When to introduce the love of classical music to a child?

[shelnatowsky]

I have a grandson, age 6. He's never listened to classical music, that is, intentionally. How is it best to introduce it to him and to have him love it, so that he has this listening passion for his whole life? Note: he lives 400 miles away, so I cannot play any when he's around! He's not around!

[Mandryka]

Get him to do gymnastics,  dance. One good one is the first movement of Beethoven's 4 th symphony, the adagio and the transition to allegro. Kids can make imaginative sequences  out of that. He could show you the moves with skype.


Another is to find some really horrible and violent music, kids like that sort of thing. There's a good song sung by Punch at the start of Birwhistle's Punch and Judy.

[Cato]

Find the classic cartoons where things like von Suppe' Overtures are used, or Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody #2 etc.

Bugs Bunny in Rhapsody Rabbit or Rabbit of Seville or What's Opera, Doc?: highly recommended!   

Try this: A Corny Concerto

http://www.youtube.com/v/m735o_eEwgg

Walter Lantz at Universal made several cartoons with classical music: here is an excerpt from Kiddie Koncert with Swedish accented Wally Walrus conducting:

http://www.youtube.com/v/MWQ-fYCYDYs

[Bogey]

Great idea Cato.  I would add:

Take him to the kids symphony type days in your area where the kiddos get to go up on stage and hear the instruments up and close. 

Also, weave in music from movies that uses a symphony or other classical instruments.  Some will say it is not classical (that is a whole other thread that has already been done here), but you may find it opens the door to the other.  It did for me.

You can also connect both my ideas by taking him to symphonies that feature movie music from the likes of Harry Potter or Star Wars.  We've done all of these two things for our kids and they do enjoy "symphonic music" still at the ages of 10 and 14.

[Bogey]

Seems like Portland does a lot of this:

http://www.portlandsymphony.org/content/tickets/browse-performances/

[Daimonion]

Thank you Cato! I will check it with my sample of children which is one 3-years old boy and one 8-years old girl. Not a big sample, but my own

[Cato]

Thank you Cato! I will check it with my sample of children which is one 3-years old boy and one 8-years old girl. Not a big sample, but my own

No problem!

Here is the complete Wally Walrus cartoon with the von Suppe overture Morning, Noon, and Night in Vienna

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5avvu_kiddie-koncert_shortfilms

[Madiel]

Things with stories of some kind are good. Peter and the Wolf is an example. And my first LP (and it was an LP) had Carnival of the Animals on one side, and Poulenc's Babar the Elephant on the other.  I think I listened to Carnival far more, to be honest, but the point in both cases was that it was descriptive music.

The cartoons suggested above are arguably working the same way.

[some guy]

Best time to begin this is when you are six. Maybe earlier. You then develop this love yourself, for yourself. And when you are old enough to have children and grandchildren of your own, you will be of course thoroughly immersed in this world yourself. Everyone around you will know.

And they will either choose to immerse themselves in this world themselves or they will not. And both options are valid.

[Mirror Image]

It really all depends if the child is receptive of music. You can drop a few names like Beethoven, Brahms, Mendelssohn, or Tchaikovsky and if the child is interested then give them something from your collection to listen to. I always found Britten's Young Guide to the Orchestra an excellent start.

[Karl Henning]

All children are receptive to music. Full stop.

[shelnatowsky]

To all respondees to the original Q: Thank you for responses to--When to Introduce Classical Music to a Child?
I've sent my 6-year old grandson the following CDs:
Peter and the Wolf + the Britten child classic
Pictures at an Exhibition (orchestral version)
>>>Ordered the following from amazon and will send him:
The Story of Bach
The Story of Mozart
The Story of Beethoven
The Story of Tchaikovsky
--all have narration to help a child understand what he/she will be hearing!
Also, sent his dad youtube versions of above 2 (at the top) for instrumental exposure.
--i.e., might my grandson get turned on by some instrument he sees being played and want to study it and learn to play it himself!?

Shel

I have merged this 'new' topic with the original. Knight

[Opus106]

You can drop a few names like Beethoven, Brahms, Mendelssohn, or Tchaikovsky and if the child is interested then give them something from your collection to listen to.

[TheGSMoeller]

All children are receptive to music. Full stop.

My three year old will tell me if he wants to listen to piano or violin music. In fact, the other day he asked (well, told me) to turn off the Mozart clarinet concerto because he wanted more piano. His knowledge of music comes from myself having music playing, mostly classical music, either in the house or in the car, and also from the Little Einsteins cartoons on Disney Channel that always feature an Artist and a Classical Composer in each episode, it's a great show.

Kids are sponges.

[Opus106]

...the Little Einsteins cartoons on Disney Channel that always feature an Artist and a Classical Composer in each episode, it's a great show.

I've come across references to that show in classical music forums before. How do they manage to have a fresh stock (of classical composers), if at all, considering that as a programme in a mainstream medium they are unlikely to go beyond the 'Canonised' list. A different piece in each episode, perhaps?

[Madiel]

It really all depends if the child is receptive of music. You can drop a few names like Beethoven, Brahms, Mendelssohn, or Tchaikovsky and if the child is interested then give them something from your collection to listen to. I always found Britten's Young Guide to the Orchestra an excellent start.

I was going to say that a child is unlikely to respond to names in the abstract - without already knowing something about the names.

Then again, it's pretty surprising what children are capable of picking up.  When my nephew was 2, he walked up to a family member with a CD and said "This is the new Sting. I don't like it. I prefer Brand New Day."

(And given what I thought of Sacred Love when I listened to it later, the boy had taste.  )

[TheGSMoeller]

Parking a kid's ass in front of a TV shouldn't be encouraged imo.

Do you have children, James?

[TheGSMoeller]

I've come across references to that show in classical music forums before. How do they manage to have a fresh stock (of classical composers), if at all, considering that as a programme in a mainstream medium they are unlikely to go beyond the 'Canonised' list. A different piece in each episode, perhaps?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Little_Einsteins_episodes

Here's the Wikipedia list of episodes, the artist and composers are listed along with their pieces that are used.
When they use a composer, they stuck with one piece, and at times just one movement from a symphony or another multi-movement piece. There are a few repeats in the music side, but not too many.

[TheGSMoeller]

Read my first reply in this thread for the answer

There is a difference between parking your kid's ass in front of a TV, and putting on an educational program that you enjoy with your child and even discuss about afterwards with them.

[Opus106]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Little_Einsteins_episodes

Here's the Wikipedia list of episodes, the artist and composers are listed along with their pieces that are used.
When they use a composer, they stuck with one piece, and at times just one movement from a symphony or another multi-movement piece. There are a few repeats in the music side, but not too many.

Thanks.