Kids and Classical Music :: Part I :: My Thoughts

(Haha.  This on the heels of my post featuring oldies and Motown!)

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"If your ear is trained up on bad music... you will find it hard to listen to Beethoven."

- Esolen

A couple weeks ago we were doing a little cleaning around the house for the Soup Party and I decided to put on some motivational music.  I don't know why, but I pulled Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture out from the CD bin, popped it in, and turned it up.  Now, the kids have heard it before because it had occurred to me before that music written with cannons as one of the instruments just might be kind of cool for boys.  But this time it also occurred to me that Aaron knew a little about Napoleon from history last year, so as the music played, I told him the story.  And then we listened to it again and again and again... really loudly.  And he could hear the story.  And now he knows the highlights of Napoleon's ill-fated invasion of Russia and the primary themes of the 1812 Overture. Needless to say, I'm ecstatic! 

It's been a long time now that I've wanted to write about kids and classical music, but I've hesitated because, as excited as I am to chat about this topic, I'm also nervous about seeming snooty, snobbish... hoity toity, if you will.  Please believe me that no one who knows me has ever accused me of being too cultured or classy... think beer instead of wine and casseroles in aluminum tins instead of foie gras on crystal platters.  Mmkay?  I shall do my best to be non hoity toity, because I'm really not.  I'm just really convicted that a background in classical music (even a small one) is so worthwhile for my children and I wish only to share my enthusiasm, offer some suggestions, and absorb your thoughts and ideas on this topic.   

I think that gifting children with a knowledge and appreciation of classical music is immensely important and valuable.  I've always thought so, but never actually gave it much thought until reading Esolen's 10 Ways to Destroy the Imagination of your Child this past summer.  (After this post, I promise I won't mention the book again.)  I liked the book, but I loved the chapter "Distract the Child with the Shallow and Unreal OR The Kingdom of Noise."  The focus of the chapter is on the "noise" children encounter in our culture - on television, on the radio, on school walls (posters and slogans, etc...) and even in books. Children are so accustomed to books without plot or prose - instead today's children's books are filled with "insets" containing snippets of information.  Likewise, TV is just shallow story lines presented in fits and starts, "shots are quick, disjointed..." and are "punctuated by moronic sales pitches for toys and toothpaste and luxury cars..."  And popular music?? Children have been "fed on noise, and have no taste for melody... Just as their eyes have been trained to jitter with the skips and blips of visual distraction, (so) their ears jitter along with incoherent wailings..." and their minds do not have the capability of focusing on an intricate, challenging, thought-provoking plot, or poem, or piece of music.  

Ah!  I thought.  He's right!  And that's why this has become more important to me even than it was before.  Actually, it hasn't necessarily gained importance, it's just that now I don't feel so "weird" making a big deal about it.  I feel justified.  Because if the ear and the mind and the soul aren't trained to hear real music when they are young, the opportunity may be lost.  The ability and interest to appreciate and understand good music is at risk of being destroyed by exposure to the alternatives.  

A child "develops a taste for" vegetables because his parents offer him a variety of vegetables over and over again.  He "develops a love of" books because books are read to him and are readily available to him.  The same child that has developed tastes, loves, abilities and skills as a result of exposure to various foods, stories, projects, and activities, is similarly able to "develop an ear" for classical music if it is available to him.  Parents have the opportunity to not only expose their children to "good" music but to present it as something meaningful, exciting, adventuresome, and fun.

It's not like I've actually researched this topic.  I'm sure there are studies that have found things like, "minors exposed to classical music in excess of 14.3 hours a week have 27% more brain activity during their wakeful hours and sleep 4.65 times more soundly than those minors were exposed to 0 - 14.2 hours of classical music per week."  I haven't really based based my decisions on scientific findings.  I expose my kiddos to classical music because I enjoy it, they enjoy it, I believe it's good for them, and more importantly, because it's what my parents did for me. And I am so grateful.  Mom and Dad, are you there? THANK YOU.

I grew up surrounded by music because it's what my parents did. It was normal to attend the operas and concerts my mom performed in and to hear her voice in the  next room even though she wasn't home - she was a weekday program host on the local classical music radio station and it was the only station that was ever on in the home.   When I was young I would sometimes go to the station to "sleep over" while she worked the night shift, and when I was older I volunteered there.  She got tickets to great concerts and took me to them - I got to meet violinists Joshua Bell and Midori and cellist Yo-Yo Ma! (darn, if only I knew where those pictures were...) On Saturday mornings we would clean the house listening to the obscure opera, the Ballad of Baby Doe. (why, Mom?)  My parents took us to free philharmonic summertime concerts in the parks.  Many weekend evenings my Dad would "warm up" in the basement and leave for his "second job" - playing in a large dance band for weddings and large parties.  On Independence Day we'd go to hear him play in the local wind ensemble before fireworks.  When Dad put the Nutcracker Suite record on the turntable, the needle would often skip from all the "ballet" dancing and twirling going on in the house.  

The memories go on and on.  And it was totally normal to us.  My parents did it because it they knew it and loved it; they didn't have an educational agenda.  It wasn't until I got to about sixth grade when I started to realize it actually wasn't that normal. But by that time I didn't care and I realized how unfortunate it was that other kids didn't get to stay up way past their bedtime to watch the four operas in Richard Wagner's Ring Cycle broadcast live from the Met.  By the time I got to college I finally realized that not only was what my parents had done not "normal," I realized it was extraordinary, and I was truly, truly appreciative.

I don't have the same music-related education and professional background that my parents have.  I don't have all the knowledge they did, so in some ways I feel that I have to work a little harder at bringing good music into our home.  It's not as seamless in my home today as it was in the home of my childhood. But I work at it since it does hold such importance for me and because I have already seen how rewarding it has been for my own children - and they probably don't even realize it yet!  

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I have written this as a mini "series."  I'll be back next week with more on this topic (I *think* in three parts): ideas for exposing children, and your whole family, in general to more classical music; specific ideas and resources to use for very young children based on the things I did with my boys when they were 4 and 5; and ideas for further study, based mostly around specific composers.  What I do in our home is just what I've come up with - it's not based on any educational philosophy, program, or lesson plan.  It's how we keep classical music in our home, how we enjoy it, and how we keep it fun!  I hope you'll come back and join me next week and will consider contributing your own ideas and resources to the conversation!

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A post script hot tip:  This is the time of year to look around and see if any local opera companies or choral groups are performing the Christmas opera Amahl and the Night Visitors. It's a great first opera for kids, and I wrote all about it last year in this post here!  

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And in case you want to hear the cannons... here's a portion of Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture.  Hold on to you hats, though... this is the fastest performance of it I've ever heard!