Kid Aesthetes
He was promised a big reward if this ever happened, so we took him to the bookstore and (with a little guidance from us) he picked out The Great Art Scandal (a companion volume to Art Fraud Detective, a book he already has, and liked). Both of these books set up puzzles or mysteries to solve involving clues inserted into classic paintings. By this contrivance the kids end up staring at the paintings and studying their details. Beyond that, older kids could learn a lot from the information given, but for even the younger ones, the exercise will result in a basic familiarity which will serve them in the future.
Meanwhile, on the music appreciation front, we've been buying the Kindermusik stuff and liking it a lot. Unlike some other kids' albums with lame-o arrangements and singers who bring to mind cliches involving tunes and buckets, the Kindermusic is produced at a high level throughout. The arrangements show evidence of having been created by talented people who have no intention of letting the humble source material prevent them from applying some thought, style and creativity to the end product. Their arrangement of "This Old Man" features funky cool-jazz bitonality -- cool! -- yet they (mostly) avoid an overproduced feel.
The quality of kids music is not a trivial thing; I suspect the kids can tell the difference, but more importantly, I know we poor parents can.
Umie the Umlaut says, "ask your doctor about the Fredösphere!"
1 Comments:
When I was a small kid, maybe 5 or 6, my parents got me a "Bozo the Clown" record player, and a lot of kiddie records that were colored red, yellow, green etc. (Old 45 RPM's)This would have been in '61 or '62. I remember the colors, but I don't have any memory of the music itself, which was such poop and pap that I detested it even then . I had long been dancing and running all around the house when my mother played the 1812 Overture with the real cannons, and the Gayne Ballet Suite by Khatchaturian. I was incensed by the injustice that I got silly kid records when the BIG people got to play the BIG records (33 RPM's)on the BIG record player in the living room. I protested vociferously, and finally, to get me to shut up, my father reached into the BIG shelves and got down a BIG record, and said, "Well go play this then, you won't like it", figuring that would be the end of it. It was a recording of Bach organ music, including the infamous Toccata and Fugue in D minor, as well as a Toccata in F which is still one of my favorites. Much to the shock of my parents, I loved the album and played it till it was white and scratchy. My mother started by giving me the beloved 1812 overture, which had Marche Slav on the reverse. Soon I begged off the Katcheturian also. Then she tried an experiment and gave me a copy of La Mer, and told me to listen for pictures of the sea, which I did and saw in my head. Then Ravel's Daphnis and Chloe suite,I was so happy with that record, especially Ravel's Bolero on the other side. Then I got a copy of Petrushka by Stravinsky. I was ecstatic. My parents were utterly astounded when I flipped over the Rite of Spring at age 7, and even more by my enthusiastic love for Stravinsky's Agon. No one had told me it was a 'modern' piece and that I wasn't supposed to like it, I thought the electric mandolin and the twelve tone brass fanfares were incredibly cool. By the time I was eight, I had 30 or so classical albums, it was all I would listen to. Bach was my favorite. I was taking piano lessons and enjoying it, and the course of my life was set. I knew from then on, I would be a composer. And, my parents knew they had something special in their hands. I started trying to write music even then, and I pulled off some acceptable pieces by age 11. (They got me a Magnus Chord Organ, I used to push multiple chord buttons at once to get the polytonality.)
Don't give your kids "kids" music. Give them real music, the good stuff, from day one. They can handle it.... well, maybe not Mahler, but something with a lot of rythym and color interest. The list above worked wonders for me.
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