but when I was a small boy, I was easily frightened by the B horror movies routinely broadcast on New York TV. Movies like "The Angry Red Planet" would scare the you-know-what out of me so that I could not possibly sleep. I had a radio in my room, and I tuned it in to, of all things, the lowest common denominator, "77-WABC" which played only top 40 if that. Very many nights, I could only sleep with that "teddy bear" set to low volume.

No, it would never occur to me to use classical to help me sleep. In moments of insomnia now, I am not afraid of things in the dark, and I just deal with it.

[RebLem]

No, but if I did, it would be Chopin's Nocturnes.

I often fall asleep to the television. But TVs don't have a feature that I wish they did. You can mute the sound, but you can't mute the picture. I wish there were TVs where you could mute the picture, but keep the sound on.

[Lance]

Never on purpose do I fall asleep to classical music. But I confess, I often have a radio going playing classical music at sleep time (NPR) - and set to shut off usually after one hour - automatically. (Same for late-night TV watching.) I have never fallen asleep during a live concert or opera but I know plenty of people who have. I once had to give my elbow to the guy next to me who started snoring softly at first, and then became a buzz saw with people turning around to see who it was.

[jbuck919]

No, but if I did, it would be Chopin's Nocturnes.

I often fall asleep to the television. But TVs don't have a feature that I wish they did. You can mute the sound, but you can't mute the picture. I wish there were TVs where you could mute the picture, but keep the sound on.

Interesting. The best of Chopin's nocturnes command absolute attention.

I have posted this before, but it's been a long time. In my long hospitilization several years ago, when it was not even clear if I was going to make it, I was severely sleep deprived. Anyone who has ever had a hospital stay knows what I mean. Allowing the patient to self-heal in sleep is not a priority; taking blood samples and vital signs at odd hours is. They did have radio/tv with a classical channel and one night they broadcast the Missa Solemnis from Detroit. It would be an exaggeration, but not much of one, to say that this saved my life, for in terms of morale, I was motivated to go on by the awareness that if I gave up, I would be parting from a world with such beauty in it. So sleep deprived, desperately ill me listened to the whole thing, magical, unbroken, no lapse of attention, all through the night as it were.

(After my discharge, it took me months to regain normal sleep patterns. I was exaggeratedly out of it as only someone who has been in a similar situation can appreciate.)

[karlhenning]

I'll go two weeks at a time falling asleep to the Prelude to Parsifal. (I mean that in all seriousness, not as a slight to Wagner. And even though as a serious statement, it may have the seeming of offering a slight to Wagner.)

Cheers,
~Karl

[karlhenning]

Interesting. The best of Chopin's nocturnes command absolute attention.

I agree. I couldn't fall asleep to Chopin, because I would listen too closely.

Cheers,
~Karl

[SaulChanukah]

Interesting. The best of Chopin's nocturnes command absolute attention.

I agree. I couldn't fall asleep to Chopin, because I would listen too closely.

Cheers,
~Karl

Easy way to fix this. Just place your Cd player far from you, so you wouldnt listen "too closely" and those harmonious melodies will do their way through to put you to sleep..

[Ralph]

Never.

[greymouse]

I occasionally use early music because it's soothing. I try to pick something that drifts a little without too much rhythmic regularity. Some chant or maybe a Josquin des Prez mass. I also use such music for bubble baths.

After listening to early music, my body vibrates. It's really kind of weird.

[knotslip]

I do some of the time but I have paid for this dearly being such a newb to classical. I'll start dozing off to a nice soothing piece only to be awakened and scared out of my wits by a very loud piece. This has happened too many times so now i only doze off when I know that the entire piece is soft.

I listen for many reasons and at times I listen critically and other times I want to simply de-stress and relax (fall asleep).

[Ken]

Apparently Glenn Gould couldn't fall asleep if music weren't playing in the background. Perhaps this explains some of the other neuroses of his life.

[piston]

I once knew a young pilot (propeller plane) who, under stress, could only sleep with a fan running next to his bed, whatever the season.

[karlhenning]

Never.

You'd have to say that, of course, Ralph.

But those who can stay awake through Dittersdorf are a rare breed :-) :-) :-)

Cheers,
~Karl

[karlhenning]

Apparently Glenn Gould couldn't fall asleep if music weren't playing in the background. Perhaps this explains some of the other neuroses of his life.

Good luck explaining Gould's nuoroses, Ken! ;-)

[SaulChanukah]

Apparently Glenn Gould couldn't fall asleep if music weren't playing in the background. Perhaps this explains some of the other neuroses of his life.

Good luck explaining Gould's nuoroses, Ken!

Try listening to Tchikovsky 1812 overture.... how in the world can you not fall asleep to the sound of those mighty canons flying above your head.... ... its like counting sheep

[lmpower]

I have always felt classical music was for listening, not falling asleep. I don't recall ever dozing off during a concert whether live or broadcast.

[Chalkperson]

I had somebody read Rod Corkin's Beethoven posts into my computer and made a CD, I fall asleep in a matter of seconds...

[absinthe]

Well, I suppose earlier Beethoven is good insomnia treatment - I don't know if the side-effects are worse than Vallium.... The Erotica Symphony puts me to sleep in the first movement.

[knotslip]

I fell asleep last night while listening to Scheherazade. It was 3AM though

[arglebargle]

Actually yes, I just did so this afternoon. I had a bad headache, took some aspirin and laid down to the soothing tones of Boccherinis string quartets op. 39 and 41. Drifting off part way through 41-1 and awakening to the final 2 movements of 41-2, I'm quite sure the Boccherini helped dispel the headache as much as the aspirin and short nap.

[Brahms]

Elgar induces a rapid, non-restful sleep ..........

[jbuck919]

Elgar induces a rapid, non-restful sleep ..........

Just for Brahms (the poster, that is):

http://ingeb.org/Lieder/gutenabg.html

[hangos]

Well, I suppose earlier Beethoven is good insomnia treatment - I don't know if the side-effects are worse than Vallium.... The Erotica Symphony puts me to sleep in the first movement.

Nice joke (and I don't mean the Freudian slip of "Erotica"!! )If you are being serious, you ought to listen to Szell's recording from the 60s - it has the most exhilarating effect of any performance I know (but it doesn't turn me on in the other sense! )
I hope Rod Corkin reads this thread!


My best vallium substitute is Kurtag's Aus der Ferne for string quartet

Martin

[anasazi]

Delius. Enough said.

[moldyoldie]

The most marvelous doze to music I remember was to Stockhausen's Stimmung.

[lmpower]

If you must doze off to classical music, I agree that Delius is the best. He should prepare you for a pleasant and undisturbed night.

[absinthe]

I don't know about Delius but Mahler has me reaching for the ibuprofen.

Wagner tends to send me to sleep so I have to ask someone to wake me up for the dinner interval.
.

[piston]

Brain oxygenation is the key to such musically induced sleepiness. I highly recommend listening to music while being dragged by a Husky. Even a guitar arrangement of Satie's piano music becomes highly stimulating when the dog races for a chipmunk and it's literally staggering when he sees a deer.

[karlhenning]

I highly recommend listening to music while being dragged by a Husky.

Well, I'll just watch you, and enjoy this experience vicariously, at first ;)

[living_stradivarius]

On those rare occasions that I don't have to get up in the morning, I find it very soothing to fall asleep to classical music. My favorite discs to listen to are actually the 20 discs of the Naxos Night Music collection. They're quite nice because most of the pieces remain dynamically stable throughout. This is obviously better than any number of pieces that go from pianissimo to fortissimo in a second! Just when you're about to fall asleep...WHAM!! Not very relaxing.

So yeah...do any of you do the same?

On a side note, when I listen to choral works, 95% of the time the people in my dream will be singing! I love it!

-G

I suppose it can help you fall asleep, but sleeping with it still playing poses some problems... I used to sleep to classical music but would often wake up with a headache or have nightmares

[absinthe]

I suppose it can help you fall asleep, but sleeping with it still playing poses some problems... I used to sleep to classical music but would often wake up with a headache or have nightmares

Best to switch from Mahler to something prettier then - Mozart?