greg@olivej.UUCP (Greg Paley) (05/11/84)
Yosi Hoshen commented on the interest his son found in the PBS "Ring" broadcast. I've found it not only possible to get my 3-year-old son interested in classical music, but that it's become one of his favorite things to do: sit on Daddy's lap and listen. I've found that music that has a "program" associated with it (or for which I can make up one) seems the best - at least for his age. He absolutely loves Holst's "The Planets", Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition", Respighi's "Fountains of Rome" and "Pines of Rome", Debussy's "La Mer", and the Tchaikovksy and Stravinsky ballets. In each case, I've had to sit down with him the first time and tell him, as the music is playing, what is being depicted. This often means reading up on it myself (in the case of the ballets). With music that does not have as specific a program, like the Debussy, I try to prod him to tell me what he thinks is being depicted. Having gone through it with him at least once, he'll often ask to hear particular works, and will tell me, for example, which planet is being depicted (Holst), or which picture is being described (Mussorgsky). Another big hit was Donner's hammerstroke and the forging of the rainbow bridge from Wagner's "Das Rheingold" (particularly the spectacular hammerwhack and ensuing thunder on the Solti recording). Unfortunately, I won't be able to respond to any followup for a month or so, since I'll be out of the country. - Greg Paley
saquigley@watmath.UUCP (Sophie Quigley) (05/13/84)
Three works I loved when I was a child were "The nutcracker", "The four seasons"
and "In the steppes of central asia" mainly because they were also very
descriptive.
Sophie Quigley
...!{clyde,ihnp4,decvax,allegra}!watmath!saquigley