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Topic: "real" classical music for little kids

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insegnante
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Posted: March 09 2007 at 3:33pm \| IP Logged

I'm fairly ignorant of classical music. I want to get some more of it into our family's collection for the kids' sake at least. Most of what I (and thus we) listen to is popular music: filtered for content of course, but older rock 'n' roll and soul/R&B mostly. I would be grateful if you could recommend any discs of "real" classical music, that's not changed at all to be "for kids," but is kind of easy listening for kids (5 and 2.5) who haven't been too frequently exposed to that kind of thing -- and their impatient mommies who have other musical tastes.

We do have a classical-hits type thing that has been a frequent bedtime CD for our younger son and I figure nobody wants to hear it any other time of day. I have had my classical favorites over the years, and sometimes I play parts of Handel's Messiah or other non-pop but most of our listening is in the car and it's kind of my relaxation time while my husband drives so I go for "comfort" music. I'm so attached to it that I gave secular music up for Lent once, and there's no way I'd try that this particularly stressful year. But we can start adding some better stuff to the mix.

Thanks!
Theresa

MacBeth
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Posted: March 09 2007 at 5:32pm \| IP Logged

I would start with anything by Bach, and just play it during breakfast. Try the Brandenburg Concerti--very easy-listening. Also, Carnival of the Animals, while written for children, is good, solid music that's fun for all ages, and not dumbed-down at all.

If you want to wean yourself slowly, there are several recordings of quartets based on popular music (The Beatles Go Baroque, String Quartet Tribute to U2, and others

).

You might also try some exciting music, like William Tell or 1812 Overtures. Most recordings of this sort are not reduced for children.

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Helen
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Posted: March 09 2007 at 8:05pm \| IP Logged

I’m really happy to see that my recommendations are basically the same as Macbeth’s!

When I asked my children for their recommendations, they suggested:

Bach’s Goldberg Variations (We like the Glenn Gould recordings which include an interview with Glenn Gould.)

Beethoven’s piano sonatas particularly Moonlight Sonata
Beethoven Symphony no 5

Rossini operas particularly Barber of Seville and Cinderella

Elgar’s music (My children's favorite music study so far: link

My suggestion is Tchaikofksy
Violin Concerto
The Nutcracker

Another way is through the video section at the library. Sometimes learning through the video, while hearing snippets of the music, will lead to CD choices that everyone likes.

Robert Louis Stevenson of classical music:
Peter and the Wolf by Prokoviev
A Guide to the Orchestra, Britten
Carnival of Animals Saint Saens

If these are successful, try pursuing those composers.

Here's a search thread for Composer of the Month here at 4Real
composer of the month

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chicken lady
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Posted: March 09 2007 at 9:59pm \| IP Logged

Hopefully this is not dumbed down for you, when my dc were younger we started listening to, Oh what are they called, someone help me here, one is called Beethoven Lives upstairs...anyone know the series. Anyways they have composers piece along with stories, and my dc listened to them over and over, soon they could pick out their own new Cd;s by their favorite composers.

I secong Carnival of the Animals, Peter and the Wolf!!!

insegnante
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Posted: March 12 2007 at 1:13am \| IP Logged

Thanks for the recommendations! I will definitely consult them when the budget allows me to make purchases. Thanks for the reminder about the library Helen; and I'm not sure, but they may actually have just plain music that can be borrowed in addition to videos.

We used to have a CD I liked called Schroeder's Greatest Hits or something similar -- you know, the Peanuts character?

Not sure if it was 100% classical, but at least some of it was. But I think the disc got broken.

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