Playing
AA and I had a fabulous date on Friday night to the Zuill Bailey and Navah Perlman concert sponsored by the St. Croix Concert Series. Sadly, it was a farewell concert for the series that has run successfully for 12 years. They performed Brahms, Chopin, and Schumann, and a special Tchaikovsky. It was truly spectacular!! Zuill Bailey played like the cello was an extension of his body, so gracefully and effortlessly! And Navah Perlman (yes, Itzak Perlman’s daughter) was remarkable, especially on the Chopin pieces. The Brahms was ferocious and vibrant, example here. Most notably beautiful piece of the night: Tchaikovsky’s Nocturne for Cello and Piano, example here but with an orchestra. They ended with Brahms’ lullaby, which is J’s night song (and more on selecting music for your child here). I wept at the beauty of it (yes, pregnant women are extra hormonal :). Here’s Bailey playing Bach’s Saraband from his cello suites in G: Breathtaking! Great NPR interview with him here. He is a master. The cello is a particular love of mine, and classical music in general, so this was a real treat to see two such artists at work. Experience beautiful music at every chance you get! If you don’t appreciate beauty, and take the time to do so, how can you instruct your children about it?
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If your toddler is anything like mine, he or she swings, tugs, rolls, and shares everything with our two dogs. He also tries to bury his face into our two cats’ bellies, pick them up by their legs, and pet them on the face. How to tame this wild toddler? A few techniques that we use in our household to keep the animals and toddler happy. I’ve written about bringing a baby home to your pets, here, but a toddler is a whole new ball of wax! He did like his birthday horse back ride, though! (He’s his mother’s son 🙂 1) Designate “safe” pet areas–free from child. When our Great Dane is on her doggie bed in the corner of the kitchen, J is informed that she is having “private” or “alone” time and is not to be disturbed. Does he heed this? Not always, but he gets the point with the repetition of terms and tone of voice. The cats have ways of making themselves unavailable, but the toughest role falls to our little 20 pound miniature American Eskimo. She constantly trolls the kitchen floor to ensure every last morsel has been licked up, so her being on the move makes for an easier target than the others. She has a doggie bed as well, underneath an overhang that is somewhat protected, and we try to reiterate the “private” or “alone” time phrases when she is there. 2) Normalize the situation. J is so much more mobile…
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SuperBoy listens to classical music primarily. Why? I wrote about it here, but to reiterate briefly: 1) Science. Studies on mice (albeit, not people) have demonstrated that the neurons in little forming brains develop in a more orderly fashion when exposed constantly to classical music, versus pop/silence, versus the very detrimental rock/heavy metal which actually showed a distortion of neurological development in mice necropsies. Wow. Your child’s brain is this delicate sponge that’s developing every second. In the first year of life, the brain grows more than any other time. Sheer growth, sheer added and changing. So that’s one scientific reason. But say you don’t believe those studies translate to people. Okay, try some of these other ones out. 2) Beauty. Developing a sense of beauty and depth of wonder are universal parenting goals, right? Would you rather your child know the words to a hip hop song replete with questionable pejorative phrases that are misogynistic? Or would you prefer she recognize Vivaldi’s Four Seasons? Or know the words to a great aria from one of the great operas? Okay, so maybe she won’t do it in Italian, but she can sure hum along! Classical music is more beautiful and uplifting in my opinion than pop, oldies, rap, metal, or even classic rock. 3) Knowledge and identifiability of instruments. Listening to classical music of all kinds, not that bad elevator stuff or dental office reruns, encourages and enables children to identify specific instruments that aren’t present in other forms…
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