All instruments are difficulty to play, but the French horn is probably the most difficult brass instrument to play well. The French horn is made of an enormously long piece of brass tubing. If you stretched out a French horn it would extend half way across the front of the stage! The tubing is actually 25 feet long.

Something very strange happens to a brass instrument when the tubing is very long. Suddenly, you push down the valves, but instead of the right note coming out, lots of different notes can come out and YOU have to pick out the right one with your lips! On the trumpet, when you press down the first valve, you might get a B-flat instead of an F, but a B-flat is a lot higher than an F, so you would know that it is wrong. On the French horn, if you press down the first valve you might get a D or an F or a B-flat, and because the notes are closer together, it is more difficult to tell if you are right or wrong.

Until the 19th century, French horns had no valves. The player carried a suitcase filled with crooks, or extra lengths of tubing. Depending on the key he was playing in, he put in a length of tubing that was the right length for that key. By the end of the 19th century, horns were made in F, and people learned to play them, but it was still very difficult, so an extra set of tubing was added to create a "double" French horn, to help musicians play the high notes more accurately. Today, there are even "triple" French horns, to help players.

The American Horn Quartet​ is amazing because of how well they play these very tricky instruments. They make it look and sound very easy, but anyone who has ever tried to play the French horn knows that these musicians are practically wizards on this beastly instrument. ​

French horn cases come in two styles: the standard one that is in the shape of a French horn, and the slim rectangular one that looks like a suitcase or backpack.

HOW CAN YOU FIT A FRENCH HORN INTO A FLAT, RECTANGULAR CASE?

The bell of certain French horns screws off so that they can travel in flat cases. The standard French horn case will not fit under any airline seat or in any overhead compartment! With a standard case, you either have to buy a seat for your horn, lock it and put it in with the luggage (always dangerous!), or purchase a horn with a removable bell.

visit www.hornguys.com for more French horn cases.

The Mandolin is a cross between a violin and a guitar. It is tuned like a violin, having four notes, but each note has two strings which increases its volume. It has frets (thin metal cross bars) on the finger board, like a guitar.

The first mandolins that we hear about are in Italy in the late 1600's. In the 1700's compositions like Vivaldi's Double Mandolin Concerto were being written for the mandolin. Handel included the mandolin in some of his music and so did Mozart. But suddenly, in the 1800's, the mandolin was forgotten.

Divertimento in F major (KV 138) by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart performed by the Dutch Mandolin Chamber Orchestra

In the 1880's people in Germany and Austria began to re-discover the mandolin, and traveling Italian mandolin troupes began to travel in Europe. But an amazing thing happened: The mandolin also became very popular in Japan and the United States!

Unlike the violin, the mandolin has no bow. It is simply plucked with a pick. During the 19th century, it became popular to pluck very fast back and forth using the pick to create a tremolo effect.

The mandolin is tuned like a violin. Instead of 4 strings, however, it has 8. This means that there are 2 G strings, 2 D strings, 2 A strings, and 2 E strings. A piano can be quite loud because it has 2 or 3 strings for every note in order to create a richer sound. The same is true for the mandolin, it has two of each string to make it louder.

(Great poem to memorize for school.)

Oh, somewhere in this favored land the sun is shining bright;
the band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light,
and somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout;
but there is no joy in Mudville — mighty Casey has struck out. ​

The question brought to mind an interesting story in the New York Times this past year. A woman spent a year intensively studying Italian. Before she began, she had taken some mental ability testing, being a little worried that she was not as sharp as she used to be. After her year of working on Italian, she decided to be retested. To her surprise, all her scores had gone up. The take away: study a foreign language if you want to increase your brainpower. That might have been the end, but another person wrote a letter to the editor and quipped,
 
“Only in America would one think that the reason to study a foreign language was to improve your mental agility!” It went on, and I paraphrase: Traveling there perhaps? Ordering a meal in Italian in Rome? Meeting new people from a different country? Etc.
 
And so I turn to the Mozart effect with a similar thought. Why parents would think that the primary reason for children to play an instrument or to listen to great music would be to improve their test scores?

Consider the following: Have you ever thought of listening to classical music just because it, like a painting, can be beautiful? But, we go to museums both to look at beautiful paintings – eye candy – but also because paintings have the ability to make us see our world differently. Paintings can make us think about angels, wars, and fashion. Paintings can open our eyes to a beautiful sunset or a handsome horse. They can make us wonder why someone would pay millions of dollars for a painting of two colored squares (Rothko). And, like all great art, each time we go back, we see something different.
 
Similarly, music can be beautiful – ear candy. It can treat us to new sounds and beautiful melodies. It can describe a walk in the woods with birds twittering or a thunderstorm and military battle. But perhaps most importantly, music has the ability to change how we feel. 

Try this simple test. Listen to the following short musical examples and answer how you feel.

• Barber’s Adagio for Strings ($ version)  - happy or sad?

 

• Scott Joplin’s Maple Leaf Rag ($ version) – serious or playful?

 

• Leonard Bernstein’s Candide) musical about to begin or show about to end?

 

• Sousa’s Washington Post March – December 25 or July 4?

 

• Richard Strauss’s 2001 Space Odyssey – Stanley Kubrich or Tom Hanks?

 
People often say that music is the universal language because it speaks to our emotions. When the BBC opened its broadcasts during the Second World War with the opening notes to Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, it elicited the serious, hard times at hand. And, almost like a bookend, Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy,” the final chorus in his Ninth Symphony exudes feelings of peace and brotherhood.
 
Nations have recognized that singing national anthems elicits feelings of patriotism. When the band or orchestra begins the Star Spangled Banner everyone immediately stand up and joins in. In France, the same thing happens when the Marseillaise is played.  Even the European Union decided that it needed a national anthem and chose Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy.”  (Flash mobs Beethoven’s Ode to Joy, NBA Video with Beethoven's Ode to Joy)

 Composers in the 19th century decided that they wanted their music to tell stories. Richard Strauss composed Til Eulenspiegel (The Merry Pranks of Master Till) to recount the tales of the naughty boy Till. Mussorgsky’s Night on Bald Mountain is another descriptive work. But Beethoven described a day in the countryside when he composed his Symphony No. 6, The Pastoral ($ version). (This YouTube performance is accompanied by an excellent description so that you know what Beethoven is trying to say.) And, of course, there is Vivaldi’s Four Seasons.($ version), with birds and ice storms that you will recognize immediately.

The above are all examples of classical music. Is classical music the only kind of “good music”? Definitely not, but one thing that makes classical music different is that, like a great painting, every time you look at it you will see or hear something different. If you stand in front of a Monet painting of a bridge over the Seine in Paris, you will be surprised to see that the fog lifts.

The painting does not change but what you see in it does. Similarly, the first time you listen to Haydn’s Surprise Symphony, ($ version), you may not get the joke, but after a few listens you will hear where Haydn is playing with us. Another great example, especially for young people, is the two tracks on the Casey at the Bat (Maestro Classics) recording. If you listen to “Flight of the Rabbit” on Track 5, it will just sound like,  well, music. But if you then listen to Track 4, “In a Cabin in a Wood,” the conductor will tell you all the things that you might not have heard the first time. Every time you listen to it afterwards, you will hear the rabbit jumping and the guns shooting. 

Finally, I would offer that you have probably heard more classical music than you realize. Movie producers, restaurant owners, airline publicists all avail themselves of classical music. Ever flown United? Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue)($ version). If you want to discover just how much classical music you probably already know, go to Kickass Classical’s Top 100 list. A good way to introduce young people to the world of classical music to start with this list. For a dollar a week, your child could begin to build a music library and become musically literate. You may be surprised at what they like!

If you are still looking for things to listen to, I recommend this article: “10 Essential Classical Music of All Time.” In addition, some of my favorite performances of Baroque and Early Classical music are: 
​

• Bach cello suites (Yo Yo Ma complete)
• Vivaldi Four Seasons (very nice pictures, but I like Claudio Sciomi’s performance better) and Vivaldi’s Mandolin Concerto in C
• Handel’s Messiah (King’s College Cambridge men and boys – video with baroque instruments and their chapel) – Complete Messiah
• Scarlatti’s harpsichord sonatas (Elaine Comparone – good video of her playing)
• Corelli concerti grossi
• Bach Brandenburg concertos (Abbado)
• Purcell: Dido and Aeneas (YouTube Nicholas McGegan)
• Boyce Symphonies (YouTube video)
• Sammartini Symphony in D Major and Riccardo Villani conductor (early symphonies are fun because they are so short – 12 on one LP
• Telemann: Paris Quartets (YouTube)
• Allegri: Miserere mei, Deus

 
Stay tuned for more suggestions for music composed after 1750.

If you didn’t go to KickAss Classical’s top 100 list before, , I suggest that you take a moment now. Every time I click through the samples, I listen for 5 seconds to each and smile. How so many different emotions can be pulled out of me in the course of two minutes never ceases to amaze me. 

​-Bonnie Simon

Most parents who embark upon music lessons for their children hope that they will become skillful and enjoy it sufficiently to continue playing into adulthood. They often lament, “I wish my parents had forced me to practice,” or “I wish my parents had not let me quit.” The truth is that the parents of these adults were products of their times. They thought that if they bought the piano, found the teacher, drove the child to lessons, and told her to practice once a day, the music would stick if it were meant to be. Few of them had thought about Mozart’s father who devoted his life to teaching and practicing with his son, or Wagner’s wife who locked him in his study every morning and only let him out for lunch. Most professional musicians today will tell you the importance of the parent who practiced with them.

​Pianist Ann Schein related a wonderful account of her childhood. She began piano lessons at age 4. Her mother was a professional violinist and practiced hours with her daily. When Ann was 13, her teacher announced that he was spending the summer in Mexico and Ann could not be left on her own, pianistically, for the summer. It was agreed that her family would spend the summer in Mexico too. Ann was shocked to discover that her teacher arrived at 9 a.m., had a cup of coffee, and at 9:30 am they began to practice together! He left at lunchtime, returned, and they continued on until dinner, whereupon he ate with the family and went home, only to return again the following morning. Seven days a week, all summer long, this very great teacher arrived and practiced with Ann. Forty years later, this accompanist for singer Jessye Norman believes that teaching students how to practice is still one of the most valuable skills that can be passed on to the next generation.

The successful child is inevitably the product of that successful triangle of teacher-parent-student. In the early years, the parent brings organizational and memory skills to the practicing. “Remember; we have to work on the E-flat major scale this week. Take a moment to think about rounding your fingers. I’ll set the metronome.” Sometimes the child is fortunate to have a parent who is a musician or an amateur musician, or even someone who took music lessons as a child. Often this is not the case. The enthusiastic and committed non-musician parent, however, is as valuable as the musician parent. Attending the lessons together and taking the time to practice together every day is the key. Remember, “Shall we practice now?” will ultimately reap far greater rewards than “Have you practiced today?”

The question looms, however, will you ever be able to wean your child from needing you to practice with them? Good question! The bad news is that your child will be able to do homework alone long before being ready to practice an instrument alone. The good news is that the time finally does come. The question is when is the right time and how do you do it.

One of the determinants of weaning is the skill level of the parent. For the non-musician parent, there will be a time when the child turns to you and says, “Mother, it says allegro, you are going much too slow. Anyway, it is in the key of G minor, so it doesn’t sound anything like the way you are singing it.” Having now surpassed the “home teacher,” as Suzuki calls the parent, your superior child will feel confident to proceed on her own and your role will fall into, “This would be a good time to practice, because you have a soccer game and afterwards you are going to Susan’s.” At this point, take on the role of student yourself; ask questions. “I see that you have been assigned a new piece; what does ‘adagio’ mean here in the upper left hand corner?” (even if you know the answer). Your role has become one of seducing your child to take the instrument out of the case and begin to practice. If they are putting it away after 5 minutes, return and say something like, “I only heard the end of that last piece. I really liked it. Would you play the whole thing for me?” This is the time for the light touch, good humor, no suggestions, lots of praise, total admiration for how far she has professed and how much she has learned. You will be amazed at how the youngster will blossom.

For the more musically skilled parent, weaning will take longer. The child knows that you know how many sharps are in the key of C# minor, how to count the rhythm, and that no one can practice for 5 minutes and cover everything that is expected. But if your budding musician is approaching the age of 11, the time may have come to start thinking about transferring some of the practicing responsibility over to your child.

The parents who have diligently practiced with their children for years have felt the price of accomplishment, even if they have never played a note. To suddenly think of not having the lesson prepared is like showing up for a meeting without having written your speech. Separating yourself and your pride from the practicing situation is one of the most difficult aspects of weaning your child from practicing with you. Consequently, step one is a serious talk with your child’s music teacher. Discuss whether the teacher thinks that this is a good time to begin the weaning process. Many teachers feign surprise that you are still such an active participant, but don’t minimize your role. If your child would never practice without being dragged to the keyboard kicking and screaming, say so. If you have to promise Skittles for every scale played, say so. This is the time for full disclosure. Obviously, if you and the teacher still have the fortitude, whatever you are doing is working. If the teacher feels that none of this should be necessary and you know that the instrument would never leave the case if you didn’t do all that you are doing, perhaps it is time for a new more realistic teacher. (I will never forget an interview with Pinchas and Eugenia Zuckerman. When the interviewer commented that their children love to practice with all the wonderful music in their home, they laughed and quipped, “Of course they hate to practice. Everyone hates to practice. Practicing is work.”)

       Many music teachers encourage parents to go to lessons and help with practice. Research shows that successful young musicians usually do have the support from their parents, so there’s no doubt that it’s a good thing. But parents can be troublesome, and it’s worth remembering that they need guidance and encouragement too. Train your parent to be a “Perfect Practicing Companion with these Handy Hints.” So began an article titled “Practicing with Parents: a Survival guide” in the magazine MUSICLUB, a bimonthly magazine for young music students published in Surrey, England.   

        For many parents the idea of providing music lessons for their children means transporting them to lessons, paying the bills and hoping they like it enough to practice. The unfortunate truth is that no one likes to practice! And the only thing wore than practicing oneself is practicing with one’s child. It is like being a two-headed monster: both heads must agree on when to sit down and do the dreadful deed; both must acknowledge when the music is too fast, out of tune, or incorrectly fingered; and both must ultimately decide that the joy of playing is worth the suffering of practicing. The good news is that as your children get older, they will be able to practice alone, but don’t hold your breath! The hardest hour of my day, which runs the gamut from being Executive Director of the Washington Chamber Symphony to juggling a household with conductor husband and two children, is the hour I spend practicing the trumpet with my 9-year-old-son, Basil.

            In the early 1980s when I was living in Tokyo, I traveled to meet the famous violin pedagogue, Suzuki Sensei (sensei means “teacher” or “master” in Japanese) at his school near Okayama. I listened to his master class, heard his international orchestra of teachers-in-training and listened to some of the children at the school. With cigarette dangling from his mouth, he used his samurai-sword sharp wit and carried forth. I have come to the conclusion after many years as a music educator, Suzuki parent, and orchestra administrator, that Suzuki’s greatest gift to the music world has not been his violin pedagogical technique but rather the internationalization of the Japanese concept of the kyoikumama or “Education Mother.” In Suzuki teaching this is the “home teacher” or, put more simply, the parent who comes to the lesson and then practices every day at home with the child. This idea is neither surprising in the music world (How many hours do you think Leopold Mozart spent practicing with little Wolfgang Amadeus?) or in the Japanese world where the vast majority of educated mothers stay home with their children and devote their energies almost exclusively to the educations of their children. Yet for American parents this has been a relatively new idea, and many parents who commence music lessons with a non-Suzuki teacher are often surprised when the teacher announces that he or she will only instruct the young student if the parent agrees to come to all lessons and practice with the child. Why is “Suzuki’s idea” so universally held to be true?

            YOU as a parent are the most important ingredient in your child’s success in music! Before you agree to give your child lessons, look at YOUR schedule and see where you can fit in his/her lesson and where you will put the thirty minutes to one hour of practicing into your day. Not playing the trumpet or not being able to read music is not the critical issue, the critical issue is time.

            If you don’t play an instrument or read music, do you still need to practice with your child? YES! Take heart, you will learn faster than they do at the beginning, and you will bring all of your other intellectual skills. You also will be good moral support. Listen carefully at lessons, take notes, and try to have some practice time yourself after your child has gone to bed or when he/she is out of the house. You may even decide that you want to play the piano yourself, but remember: Never compete! You are the coach.

            Why must you practice with your child? First, you are ensuring that all of his/her time and effort is not spent practicing something wrong all week only to discover it after seven days of hard work. You are giving your child the benefit of your note taking skills, your ability to understand everything his/her teachers says during the lessons and to ask questions. You are an extra set of eyes and ears at every practice sessions. If you give the task your best not your worst, hour of the day, you will offer a sense of humor and the ability to make a difficult task more fun.

            Some do’s are: (1) Try to practice in the morning. Twenty minutes before school is worth forty minutes before bedtime when you both are tired. (2) Try to maintain a routine so that you both know when the fateful deed must be done each day. (3) Play every day, even if it is only for a five minute run through. (4) Compliment what is right as often as you point out what is wrong. (5) Turn it into a game whenever possible. (6) Maintain your sense of humor.
​
            I am the coach in my household. My trumpet fingerings are excellent although I cannot play a note. Together we sing, make up rhymes to remember key signatures, and fight over wasting time and whether the scale really was played correctly. There are intense, emotionally charged times. His teacher worries that I, not he, may burn out. I worry too at times. But then performance time comes. I am the coach. I sit hanging on every note, sighing with relief as he glides through the difficult passages, which we have worked on, standing back as others congratulate him. He comes over and gives me a hug and says, “Thanks, Mom. Without your help I never could have done it. And we both know it has all be worth it. But then, Sebastian is now 5 and should begin music lessons this fall. I am already asking, where will I find another set of practice hours in my schedule. ​

Simon, Bonnie. “Music Practice with Children: A Parent's Guide.” Washington Parent September/October 1992: Print

​As the world unfolds before your toddler, you, as a parent, want to present experiences which will not only delight your child, but which also will inspire him or her to build upon these early encounters. You seek books with beautiful illustrations, take your child to the natural history museum, smell flowers together in the park, share the taste of raspberries off the bush. Invariably, after the eyes, the nose, and the taste buds are taken care of, one thinks of the ears. A CD/MP3 player in the baby’s room and a collection of CDs that also travel to the car are a great idea… and then you see the set of plastic rhythm band instruments in the toy store. STOP!
 
Listen to the Rhythm

A collection of rhythm instruments can be some of a child’s favorite toys. They will offer hours of entertainment for both the parent and the child, as even you, the parent, discover that almost any piece of music is more fun if you can play along. You can play along with anything, from Bach to Tchaikovsky to Raffi. You are not destroying the music, but rather discovering rhythms, volume, texture – and just having fun. Your child will intuitively discover how rhythms change and how to listen for loud and soft.
​
The beginning of the experience will be like parallel play in the playground; the recorded music will do its thing and your child will play whatever he or she feels like playing. Soon, however, your child will begin to pick up cues and he or she will discover that it is possible to march to the music and play the drum, tambourine or triangle in time with it.
 
You Get What You Pay For

If rhythm band instruments are such fun, why don’t you just purchase that brightly colored plastic set at the toy store? The answer is simple: when you purchase rhythm band instruments you are purchasing sound, and plastic instruments sound like plastics food tastes. In short, it is worth the trip to the local music store and a visit to the percussion section. In order to get what you are looking for, however, you may need a few tips.      
     
First, don’t be put off by the company: you probably will find yourself surrounded by at least a few purple-haired rock drummers. Second, do not admit that you are buying for a 3-year old; a small fib like, “I’m buying these for my step-son; he’s 17 and is into percussion,” will help you with the sales-man. (No one will believe that you are buying high quality instruments for a toddler.) Third, in addition to the list below, look for anything that looks like it is fun to play. Try everything! If you do not find it fun to play and do not like the sound, I guarantee that your child will be equally bored with the instrument.
 
Percussion Instruments and Imaginative Play

The first instrument which you want is a tambourine. Good tambourines are fairly tough and make lots of noise. (You will be amazed at how quickly you can feel like a Spanish dancer with one of these in your own living room!) Hand drums also can be found and should have a nice, fat sound. If you purchase a snare drum you must also purchase sticks and a stand. This is a more substantial investment, but any 3-year-old will love it! (Price: $100 - $150) Triangles come in several sizes – I recommend a medium. Price often determines quality; again, listen and compare. (Price $10-$12; the beater comes with it.) Good marachas, like tambourines, not only make prettier sounds but also can produce a much bigger sound than the toy variety. Claves are two sticks that you hit together, a simple idea but a good set makes a great sound. Wood blocks make several sounds and are hit with a stick (which you purchase separately). And after that, you are on your own. Look, ask to try, listen. If it is fun and it if fits within your budget, buy it!
​
This will be the beginning of your child’s instrument collection. If your child enjoys them, you will move on to the trumpet mouthpiece, the harmonica, the penny whistle and the recorder. Unlike the plastic set, these instruments will never be thrown out. Ours are packed every summer and always find their way into the picnic basket. To the surprise of many, wafting across the bay on the way home from a day’s sailing, one can hear strains of Gilbert and Sullivan or “Baby Beluga,” as the instruments purchased when our boys were toddlers are still brought out, played and enjoyed. 

Simon, Bonnie. “I Got Rhythm: Buying Quality Percussion Instruments for Your Preschooler.” Washington Parent July/August 1996: Print

Summer is a wonderful, informal time to enjoy the arts with your family. Spacious lawns starlit skies, and the ubiquitous picnic basket provide the first classical music experience for many young people. Summer Stock Theater introduces many to Broadway shows and Gilbert and Sullivan. Whether you are grabbing a concert on the lawns of The Mall or making a pilgrimage to Tanglewood in the Berkshires in Massachusetts, or whether you are going to Olney Theater or catching a Broadway show on a visit to New York, summer seems a time when we think of going to concerts and theater “for fun” rather than because we feel it an important cultural experience for our children.

I encourage you to read the local newspapers wherever you are this summer and find outdoor concerts and small theatre productions to attend. In many cases it is like a treasure hunt: you never know whom you will find. I remember weekly trips to a small summer theatre in Cape Cod to see Gilbert and Sullivan starring a young Harvard student – by the name of John Lithgow! Read the Washington Post to see what is playing at Carter Barron and on The Mall, and of course there is always the ever-attractive Wolf Trap. Visit your local library the Summer Arts section of the New York Times for a fairly complete state-by-state listing of both classical and folk/jazz music festivals across the United States and Canada, for those of you wishing to plan in advance. But most important is just the idea that when the sun goes down, the day isn’t over. Check your local listing for what is happening LIVE!

To make these outings great successes I offer the following suggestions:

FOR CONCERTS: Arrive early enough to find a good picnic place to eat and to give your children a little bit of time to run around. When the music begins, they should be ready to sit with you on your blanket even if they stretch out and look at the stars for most of the evening. Take an extra blanket if you can carry it. Children love to cuddle under them and it often does become cold at night. Ball and Frisbee playing may be permitted before the performance, but should always cease once the performance begins. Talking during the performance is annoying to your neighbors. Whispering is acceptable and far less problematic than in the concert hall, but help your child by trying to limit it. Only purchase shed/tent/covered seats if your children are veteran concertgoers during the winter, or if you have left them at home for the weekend! Finally, try to find a cassette of something that you have heard at the concert for car listening; you’ll be delighted when your children recognize a little Mozart.

FOR THE THEATRE: Never forget something for your child to sit on so he or she can see! Very few theatres have good sightlines for children and small summer theaters are probably the worst. I have been going to the same summer theater for almost forty years and when I take neighborhood children they are always amazed at how great it is when they sit in my seats and have an unobstructed view of the stage (longevity and patronage have now placed me in the third row!) But even so, we always pack the canvas L.L. Bean bags with life jackets so my sons can see over the heads of those in the rows in front. They now pack their own bags but must adhere to the rule that they may never prop themselves higher than a five-foot-six-inch adult. In addition, prepare your child so he or she doesn’t spend half the performance whispering, “What’s happening?” If possible, find a video, audiocassette or book telling the story of what you are going to see. If this is impossible, explain the plot. If you don’t know anything about the play or show, arrive twenty minutes early so you have time to sit and read the synopsis to your children and explain it to them.
I was associated with a summer music festival for many years just outside New York City at Lyndhurst in Tarrytown, New York. The concerts were held alfresco, at the bottom of a long, rolling hill, on a stage under a tent which covered the performers and an audience of 1,000 persons who wished the safety of cover, while the hillside was itself covered with happy summer picnickers and families attracted by the ambience of the environment overlooking the Hudson River and the sunset over the New Jersey Palisades.

At times I wondered if the live performance was incidental. But then I noted that many young people were introduced to their first classical music on this hillside, far from the formal setting of the concert hall. Brahms symphonies, Rossini Fireworks saluted the Fourth of July with Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture. For seven weeks, thousands of families enjoyed what once had been Jay Gould’s magnificent estate. If they were forced to share it now, they also had been privileged to have a symphony orchestra play the sun to rest every Saturday night.
​
In our home, for two and one-half months each summer, the television is put away. Our only exception is when the family “reviews” the weekly musical video for the Thursday night outgoing to Highfield Theatre in Falmouth, Massachusetts. Summer is a time for doing, not sitting. The fifteen or so evenings we will spend attending concerts, musicals and plays this summer may lack some of the artistic luster of our winter lives at the Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall or on Broadway; but I also know that one of the reasons my children are avid theater-goers is the fun that we always have had peering across the footlights of summer theater, smelling lightly of inspect repellant, and laughing once again at The Pirates of Penzance or lying together under the starts on a blanket never large enough as Beethoven danced the youngest to sleep with the Big Dipper.

​Simon, Bonnie. “A Family Affair: Summer Concerts, Summer Theater.” Washington Parent July/August 1992: Print

Most parents know the importance of play, even for the youngest baby. Mobiles hang from cribs, busy boxes adorn their sides, and soft and cuddly animals keep him or her company inside. Videos instruct parents on exercises that they can do with babies. But what about your baby’s ears? Most of that we seem to leave to happenstance, yet hearing may be one of the baby’s most acute senses from birth.

Parent’s often look at Mozart and think, “He was playing from the age of three, and it seemed to happen miraculously; I guess he was just a genius.” But when one looks more closely, one realizes that Mozart was surrounded by music from the day he was born. His father was a musician who played the violin, composed himself, gave his daughter (and his son) violin and piano lessons, taught others, played chamber music with friends all day and every evening. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was a genius, but he also had parents who filled his life with music because they were musicians. Today, you, as a parent, do not have to be a musician to give your child the benefits of a rich musical world in this time of recorded sound. (In the time of Mozart there was no recorded sound, only live music!) But it will take a little bit of work.

Most babies hear their first music by way of a music box either inside a stuffed animal or on their dresser, and then, as toddlers, move to Raffi and Sharon, Lois and Bram, at which point their music experiences comes to a halt until their peers introduce them to rock or rap. There is more!

Many parents discover (and rediscover) great children’s literature when their own children are young: this may be your opportunity to learn more about classical music! Classical music is like literature. You would be very surprised if someone had not read some Shakespeare; similarly, people who enjoy classical music would be very surprised if you had missed Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, Mozart’s Symphony No. 40, Haydn’s Surprise Symphony, Ravel’s Bolero, etc. So part of what you are doing when listening to classical music with your child is simply exposing him or her to the different sounds of different composers whose great works he or she will, hopefully, come to know and love later in life. This is rather like showing a child many shapes of blocks or colors of blue, rather than just one; triangles and squares and colors are the building blocks of his or her visual world in later life. So, too, are symphonic sounds.

​Where do you begin? The problem is that a symphony is like a world of emotions. If you are putting your baby down for a nap, you will not want the fast, happy, uplifting finale to a symphony, though you might want the slow second movement. Similarly, if you are doing some exercises on the floor with a baby you would want something livelier. What this means, of course, is that you are going to have the pleasure of listening to a lot of music and deciding which movements you would like to listen to with your new baby. This is not as arduous a task as you might think for two reasons. The first is because repetition is very important. You might listen to one symphony for an entire month together, selecting the slow movement for naps, the first movement for getting dressed each morning, the final before dinner and the slow movement again before bed. (You will be amazed to find yourself humming melodies in the supermarket or at your office before long.)

Remember, your child can live without music, just as he/she could live being colorblind or without speaking a foreign language. You, as a parent, are the only one who can see that he or she is not deprived of this wonderful part of life. You will spend years selecting the repertoire, purchasing the recordings, taking him or her to concerts. No school or music teacher can be hired to do this for you. If you are a reader, your child will be a reader. If you love music, your child will love music. Only you can give your child a set of ears!

​Simon ,Bonnie. “Musically Colorblind Due to Neglect.” Washington Parent July/August 1994: Print

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         If Mr. Bach Comes to Call or Beethoven Lives Upstairs have not hit your car tape or CD player, both you and your children are in for a treat! Produced by Susan Hammond, a former music teacher in Toronto who wanted something for her own children, Classical Kids was formed in 1988 and has produced one new tape every year since. The first, Mr. Bach comes to Call, begins with the take-off of the 1977 Capsule Voyager which contained, in addition to the sounds of whales, volcanoes, rain, trains, mothers, children and a kiss, 27 pieces of music, including three pieces by Johann Sebastian Bach. “Voyager is still in space with the stars, but down on earth a little girl practices the piano…” Suddenly, a strange man appears in her living room. No, he is not a burglar, but the one and only Johann Sebastian Bach who talks, plays, tells her about his life, and moves his choir and orchestra into her living room. In a magical discussion of old and new, past and present the joys of wonderful music unfold. The feisty little girl is totally engaging, and Bach is undoubtedly far more charming than he was in real life. But never mind, I like this Mr. Bach and one is totally drawn into the story, time warps and all. Still their best, according to both my boys (ages 6 and 10) and my conductor husband, this is where you should begin with this series.

        Beethoven Lives Upstairs was produced in 1989. Bells toil, thunder claps, March 26, 1827, “it is a day that will go down in history…Ludwig van Beethoven has died.” The story begins with a fictional young boy named Christoph, and his young uncle, a composition student in Salzburg, to whom Christoph wrote letters, the first of which began, “Dear Uncle, Something terrible has happened: a mad man has moved into our house…I beg you to tell my mother to send Mr. Beethoven away.” Christoph’s uncle writes back to him. Musical interludes, all Beethoven’s music, separate the letters. Gradually, Christoph moves from horror and embarrassment to compassion to true appreciation and affection. There is also something of the lesson that great men were often not like the rest of us.

​        Mozart’s Magic Fantasy, the 1990 production, begins with “Three Minutes ‘till curtain, three minutes ‘til curtain…Hang on honey, we got an opera to put on…I see you have a flute, is it a ‘magic flute’…No, my name is Sara and my mother is singing the Queen of the Night…” Again, a child enters into first the modern stage production and then is transported into the plot of Mozart’s magical opera.  All the arias are sung in English and Sara actually enters into the action. It is a great introduction to opera in general, to The Magic Flute in particular, and includes about 40 minutes of excerpts interspersed throughout the dialogue. I have found that this is a tape which grows on children, sometimes not being as easily appreciated as the above two, but continues to be listened to very thoughtfully.

        Vivaldi’s Ring of Mystery, 1991, describes Venice and Carnival time and gondoliers. Katarina, now an adult, recounts how she arrived in Venice as an orphan going to the school at the Pieta, because she could play the violin. Again, through the eyes of a child we are introduced to the world of Vivaldi and his all-girl orchestra, which in fact was one of the great musical tourist attractions of the Venice of his day.

        Daydreams and Lullabies, 1992, attempts a different format from their typical “modern child entering into the time-warped world of the composer at hand” formula of their previous efforts. This recording really is a tape/CD to put on after the lights are out, or when pajamas are being put on. The singing is good, but not outstanding. I personally would prefer either wonderful children’s voices or Battle or Pavarotti for such things, with the middle area being the kind of singing that boys in particular tend to mimic and make fun of. But ultimately it is nice to have all of the famous lullabies on a single tape/CD, and there are pieces of music which you and your children really should know.

        The latest effort, Tchaikovsky, was the first one of the Classical Kids series which my own children refused to listen to and which I found so totally disconcerting that listening was almost painful. In all previous efforts, the musical selections have either been largely orchestra, and therefore easily placed into an unrelated story setting (e.g. in Bach, Beethoven, Vivaldi), or part of the story itself (e.g Magic Flue).  In Tchaikovsky, however, the dance music from The Nutcracker, with which we are so familiar, suddenly is used as a frantic chase music with irritating voice-over! For all of us who know Tchaikovsky’s ballet music so well, we actually see productions in our head when we hear the music. The unfortunate consequence of this less successful juxtaposition of music and text is that having a totally different story put to these musical excerpts is rather like having two radio stations playing at the same time. If you don’t know Tchaikovsky’s ballet music, you may very well enjoy these tapes…you just will be a little surprised the first time you or your child sees Swan Lake or The Nutcracker.

        Classical Kids latest efforts involve creating video tapes of the above by sending actors to symphony orchestras to do live reenactments of the original audio productions. DON’T BE FOOLED; JUST BECAUSE THERE ARE PICTURES DOES NOT MEAN THEY ARE BETTER! These programs were created as audio productions, and the tapes/CDs are still far superior to their videos or live performances. Even my own children, who love anything on the stage or on the big screen, continue to listen to these recordings, but refuse to ever put on the videos a second time. So my final recommendation is: Let your children continue to discover the thrill of their own imaginations. Have them listen to what are some of the best children’s classical music tapes.

​Simon, Bonnie. “Classical Kids: The Best Classical Music Recordings for Children.” Washington Parent March/April 1994: Print

He might go to tennis camp and really perfect his game. He could go to computer camp and learn to type at the same time. He would benefit from a summer of team sports in Maine. So why are we looking at “arts” camps?

The artistic needs which camp can fulfill vary greatly from child to child and camp to camp. Perhaps the first question to be asked is, “Am I looking for a pre-professional training program, a program where, for instance, my child will focus specifically on music, or am I looking for a camp experience which focuses on the arts more generally?”

A camp, such as the Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan, would be an example of the former. Programs exist in the music, art, and dance. One can take an art course on the side of one’s music program but, fundamentally, if you are there for music, music is very much your major. In your group there would be music students who will be in the major symphonies in the coming years (in fact, there are graduates in every major symphony orchestra in America); there would be others who will not become professional musicians, but their interest and devotion is serious. Campers live in cabins and the have a full sports program, but the primary benefits of such as experience are (1) personalized instruction, (2) an ability to perform, or exhibit in the case of art, a tremendous amount, and (3) to play with greater talent and with more people in one’s age group than otherwise would ever be possible.

The far greater majority of parents fall into two categories: (1) those who played an instrument when they were a child but never continued to the point where they could enjoy playing as an adult, and (2) those who never played an instrument, but have always wished they had. Now they want to give this experience to their children, but wonder if their children will be more successful than they were. In short, is it worth the time, money and effort if Johnny really has no musical ability or talent?

The great surprise is that most children have musical ability. It is the rare child who is truly tone deaf (and there are those who claim that no child is tone deaf). Most children simply lack exposure to music. One does not expect a child who has never heard Japanese to have an easy time learning the language; yet the child who lives with Japanese being spoken in the home, even if it is never spoken to him/her, will end up understanding Japanese. The same is true with music. I have one child who can sing trumpet exercises, but does not play the trumpet; he simply has a brother who diligently practices within earshot.

Most schools now require parents to read to young children at least one half-hour per day, realizing that this has perhaps the greatest influence on whether or not a child becomes a reader. If you want to have an amateur musician, your child needs to listen to music every day. Play tapes in your car. Set aside a listening time when you can dance or march around the rug. Put on The Nutcracker video and dance and sing along. Get a set of rhythm band instruments; if they are even a moderate success, head out to an instrumental music store. Go to the percussion section and purchase a "real" tambourine; you will be astounded at the beauty of the sound. Also, professional triangles in different pitches and exotic percussion instruments from Africa or the Caribbean provide a wide variety of sounds. If one thinks of what a Nintendo game or a Fisher-Proce toy costs, such a purchase is not out of line and is, quite frankly, much more fun.

Most children sing; but someone music teach them songs. They will learn them from tapes, they will learn them from school, they will learn them from you, if they are lucky. We, as Americans, do not sing nearly as much as our European or Japanese counterparts. At the age of 32, I was asked at a Japanese ski resort to sing my favorite song one evening! I was astounded, for in America we do not sing in public unless we have had training or sing regularly in a chorus. I was hard-pressed even to think of what my favorite American song might be. And yet the evening continued as my academic colleagues sang 30 to 40 Japanese folk songs which they all knew. Actually, having a child gives you one of your few excuses to sing, and regardless of the fact that you probably do not sound like Leontyne Price or Pavarotti, you can have a wonderful time.

If your child sings many songs back to you, quickly learns all the words, requests that you put on music, he/she is probably musical.

Few music programs for children begin for those under 2. Somewhere between ages 2 and 3, there are parent-child music programs. These offer excellent opportunities for children to experience participating musically in a group and, after all, music by and large is a social experience. Suzuki violin programs begin at age 3. Remember that violins are among the very few instruments which are made in child sizes. Some piano can begin at four.

If your child hates to practice, he/she is not unmusical; he/she is normal!

There are some concerts which are appropriate for the under 5 set: Raffi, Sesame Street, Washington Chamber Symphony's (WCS) Holiday Sing-Along, etc. Try the Baryshnikov video of The Nutcracker straight through before you try to take a child to a live performance. Remember: You want to have a good time too, and not be feeding your time bomb Cheerios as if you have just bought the company. By age 6, he/she should be ready for WCS's Concerts for Young People; but remember, under age children are turned away at the door.

If your child adores going to the ballet, he/she is probably musical.
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The real truth is that the occasional child actually does have great musical ability. He/she will begin in a Suzuki violin program and suddenly will be far ahead of his classmates. He/she may also simply have incredible retentive powers for music, able to sing melodies after a single listening, for example. I have a child who can tell what level of a video game a child sitting across the aisle in an airplane is at simply be the music. Everywhere there is music he is hearing it and computing it much as I would French, German or Japanese. For him, music is a language, alway audible and perpetually able to be recalled. Adding music for him is like turning a movie from black and white to Technicolor. He has told me that he is constantly hearing music in his head. But he is also a child who has listened to music entire life, so it is not just genes. 

If your child is not musical, he/she will let you know. But because so many childen do have a basic love of music, I encourage you to expose your children to music. If you, as a parent , are supportive, only a few will be given up as musically hopeless, and the vast majority will be graced with a love of music for life. 

Simon, Bonnie. "Does My Child Have Musical Talent?" Washington Parent Nov./Dec.1993: Print

​Spring cleaning is always interesting – almost as interesting as moving your office! We have done both in the last two months. We still are in New York City, but when the tallest crane in New York history appeared out our windows one day and the new 82-story building – one of the new gargantuan buildings that are changing the city skyline – began to block our view of Central Park, the time had come to move uptown a bit. We threw out a lot, but….

Why You May Want to Buy a CD and Not Just the MP3 Download
 
I must admit that I have gotten very used to Amazon’s Free Two-Day shipping with my annual Prime membership. Despite my railing against the “I need it now” generation, there are times when I want a piece of music NOW and I buy it online and download it. However, having subscribed to Apple Music and then canceling my subscription, I have discovered that lots of my music was grabbed by the cloud, disposed of when I unsubscribed and no longer is available to me. Anything that Apple did not recognize as a commercial recording, it ate – which for me was all the files that led up to the Maestro Classics recordings.
 
I have since learned that I am not the only one to whom this has happened, but it has certainly convinced me that any music I buy that I really want to be certain I will always have access to, I will wait for the CD to arrive.
 
Frankly, two years ago I thought the CD would be dead by now. However, this does not seem to be the case. We are selling more CDs than ever! Thank you, CD buyers!

What Do We Have In Common with Prince?
 
Like Prince, we are not on Spotify or any of the streaming services.
 
If musicians are not paid for the music they produce, who will be able to produce new music in the future? Every time you listen to a track on Spotify or iTunes Music, the artist gets a fraction of a penny. If you purchase an MP3 download, the artist will get 66-cents per track; for a CD $6-7.
 
Prince could have afforded to be on Spotify; he refused on moral grounds. But smaller producers will no longer be able to create new content if the world only streams. So thank you for supporting Maestro Classics by buying our CDs and MP3s. You are helping to keep our music industry alive.
 
 

Win a Casey at the Bat Lapbook with Study Guide created by  A Journey Through Learning!
This lapbook inlucdes over 40 pages of activities to complement the Casey at the Bat CD/MP3. Retail Price: $21.00

What do some New York organ concerts and the Boston Symphony Orchestra have in common? They both have discovered the power of video. I was a bit surprised the first time that I went to an organ concert at St. Ignatius of Loyola, a great Park Avenue church in New York, and saw a large projection screen set up in the aisle in front of the alter. Huh? But soon we watched the organist high in the organ loft slide onto the organ bench and begin, all projected on the screen. Yes, we listen with our ears, but part of going to a live concert is also the visual aspect of the experience, and it was very nice to be able to see the soloist.
 
The BSO at its Friday casual concerts is handing out iPads with interviews, music scores, etc. , hoping to engage the younger generation that interacts with screens 24/7. In the Huffington Post article the reporter remarked that there was more information than she had time enjoy before the concert, but she noted that what most people loved was the live video feed of the conductor projected on flat screens around the hall. This surely is a view of the conductor that few but musicians see.
 
I think the idea of the iPads is great, though I, too, am not usually early enough to any concert to have time to enjoy all the delicious offerings – perhaps it could change me – but I think that the inclusion of the live feed video is brilliant.
 
Read the article in the Huffington Post.

-Bonnie Ward Simon

A group at M.I.T. is using a "magnetic resonance imaging device that used radio waves and powerful magnetic fields to track blood flow in the brain, an indirect measure of neural activity." The short summary is that music lights up a very specific area of the brain and that this is distinct from where it processes all other noise and speech.

Note yellow areas for talk stimulation in top image and yellow area for music area (right behind the ear!) in the bottom image.

​If you have a couple of minutes, read the whole article. It is fascinating.

​-Bonnie Ward Simon