Learning to listen well is one of the most fun and rewarding parts of learning music. It’s a real skill, and just like playing music, kids do best if they have the opportunity to practice. School of Music Director Yana Stotland shares her top five guidelines for listening, along with a suggested playlist, curated by our faculty especially for children ages 5-9.
Yana’s Top 5 Tips for Listening
1. Mix it up
Variety is the spice! Expose your child to a mix of genres and styles. Start with some of your favorites and expand into new territory. Sample classical and jazz and pop, and be sure to include music from around the world. Children learn through the juxtaposition of difference, so look for pieces that offer a variety of rhythms, forces, colors and moods.
2. Keep things short
For young children, five minutes of a particular selection is plenty at first.
3. Keep moving
Dance as you listen! Letting the body respond to rhythm and mood helps the music resonate with your child. It’s fine to sing along, too!
4. Be a yardstick of quality
Steve Jobs words promoting excellence can be applied to so much. When choosing music to share with your child, select quality music, even in genres like children’s music (They Might Be Giants over Barney, for example).
5. Listen every day
It doesn’t matter how or when you bring music into your children’s daily routine, as long as you make it a habit. Put music on after school, or when you’re making dinner. Or have a dance party on Sunday afternoons! The most important thing is to expose your child to music regularly, and to have them experience a broad range of sounds and styles.
92Y School of Music Suggested Playlist
A selection of works to get your listening started—find them all on YouTube!
J.S. Bach: Brandenburg Concertos (first movement of any)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Eine Kleine Nachtmusik; Symphony No. 40
Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No. 5; Symphony No. 8 (first movement); Spring Sonata for Violin and Piano
Franz Schubert: “Unfinished” Symphony No. 8 (first movement)
Felix Mendelssohn: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Scherzo
Camille Saint-Saens: Carnival of the Animals
Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Nutcracker Suite
Claude Debussy: Syrinx for solo flute; Clair de Lune for piano; Children’s Corner Suite for Piano
Scott Joplin: "The Entertainer"
Maurice Ravel: Bolero
Igor Stravinsky: The Firebird
Sergei Prokofiev: Peter and the Wolf
George Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue; Preludes for Piano (the fast ones)
Aaron Copland: Appalachian Spring, Section 7, “Simple Gifts"
Dmitri Shostakovitch: Four Waltzes for Piano, Violin and Clarinet
Leonard Bernstein: Overture to Candide
Bebo Valdes: "Al Dizzy Gillespie"
John Williams: Music from Star Wars
Joan Tower: Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman
John Adams: Short Ride in a Fast Machine
Don Byron: “Powerhouse"
Ahmet Adnan Saygun: "Inci’nir Kitabi" (Inci’s Book)
Band of Bones: "A Night in Tunisia"
HAPPY LISTENING!
Playlist created by John McCauley, piano faculty; Debbie Schmidt, French horn faculty and director of Chamber Music; Elise Frawley, violin/viola faculty; Derin Öge, piano faculty