Classical Music is basically an annoying catch-all term for any music that was either a) written pre-Bill Haley and the Comets, or b) is currently unplayable on the radio without donations from the listeners at home. How almost all of recorded music in history came to be grouped under one umbrella, in order to differentiate it from the wide variety of other music all written by the same three Swedish guys (“pop,” “rock,” “r&b,” etc.), is beyond me, but it happened. Of course, the Classical period of music was just one of many stylistic periods on the musical timeline of the past, but how can you be expected to know that, and to also remember that there were other styles that include weird names like “Baroque?” And even if you can vaguely recall these other periods of music, will you really be able to remember them in order? Of course not. It’s impossible. Until now!
All we need is a handy mnemonic device for remembering! So I know that the periods of music for which we have a large enough record to care about are: Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, Romantic, Twentieth Century, and Modern, but that will not help me on my music exam, because I cannot Google it during my exam the way I did just now. Luckily, I can remember them quite easily if I just remember this one phrase.
MY REALLY BIG CUCUMBER RATHER TICKLES ME
Yes, if I can think of a simple gardener who is happily surprised at the size of this year’s cucumber crop, then remembering the order (M-R-B-C-R-T-M) is no problem at all! But perhaps this is not helpful to you, because just knowing the first letter is not enough. Like a weird, musical version of “Name That Tune,” you need more than one note to name the musical periods in order. Maybe you need two notes. Or letters. So if you require the first two letters of each style, you could use this slightly less eco-friendly sentence.
MEXICO’S REALLY BAD CLERICS ROBBED TWIN MONKEYS
So instead of the more sensible phrase about the cucumbers, you must now envision a band of rogue Friar Tucks roaming through the jungles of Mexico while stealing bananas from some simian siblings. Slightly more absurd, I will grant you, but still a valid way to think about classical music. Unless, of course, you really must have three letters to help you remember the order of musical styles. In which case, you have no choice but to use this string of words.
MEDICAL RENEGADES BARBECUED CLANDESTINE ROMAN TWERKING MODELS
This is harder to remember than even the monkey one, because why are these doctors cooking up those Italian spy-dancers? I don’t know, but it sounds gruesome. I would try to do the cucumber one if I were you. And if you need even more letters than three, then really, I’m sorry, but you will have to use the most nonsensical phrase of all.
MEDIEVAL RENAISSANCE BAROQUE CLASSICAL ROMANTIC TWENTIETH-CENTURY MODERN
And that makes no sense whatsoever.