Catch-Up 1: Music School

Music School, my friends, is exactly where Troy is going this September, and by music school I mean this gorgeous place! Peabody Preparatory, my friends, right next door to Peabody Conservatory.

This Music for Toddlers class that I enrolled Troy in teaches kids of his age about music through rhythm, song and dance. The professor who teaches the class is truly preceded by his fame. From what I hear, he is the best.
You probably all remember how important music is to Troy. Sometimes I think he lives for it. Sometimes I think that just like his favorite Orphee he walks right through the hardships of life with music in his heart.

When I asked Troy if he wanted to go to Music School and learn about music with other boys and girls, he said “yes” so many times that I quickly lost the count.

Little did I know.
Having told Troy about his music school, I let the genie out of the bottle and that genie wanted to go to the music school immediately.

So one morning we drove to Downtown Baltimore to get a walking tour of the Preparatory. Since the Preparatory happened to be closed, we walked in right next door, to find ourselves in our local Temple of Music, the Peabody Conservatory.



Peabody Library

Ah, Peabody… a musician’s dream. Marble floors, arched windows, marble busts and statues, spiral marble staircases and to top it all a gorgeous library, much resembling an opera house, expect that its tiers, rising up to a domed ceiling were filled with antique books, not people.

Troy loved in the library! He took his violin magnet out of his pocket and pretended to play. And then he exclaimed: Theater! Theater!, went back to “playing” and clapped for himself.

Thus begins a new chapter in my son’s life, called Education. Brace yourselves, my friends, the genie is out!

Orphee Quest in Surreal NYC

All right you guys, before I proceed with this post, there is something you need to know. Troy is on vacation with his dad, which in our situation means that we won’t see each other until a week from today. I could have devoted this and a couple of other posts to how much I miss my son and how lonely I’ve been feeling without him. However, I am fully aware that speculations of that sort are hardly a blog material, which means that you would probably be bored to death reading them. Therefore, I made up my mind to catch up on more of Troy’s latest musical discoveries that I otherwise never had time to post about. So, there will be no whining here, rather a happy bunch of posts about my son Troy.

However, let me start with quite an unusual one that will hopefully spice up this blog’s slow summer.

Sunday morning caught my mom and I on our way to New York. A July day in Manhattan… Not exactly a piece of cake? It actually can be, if you have it in Café Sabarsky on 5th. And accompanied by their wonderful thickly creamed Viennese coffee, followed by a quick trip across the street to the Met Museum – it very well can be a piece of cake.

Before we make another step towards that glorious temple of world’s art, let me tell you something. All those people must have really gone to the Hamptons or something, but for the first time in my life, I found Manhattan half-empty which in case of this island, was a bit surreal but overall a very good thing.

Check out this pic, music lovers! Recognize what's in it?



Laissez-vous toucher par mes pleurs,
Spectres...
Lavre...
Ombres Terribles!

Yep, Lincoln Square it is.
Mind you, a completely empty one, enlivened only by the cool mist from the famous fountain and, brace yourselves, palm trees, white umbrellas and a gelato kiosk. Palm trees on Lincoln Square, palm branches dancing in the hot Manhattan breeze… Doesn’t get more surreal than that.

Back to the Met museum now.

To say that this place is my cave of Ali-Baba will be a huge understatement. It’s my temple, or it least one of them, for on Manhattan I got a few. So yesterday, as we got there, I put in some time towards Troy’s Orphee museum quest and I think did some good work. Judge for yourselves my friends and tell me what you think.





Non!



 





 




Non!

 



Non!!!





Soyez sensibles
A l'exces de mes malheurs!

And  as a little bonus, how about Amour consoling Orphee in Act 1?

By the time Troy gets home, a nice Orphee Picture book will be waiting for him!

Cheers, everyone!



A Teaching Tip: Find That Connection!

How long has it been since I shared a music teaching tip with you guys? It must have been several months at the very least. So here is one.

Like I mentioned earlier, Troy loves Vivaldi. And truly, who doesn’t? As we listen to the Four Seasons together, I re-discover the emotional value that this music has and the expressive energy that it bears. And yet the guy himself, even though great in mind, was not that healthy and not that strong. Who would have ever thought, listening to that music?

About a month ago I got this book for Troy. I knew that once I started him on it the right way, he would love it as much as he loves the Handel one…
The only thing left to do was to find that right way.

Last night Troy asked me to play Vivaldi on a CD!!! This time he did not feel like watching Maestro Karajan and Anne Sophie Mutter.
He just wanted to listen.
(To me, my friends, this is the beginning of a new stage in Troy’s musical development which makes me very excited. If he does not need to look at the screen to enjoy music, then he truly enjoys the music in its wholesome and unornamented purity).

Anyway, I picked up the book and said: All right, while you are listening, I’ll look through this book. And I opened it to the first page with a picture of a newborn Vivaldi in the midst of his first cry.

Troy immediately felt that since he had not been officially invited to join me, he had to join me. (Mind you, had he been invited, he would most certainly say no)
So he came up and looked. He loved baby Vivaldi and kept talking about him crying.

So I opened Troy’s 1st year album and showed him his own newborn pictures, including the one of his own first cry.
And then back we went to Vivaldi.
On the next page Vivaldi was 3. He sat in his father’s studio, listening to his father playing the violin and pretended to play too. Just like Troy does. So Troy opened his precious instrument box (where he keeps his musical instrument magnets), took out the violin magnet and pretended to play it.

And that was good for the night: 2 pages of a story of a talented composer and a successful businessman (for, interestingly enough, Vivaldi happened to be both). Most importantly, Troy got interested and will probably ask me to read the book again tonight.

Am I forgetting something? But of course – the teaching tip! Whatever you are reading to your kid, make it relevant to him and his own life. Find that connection and enjoy the success.

Music Is Sitting Here!

Recently Troy has shown interest in playing his favorite music on the actual instruments that he has. Thus, we’ve been hearing Handel’s Halleluja on the harmonica, Verdi’s Dies Irae on the drum, tambourine and tin tea jar, Gluck’s Orphee’s Aria Bravura on the drum, and finally, his latest hit – Vivaldi’s Spring, Mvt 1 on the piano. You could tell Troy has the urge to play along with the orchestra and enjoys hearing himself among other musicians.

At his young age Troy realizes that banging on the keys is no good. So he switches from touching the keys softly to touching an imaginary keyboard in the air. But - he always picks up the right tempo and almost always the right octave. When he only started “playing” Vivaldi,( or "Valdi" , as he puts it), every time he picked the wrong octave, he would immediately scoot to the right, to a higher one. Now, he already remembers, which octave is right for Vivaldi’s Spring. And you know, what? because there are only 7 notes!!!! sometimes just the right tempo and octave do make it sound a little like Vivaldi.

Last night I brought a gift for him, a wooden recorder. Troy loved it at first sight and immediately tried to play it. Needless to say, the sound that came out was not that incredible. Then I explained to Troy some tricks of making your recorder “sing”.

He looked into the holes and said something that warmed my heart for the rest of the night:
“Music is here, in recorder". And pointing into the holes: "Music is here, sitting here!"

So he has been trying to master his new instrument ever since and seems to see that covering and opening the holes as you play makes music happen.
Now he wants to play every piece he likes on the recorder. Since last night, I have heard several pieces from Gluck’s Orphee, Handel’s Halleluja, and even Lara’s Granada.

That one was truly special, because he actually asked me to sing it to him during our nightly cuddling time and tried to play his part on the recorder, while I was singing. It sounded both a bit funny and kind of good, and every time Troy ran out of music, (or air), he would just join me in singing it. It was very beautiful as an experience, if nothing else.
And of course, it makes me happy to see that he does have a good sense of tempo and rhythm and knows the music to all those songs quite well.

Street Musicians

Do you know what this is?
A rare and unique mineral, whose special feature constitutes in a bunch of “golden needles" piercing through it in all possible directions. Of course, in the old days the mineral was called Venus-hair stone, for obvious reasons. Today it’s called Golden Rutilated Quartz . However, no matter what name it bears, the mineral has never ceased to wow gem lovers with its unique character.

Such is our glorious city of Baltimore, filled through and through with golden needles of music. Not only do we have the good old Meyerhoff and the newly re-incarnated Lyric – we are widely exposed to jazz, pop, country, rock and what not. Thus, it comes as no surprise that Baltimoreans, washed over and over with all kinds of music waves come across as musically (and culturally) diverse people.

I tend to mentally divide all musicians into two major categories: stage musicians and street musicians. The two co-exist really well during the official classical season. However, once the season is over, music comes to us in a different format, leaving it up to street musicians to take over, rule and rock!

Considering music my air, I live by the rule: Whatever the genre, if there is music there, bring it on!

Needless to say that Troy and I have been enjoying a variety of music genres. At his young age, he is already familiar with classical (or should I say very familiar), Celtic, country, some rock-n-roll and of course, – jazz.

Meet Troy’s Number 1 favorite: “Mr. Phone” (standing for saxophone), who plays in front of a fancy food market in our area on holiday weekends and  special occasions. The guy is good in a live, street way, if you know what I mean. No contest material, but very vibrant and so inspiring for Troy that he always asks to go to that store with a secret hope that "Mr. Phone" will be playing again.
However, because it does not happen too often, Troy even went as far as working out a way to get over it, by saying: "Mr. Phone not here? That’s OK – that’s OK. Next time”.
One time “Mr. Phone” noticed Troy listening to him with all his attention, greeted him and let him push a couple of keys on the sax. It was an eye-opening experience for Troy. He has been mesmerized with saxophone ever since.

About a week ago I took Troy to a little concert in our neighborhood where a band was playing a catchy fusion of Celtic and country. It was lovely and Troy loved it. He and his friend were standing at “the stage”, dancing to the music and pretending to play violins, drums, tambourines and what not.

And then, of course, besides the music being lovely, it was live – and live music, my friends, whatever the genre, is always very powerful and sometimes just  a little magic.

God bless all the fearless, motivated and talented street musicians, for theirs is a major contribution.

One really has to have that special drive in them to be able to perform without as much as a stage or an audience of fans, a contract or even a pay, and in the summertime - without an AC! One really has to have that sparkle to keep going and give us, the listeners the bug of inspiration. God bless street musicians, for they have got it all!

Beloved Verdi

If Troy knew how to write and were writing this post, I am sure he would name it “ Beloved Verdi”. Every other composer whose music he used to enjoy before this incredible afternoon has been sent off on his way to the back of Troy’s memory, thus giving way to the one and only – Verdi.

Ever since he discovered Verdi’s Requiem, Troy has been truly mesmerized by the music. He sings Dies Irae, pronouncing both words very clearly, conducting it and playing it on the drum, the tambourine and even a tin tea jar. Hey, when it comes to music making, everything goes.

Besides, he has this DVD and this CD now, which he loves to watch and listen to.

Yesterday, I showed him an old book of mine about Verdi’s young years, suitable for ages 7-10. He demanded that I read it for him and listened very attentively to 1.5 pages of a grown-up ( slightly adapted by me) text. Every time I said Giuseppe, he would point to Verdi’s picture in the book.

Happy Friday and Happy coming 4th, everyone!