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Scorpion451
(Edited uphill both ways)
FerrousFaucet
Since: Feb, 2014
2025-06-02 20:00:23
Not sure if you're asking about the piano piece or just activities in general. I would argue that just because a character doesn't play classical music on a piano, it doesn't make them stupid.
Here are some ideas:
- Rock Is Authentic, Pop Is Shallow: The trope description says it doesn't have to be Rock genre vs. Pop genre, but any time one genre of music is seen as "more artistic and valid than the other".
- Classical Music Is Boring: In fiction, highly educated characters are often portrayed as "stuffy" and unadventurous, and enjoys classical music. A character that plays Rock or Jazz on the piano, though, might be portrayed as adventurous and untamed.
- Snobby Hobbies: Wealthy people from a privileged background tend to be portrayed with certain "sophisticated" hobbies. Imagine a student at an exclusive college who goes to the art museum and then to the opera in the evening, compared to another student in trade school who drinks beer and plays video games with his friends in his spare time.

This could be two different tropes, when a smart person goes up to a piano they will play Für Elise. When a dumb person goes up to a piano they will play chopsticks.