Five Ways to Introduce Concert Music to Children

Robert Greenberg ^ | 4/12/12 | Robert Greenberg

[Huntress]

That's how I got started. Explosions, falling anvils, and classical music are an intoxicating combination.

[dorothy]

And who could ever resist the music for the Lone Ranger (William Tell Overture)? My father listened to classical music all the time, but the Lone Ranger theme would bring my brother and me running.

My niece developed an interest after watching the Fantasia disc I bought for her 6th birthday. Simple exposure is usually enough; the music itself does the rest.

[Intolerant in NJ]

My parents got me started with a little 78RPM player and a couple of John Philip Sousa march records - well, it was during WWII when such music was acceptable. Next my first grade teacher enchanted me with “Morning” from Peer Gynt, so much so that eventually my mother made a special trip with me into Philly to visit the record department of the old Gimbels Department Store to buy a 2 record 78 album of the Suite. About that time the fantastic new 33 1/3 RPM technology was arriving, and with it full recordings of “Scheherazade”, “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice”, “Rhapsody in Blue”, and “Ein Heldenleben” (the theme of the old “Big Story” program) - and on and on...fast, loud, melodious, and dramatic did it every time.......

[MasterGunner01]

YES! Not to forget the Lone Ranger. That got the blood pumping. Besides Warner Bros., there were other studios making cartoons. Walt Disney (when Walt was alive) made great cartoon epics with classical music — who can forget Mickey Mouse in “The Sorcerer's Apprentice”? Water Lantz (Woody Woodpecker), MGM (Tom and Jerry), and Paramount (Popeye the Sailor) were others. The folks who did these cartoons were absolute comedic geniuses. Kids loved them, but in all reality, much of the stuff in the cartoons was aimed at adults.

Now we have these “message” type cartoons and they suck. It used to be Cartoon Network would run the old Warner Bros, cartoons, but then they started butchering them for PC considerations such “violence”, “stereotyping”, and other liberal nonsense.

One of the things that drove the libs nuts was the characters were always getting shot or blown up or falling off cliffs and such. These morons actually believed kids could not understand the difference between cartoon fantasy characters and acting out in real life. Good grief! How stupid is this? At 8 years old I knew cartoon characters weren't REAL.

[Erasmus]

Before we had an LP phonograph, we had some 78 RPM albums, purchased I think by my older sister, who took piano lessons. We would play them on a Motorola table radio/phonograph that big bro won at a Boy Scout auction in 1948.

I recall an album of light favorites by Morton Gould (who I was later to learn was a heavy hitter in concert music) and an album of songs by Ernesto Lecuona by the great pianist Jose Iturbi.

But the family collection of classical music accelerated with our first LP radio-phonograph console in 1953, a Philco. Big sis started collecting such classics as Efrem Kurtz' reading of Khachaturian's Gayne suite (including Sabre Dance), Pennario/Slatkin's Rhapsody in Blue, and some cheap Euro imports of light classics, including one of Porgy and Bess.

[Later, after building our first kit-based true hi-fi system, I cannibalized the Philco's cabinet and speaker as a second speaker for that (mono) system. I also cannibalized the chassis of the Motorola to use as a small PA system for our club in Jr High School.]

Dad had some favorites too. I remember in particular a piece from Ippolitov-Ivanov's In the Steppes of Central Asia, titled Procession of the Sardar.

The family title of Chief Classical Music Collector eventually fell upon my shoulders. I went on to sell hi-fi/stereo equipment, broadcast concert music, and record some too.

Family members knew that a nice classical recording was an easy present choice for me! I am especially fond of an LP my brother gave me one Christmas: Cliburn/Reiner's performance of Beethoven's 4th Concerto.

[Erasmus]

Speaking of which....

Last night I watched a full BBC Proms concert from 2008 on Youtube. It was Bernard Haitink with the Chicago Symphony at Royal Albert Hall, featuring Mahler's 6th.

At a crucial point in the final movement, the final section is introduced most unusually, almost shockingly.

In the percussion battery sits an octagonal wooden object, like an oversized ottoman, with a round wooden disk on top. Then there's this, well, sledgehammer. At the crucial moment, this diminutive Asian percussionette winds up that hammer and gives one homeric whack on that wooden ottoman. And she had to anticipate the right instant by probably 1.71828 beats in order to start the hammer swing on time.

It reminded me of nothing more than that epic commercial of 1984 introducing the Macintosh.

[ding_dong_daddy_from_dumas]

Lone ranger musical pieces

[jammer]

Great post. The second movement is sublime. I also like Gould’s version of Liszt transcription of that movement. I listen to—and play—that much more than the other movements. The orchestral version is probably the only one for children, however (to remain on topic).

[left that other site]

I had a full percussion kit made up of mom’s pots and pans! Ha Ha Ha! I have since moved up from Farberware to Zildjin! :-)
I also teach music at a pre-school.

[bonfire]

Yes YES to all your childhood loves!

Never got into Mozart. I keep trying but it just doesn’t “do it” for me! What would you suggest?

Get yourself a conductor stick! Been know to “conduct” a piece FULL BLAST standing on my patio table at sunset! Just doin’ my part to educate the neighbors :)

[left that other site]

LOL.
I didn’t appreciate Mozart UNTIL I started to actually PLAY his music on the Piano.

BUT, in deference to my Bombastic and Loud preferences, I STILL Prefer Verdi’s Requiem Mass to Mozart’s Ha Ha Ha!