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Justin Davidson, music critic of New York magazine, recently wrote an article (Milo's Musical Education: Can You Teach Your Kid To Have Taste?) about his 10-year-old son's relationship to live classical music. Milo has gone to many NY performances with his dad over the years at places like Carnegie Hall and the Met. Here are some of Justin's musings on introducing Milo to Culture:
The classical music world desperately needs Milo. He belongs to a generation of kids who look at a violin and see a strange, archaic object, who think of opera as a faintly embarrassing pastime of the upper crust, rather like riding to hounds. The good people at Carnegie Hall have erected a costly and wonderful educational apparatus to nurture audiences of the future. But bequeathing musical taste—like cultivating a penchant for good food, or ethical behavior—is a parent’s job, and it can only be done with conviction.
For now, he is curious about live classical music because he knows it makes his father tick. At some point, he may reject it for the same reason. I place my faith in the thought that taste implanted in childhood may go dormant for years and then revive.
And I wonder...What can I do to share my passions with my child? What is happening in his malleable brain as he sorts “like” from “don’t like,” and leaves openings for music to slip back and forth between them?
I have my own spirited 10-year-old at home. And he has strong opinions (is there any other kind?) about how he spends his time. As a toddler and early elementary school student, Garrett loved music and dancing. He was quite the showboat and took every opportunity to display his talents to family and friends. He sang all the time and with great fervor. I have memories of him as a two-year-old serenading me with Somewhere Over the Rainbow. People would stop us at stores and ask, "How old is your little boy? He's such a great singer!"
Based on my own childhood experiences (see side note below), I'm overly sensitive to the idea of putting pressure on young children to "perform on request." So I cautiously began enrolling Garrett in various music classes to gauge his level of interest--classical music workshops, music camps, piano lessons, etc. For weeks after a workshop he took on how to be a conductor, he would request "his music and his baton," and he would ask me to play Tchaikovsky's 1st piano concerto so he could set up his pretend orchestra by section the way he wanted, and he would conduct away. With the "give me a little more over here" gestures, grimaces...the whole shebang. He really got into it. Then the next year, he was given a solo part to perform at a music camp recital, hamming it up with Minnie the Moocher (hi-de-hi-de-hi-di-hi!). And that was the beginning of the end. He told me afterwards that he didn't enjoy the pre-performance nervousness he felt, and didn't like to be the center of attention on stage. A chip off the ol' block.
Side note:
I started playing the piano at age 4 and was regularly performing and competing by age 10. Along with this musical ability, I experienced consistent performance anxiety, stage fright and intense headaches. After multiple tests, and dozens of visits to doctors, my parents were told I had tension-induced migraine headaches, something not usually seen in someone my age. But that didn't change things...I continued many years of what I would describe (looking back on it) as high-pressure piano studies, recitals, masterclasses and competitions. Until I was 19 and finally decided it was not a profession I wanted to pursue. I did come back to classical music eventually, via a circuitous route, as a music marketer.
When Garrett expressed that he didn't like performing, and, furthermore, music was "boring and uncool," I stopped signing him up for lessons. (Inset photo: Garrett being decidedly "uncool" playing music. When did 10-year-olds start worrying about très-coolness anyway?) Nowadays, my only request is that he attend one symphony concert with me each summer.
And my hope is that he comes back to music at some point in his life. Even if it's a private joy. Just like his mom.
I walk without flinching through the burning cathedral of the summer. My bank of wild grass is majestic and full of music. It is a fire that solitude presses against my lips. ~Violette Leduc, Mad in Pursuit
Summer and music are closely intertwined in my life. One reason for this is the time I spend at Chautauqua listening to performances presented by the Colorado Music Festival. This was a record year for me...15 concerts in six weeks. It's like an intensive musical summer camp, with some good friends, conversation and wine mixed in.
I always feel a bit melancholy as summer winds down. The kids are back in school (not necessarily a bad thing!), the nights get a little cooler, and I get nostalgic about summer evenings gone by.
In celebration of a particularly special season, in which I discovered all kinds of new music to love (see my previous Ode to Pandora post) and re-discovered an appreciation for some oldies-but-goodies, below is my Summer '08 playlist:
Here's to the spiritual, restorative power of music!
