All About Choosing Piano Schools And Teachers

[phankao]

Dreamaurora:

Haha, but must make sure they listen to the appropriate music also. My friend was saying that he brought his son to watch a Mahler symphony conducted by SSO and that his son was extremely bored by it. Duh, which children will enjoy an overly long-winded and dense work such as Mahler. .

Must be not too young son anyway, or else how to get in to watch SSO?

For introduction to concerts, I find the Beautiful Sunday Concerts useful since they are on every month. And since it's free, if the kid fusses, then just go off - no loss. How often the little toddlers get to watch performances at Esplanade Concert Hall ?

[phankao]

Dreamaurora:

Recorded classical music specifically composed for children are rather rare (but strangely there are plenty of scores in the market), that is why it's quite an uphill task to get children to like classical music. It is definitely an area that can be improved in music pedagogy.

My little boy liked the songs from Nutcracker, and also Saint-Saens Carnival of Animals. And Magic Flute.

[Dreamaurora]

phankao:

Dreamaurora:

Haha, but must make sure they listen to the appropriate music also. My friend was saying that he brought his son to watch a Mahler symphony conducted by SSO and that his son was extremely bored by it. Duh, which children will enjoy an overly long-winded and dense work such as Mahler. .

Must be not too young son anyway, or else how to get in to watch SSO?

For introduction to concerts, I find the Beautiful Sunday Concerts useful since they are on every month. And since it's free, if the kid fusses, then just go off - no loss. How often the little toddlers get to watch performances at Esplanade Concert Hall ?

Think the son was around 10 years old. Up to today, I still cannot enjoy Mahler symphonies, though I appreciate their grandness and inventiveness. Attention span of concert going audience today is getting shorter and more younger musicians nowadays prefer to perform more enjoyable and shorter fares. It is those older ones who still perform long and arty programmes, like those featured in this year Piano Festival in SOTA concert hall. OMG, there is even an all Schubert concert aka will fall asleep halfway through the concert :faint: . What is the concert organiser thinking?

[Dreamaurora]

phankao:

Dreamaurora:

Recorded classical music specifically composed for children are rather rare (but strangely there are plenty of scores in the market), that is why it's quite an uphill task to get children to like classical music. It is definitely an area that can be improved in music pedagogy.

My little boy liked the songs from Nutcracker, and also Saint-Saens Carnival of Animals. And Magic Flute.

Still quite limited though and they are not spefically composed for children. I find it strange that a lot of composers who compose children piano music do not include CDs or recordings with their books. I mean it makes perfect sense to put the recordings out so children can enjoy and subsequently buy the scores right?

[phankao]

Dreamaurora:

phankao:

[quote=\"Dreamaurora\"]
Recorded classical music specifically composed for children are rather rare (but strangely there are plenty of scores in the market), that is why it's quite an uphill task to get children to like classical music. It is definitely an area that can be improved in music pedagogy.

My little boy liked the songs from Nutcracker, and also Saint-Saens Carnival of Animals. And Magic Flute.

Still quite limited though and they are not spefically composed for children. I find it strange that a lot of composers who compose children piano music do not include CDs or recordings with their books. I mean it makes perfect sense to put the recordings out so children can enjoy and subsequently buy the scores right?[/quote]I think it's really up to the educators or parents to make the pieces interesting. I also learnt it from going to music playgroup with my little one when he was just 15 or 16mths old - for about 8mths or so.

[metz]

Dreamaurora:

Recorded classical music specifically composed for children are rather rare (but strangely there are plenty of scores in the market), that is why it's quite an uphill task to get children to like classical music. It is definitely an area that can be improved in music pedagogy.

I beg to differ, there is a lot of existing books, CDs, and DVDs for young children. Some examples -

http://www.amazon.com/Sergei-Prokofievs-Peter-Wolf-Fully-Orchestrated/dp/0375824308/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1339492550&sr=8-9
http://www.amazon.com/Beethovens-Wig-Sing-Along-Symphonies/dp/B000060OLA/ref=pd_sim_b_11
http://www.amazon.com/Fantasia-2000-Special-Edition/dp/B0040QTNSU/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1339492899&sr=8-2

Even on YouTube, you can find Tom & Jerry playing classical pieces.

So, there are many ways to get kids to enjoy classic music.
Both my kids enjoy classical music very much, even though I knew zilch about music before I have kids.

[metz]

And I just found this interesting blog http://classicalmusic4kids.erichansontenor.com/ .


Oh yes, my kids simply love these http://www.amazon.com/Vivaldis-Ring-Mystery-Audio-CD/dp/1895404770/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1339493898&sr=8-11 . They don't seem to get tired of hearing them over and over again. I mean really over and over again! :evil:

And when my kids were younger, these were their favourites - http://www.amazon.com/Classical-Baby-3-Pack-Music-Dance/dp/B0009WPKYA/ref=sr_1_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1339494585&sr=1-1 .

[phankao]

chamonix:

And I just found this interesting blog http://classicalmusic4kids.erichansontenor.com/ .


Oh yes, my kids simply love these http://www.amazon.com/Vivaldis-Ring-Mystery-Audio-CD/dp/1895404770/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1339493898&sr=8-11 . They don't seem to get tired of hearing them over and over again. I mean really over and over again! :evil:

And when my kids were younger, these were their favourites - http://www.amazon.com/Classical-Baby-3-Pack-Music-Dance/dp/B0009WPKYA/ref=sr_1_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1339494585&sr=1-1 .

wow.

[Dreamaurora]

chamonix:

Dreamaurora:

Recorded classical music specifically composed for children are rather rare (but strangely there are plenty of scores in the market), that is why it's quite an uphill task to get children to like classical music. It is definitely an area that can be improved in music pedagogy.

I beg to differ, there is a lot of existing books, CDs, and DVDs for young children. Some examples -

http://www.amazon.com/Sergei-Prokofievs-Peter-Wolf-Fully-Orchestrated/dp/0375824308/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1339492550&sr=8-9
http://www.amazon.com/Beethovens-Wig-Sing-Along-Symphonies/dp/B000060OLA/ref=pd_sim_b_11
http://www.amazon.com/Fantasia-2000-Special-Edition/dp/B0040QTNSU/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1339492899&sr=8-2

Even on YouTube, you can find Tom & Jerry playing classical pieces.

So, there are many ways to get kids to enjoy classic music.
Both my kids enjoy classical music very much, even though I knew zilch about music before I have kids.

Actually with the exception of Peter and the Wolf, the other pieces you listed are just basically standard classical pieces packaged in a children-friendly format or in the case of Fantasia accompanied by motion pictures (btw, you can also get a live-action DVD of Peter and the Wolf). If you think about it, children will find it hard to like pieces such as Stravinsky's Firebird (one of the pieces animated in Fantasia 2000) unless the story is explicitly spelled out for them. And anyway I don't think the original Fantasia is suitable for children to watch, maybe for teenagers more appropriate. My dad rented the Laserdisc for me when I was 9 because the cover showed Mickey Mouse. And I remembered it was the most boring cartoon I ever watched and it did not make sense to me, especially the sequence on Beethoven's 'Pastoral' symphony, which by the way is kind of errr..trippy. You are correct in using the approach of presenting classical music in a fresh and creative way to get your kids to appreciate classical music. I am glad you listed those things and hopefully other parents can use your posts as starting points.

The issue I am actually discussing here is specifically pertaining to the pieces a child will actually learn on the piano. There is surprisingly a breadth of materials composed for children, but most of them are hard to acquire. I suspect this is because piano learning in Singapore is very much exam driven and a lot of teachers here only work solely on exam pieces from ABRSM. The issue with ABRSM selection is that ABRSM attempts to present as wide as variety of styles as possible in their exam books to accomodate more ages and tastes. And out of entire books, sometimes only one or two pieces will appeal to the kids. This explains why certain few pieces are extremely 'hot' and are overplayed in exams. Unfortunately too, many teachers are not aware of these children-specific repertoire such as those composed by Elissa Milne, Alan Bullard, Janina Garscia, Gretchaninoff, etc. So some children who start classical piano may find that the repertoire they work on a bit stale and uninteresting. But can't blame the teachers also lar, a lot of these materials are expensive and have to import; and most prefer to use materials they are already familiar with. And like I mentioned, the recordings for these materials are also scarce (with the exception of Elissa Milne) so it's quite hard to give them a listen.

[metz]

Dreamaurora:

Actually with the exception of Peter and the Wolf, the other pieces you listed are just basically standard classical pieces packaged in a children-friendly format or in the case of Fantasia accompanied by motion pictures (btw, you can also get a live-action DVD of Peter and the Wolf). ..... You are correct in using the approach of presenting classical music in a fresh and creative way to get your kids to appreciate classical music. I am glad you listed those things and hopefully other parents can use your posts as starting points.

Thanks for the compliment on using the correct approach. Never thought of it as a right or wrong approach. Rather it was just something fun that we enjoy listening and watching together. Besides classical music, we did a lot of others like this as well - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tumble-Tots-Action-Song-Favourites/dp/B0001BPS28/ref=sr_1_15?ie=UTF8&qid=1339571274&sr=8-15 .

For those who might enjoy Peter and the Wolf (we have the animated version too), they might wanna try Carnival of the Animals too.

[quote]If you think about it, children will find it hard to like pieces such as Stravinsky's Firebird (one of the pieces animated in Fantasia 2000) unless the story is explicitly spelled out for them. And anyway I don't think the original Fantasia is suitable for children to watch, maybe for teenagers more appropriate. My dad rented the Laserdisc for me when I was 9 because the cover showed Mickey Mouse. And I remembered it was the most boring cartoon I ever watched and it did not make sense to me, especially the sequence on Beethoven's 'Pastoral' symphony, which by the way is kind of errr..trippy. [/quote]Different strokes for different kids? For us, it was not so much of what they can understand when they were toddlers/preschoolers. Not sure how to explain it, but a 3 year old boy (who kept watching the DVD) could recount the 'stories' and the mood of the music by just listening to the pieces. He could tell if the segments felt happy, sad, peaceful and so forth. Just showed my kids the firebird yesterday, and they both enjoyed it immensely. When asked for their comments after the first round, my 7 year old said it was rather sad how nature was being destroyed. But she likes the ending as everything feels happy again. As we watched the second round, we talked on how the music brought about the liveliness, franticness, fear, hope and peacefulnes. Boring? Not for us. :evil:
[quote] The issue I am actually discussing here is specifically pertaining to the pieces a child will actually learn on the piano. There is surprisingly a breadth As of materials composed for children, but most of them are hard to acquire. I suspect this is because piano learning in Singapore is very much exam driven and a lot of teachers here only work solely on exam pieces from ABRSM. The issue with ABRSM selection is that ABRSM attempts to present as wide as variety of styles as possible in their exam books to accomodate more ages and tastes. And out of entire books, sometimes only one or two pieces will appeal to the kids. This explains why certain few pieces are extremely 'hot' and are overplayed in exams. Unfortunately too, many teachers are not aware of these children-specific repertoire such as those composed by Elissa Milne, Alan Bullard, Janina Garscia, Gretchaninoff, etc. So some children who start classical piano may find that the repertoire they work on a bit stale and uninteresting. But can't blame the teachers also lar, a lot of these materials are expensive and have to import; and most prefer to use materials they are already familiar with. And like I mentioned, the recordings for these materials are also scarce (with the exception of Elissa Milne) so it's quite hard to give them a listen.[/quote]Haha, actually your earlier post about the composers who composed classical music for children caught my attention. I wasn't aware of any classical pieces composed specifically for young children. I was wondering if you could be referring to contemporary composers who are active in educational music. Indeed, I agree with you that there is a myriad of interesting materials/resources out there. But I suppose there are just so many (and still growing?) that most piano teachers will stick with what they are familiar. (Not only that, they are terribly expensive for parents too! Over in France, I had paid 20 euros for a music book.) Back in Singapore, our piano teacher was kind to loan us her copy by Leila Fletcher. But do keep a rolling list of the composers for children in this forum, if you can. It is interesting to read up on those composers you listed, especially Alexander Gretchaninoff.