Gifts that broaden horizons - Music education

  I believe kids are naturally musical, they've got rhythm in their bones.  If you want to teach them music I suggest Suzuki instruction, it is very gentle, encouraging and they get to an advanced stage fairly quickly. If it is a major chore to get them to practice, I suggest you leave it to them to decide they really want to learn the instrument (at a later age perhaps). From what I've seen, Kindermusic is good, however, it seemed a little overpriced to me. 

For young kids, just make a regular date to put some rhythmic music on and let them bang on pots and pans, blow on whistles, ring a bell... you get the picture.  If they see you enjoying music, singing along, tapping your feet...it's contagious, they can't help but enjoy it too.  Live bands are great to take kids to see as well, although it's always a good idea to have some earplugs handy (they sell them in the shooting/hunting section of Walmart) since most kids' hearing is usually not as damaged as adults hearing.

Gifts with hidden agendas - I love them.  Here are my favorites for classical music education. By far THE best classical music CDs I've ever listened to for kids are the ones put out by Classical Kids.  We have nearly worn these out from playing them over the years (by kid request).  I think this has been by far the best money I ever spent on kids CDs. These are the ones we have, and they are discussed in order of child requests.

Mozart's Magic Fantasy: A Journey Through 'The Magic Flute'is based on his opera the "Magic Flute" (a duel between good and evil with an underlying Christian analagy).  This can be a little scary at the beginning for under 5s, but then (at age 4 & 6) my kids got so totally absorbed by it they kept asking for it over and over, ad nauseum (for years!).  This one was my daughter's and son's favorite.  It is an amazing introduction to opera for kids. Before you know it you will hear your cherubs singing like sopranos (it's quite funny).  These CD's are great for extra peace during car trips.

Mozart's Magnificent Voyage is about Mozart's life.  Mozart's son complains about school at one point in the CD (which irritated me), but in the end he realizes how lucky he is and settles down, so I guess it's a lesson learned.  My son also loved this story as well (it has boys in it).

 

The rest of the composer CDs are gripping stories which involve the composer in some escapade during his life, while his music is played either in the background, or as part of the story.

Vivaldi's Ring of Mystery was my daughter's favorite (a girl is the heroine), it portrays Vivaldi's work as a priest in an orphanage in Venice.  It is nicely linked (by a common heroine) to Classical Kids: Hallelujah Handel! This story also deals with Orphans - Handel often performed for Orphanages, or donated earnings from performances to orphanages.

Tchaikovsky Discovers America is a really exciting story which is based on the time Tchaikovsky came out to perform in America (at the turn of the century).  Mr. Bach Comes To Call is a great CD if you have a child that plays piano, as it is all about practice, practice, practice. Beethoven Lives Upstairs was the first of the CDs put out by Classical Kids, and is a very well done look at Beethoven's life, through the letters of a young boy.

The Song of the Unicorn plays middle ages type music (lutes, etc.), with a story loosely based on the tales of King Arthur and Merlin.  A Classical Kids Christmas is simply great classical Christmas music, with and without words.

These CDs run at about $12 each.  I was trying to put ONLY our favorites here, but I failed miserably, we love them all. 

Want a full scale course on the Orchestra and composers?  Try "The Story of the Orchestra" by Robert Levine.  I found it a bit serious, but the pictures and matching music CD make it a very comprehensive course on composers, instruments and classical music. 

Often your the local library has a CD collection, you can always pick up a different classical music CD each week along with your books and play it in the background during housework or schoolwork.  You would be amazed at how quickly kids start to think of it as "normal" music.  If you have XM radio in your car or on your TV, you can try the XM channel Pops.  It plays the favorite classics.  Who knows, if you start early enough, they may even choose this for their listening pleasure over Hannah Montana....

Aussie Kim