Musical Composition

Last weekend NPR ran a story about New York Philharmonic's Very Young Composers program. Composers and musicians work with New York City elementary school children to introduce them to musical composition.

The guidelines we give the schools, in trying to identify some fourth- and fifth-graders for the program, is that they be kids for whom this could make a difference. Whether or not they study an instrument is not necessarily a good predictor of whether they're going to do something creative in music.

The program appears to be a success, if success if measured by the fact that 10-year-old Milo Poniewozik recently made an appearance with the Philharmonic when they performed his composition, "The Globetrotter."

It's never too early to introduce your kids to music, but I doubt I need to tell anyone that! We have CDs galore, with all kinds of music to explore. We also have books to introduce your kids to the orchestra. You can start with these:

Hayes, Ann. Meet the Orchestra. [JP HAY]

Levine, Robert. The Story of the Orchestra: Listen While You Learn about the Instruments, the Music, and the Composers Who Wrote the Music. [J 784.2 LEV]

Turner, Barbara J. Out and About at the Orchestra. [JP TUR]