Friday, March 9, 2012

Learning to love the classics

Last week Bryce's sixth grade class had the chance to visit the symphony on a field trip.  Bryce had been looking forward to this trip for quite some time.  The kids were able to go to the symphony last  year as well and Bryce had LOVED it so he was excited to repeat the fun.

When he got home that day he looked forlorn.  I asked him how the trip had gone and he scoffed and shook his head.  He said the orchestra hadn't played much actual music, it was more a presentation of "here's what an oboe sounds like" or "this is how you make notes sound sad/scary/happy" etc.  He was appalled that he didn't get the chance to enjoy some classical music.

So I delved into my music supply and came out with this music collection.

This set of cd's has a smattering of almost every kind of classical music you can think of.  From singing monks and madrigals to Bach and Handel and Mozart and Schubert and Chopin and even some Schoenberg (his stuff is a bit more...um...interesting).  It has opera (in Italian and German) it has piano sonatas it has orchestral suites, it has a bit of everything.

Bryce has been listening to these cd's ever since and has been loving them.  He comes to me all excited to tell me about a Beethoven piece he loves or to ask, "Mom, what is a nocturne?"  I love it!

Maybe I'm not sorry about his dumbed down symphony visit after all.

(FYI, I am also a big lover of classical music and I love to close my eyes and tilt my head back as I sink into the chair at the symphony.  My personal favorite is impressionistic music -- actually that's my favorite genre of art as well.  I like my music from Claude Debussy (listen to one of my favorites here)and my paintings from Claude Monet (see some here).  Well not only them, but they are my favs.)
.....
(I never thought about it before but maybe I just have a thing for guys named Claude?  Sorry Josh.)

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