When I was in college, I would come home most weekends. One of the best parts about these days at home was playing with my little brother and sister who were six and three at the time. As children do, they loved music and one of our favorite games to play happened at the piano. I would play about a minute of a classical tune and whoever could remember first would shout out the name of the piece "Symphony No. 40!". I would say, "Who is it by?" and one of them would call out "Mozart!". "And what is his whole name?", I would ask. Often before I could finish the question, I would hear, "Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart!".
You may not be able to play piano, but you can use recordings you own, recordings from the library or YouTube to play the same game with your children. I suggest starting with five very different pieces and building up from there. Depending on the attention span of your child, you can play all five pieces in one setting, or you can add one a day. I suggest having one formal listening a day, where they sit with you and you listen together, talking about the name of the piece and the name of the composer. You can add information about where the composer is from. Get out the globe and show them where the country is and how far away it is from your house. Let them play with quiet toys while they listen since our philosophy is "Listen, Learn, Enjoy", with the enjoyment part of that being paramount. When your formal listening is over, incorporate the five pieces you selected to study into your daily listening. Even if it doesn't seem like your children are listening, hearing the pieces in the background will help them effortlessly and unconsciously memorize the melodies. Over time, your children will develop a listening-based understanding of classical music and a knowledge of some of the greatest works of all time. Whether they become musicians or not, this, like a basic understanding of the great works of literature and art, will help them grow to be interesting, well-rounded adults.
And now for the repertoire. I will post five examples a week, but don't feel obligated to go with my schedule. Remember, the important thing is a lasting knowledge of these pieces, so knowing fewer pieces, but knowing them for life, is more important than following my schedule.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Symphony No. 40, Molto Allegro
Facts to talk about:
Mozart was born into a musical family in Salzburg, Austria.
(I will write more later, but this will be enough for now)
Symphony is just the name of a piece written for an orchestra. Symphony No. 40 means this is the 40th symphony he wrote. He wrote his first symphony at age 8.
(Again, the study of the orchestra can definitely be expanded upon.)
Molto Allegro are Italian words. Literally "molto" means much and "allegro" means fast. So molto allegro means "much fast" or "very fast".
Only the string family plays at the beginning and around 0:15 the wind instruments begin to join.
Johnann Sebastian Bach, Cello Suite No. 1, Prelude
Bach was also from a long line of musicians and carried on the tradition through his children, some of which grew up to be musicians and composers. Bach had 20 children; 10 lived to adulthood.
Bach was from Germany and was hired both by churches and by noblemen to provide music for their courts.
A suite is a large piece of music with lots of little pieces inside of it. The prelude is the first piece in every Bach Cello Suite, of which there are six. The other movements in the suites are for specific types of dancing, but the prelude can be considered the call to dance.
Gioachino Rossini, Overture "William Tell"
(Skip to 2:45 for the entrance of the familiar section)
Rossini was an opera composer from Italy. This is an overture to the opera he wrote titled "William Tell". An overture is a piece that the orchestra plays at the very beginning of the opera before the curtain opens and the acting and singing begins.
William Tell was a sort of Robin Hood-hero figure in Switzerland. Read the legend to your children here: http://www.jamboree.freedom-in-education.co.uk/real_history/william_tell.htm
Watch the Mickey Mouse version of the opera here:
Pytor Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Swan Lake Theme
Tchaikovsky is a Russian composer who is famous for writing music for ballets including Swan Lake and Nutcracker.
Find on YouTube or borrow a video of a ballet production of Swan Lake so your children can see the dancing while listening to the music.
There are several children's picture books that tell the bittersweet story of Swan Lake.
Antonio Vivaldi, The Four Seasons, "Spring"
Vivaldi was a priest turned composer because of health issues (probably athsma) that prevented him from fulfilling his priestly duties. He was called "The Red Priest" because of his red hair. He lived in Venice, Italy and ran an orphanage for girls. He taught them to play orchestral instruments and they gave excellent performances. Much of his music was written for the girls in this school.
There are three movements (smaller sections of music within the piece) to Spring. Focus on the first movement, Allegro. Talk to your children about what things remind them of spring and see if they can hear versions of those sounds. (Think birds, breezes, thunderstorms, etc.)
Vivaldi based this music off of this sonnet:
Springtime is upon us.
The birds celebrate her return with festive song,
and murmuring streams are softly caressed by the breezes.
Thunderstorms, those heralds of Spring, roar, casting their dark mantle over heaven,
Then they die away to silence, and the birds take up their charming songs once more.
The birds celebrate her return with festive song,
and murmuring streams are softly caressed by the breezes.
Thunderstorms, those heralds of Spring, roar, casting their dark mantle over heaven,
Then they die away to silence, and the birds take up their charming songs once more.
