Concerts for Kids

We were blessed today with the opportunity to attend a free concert for school aged children, put on by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra (NZSO), which is NZ's national orchestra owned and funded by the NZ government.
 

Apologies, this was the best photo I could get with the kids camera.


The concert was specifically tailored towards children. The theme was nature and seasons and there was an announcer, Nigel, who explained things to the group as we went along. He introduced the sections of the orchestra, had the members stand up to show everyone each instrument to the children when he mentioned them and in turn each section played a piece of music. It was very well done. He was dressed as some kind of green garden nymph and made a lot of bad jokes which the kids (and OK me) really enjoyed and at times had the kids yelling back in response, as though they were at a footy game rather than a concert.
 
I personally loved watching the conductor, Australian born, Jessica Cottis. She's a tiny slip of a girl who just bounced on her feet the whole time she conducted.
 
We heard works from Vivaldi, Beethoven, Strauss amongst others but one of my favourite parts of the concert was listening to Nigel read the wonderful novel by Margaret Mahy, The Lion in the Meadow, with the orchestra playing a composition by Christchurch composer, Phillip Norman, which he had written specifically to accompany the book.
 
This concert tied in perfectly with the work we have being doing with the book, The Story of the Orchestra by Robert Levine.

This is a great book for anyone who would like to educate their children on what makes an orchestra, some composers and musical instruments.

 

The first half of the book begins with types of music through the ages and has some famous composers in each section. You play the accompanying track on the CD (it says when to in the book) and you hear some of that composers music. The music alone is worth the purchase of the book. The second half of the books talks about the different types of instruments and once again has music to accompany that instrument. It's a very easy to read and an engaging book with appealing pictures.

 

 

I think working on this book helped my children enjoy their first orchestra experience so much more than they would have, as they recognised composers names, some of the music and all the instruments etc. They enjoyed it so much they have expressed an interest to go back and see one again, so a very successful introduction to classical orchestral music.