I just discovered an effective way to get kids to appreciate good music.
No, I’m not talking about soaking them in the music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who composed some of the world’s greatest classical music. For a time, some people believed that just a few minutes a day of listening to Mozart’s music resulted in a substantial and long-term increase in intelligence. Recent studies showed, however, that the alleged “Mozart Effect” is actually a mind myth.
So if Mozart will not guarantee the increase of your offspring’s brainpower or their musicality, what will? My answer: get them company.
Yup, company will do the trick. I’m not talking about company, as in barkada, but The CompanY, the local singing quintet.
Recently I grabbed a copy of 2008 album of The CompanY entitled Group Hug. What really interested me was the featured artist in the album: FILharmoniKA, conducted by Gerard Salonga. For those who are not so fond of reading album credits, Gerard Salonga happens to be the equally talented brother of the Lea Salonga. Interestingly, Gerard completed formal musical studies at the Berklee College of Music (in Boston, Massachusetts), where he graduated summa cum laude and received Berklee’s Contemporary Writing and Production Achievement Award.
Now, imagine the quintet of Moy Ortiz, Annie Quinto, Cecile Bautista, Sweet Plantado and Jay Marquez being accompanied by the FILharmoniKA orchestra under the baton of Gerard, and what do you have? An interesting mix of pop music infused with the classical.
The moment I first fed the CD to my audio player, my kids’ jaws dropped. It’s not really difficult to imagine why. The CompanY chose one song that made it to the top of Billboard Hot 100 way back in 1976 (remember Play That Funky Music?), interspersed it with a Stevie Wonder hit, Superstition, and sang the two ditties in in grand a cappella. If that kind of re-arrangement does not interest you and your kids a bit, then I have a piece of unsolicited advice: go to You Tube, type Bohemian Rhapsody, and listen to the Queen original. After that, listen to The CompanY’s own take of Bohemian Rhasody, sang in five voices and backed up by strings, woodwinds, horns, with bits and pieces of harp, celesta and guitar. If that still does not work to get your kids’ attention, then let them in on an Earth, Wind and Fire original, Boogie Wonderland, overhauled into a bona fide boogie music by The CompanY. Let’s see if that last one does not elicit oohs and aahs from your kids.
If your children are more into band music, with guitars and simple voicing, the last cut in the album, Nandito Pa Rin Tayo, will do the trick. The guitar strumming is clean and simple, yet definitely several notches higher than how the bands nowadays play their guitars. And, once you hear the guitars blend with soft orchestral strings, the experience would be similar to riding on the clouds to dreamland.
But don’t take my word for it. As in any musical trip, the experience is never vicarious. So go grab a copy of Group Hug, and get your kids into basic music comprehension. The music lessons would be better drilled if you go on a long trip with your family, and you pop nothing on your car’s CD player but Group Hug.
Sometimes the most subtle way for kids to learn music appreciation is to hold them hostage to good music.
No, I’m not talking about soaking them in the music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who composed some of the world’s greatest classical music. For a time, some people believed that just a few minutes a day of listening to Mozart’s music resulted in a substantial and long-term increase in intelligence. Recent studies showed, however, that the alleged “Mozart Effect” is actually a mind myth.
So if Mozart will not guarantee the increase of your offspring’s brainpower or their musicality, what will? My answer: get them company.
Yup, company will do the trick. I’m not talking about company, as in barkada, but The CompanY, the local singing quintet.
Recently I grabbed a copy of 2008 album of The CompanY entitled Group Hug. What really interested me was the featured artist in the album: FILharmoniKA, conducted by Gerard Salonga. For those who are not so fond of reading album credits, Gerard Salonga happens to be the equally talented brother of the Lea Salonga. Interestingly, Gerard completed formal musical studies at the Berklee College of Music (in Boston, Massachusetts), where he graduated summa cum laude and received Berklee’s Contemporary Writing and Production Achievement Award.
Now, imagine the quintet of Moy Ortiz, Annie Quinto, Cecile Bautista, Sweet Plantado and Jay Marquez being accompanied by the FILharmoniKA orchestra under the baton of Gerard, and what do you have? An interesting mix of pop music infused with the classical.
The moment I first fed the CD to my audio player, my kids’ jaws dropped. It’s not really difficult to imagine why. The CompanY chose one song that made it to the top of Billboard Hot 100 way back in 1976 (remember Play That Funky Music?), interspersed it with a Stevie Wonder hit, Superstition, and sang the two ditties in in grand a cappella. If that kind of re-arrangement does not interest you and your kids a bit, then I have a piece of unsolicited advice: go to You Tube, type Bohemian Rhapsody, and listen to the Queen original. After that, listen to The CompanY’s own take of Bohemian Rhasody, sang in five voices and backed up by strings, woodwinds, horns, with bits and pieces of harp, celesta and guitar. If that still does not work to get your kids’ attention, then let them in on an Earth, Wind and Fire original, Boogie Wonderland, overhauled into a bona fide boogie music by The CompanY. Let’s see if that last one does not elicit oohs and aahs from your kids.
If your children are more into band music, with guitars and simple voicing, the last cut in the album, Nandito Pa Rin Tayo, will do the trick. The guitar strumming is clean and simple, yet definitely several notches higher than how the bands nowadays play their guitars. And, once you hear the guitars blend with soft orchestral strings, the experience would be similar to riding on the clouds to dreamland.
But don’t take my word for it. As in any musical trip, the experience is never vicarious. So go grab a copy of Group Hug, and get your kids into basic music comprehension. The music lessons would be better drilled if you go on a long trip with your family, and you pop nothing on your car’s CD player but Group Hug.
Sometimes the most subtle way for kids to learn music appreciation is to hold them hostage to good music.
