Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is one of the most recognized composers of all time. Born in 1756 to a well-to-do Austrian family, his father, a composer himself, brought this prodigy forward to become the composer of some brilliant works.

As you know, child prodigies scare the hell out of me.

Mozart wrote a couple of great operas, one of them being The Magic Flute. His early works weren’t as well-received as his later ones, and this last opera of his is considered on of his greatest.

To understand the basics of an opera, it essentially is a stage play that is sung (so it’s a kind of musical), but with a classical orchestra and music from the time. Mozart was known for breaking traditions, and so he did by writing the first operas to be sung in German, and to be a proponent of comedy – yes, Mozart was quite a fun-loving guy.

In The Magic Flute, the story is pretty complex, and I don’t want to bore you with it (read it here). I just want to show you one short piece from ti that you might know already: The Queen of The Night’s second aria:

The scene depicts the queen of the night, showing her anger towards her daughter who isn’t following her orders.

A few key points:

- The high notes aren’t really sung, they’re actually whistled.
- The lyrics in English are:

The vengeance of Hell boils in my heart,
Death and despair flame around me!
If Sarastro does not through you feel the pain of death,
Then you will be my daughter nevermore. (The high notes)
Disowned may you be forever,
Abandoned may you be forever,
Destroyed be forever
All the bonds of nature,
If not through you Sarastro becomes pale! (as death)
Hear, Gods of Revenge, hear a mother’s curse!

In operas, we differentiate musical pieces by the amount of people in it, and the type of accompaniment. In this case, we have the full orchestra playing while the singer sings an emotional melody.

This is the counterpart of a recitative, which is sung more like spoken word, to bring the story forward. The five minutes in the video don’t really take the story anywhere.

Another unique thing about this opera is the spoken part – usually operas don’t have spoken word by definition, but as I said: Mozart broke a few things.

How do you like it?

Post from: The Good Musician

But many parents go about in a very wrong way. After 10 years of playing experience, I can tell what should’ve been better in my kiddy days. Points to consider when introducing your child to music:

1. Implement the 5 Pillars of Good Musicians

Don’t just make him or her play an instrument. Show them the different aspects of music, build on the 5 pillars and explain to them how it’s these core principles that can make him the next [insert favorite musician here].

2. Listen to Music with your kid

Making music is like writing. Most good authors read tons more than they actually write. Similarly, grab a bunch of classical, jazz and modern CDs, throw in some of your child’s favorite artists and sit together and just listen.
You don’t have to be experts, but just talk about the music, what you like about it, what instruments are in there, likes and dislikes, try to explain why you like or dislike something. Exposure is key.

3. Choose an instrument wisely

Your child wants to play the guitar? Well, that’s great. But you should take a trip to the music store and look at different options. From the previous excercise you would have discovered what music your child likes and what instruments are prevalent in those styles.

So explore the options: A guitar can be a classical one, a jazz/tock guitar, a western guitar, or even a bass guitar. Orchestras have many instruments you might have never heard of, explore the options. This has two benefits: Picking a rare instrument drives up the market value of your child, and secondly, it’s simply more interesting than the “usual” guitar/piano/violin kid.

4. Practice with them

It’s important to track your child’s progress. Keeping a music homework diary is a good habit. Don’t let them practice on their own in the beginning, sit with them and encourage them strongly, but always drill them to practice slowly and with a fixed goal in mind. We will talk more about practicing techniques in other posts.

5. Stand up for better music education

Find out about the theory instruction in your school. Many schools make students pick an instrument for big band or orchestra, and rotate after a year. This is very, very bad. Your child will never really indulge in music that way. Enforce more theory lessons, solo lessons and make your child go it’s own way. Participating in school music is good, but only a tiny fraction of what your child should be doing. Solo talent is far more important and will benefit your child much more than letting it play in a big band, where the level of expertise is only as high as the weakest member.

For more tips on being a Musician, practicing, and pushing your children’s musical talent, stay tuned by subscribing today!

Post from: The Good Musician