Composers created these scenes using colorful harmonies and scales. Composers incorporated all styles of music, such as classical patterns, jazz lines, and romantic melodies. They also created new musical idioms, including Schoenberg's 12-tone system and John Cage's use of nuts, screws, and other objects to alter the sounds of piano strings. Today most people dance to pop tunes and hip-hop, but classical music still abounds. People go to classical concerts to be immersed in interesting new worlds created by the harmonies of a symphony.
Movies use classical music to create atmospheres of suspense or peacefulness.
Popular musicians study classical music to learn technique. Check out the classic reference text, A History of Western Music , by Donald Grout and Claude Palisca.