“Concert Music” is music written by primarily dead Euro-males between roughly 1650 and 1900, music typically heard in the rather formal environs of a concert hall. Yes, this music is often referred to as “classical music”, which is as useless and misleading a phrase as “real imitation margarine!” When we call something “classic”, we are identifying it with the ideals and restraint of ancient Greek art, which immediately rules out the great bulk of concert music, which as often as not is filled with       schmerz und schmutz, sturm und drang, angst and exaltation. Even if we use the word “classic” in its loosest permutation — to indicate something exemplary — who’s to say there isn’t such a thing as “Classic Jazz”, “Classic Rock” — and even, painful though it may be to contemplate, “Classic Death Metal/Grindcore”. So: a pox on the phrase “classical music”. Concert music it is.

And why, pray tell, should we want to introduce our children to concert music? Because it constitutes some of the greatest art our species has ever cooked up, musical art that informs, educates, entertains, inspires, and ultimately packs a toy shop’s worth of joy that will stick with them for the rest of their lives.

1. It is a truism that children will read if they are read to and if they see their parents read. It is incumbent upon parents to set an example by listening to concert music at home and in the car (the latter might require some negotiation, but it CAN BE DONE). Don’t be afraid of playing the same piece over and over again; familiarity breeds affection.

(Having said all this, don’t play one type of music to the exclusion of all others. The distinctions we have created between “concert music” and “rock ‘n’ roll”, and “jazz” and so forth are generally meaningless to children. They tend to just like music — all music — which is how it should be.)

2. Invest in some decent percussion toys and encourage your kids to “play along” with recordings and videos. Yes, I’m aware that this can drive an adult up a wall, which is why we should do it with them. This makes us active, not passive participants in the musical process, and it’s more fun than you might think. As for “insulting” Bach or Mozart or Beethoven by doing this; my friends, they’re dead and beyond insult. Besides, do you really think playing along with a recording is more insulting than the disco arrangement of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony that was featured in the movie Saturday Night Fever? I rest my case.

3. Rent/buy/download and play cool movies like “Beethoven Lives Upstairs”, “Mr. Bach Comes to Call”, Disney’s “Peter and the Wolf” and “Fantasia 2000″. Each episode of Disney Junior’s “Little Einsteins” series focuses on a different piece of concert music and teaches all sorts of musical terminology as well. My three year-old son and five year-old daughter love them.

4. Go to local orchestral concerts TOGETHER, in particular children’s/family concerts. Outdoor festival concerts are even better, because the kids can run around and move to the music. Try to listen to the pieces on the program before hand. Music literacy is akin to written literacy, and a little (even a tiny!) bit of preparation pays off big time in terms of intensifying the experience.

5. Get a piano. It doesn’t have to be a 8’11¾” Steinway “D” (list price around 130k); a little spinet will do. Put it in a place where the kids can bang on it without making the rest of the family crazy. When it’s time for piano lessons (at age 6 or 7; no need to rush) the piano will thus be an old friend and not a new torture device. (A “piano” is made out of wood, medal, leather and felt. It breathes. It is real. Its mechanism follows the will of the player’s body. An electric keyboard is made out of plastic and circuitry. It is not real. It does not breath. It has no place in your house or apartment. “But it makes so many different sounds!” So does a cat in a microwave: does sonic variety justify putting little Boots in the micro? “But we don’t have room for a piano.” Yes you do. “But my child can practice a keyboard wearing earphones, so we don’t have to listen”. Oh, that’s a GREAT message to send your child: go practice, but don’t make us listen to you.)

Recording starter kit. Here are some great works wonderfully performed to start out with.

• Johann Sebastian Bach, Brandenburg Concertos; Trevor Pinnock conducting, on Archiv
• Wolfgang Mozart, Symphonies Nos. 39, 40, & 41; Neville Marriner conducting, on EMI
• Ludwig (“my friends call me Louis) van Beethoven, Nine Symphonies; John Eliot Gardiner conducting, on Archiv
• Camille Saint-Saens, Carnival of the Animals; Charles Dutoit conducting, on London
• Sergei Prokofiev, Peter and the Wolf; Carlo Rossi conducting, narrated by Boris Karloff, Vanguard

© 2012 Robert Greenberg, author of How to Listen to Great Music: A Guide to Its History, Culture, and Heart

Author Bio
Robert Greenberg, author of How to Listen to Great Music: A Guide to Its History, Culture, and Heart, is a speaker, pianist, and music historian. He has served on the faculties of UC Berkeley, California State University East Bay, and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where he was chairman of the Department of Music History and Literature and director of the Adult Extension Division. He is currently music historian-in-residence with San Francisco Performances and also serves as the resident composer and music historian to NPR’s Weekend All Things Considered. Since 1993, he has recorded over 550 lectures for The Great Courses.

Founded in 1990, The Great Courses produces DVD and audio recordings of courses by top university professors in the country, which are sold through direct marketing. It is a nine-figure-a-year business and they distribute forty-eight million catalogs annually. They offer more than four hundred courses on topics including business and economics; fine arts and music; ancient, medieval, and modern history; literature and English language; philosophy and intellectual history; religion; social sciences; and science and mathematics.

For more information please visit http://www.robertgreenbergmusic.com and http://www.thegreatcourses.com and follow the author on Facebook.

Yes, you are remembering correctly! You can see examples of the student-designed programs on A Peek Into My Christmas Recital and Inspiration From a Home Magazine. I just collect all the artwork submissions ahead of time, then the night of the rehearsal, I display them all on a pew with a small Dixie cup in front of each one. Each student is given a penny and looks over the submissions, then places their penny in the one they want to vote for. I’m sure some students vote for their own or a friends (I tell them they’re allowed to if their conscience will allow it! ), but this process has always worked really well and we end up with a great-looking cover!

Does anyone else do artwork contests with students for their recital programs? Any tips on how to handle the process?

Remember, if you have a question you’d like to contribute to next week’s Monday Mailbag, leave it in the comments below or send me an e-mail sometime this week with Monday Mailbag in the subject line!

This is actually a pretty thought-provoking question for me! I’ve never given achievement awards based on years of study or completion of levels, but I can see how something like that might be a good motivator for a student. Some of my students participate in a yearly Music Progressions evaluation program that is comprised of 10 levels. Those who participate receive a certificate each year, but I can’t remember a student ever caring about the certificate (I often find these crumpled in the bag months later). I think it would be kind of cool to have an award of some sort that was progressive from year to year. Extra incentive to stick with piano study through the hard times!

My year-end rewards are almost always tied to our practice incentive theme. And they are usually completely different from year to year. For example, this year the students who earned the specified number of Complication Coins can use them to purchase a custom-designed studio t-shirt. You can see a list of other year-end rewards I’ve used on this post about Practice Incentives and Rewards.

My mental wheels are really spinning now, though, and I’m curious to know if other teachers give some sort of progressive award based on years of study or level completion. What do you do in your studio? I’d love to get some new ideas!

Remember, if you have a question you’d like to contribute to next week’s Monday Mailbag, leave it in the comments below or send me an e-mail sometime this week with Monday Mailbag in the subject line!

Goodnight, Sweet Dreams is one of six compositions by Lisa Donovan Lukas.

To Raise The Wind Horse is an imaginative duet that was premiered at the Daniel Pearl World Music Days concert in California. You can read a little about the inspiration and history of the composition on the Daniel Pearl Music Days website. I can think of several horse-loving students that would love to learn this duet!

Each piece presents fairly advanced rhythmic challenges, but the end results are well worth it! The most accessible of Lisa’s six works is A Song From the Garden. It has a lovely singing melody, and could be handled by a motivated intermediate student.

I think Summer Dance would be an engaging selection for a student looking for a fresh contemporary piece to use for a festival or contest. Waiting is a rich, gorgeous piece that I’m adding to my collection of wedding and prelude music. And A Passing Cloud is a great mood piece if you or a student are looking for something to sink your hands into and let your expressiveness take you away.

I love that you can download samples and listen to full recordings of each piece on the Alberti Publishing website! But I love even more that Lisa has offered to giveaway a copy of each of her compositions to Music Matters Blog readers! Six winners will be given one of her pieces and you can enjoy it yourself and/or use it with a student in your studio. Just leave a comment below and six winners will be chosen using a random number generator at noon (CST) on Thursday, February 9, 2012.

I just put together this simple Recital Repertoire Pop Quiz worksheet that I handed out to each student as they arrived – in exchange for the book with their printed music! They had to fill in as many blanks as they could. Then as each student performed their piece during the rehearsal, I tallied up their answers and awarded prizes to the top finishers. Three of my students tied for first place. And the others will hopefully make it a priority to know as much as possible about their recital repertoire selections in the future!

I didn’t realize until after it was posted that the credits at the end rolled through at the speed of light! So, here is a list of pieces included in this year’s program for those who are interested (all of which should be available through Sheet Music Plus):

O Come, Little Children
Arr. Phillip Keveren

It Came Upon the Midnight Clear
Arr. Catherine Rollin

‘Twas in the Moon of Wintertime
Arr. Joseph Martin

God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen
Arr. Lyn Freeman Olson

Mary, Did You Know?
Mark Lowry
Arr. The Band

We Three Kings
Arr. Nancy Faber

We Wish You a Merry Christmas
Arr. Catherine Rollin

Rise Up, Shepherd, and Follow with Go Tell It on the Mountain
Arr. Melody Bober

There is a Redeemer
Arr. Ellen Banks Elwell

Joy to the World
Arr. Lloyd Larson

The Little Drummer Boy
Arr. Nancy Faber

Away in a Manger
Arr. Nancy Faber

A Cradle Prayer
by Rebecca St. James

Silent Night
Arr. Melody Bober

Infant Holy, Infant Lowly
Arr. Nancy Faber

What Child is This?
Arr. Melody Bober

The First Noel
Arr. Melody Bober

O Come, O Come, Emmanuel
Arr. Mona Rejino

Sing Hallelujah
Arr. Mark Hayes

Sing We Now of Christmas
Arr. Martha Mier

Panis Angelicus
Cesar Franck

Amazing Grace
Arr. Wendy Stevens

And Can it Be?
Arr. Marilynn Ham

Pat-a-Pan
Arr. Carol Klose

O Come, All Ye Faithful
Arr. Melody Bober

Angel Medley
Arr. Melody Bober

Carol of the Bells
Arr. Kevin Olson

What a Friend We Have in Jesus
Arr. Lenny Seidel

My Savior, My God
Aaron Shust
Arr. The Band

At lessons this week I’ve found myself asking most students these two questions:

1. On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being completely performance-ready, what number would you say this piece is right now? (It’s kind of funny how many of them insert a .5 into their numeric evaluation – I’ve had a 6.5, an 8.5, etc…)
2. What does the remaining [3.5; 1.5; etc.] represent? In other words, what still needs to improve on the piece to bring it to a level 10?

This has proved much more effective than just asking the student what they need to do to get their piece ready by the designated date. Because invariably I get the not-so-helpful answer, “practice.” I resist the urge to say, “Wow, how perceptive. I wish I had thought of that.” But I digress. Sarcasm aside, I realize more and more how important it is to have meaningful, musical discussions with students to gauge how well they understand their music and whether or not they have a clear idea of where they are headed with each piece and how to get there. This kind of interaction with students spurs me on like nothing else to become the best teacher I can be for each of them!

You can download a 4-page pdf preview of the book from the Alfred website. I like the fresh, lively style of each arrangement. And instead of assigning it to one of my students, I decided to keep the whole book all to myself. I love playing through some of the carols each day as part of my practice routine.

Check out koertsmusic.com for more information and to listen to some of James’ other music.

The church where I have been holding my Christmas recital for years disbanded this fall and sold the building. I knew I wouldn’t be able to use it for my Christmas recital, so I’ve been praying that God would provide a location for us to use. My criteria is a place with a nice piano, preferably a grand, and a fairly cozy environment. And affordable, of course! One of my families volunteered to check with their church and I was really hoping that it would work out, but we got word back last Thursday that it would cost $550 for two nights of use (the rehearsal a week earlier and then the recital the following week) – and it wasn’t even available the nights I needed it.

With that door shut, it was time for more brainstorming and praying. With the rehearsal only 4 weeks away, I was beginning to feel the pressure of finding a place. I called a teacher friend of mine whose church we used for a festival several years ago to see if she thought their facility would be a possibility. She gave me a bit of hope and the name and number of the church secretary. First thing the next morning I whispered another prayer and made the call. The secretary said the dates were open, so she would send me the contract. I decided to drive over there instead to pick up the info in person and speed up the process.

As soon as I skimmed the contract, my heart sunk. A quick calculation of the numbers brought the sum for use of the sanctuary and fellowship hall to $300. I double-checked with the secretary on the cost and she said she would confirm the total with the trustee. I went home and resolved to keep trying to come up with alternatives. Maybe I needed to think outside the box. The possibility of checking with some area hospitals to see about using their chapel crossed my mind. It would be kind of cool to use a more public venue and try to reach out to hurting people through our music.

With that in mind, I prayed that if God wanted us to use the aforementioned church that He would put it on the trustee’s heart to offer it to us for $100. But if God wanted us to explore some outside-the-box options, the church would keep the cost above $100. I was excited about some other possibilities, but with such a short time left for planning, it seemed overwhelming. However, I was open to following God’s leading either way.

About five minutes later my phone rang. It was the church secretary. She had just gotten off the line with the trustee and he instructed her to offer to let us use the building for both nights for only $100! I was ecstatic! It was such a quick and obvious answer to prayer, and it gave me the confidence to move forward with this location. I’m still working on details and don’t know if we’ll have the ability to live-stream the event like we did last year, but I am so thankful to the Lord for meeting our needs in such a specific and special way!

May God make Himself real to each of you this week as you face needs and turn to Him to provide for you. He is more than able to do so! Have a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving!

“And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 4:19

It was even better than I could have imagined! The Ogden Nash narration was included in the performance and a troupe of dancers did a masterful job portraying each selection. The coolest one was The Aquarium with its use of black lighting for an amazing visual effect!

If your area has a Young People’s Concert program, I highly encourage you to check it out!