I See Stories Everywhere: Classical Music and the Art of Noticing

PSA before you dive in:

While writing this, I was listening to “The Things They Believe” by Loathe (with John Waugh), and honestly, you have to give it a listen. It’s absolutely incredible. Not exactly classical in the traditional sense, but it sparks similar emotions. Trust me, press play, then come back and read.

Also, if you’re into music that makes you feel or think a bit deeper, check out my playlist called The Sound of Thought. You can find it (and me) on Spotify here.

I’ve been super into classical music recently a lot and I always say I love all music because I really do. I’ve pretty much been through a stage in my life where I’ve individually been obsessed with each music genre, other than maybe MC music, haha. I’ve talked about music in other blog posts and how I’m someone who feels music, not just hears it, and this has become more apparent than ever while I’ve been listening to classical.

I think classical music tells a story. The way I like to put it is that a normal verbal story creates emotions from the words that are spoken, but classical music tells stories through the emotions that are created first. You can put a piece of classical music over multiple movie scenes with similar emotional contexts, and they will all tell different stories using the same piece. It’s incredible. And not all stories have to have verbal or tangible meanings. Stories themselves are the product of something having triggered an emotion in someone, and therefore that person then wants to retell it to others. Otherwise, it would just be a passing moment, never spoken of again.

I’m currently sat in a coffee shop. It’s the same one I go to on a regular basis: big windows, lots of people in and out as it’s just outside of a big city, but not so busy that I struggle to get one of my favourite seats. There are also a lot of regulars here. I love networking and talking to people most people, anyway, and here seems to be the kind of place where, if you put your headphones on, nobody will talk to you, but if you take them off, people will start up conversations. So I usually take my headphones, and then, depending on how I’m feeling, I’ll take them on and off throughout my time at the coffee shop. The point of this little story is that I’m sitting with my headphones on right now, listening to “Beving: Ala” by Joep Beving, watching the world around me move by. I can hear the slight mutter of conversation layering over my music, I can see people coming in and out, searching for the table where their friends are sitting. There are others standing at the counter, trying to decide which sandwich to buy. Altogether, I’m surrounded by movement, emotion, and stories - so much so that our brains usually block it all out and focus entirely on ourselves. We get so caught up in our own lives from moment to moment that we forget about the conversations, stories, families, breakdowns, and breakthroughs happening all around us. But classical music helps me notice it. It makes me really take it all in - just how complex everything is. All of it.

Have you ever played that game where you guess people’s lives? It’s something I sometimes do with friends when we’re out in public - you know, trying to imagine what people’s stories are, if they have kids, if they’re locals or from somewhere far away, what kinds of hardships or challenges they might have faced. Lately, though, I’ve found myself playing this game solo. The combination of classical music in my headphones and all the emotions in the room sends me into deep thought about every individual around me.

Right now, I’m supposed to be working on my uni essay, but I just couldn’t help myself—I had to write instead. I’ve been in this reflective mood all morning, and now, as new faces come and go, I can’t help but wonder about their stories. I think that’s partly why I started the Freedom Stories Project: I genuinely love people, the mind, human connection, emotions—all of it. I want to hear it all. I want to feel emotions through other people’s stories.

I’ve often heard people say that those who listen to classical music are more intelligent. I’m not saying that isn’t true (I’ll happily take the compliment, haha) but personally, I think people who listen to classical music aren’t necessarily more intelligent; they’re just deeper thinkers. They see the world with more depth, emotion, and complexity. But I don’t have any science to support that.

The only personal example I have, aside from my own experience, is someone I grew up with. I keep people in my life anonymous here, so I’ll be brief. He struggled with alcoholism, gambling and lots more, pretty much all of it. I don’t judge him for those things, because I believe that alcohol and gambling weren’t the root problems, but rather his chosen solution to coping with a difficult past. I chose not to be involved with him in my life, but that doesn’t mean I disrespect him as a human being. He still has a soul and a story.

What stands out to me is that he often listened to classical music - when he was feeling low, when he was trying to sober up, after arguments he had, or just when he was tired from life. He always used his phone to play the music instead of a speaker. Maybe it was just laziness, but I actually think playing music from a less-than-perfect speaker makes it more personal (i do it myself sometimes). There’s something about the imperfections that make it feel a bit more real than listening through a “perfect” sound system. He would fall asleep to classical music, play it in the car (again, through his phone), and we’d ask him to turn it off sometimes. But I get it.

I think part of the reason classical music attracts deeper thinkers is because of how it works on the brain, and the heart, honestly. Unlike pop music, which often relies on catchy repetition and a clear emotional script, classical music is unpredictable. There are moments of chaos and quiet, crescendos that make your heart race, then sudden silences that leave you thinking. Science shows that listening to classical music actually lights up more areas of the brain at once - especially those involved in memory, attention, and emotional processing. It’s almost like the music invites you to explore yourself from the inside out. With no lyrics to explain what you should be feeling, you’re left alone with your own thoughts and emotions, and you have to do the work of making sense of them. Maybe that’s why, when everything in life feels jumbled or heavy, people reach for music that feels equally complex. It’s as if classical music meets you in the middle of your own mess and says, “It’s okay to sit with this for a while.” That willingness to linger in uncertainty, to listen for meaning in the in-between, is what I think makes classical music such a home for deeper thinkers - and for anyone searching for connection beneath the surface.

It might sound strange to say I understand the behaviour of an alcoholic, but that’s why I’ve mentioned in previous posts how grateful I am for everything I’ve experienced. I’m not an alcoholic or a gambler or anything similar, but i understand what goes on in their minds (to a certain extend), theres are a million different solutions people use as a way to cope with their problems. Yes, I know all contexts aren't the same, but i believe the systems the brain uses to react are very similar. You never really know what someone has been through, what coping mechanisms they gained, or how their brain works.

In a world that moves so fast, it’s easy to forget that everyone is living a life just as vivid, layered, and messy as our own. But when I slow down - when I really listen, when I let the music guide me - I remember. I remember that pain and beauty can sit side by side. That silence can say as much as words. That strangers aren’t just passing figures in a coffee shop - they’re full of memories, regrets, love, loss, and little turning points I’ll never know. Classical music doesn’t just help me feel more, it helps me see more. And the more I see, the more I realise: stories aren’t rare. They’re everywhere. Just waiting to be told.

-Beth ♡