Kids and Classical Music :: Part II :: Ideas for Young Children

Before you read here, check out Part I - my thoughts on Kids and Classical Music

This "mini series" is a collection of ideas on ways to expose children to classical music and to increase their appreciation for it along the way.   It's not about learning an instrument, music theory, or composition.  It's just about enjoyment.  And I enjoy this topic so much, I thought I'd share some of what we do in our home with you!

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Two years ago, when the boys were 4 and 5, I started to do some intentional exposure to classical music, meaning going beyond just having something playing in the background.  

Here's some of what we used...
Resources/Ideas for getting young kids started on classical music:

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TUBBY THE TUBA
(story by Paul Tripp)

This is a sweet story about a tuba who wants to be more than just the "oom-pah-ing" bass line in the orchestra.  If you Google it, all sorts of results come up...  My favorite version is the 1947 cartoon version by George Pal. 
Links:
* Tubby the Tuba, 1947 cartoon on Youtube
* Tubby the Tuba, book and CD set (same text as the cartoon)

* Tubby the Tube, story narrated by Danny Kaye (isn't he one of the best story tellers!?!)
* Tubby the Tube - LIVE performance with the Boston Pops, Julia Child is the narrator!   I love this recording, because kids get to see real people playing the same instruments they've "met" in the cartoon.  (has a slightly different text)
More on tubas:
* How it's Made: Tubas
* Tuba Concerto by Ralph Vaughn Williams - just for some exposure to a another piece written specifically for tuba!

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PETER AND THE WOLF

by Sergei Prokofiev

Story and music tell the story of Peter who helps capture a wolf in the forest.  Each character is represented by a different instrument of the orchestra.
Links:
* I used this recording of the story, narrated by David Bowie. It's one of many different tracks on the disc, Child's Celebration of Classical Music.  (note: there is a track on here with a Danny Kaye song Tubby the Tuba - same story, but it's not the full narration mentioned above.)

* Peter and the Wolf, a picture book illustrated by Charles Mikolaycak.  We got this from our library.

* This picture book and recording also look nice, but I have not seen it in person:  Sergei Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf, with fully orchestrated and narrated CD.  I especially like the preview pages which show the animals and the instruments that represent them.  

* Peter and the Wolf Ballet - Royal Ballet School.   I let the kids watch this version on Youtube.  It's presented in 4 parts. The link here is to Part 1, and from there you can easily find 2, 3, and 4.

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THE CARNIVAL OF THE ANIMALS

by Camille Saint-Saens

Saint-Saens portrayed several animals through short musical pieces.  Many recordings of these pieces are accompanied by poems, the first were by poet Ogden Nash.  

* The Carnival of the Animals, (Book and CD) Poems by Jack Prelutsky.  We were able to get this book and recording from our library.  We read each poem, and then listened to the corresponding tracks - poem and music.  It's fun to listen for things like the lions roaring, the elephants stomping around, donkey's braying, and the fossils clanking about.

* This link is to a full recording of the music accompanied by still pictures on Youtube.  (no poems)

* I have not heard this recording, but here's one with the Ogden Nash poems, narrated by 14 well known TV/movie personalities. 

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FANTASIA

(Disney Production)

What a fun way to "see" how music can tell a story!  

My kids have watched the VHS version of this that was left over from my own childhood.  I know that a special edition came out in 2000 with additional material - I have not seen it, so I can't comment on the "new" stuff.  I don't have a link to this, but check the library!

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THE YOUNG PERSON'S GUIDE TO THE ORCHESTRA

(by Benjamin Britten)

This piece of music was written by Britten to accompany an educational film about the orchestra.  It's based on a theme that was written by compose Henry Purcell and features different instruments and sections of the orchestra at different points. I've listened to many different versions of this on Youtube, and have decided to link to these...

* This version is a great musical and visual recording.  The narration though is not the original, but instead consists of new poems written for this particular performance at the PROMS at Royal Albert Hall, London. (skip intro if you want, the actual performance starts around the five-minute mark.) Look for the second half of the performance on the right-hand menu.

* This version does not have a great picture, and the sound and picture aren't quite in sync.  However, it's one of my favorite Youtube recordings because the conductor, Michael Tilson Thomas, looks like he's having so much fun and his dynamic personality really adds to the performance.  I like for the kids to see videos of conductors and performers enjoying themselves and the music - visual proof that classical music is not dull and boring! (Like the above version, it's also in two parts.

Note: I have not heard this recording aside from samples on Amazon, but I see that there is a recording that includes Peter and the Wolf, The Carnival of the Animals, and The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra - all conducted (and narrated?) by Leonard Bernstein.

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CAN YOU HEAR IT?

by William Lach

 

This is another book/cd combo we were able to find at our local library.  Can You Hear It? contains several works of art and questions that help the reader find various items in the artwork. The tracks on the CD correspond to the paintings and your encouraged to "find" the same items you found in the pictures in the music.  

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LIVE PERFORMANCES

Finally, we took the boys to a few live performances that year. Two were outdoor philharmonic concerts and the other was the opera Amahl and the Night Visitors.  I highly recommend this opera, and wrote as much in this post from last November.  If you're interested in checking out Amahl but can't get to a performance, you can also look for it on-line.  It was originally written for television, and you can watch that original performance here.  It includes a lovely introduction by the composer, Gian Carlo Menotti.  But it is a recording from the 50s, so the audio/video quality is probably not what today's children are used to :) There are many other performances of the opera on Youtube, but I wasn't able to choose one to link to... They are mostly mediocre "home videos" of community performances; You'll have to check them out for yourself.  (I recommend acquainting children with the story and some of the music before viewing the opera - either live or on screen - so that even if they can't understand a particular singer, they know what is being sung.)

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I know, I can be long-winded, but I hope that something in there is helpful for a family searching for engaging ways to introduce classical music to younger children.  In the next part, I will include some of what we've been using last year and this year as the kids get a little "older."

What resources have you used to bring classical music to your young kiddos??  

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!

Introducing my Kiddos to Opera

The child we seek holds the seas and the winds on his palm,
The child we seek has the moon and stars at his feet.
Before him, the eagle is gentle the lion is meek.

Choirs of angels hover over his roof and sing him to sleep.
He's warmed by breath.
He's fed by a mother who is both virgin and queen.
Incense, myrrh, and gold we bring to his side, and the eastern star is our guide.

 (from Amahl and the Night Visitors, Gian Carlo Menotti)

culture...  2. n. a quality of enlightenment or refinement arising from an acquaintance with and concern for what is regarded as excellent in the arts, letters, manners, etc..

(Thank you, Random House Webster's College Dictionary.)

Kids deserve culture, but they don't get it through osmosis.  So I do things like take mine to the opera.  I got to go to a lot of operas when I was growing up.  More than once, my parents took my siblings and me to see the Christmas opera Amahl and the Night Visitors, by Gian Carlo Menotti.  (And, what's this?  My mom just told me today that my Great Uncle Eddie knew Menotti when he lived in New York.  So, I have, like, one degree of separation from the composer. I'm kind of famous. Or not.)  When I heard of a local performance of Amahl last year, I jumped on it.  "Ok, kids!  We're studying an opera!"

In my opinion, Amahl and the Night Visitors is the perfect opera for any child's "first opera."  It is short (about an hour).  It is in English.  The lead character is a child.  It has elements of the Christmas story that kids are familiar with:  the "Night Visitors" are in fact, the Three Wise Men who are traveling to see a newborn King.  It does not skimp on the message of the newborn Savior and salvation.  Parts of it are humorous.  Much of it is touching.  Perfect. 

(Here is a good synopsis  from Wikipedia.  And here is  a lovely passage by Menotti himself about how he conceived of the idea for the opera.)

I wanted my sons to really understand and appreciate what they were seeing when we went to see Amahl for the first time.  I wanted what happened on stage to look and sound familiar to them, to hold their attention because they already loved the story and characters.  In the weeks before the performance we read this lovely storybook adaptation (available through our library) ...

as well as this one ...

Then we re-read the first picture book and stopped periodically to listen to the corresponding portions of the opera from this recording...

The performance was wonderful (despite the box office employee who told me she didn't really think four -year-olds should be attending an opera...  Bah!  We showed her.)  The boys were blessedly  well-behaved and they loved the opera.  They knew when their favorite parts were coming and would smile and nudge me when they witnessed them unfold on stage.  We got to sit in seats near the aisle - the regal kings passed right by us on their journey!  The head of the kings' camel even fell off at the end of the performance - a prop malfunction for sure, but humorous and memorable for us!

And we went again today!  It was very last minute, and I did not get to do the same intentional preparation I try do for stuff like this.  It actually happened something like this:  "What!  The last show of Amahl is today???  Quick, buy the tickets!  Use the toilet!  Put on some socks!  Get in the car!  Move it, move it, move it."  Thanks to my amazing mother who went with the kids and me, we pulled it off.  Oh, and best of all, this year my little girl  joined her brothers and got to go her first opera!  (She's not yet three... Don't tell the box office lady!)  

The child we seek doesn't need our gold. 

On love, on love alone he will build his kingdom. 

His pierced hand will hold no scepter. 
His haloed head will wear no crown. 

His might will not be built on your toil. 

Swifter than lightning, he will soon walk among us. 

He will bring us new life, and receive our debts...

(from Amahl and the Night Visitors, Gian Carlo Menotti)