Art and Music for young children

Dear Parent,

What a delightful question for me as a mother of classical musicians. I will tell you what my youngest son, sixteen-year-old cellist, Oliver Aldort, says. He is confident that every child should be musically literate starting at around age four. He has personal experience and has read about the impact of classical music on one’s depth of emotions, intelligence, sensitivity, cooperation and inner peace. After his last performance of a Beethoven quartet he said, “Our quartet members don’t really get along. We are very different. But when we play the music the personalities vanish and give room to creating the music together.”

And I agree with you; not only music is crucial, but the arts. Our schools draw children away from their natural artistic nature. They teach the emotionless, dry information that is useless for happiness, and for creating human connections. A high-school graduate may know the date Napoleon waged war (and forgets it soon,) but has no idea how to respond to a distressed friend or a crying child. He may know (temporarily) chemistry but has no idea who he himself is. He may even be good at sports, but has no emotional tools to deal with life, and very limited tools to express himself artistically.

The best place to study the arts at age four is at home. This is because the child must start through self-expression and not by being limited to the “right” notes, “right” dance steps, “right” brush strokes or “right” words and acting. The child must find his own path from within. That’s where art lives Once he can express himself freely on musical instruments, dancing, painting, sculpting or acting, he can then utilize artistic tools in a way that expands rather than limit his creativity and artistic expression.

If you have knowledge at the piano, you can get Eloise Ristad piano learning book, Bold Beginning: http://naomialdort.com/guidance.html. It is not available at this time, but I hope it will be soon. If not, I can help you get it. However, I do not recommend to start with teaching to read notes but with free improvisation, listening to music and dancing.

There are no books that I know of to guide you in these early states of learning of the arts. Listen to Bach and Mozart, sing, act, dance and let your child paint, draw and express himself. I offer a fifty minutes session to parents about how to get young children started in the arts with specific activities, games and ways to master music fundamentals. I would love to offer you such guidance if you would like to book a phone session: http://naomialdort.com/guidance.html

Warmly,  Naomi Aldort,  www.AuthenticParent.com