The most "happy" classical
 

Hello all.

I am trying to introduce kids into the wonderful world of classical music, and I would like to have a list of 10 or 12 really happy and vivid classical music.

The kind of music I am looking for is such as Pachelbel's Canon, which the kids absolutely love. They also like Haendel.

Can be orchestral, piano solo, guitar, etc.

I know this is a personal opinion, but all your tips will be very appreciate.

Cheers

Lots of possibilities, including “happy” music originally composed for children. I’ll suggest a number but this topic can easily bloom into a collective project:

Poulenc: The Story of Babar, the little elephant/Histoire de Babar, le petit elephant (the French and English versions are available on Naxos 8.553615F -- “Poulenc Complete Chamber Music Vol. 5.” It involves a child narrator)

Debussy: His Children’s Corner (piano and orchestrated) includes revealing piece titles such as Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum, Jimbo’s lullaby, Serenade of the doll, the snow is dancing, the little shepherd, and, my favorite, Golliwogg’s Cake-Walk, a very happy piece..

Ibert: He often wrote happy-going music. In his “Histoires,” based on fairy tales, one finds quite an emotional range for kids from the very happy “Little white donkey” to the very sad “Dans la maison triste.” Perhaps you could use these small piano pieces to show how classical music expresses many different feelings, a bit like fairy tales.

Ravel: For a man who never married and raise children, Maurice Ravel proves a magician when it comes to music involving or aimed for children. Lyrics may prove a problem if you teach in Spanish (curious, isn’t it, given that Ravel’s mother, Marie Delouart, was Basque) but his music to Jules Renard’s “Histoires naturelles” still amazes me: the peacock, the cricket, the swan, the kingfisher, the guinea-fowl (hilarious). Do you think your children are ready for a soprano or a tenor voice accompanied by a piano? If not, perhaps you can find the music without its vocal element.

Enough said. I’ll yield the way to other suggestions…..

No, can't help myself! Another suggestion:

Prokofiev: Peter and the Wolf is an excellent and lively work which uses an interesting story to help children identify various instrument solo and groups of instruments in the orchestra.

Hi zeeman http://www.magle.dk/music-forums/ima...ilies/wave.gif Welcome to MIMF http://www.magle.dk/music-forums/ima...ies/tiphat.gif

Adding to ON's list:
(thanks for the memory jog on Prokofiev - I listened to Peter and the Wolf countless times as a kid ... still enjoy it to this day)

• Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker Suite & Swan Lake
• Strauss: Blue Danube Walta
• Haydn: Menuet from the Surprise Symphony
• Borodin: Polovtsian Dance fromo "Prince Igor"
• Rossini: Overture from "Barber of Seville"
• Rachmaninoff: Variations on a theme by Paganini

There are many more certainly to show up in this thread. Nice to have the resources of such a fine music forum community. http://www.magle.dk/music-forums/ima...ilies/grin.gif

What ages are we talking about here? Kids often like scary music too.

Excellent suggestions so far. I`m going to add to the happy music list-

Johann Strauss - Polkas
Sousa - Marches
Rimsky-Korsakov - Flight of the Bumblebee
Chopin - Raindrop Prelude

Many thanks for all your suggestions, I really appreciate them.

The kids ages are between 7 and 12 years old. What I am trying to do is selecting 10 or 12 vibrant classical music so the kids listen and somehow get more interest for classical music.

At this moment they really like Pachelbel's Canon and many others. Its great to see them relaxed with their eyes closed listening a piano solo of Pachelbel's Canon or the violin, cello and harp version, which is among their favourites.

Happy?

Mozart Symphony No. 29, in A major (has to be his most joyful symphony)

Getting kids hooked on the sound of an orchestra, you can't go past Britten's Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra ... it's so cleverly orchestrated. The fugue at the end is a masterpiece of polyphonic writting.

When I was a kid, I liked compositions with melodies which had an optimum balance of staccato and legato:

--"Narcissus" by Ethelbert Nevin
--second theme from the first movement of Tschaikovsky's 4th Symphony
--"In the Hall of the Mountain King" from the Peer Gynt Suite
--March from "Love of Three Oranges"
--entrance of the Three Kings into Amahl's house
--scherzo from the Paganini Quartet by Dvorak
--scherzo from Dvorak's 8th symphony
--scherzo from Beethoven's 5th symphony

I'd go with the Mozart horn concertos.

Thanks to all for your responses.

I am getting some CDs at a local store, based on your suggestions and building a very nice collection. They are, indeed, very joyful.

Very appreciated !

Hi zeeman,welcome
When I was a kid,I enjoyed Victor Borge very much and he was a favourate in the class with his comical piano pieces.I don't know how good a idea it is to encourage the youth of today to listen to classical music with such genre.I still listen to Victor Borge to this day.Hope this helps.

Good thought, Caddis ...

Borge was a very professional pianist first, and a comic artist second. His very love of classical music is always evident in his playing style. He was also known as "The Clown Prince of the Piano" when I was a kid ... sometimes the humoristic approach to learning about classical music is the only exposure these kids might ever get.

I still laugh audibly - no, I roar with laughter - everytime I listen or watch Borge on tapes or videos ... remember his story on Mozart, how he was a 'bust'? http://www.magle.dk/music-forums/ima...lies/laugh.gif

I wish you could taught in my school when I was 12.

3 years ago I would want to hear Nobuo Uematsu or Yuki Kajiura.

Some song for them are:
Nobuo-Final Fantasy 7 Advent Children-Those Who Fight Further Piano
Nobuo-Final Fantasy 9 OST-Vivis theme
Nobuo-Final Fantasy 7 OST-Shinra Wages a Full Scale Attack
Nobuo-Final Fantasy 7 OST-Still More Fighting

Yuki Kajiura-.Hack//Sign OST-Aura
Yuki Kajiura-.Hack//Sign OST-Under the Moon
Yuki Kajiura-.Hack//Sign OST-Open Your Heart

I hav'nt heard the Mozart piece in ages.I do have an original vynil of Borge playing variations of the "happy birthday" song,my favourate.The Liszt variation really gives me the stiches.

For me Liebesbotschaft-galopp by Johann Strauss II

There's certainly more than enough music here already (or is that possible?) but I'll add:
Saint-Saens--Carnival of the Animals
Saint-Saens--Symphony No. 3 finale
Tchaikovsky--Finale and the Pizzicato Scherzo to the 4th Symphony (this was my favorite as a kid)
The Fantasia stuff: Night on Bald Mountain, The Sorcerer's Apprentice

I'm surprised there's no Mendelssohn in here yet! When I think 'ecstatic' I immediately think of the Italian Symphony and the finale of the violin concerto. I have started many a great day by jumping out of bed and immediately playing a recording of either at high volume. http://www.magle.dk/music-forums/ima...lies/smile.png

Hi,

Your idea is good to introduce kids into classical world.

Regards,
Honey

Bach - Italian Concerto

Why "happy"?

What are these kids listening to now? How is "happy" going to fit with that?

I'd think that "exciting" or "dramatic" or "visceral" or "threatening" or "weird" or "cataclysmic" or something along those lines should be considered, too.

"Classical" is a terrifically broad term, covering a variety of music over several centuries. And each piece that can be called "classical" will likely as not cover a wide range of things--loud, soft/fast, slow/happy, sad/lively, lugubrious--all in the same piece.

I'd think that you'd want to give them a taste of the range--range being what "classical music" has more of than any other type. Indeed, up until minimalism got going, range was probably the characteristic most commonly shared by "classical" pieces, and even in minimalism...

I'd agree with that.