Over the last three years I have more exclusively started listening to these forms of music. It seems a little odd, and no one I personally know is into this music. Sure, I have plenty of friends that prefer Gregorian Chant in liturgy. I have gotten to the point that when I put rock or country music on, it drives me mad in just moments. When I smoke cigars, I do listen to some jam band stuff, and other rock. But even that is becoming less enjoyable, and I expect that the chant and classical music will take over in that area as well. Has anyone here gone through a similar transition?

I almost wonder if a casual listening to Gregorian chant isn't irreverent....it's something sacred and should be treated as something sacred....that's why I cannot imagine listening to sacred music while running or lifting weights or whatnot....

I still enjoy some popular music, but in smaller and smaller doses. I do not smoke cigars, so I cannot comment on that aspect.

Yeah, that is pretty much what is going on. I will get the urge to listen to some specific songs, and then I will be done with the urge. I usually only change to a rock station if I have others in my vehicle with me. I will often ask them if classical music bothers them, and then go to the classical station. It is funny because I used to not be able to stand classical music.

I disagree. There is nothing irreverent about it. It disposes one toward the eternal. As for working out… I usually listen to Zig Ziglar or some other motivational speaker… or university courses from TCM or TTC. I have nearly all of the courses they produce or once produced.

There is nothing better then Beethoven and a glass of red wine.
I was a metal head in my teens, classical music just seemed like the natural progression.
These days, classical type stuff is all I really listen to, every now and again I may listen to the radio or go to the pub for the music though.

edit: Just like you guys, I just stopped listening to other stuff, slowly.

I've always loved opera, mainly because I'm a ginormous snob.

Ecclesiastical classical music has grown on me to where I might like it better than opera now.

I still love popular songs from the Victorian period to the Fifties, though. I like jaunty, happy tunes.

I also can't abide music without singing, so that might have kept me from indulging too much in pure classicism.

I love classical music, but can't stand classical music radio stations. They're run by liberals and they play the worst music. Pandora has suited me well. I have several classical channels and a Gregorian Chant channel as well.

That's why I subscribe to XM. Classical radio in my car without the claptrap of NPR.

Here, the classical station is always classical, so I am good!

Exactly!!!!

Servant:
Yup. Husband is the chant champ here. I do occassionally and furtively listen to my classical rock, but the more you indulge in classical music the harder it is to go back....

Been listening to more and more classical as the years go by. Even my 22 y/o dd indulges occasionally. The classical station in my area that I enjoy just plays music, and does't torture me with NPResque garbage. They've broadened my horizons considerably.

I've bought some versions of sacred music, such as instrumental renditions of liturgical music. I also picked up the soundtrack to the Catholicism series by Fr. Barron. Very nice.

I still like some of my secular stuff, but I know what you're getting at.

I'm on a downward glide path too...more folk/singer song writer now. On occasion I'll throw on something heavy, but not nearly as often.

I just got a ukulele!

I grew up hearing my Dad play the violin; he very much liked classical music. He was a car mechanic, music was his avocation.

I never liked rock music, preferring slow sung songs, and a few fun folk songs that my Dad played on the guitar when friends got together.

Now I very much like Gregorian chant, Byzantine chant, classical music cd's that I pick up at rummage sales, John Michael Talbot, and the latest CD recommended by a priest "The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace" composed by Karl Jenkins. The priest had played about five minutes from that CD at a one-day retreat he gave.