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Mozart for kids

  • 28-01-2009 11:44pm
    #1
    douzer77
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 27 ✭


    Greetings, new to this section of the boards!
    I have read research that listening to Mozart can help kids concentrate. Would welcome any suggestions on pieces that might be easier (or nice) for them to listen to.
    Many thanks


Comments

  • #2
    The Mad Hatter
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,718 ✭✭✭The Mad Hatter


    douzer77 wrote: »
    Greetings, new to this section of the boards!
    I have read research that listening to Mozart can help kids concentrate. Would welcome any suggestions on pieces that might be easier (or nice) for them to listen to.
    Many thanks

    Just for the record, the so-called 'Mozart Effect' has been greatly blown out of proportion by over-enthusiastic PR people.

    If I may ask, how old is your kid?

    Generally, I think, the piano sonatas are a good starting point. Also, if you partly want to get your kid interested in classical music generally or Mozart specifically, don't overdo it. Mozart can be very annoying in large doses, due to the insanely high number of melodies that wind up running through your head.


  • #3
    darjeeling
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 962 ✭✭✭darjeeling


    Ah, the mysterious 'Mozart Effect', reviewed in Alex Boese's book 'Elephants on Acid' (here).

    For a while, Mozart's music was thought to boost your IQ, help rats navigate mazes, and even promote flower growth. It dumbed down monkeys though. Later research pretty much dismissed the IQ link, though that's not to say that Mozart isn't any good.

    The clarinet concerto, later piano concertos - say, 18 onwards - would be some of his most popular non-operatic music.

    A final digression - Boese's book also offers a cautionary tale of what happens when you feed your elephant too much lsd; don't do it.


  • #4
    douzer77
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 27 ✭douzer77


    They're 7 & 5. Wouldn't dream of pushing anything on them, but thought it might be nice to have it on in the background at homework time - certainly won't be overdoing it! :P . Have introduced them to light (very very very light!) opera and they don't seem to mind it!
    Thanks for all the advice.


  • #5
    darjeeling
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 962 ✭✭✭darjeeling


    douzer77 wrote: »
    They're 7 & 5. Wouldn't dream of pushing anything on them, but thought it might be nice to have it on in the background at homework time - certainly won't be overdoing it! :P . Have introduced them to light (very very very light!) opera and they don't seem to mind it!
    Thanks for all the advice.

    When I were a kid, we'd a load of old LPs and bargain tapes by orchestras under pseudonyms. I first got hooked on some of the more immediately appealing stuff - things like:

    Mendelssohn violin concerto
    Bruch violin concerto
    Beethoven violin conc., 5th symphony
    Tchaikovsky 1812 Overture, Marche Slave, violin conc.
    Elgar cello concerto
    Bach concerto for 2 violins
    Vivaldi 4 seasons
    Mozart overtures, clarinet conc., Eine Kleine Nachtmusik
    Saint-Saens Carnival of the Animals
    Schubert 'Unfinished' symphony
    Rossini overtures

    Not sure about background, as much of the above wants to be proper loud, neighbours permitting.

    It was a while longer before I started to appreciate piano sonatas, quartets, Bach fugues and anything a bit more cerebral or demanding.

    Edit:
    Not sure how I forgot Prokofiev's Peter & the Wolf - add it to the list.


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