Classical music has huge emotional and intellectual benefits for children. It sharply evokes positive feelings in them and is also good for their concentration and listening skills. Here are the top 10 best classical music pieces for kids.
Why classical music is good for kids?
Here are some benefits of the classical music (or baroque music) of listening to Classical Music for children:
- Classical music boosts children’s concentration and self-discipline.
- It creates a calming effect. Children feel calm annd relaxed, even , regardless of the piece being played.
- The beauty and complexity of classical music improves brain functions of young children.
- In general, classical music is very inspiring and improves creativity.
- According to a study conducted by the Apollo Music Projects, 82% of children (126 out of 154 children aged 9-10) described positive feelings after attending to a live classical music concert. Over 70% of teachers report a development in children’s listening and concentration skills.
When to introduce your child to classical music?
You can introduce children aged 7 to 10 to classical music and its great composers.
Some of the Best Classical Music Pieces for Kids
1. Vivaldi: Spring, The First Movement (The Four Seasons)
Antonio Vivaldi composed his famous Four Seasons concertos in 1723. Before composing these concertos, the Italian composer first wrote a poem, or what he called an “illustrative sonnet,” in order to put down in words exactly what his music would show.
Here is the poem that Vivaldi wrote to accompany the first movement of his Spring Concerto. As you listen to the movement and read the poem, note how Vivaldi uses his music to describe the exact scene of which his words express. Instruments, like words, can express feeling and describe a scene.
Springtime is upon us.
The birds celebrate her return with festive song,
and murmuring streams are softly caressed by the breezes.
Thunderstorms, those heralds of Spring, roar, casting their dark mantle over heaven,
Then they die away to silence, and the birds take up their charming songs once more.
Vivaldi writes the piece in a major key to express joy for the arrival of spring. Note with the entrance of the violin soloists how Vivaldi uses the violin solo to introduce the birds’ happy song.
2. Mozart: Symphony No. 40
One of Mozart’s most greatly admired works, Symphony No. 40 is a great piece to introduce your kids to classical music with its lightness and grace.
3. Johann Strauss II: The Blue Danube
Blue Danube, Op. 314 is a waltz composed by Johann Strauss II in 1866 for the Vienna Men’s Singing Society. Most kids really like this piece. It is also an encore piece at the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra’s New Year concerts.
4. Beethoven: Für Elise
Bagatelle No. 25 in A minor (WoO 59, Bia 515) for solo piano, commonly known as Für Elise (English: For Elise) is one of Ludwig van Beethoven’s most popular compositions. Many piano teachers over the world assign the piece to their students early on in their piano learning.
5. Tchaikovsky: Dance of the little swans (from the ballet Swan Lake)
Swan Lake Op. 20, is a ballet composed by Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. It is probably the most loved and most popular ballet of all time.
6. Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade, Movement 2
Scheherazade, Op. 35, is a symphonic suite composed by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov in 1888 and based on One Thousand and One Nights, a collection of Middle Eastern folk tales compiled in Arabic during the Islamic Golden Age.
7. Bach: Brandenburg Concerto No. 2
Johann Sebastian Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 is the most popular of the six Brandenburg Concertos for its brilliant scoring. The joyful first movement of this concerto was chosen as the first musical piece to be played on the Voyager Golden Record, a phonograph record containing a broad sample of Earth’s common sounds, languages, and music sent into outer space with the two Voyager space probes.
8. Smetana: Vltava (The Moldau)
Bedřich Smetana’s famous symphonic poem “Vltava”, also known by its English name “The Moldau” is from the symphonic cycle Má Vlast (“My Homeland”), which portrays the history, legends, and landscape of the composer’s native Bohemia. Smetana (1824-1884) wrote this piece while he was completely deaf.
9. Beethoven: Symphony No. 9, 4th Movement “Choral” (Ode to joy)
Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125 symphony was the first example of a major composer using voices in a symphony. The words are sung during the final (4th) movement of the symphony by four vocal soloists and a chorus, that’s why the symphony is also simply called “The Choral”. The text was taken from the “Ode to Joy”, a poem written by the German playwright, poet, and philosopher Friedrich Schiller in 1785 and revised in 1803, with text additions made by the composer himself.
10. Mozart: Eine kleine Nachtmusik
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart wrote Eine kleine Nachtmusik is a 1787 for a chamber ensemble. The German title means “a little night music” in English. It is the name given to the Serenade No. 13 for strings in G major, K 525 by the Austrian composer. The piece is admired for its lively, joyful quality and its memorable melodies. A very good classical music piece for young children.
Sources
- “Study finds live classical music has huge emotional benefits for children” on the Classical FM website
- “Antonio Vivaldi’s Spring Movement 1” on the “Inspiring the Inspired” blog
- Symphony No. 9 (Beethoven) on Wikipedia
- Brandenburg Concertos on Wikipedia
- 10 Best Classical Music Pieces for Kids – March 18, 2022
- My child does not want to go to school. What should I do? – January 30, 2022
- A Play Script for Kids – January 5, 2022