by Sonja Lynn Downing
During a visit with my family for the holidays, my mother reminisced about her early childhood, growing up in the Chicago suburbs. On Sunday afternoons, her parents would relax and read the Sunday paper, and her father always liked to put Symphony No. 9 in E minor “From the New World” by Antonín Dvořák on the record player. For my mother today, this piece holds both the warmth of family and the imagination of the American frontier. If you think music for children needs to be short and simple, think again.
There have been debates for several years about the so-called Mozart Effect, the theory that children who listen to Mozart perform better on tests, and even become smarter. Many studies since the initial one in 1991 by Dr. Alfred A. Tomatis have shown this to be not necessarily true. However, research has shown that children who play an instrument and are involved in music learning and participation, tend to improve their concentration, hand-eye coordination, and analytical skills. Playing music is also an outlet for creative expression. Being involved in concert bands and youth orchestras throughout my own school-age years let me make lasting friendships, and experience the power of communal artistry.
Attending a live music performance is more memorable than listening to recorded music, and active study and participation is better yet. Children can become familiar with the intricacies of the music through repetition and hands-on experience more so than just listening or watching. Still, listening to classical music with your children can be an enjoyable way to spend quality time. Many composers have written music specifically for children, and there are dozens of CDs packaged specifically to play for children, but do not feel limited by these choices.
Classical works written for children often highlight particular instruments or instrument families, so that the listener may become familiar with the timbre and quality of each instrument or family. English composer Benjamin Britten wrote The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra in 1946. In this piece, he highlights each instrument grouping, working his way through the orchestra, from the winds, through the strings, to the brass, and then percussion. The piece ends with a full-orchestral fugue.
Several other full-scale works for children use specific instruments to portray various characters or animals. Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf from 1936 is one of the most beloved orchestral children’s stories. In this piece, each character has a distinct instrument and melodic theme. For example, the duck’s part is played by the oboe, and Peter’s theme is a warm melody on the strings. The Carnival of the Animals (1886) by Camille Saint-Saëns does not tell a programmatic story, as does Peter and the Wolf, though each movement illustrates a particular animal or animal group. “The Swan (Le Cygne),” played by a romantic and lyrical cello, is probably the most well known movement of this piece.
Pyotr (Peter) Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite may be the ultimate in musical portraits of a wide variety of fantastical characters, from the frightening Mouse King to the mystical Arabian dancers to the grace of the Sugar Plum Fairy. Especially at this time of year, listening to or going to a performance of The Nutcracker may be just the thing to get your little ones up and dancing to classical music.
Achille-Claude Debussy’s solo piano suite “Children’s Corner,” finished in 1908, was not written necessarily for children to play, as the movements are quite complex, but instead to express different moods appropriate to childhood. The last movement is probably the most recognizable: “Golliwogg’s Cake Walk.” Erik Satie also wrote a few suites of short piano pieces. His three Gymnopédies for solo piano have a serene and nostalgic lullaby quality that is great for down time with baby.
The possibilities of fun and captivating pieces, despite not having been written specifically for children, are endless. Modest Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition is another suite of richly varied moods, colors, and characters. Mussorgsky originally wrote it for piano, and it has been orchestrated by numerous musicians, including Maurice Ravel and Leopold Stokowski. Aaron Copeland’s orchestral and ballet works, especially Appalachian Spring, Rodeo, and Billy the Kid, are all iconic American classical music works. For a more contemporary American option, try Steve Reich’s Different Trains, a minimalist overlapping of several recordings paired with strings.
One of my personal favorites from my own childhood is Symphony No.1 “The Lord of the Rings” by Johan de Meij, the Dutch composer, in 1988, for concert band. He composed each of the five dramatic movements as portraying a character or an episode from the novels by J.R.R. Tolkien. I love this piece for its dark and stormy sections, and its epic, sweeping melodies.
Children can appreciate the many nuances and complex beauty of classical music, and if the experience is interactive, all the better. Encourage the children around you to learn an instrument and discover the wonderful and infinite world of classical music. Or, at least on the next Sunday afternoon you find yourself lazing about with your kids, put on Dvořák’s New World Symphony and let your children experience a new world of musical excitement.
Internet Resources
www.classicsforkids.com
www.sfskids.org
http://classicalmusic.about.com/od/classicalmusictips/a/childrenclassic.htm - 5 ideas for how to use classical music with your child.
