Oh yeah - I guess I named that tune, but I didn't answer the "do I listen to classical music" question. lol.
I listen to it. I'm not an aficionado or anything, but I do enjoy it. I am especially fond of music that incorporates classical symphonic or orchestral sounds into modern genres like rock.
Incidentally, I have quite a few friends who were music majors in college. I even know some people who play or perform opera professionally. As it turns out, the canon is making a comeback in a big way, and I'm not talking "Row, Row, Row your boat." So if you like the TransSiberian Orchestra's Christmas Canon, you may be in luck as far as new music is concerned. The canon is highly dependent upon timing. You've really got to have a good internal metronome to do a canon justice. Thanks to new high tech recording devices, a lot of university masters students and P.h.D. candidates are experimenting with canons for the solo musician. They play one part and record it, and then they play it back while they're playing another part. They repeat this process over and over so that a solo artist on a single instrument can play an unlimited number of the multiple "voices" in a canon. The effect is really neat when you see it done live. It's got to be incredibly nerve wracking for the musician, though, because playing even one note at the wrong time or being slightly off with it can throw off the entire performance.
