A Musical Household

WHO IS MUSICAL?

A Musical Household

What was it like to be a child in Mozart’s house?

We hear a lot about the amazing musical things – and they are amazing – that Mozart did as a very young child. In fact, he was a prodigy who quickly surpassed his older sister on the piano, produced beautiful music at an outrageously early age and was able to perform musical acrobatics on command. In the romanticized version this all just “happened”; one day, out of nowhere, he sat down at the keyboard and began to play. This image, though appealing, is fictitious.

By the time Mozart’s genius began to reveal itself, he had spent his few years of life in an intensely musical household. His father was a violinist, composer and music teacher. There were frequent concerts and gatherings of chamber groups at the house. Little Mozart absorbed his musical surroundings constantly and through all of his senses. He was free to listen, watch, move, explore, wonder and just be a baby, with no expectations of progress or musical demands made on him at all. Did this environment create Mozart’s particular genius? No, but it allowed and helped it to emerge.

People who consider themselves to be musically sensitive, capable and confident often come from backgrounds that included early and continuous musical exposure. What does this mean?

As a child I was surrounded by music. I don’t remember a beginning to my music learning because, in this family of musical people, it was always there. Like the paintings on the wall, the furniture and the air, music was part of the environment. I remember being sung to and sung with, hearing the comforting sound of Sunday opera on the radio and being taken to indoor and outdoor concerts. Relatives played various instruments, and I had access to a piano, autoharp and guitar from an early age. I experimented with these at my leisure and adults were happy to help me when I asked them. No one had an agenda for my musical education, but I always felt that music was part of me and that I was musically capable.

When my children were young we had various kinds of recorded music playing a lot of the time, particularly classical, folk and jazz. If we planned to take the girls to a concert, we would play recordings of the pieces starting around a month beforehand. We never told them to sit quietly and pay attention, but while playing with blocks or doing puzzles, they would absorb the music subconsciously. This preparation enabled them to enjoy the performance and they would sit with rapt attention throughout. I brought different kinds of instruments home, encouraged the girls to try them out and helped them when they asked for it. We sang together informally and I sang to them at night. Musical experiences seeped into them and become part of them, much the way native language does, before one is aware of it. There was an underlying feeling that music is part of life.

There are different kinds of musical households. There are families who sing or have musical jam sessions. Others listen to classical radio stations and go to concerts. While the specific musical content plays a part in developing musical tastes, it is the atmosphere in which it is presented that ultimately determines a person’s comfort and confidence with music. Common to most musical households is the feeling that being musical is a natural, happy, uncomplicated and essential part of one’s existence.

Many children do not grow up in a “Music House.” Is it too late for them? It is never too late. “Discovering” music at any point in life is, for those who are open to it, a wonderful and exciting thing. An insightful and resourceful music teacher can figure out how to provide an environment that replicates the atmosphere of a musical household for anyone, at any age, and have fun doing it.

How can a teacher achieve this in the framework of a music lesson? Essentially by providing the most enticing variety of musical stimuli in a relaxed and encouraging atmosphere, being sensitive to the readiness of the individual and having the confidence, expertise and resources to model and guide when needed. A natural and spontaneous give and take between teacher and student builds a relationship that sets the stage for exploration, discovery and the development of one’s potential.

Though this can be done in a class setting, it is preferable that a student have some one-on-one time with a private teacher. The student needs to be free to make choices that feel right to him at any given moment so that the musical experience may be personalized – woven around him like a well-tailored suit. It is also important to remember that this experience is not based on concrete progress or achievement – There is no agenda for a child in a real musical house, and the learning may not be measured by traditional standards.

Ideally, a Music House should have instruments that represent each of the families - keyboard, strings, wind and percussion – for the student to explore. In this way he may learn a bit about the science and expressive capabilities of each. There should be a variety of recorded music for listening, and opportunities to sing, dance and create. A piano or keyboard is essential and an autoharp highly desirable, because these instruments offer unlimited possibilities for exploration and discovery.

Some children, introduced to music this way, will naturally gravitate toward a particular instrument or family of instruments. These children will eventually be able to make an educated choice about which instrument they want to study. Studying an instrument is not, however, the only way to be musical, and it is certainly not the best way for everybody. Comprehensive musical experience will empower some people to choose not to study an instrument, and instead find other wonderful ways to make music part of their lives.