Skip to content
A Child's Classical Music Listening List
Lesson 10: Child’s Classical Music Listening List
A child’s classical music listening list will expose your child to the great masterpieces of classical music as soon as possible. It can be any kind of music, but you must sit with them and listen to it. The earlier in their lives that you introduce listening to these pieces, the more will be the benefit.
You don’t have to sit formally in the living room, listening. Just have it playing, in the car, in the house. It has been demonstrated that students who listen to Mozart while doing homework have higher test scores. Just the act of having good music playing stimulates the brain in ways we don’t yet understand. But it is especially beneficial for young people. It doesn’t matter which recording you get. It is better to listen to what may be, to connoisseurs, a lesser recording, than not to listen at all.
The List
Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, dark and dramatic.
Listen to Prokofieff’s PETER AND THE WOLF. It is a child’s musical fantasy that will delight children, and has done so for more than a hundred years.
Listen to selections from Bizet’s opera Carmen. Opera may be too much for little kids, so try to get an orchestral version of some of the famous pieces, like the Habanera. Horowitz has a brilliant recording of his solo piano arrangement of Carmen.
Listen to a Mozart opera overture, like THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO. Kids love the lightness and logic of Mozart in a piece like this.
Think of it as a quick tour of European culture. You’re trying to hit the highlights first. Try also Rachmaninoff (Second Concerto.)
Try Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue.
If it’s Halloween, try this warhorse:
Make a habit of searching out pleasing classical music recordings and playing them in the car from a young age. It will pay off in musical taste, a knack that takes half a lifetime to really develop.
Here is a list of composers to listen to in general: Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Chopin, Schumann, Brahms, Mendelssohn, Wagner, Stravinsky, Ravel, Debussy, Rachmaninoff.
Exposing kid’s ears to classical music gives them a cultural background they really can’t get elsewhere. Engage their ears with masterpieces!
See also:
Gottschalk's Grande Tarantelle
COURSE ONE: TEACHING TOOLS
#2 WHAT A CHILD SHOULD EXPECT FROM PIANO LESSONS
#3 WHAT IS FINGERING AND WHEN DO WE USE IT
#4 PIANO BY NUMBER AND OTHER STARTING METHODS
#6 MINUTE BY MINUTE PIANO LESSON
#7 TOYS AND ACCESSORIES FOR FUN PIANO LESSONS
#8 READING MUSIC FOR KIDS STEP BY STEP
#9 THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN WORST AND BEST TEACHER
#10 A CHILD’S CLASSICAL MUSIC LISTENING LIST
COURSE TWO: TEACHING BACKGROUND
#11 A SHORT HISTORY OF THE PIANO
#12 A SHORT HISTORY OF PIANO METHODS
#13 A PLEASANT PIANO LESSON ATMOSPHERE
#14 ADVICE TO A YOUNG PIANO TEACHER
#16 A PIANO TEACHER’S EMOTIONS
#17 PACE AND CHILDREN’S PIANO LESSONS
#18 CHILDREN’S PIANO MOTOR SKILLS DEFINED BY AGE
#19 CHILDREN’S PIANO FINGERING OVERVIEW
#20 GUILT IS THE WRONG WAY TO BUY ATTENTION
COURSE THREE: PIANO GAMES
#21 FOURS, A PIANO COUNTING GAME
#24 THE USE OF HUMOR IN PIANO LESSONS
#25 HAPPY OR SAD: EAR TRAINING FOR KIDS
#26 FOLLOW THE LEADER: VISUAL PIANO GAMES
