# Help me with playlist for my daughters



## marcospt (Apr 6, 2020)

Hello there! 

I love classical music, but also Jazz and alternative Rock. Regarding classical, my preferences are mainly for 19th to 20th century music, such as Ravel, Debussy, Stravinsky and more recent composers like Benjamin Britten. I focused mainly on pianist work, since I also dedicated a lot of my listening time to other musical genres.

I want do create a playlist for my 2 daughters (3 and 6 years old) and my wife, that focus on orchestral/shymphonic or string work. I would appreciate some less obvious choices that strike some interesting harmonies while being more on the relaxing side. Don't flame me but I don't like Mozart or Vivaldi for ex.

Here's a little gem I love that will make the list, so that you can have a clue of the vibe I'm looking for:

BRITTEN - VARIATIONS ON A THEME OF FRANK BRIDGE, OP. 10: IV. ROMANCE






Appreciate your suggestions


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## Jacck (Dec 24, 2017)

Grieg - Peer Gynt Suites
Smetana - Má vlast
Saint-Saens - La Muse et le Poète for Violin, Cello and Orchestra, op.132
RVW - The Lark Ascending


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## mark6144 (Apr 6, 2019)

I can't really help you directly with your request, but as someone with similar aged kids I have some general thoughts on the topic.

I try to stimulate an interest in music by creating as much context as I can. As every parent knows, the details that we adults find interesting are often lost on kids, whereas they will enthusiastically latch onto other aspects. The famous, catchy pieces do work best - they are well-known because they have always worked well. Also dramatic and fiery pieces are good, in moderation. I try to illustrate the music with history told as stories - where and when the composer lived, what life was like in those days, who they wrote the music for, how it was performed and listened to, etc. Plus stories about people and events, embellished in amateur Disney style - grumpy old Beethoven was insulted at being asked to write one variation and so he wrote 33 amazing ones, can you hear the same tune hiding in each of them? Liszt was a show-off who wrote really difficult music and people screamed at his sold-out concerts; Schumann really wanted to be a famous pianist too but hurt his finger and was very sad, etc. And so on. I am probably guilty of over-egging it sometimes and perhaps even perpetuating a myth or two, but I count it as a success when my daughter tells her mother she can play four bars of moonlight sonata, and did you know Beethoven didn't even invent that name? 

Just my two cents.


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## larold (Jul 20, 2017)

Vaughan Williams *Five Variants on Dives and Lazarus*, *Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis* and/or *Greensleeves*

Dag Wiren *Serenade for Strings*

Grieg *Holberg Suite*

Britten *Simple Symphony*

Tchaikovsky *Suite No. 4 "Mozartiana"*

Bartok *Divertimento*


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## DaddyGeorge (Mar 16, 2020)

Schnittke: Suite in the Old Style
Mussorgsky: Night on Bald Mount
Janáček: Orchestral Suite from Káťa Kabanová
Prokofiev: Romeo & Juliet Suite No. 2, I. Montagues and Capulets


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## Malx (Jun 18, 2017)

Rather obvious but I'd suggest, *Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf*.
A tale to be told that children will easily understand.


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## larold (Jul 20, 2017)

And its regular diskmate, St. Saens *Carnival of the Animals*.


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

At 3 and 6 I’d play them Disney stuff like Frozen or Tangled or maybe the Sorcerer’s Apprentice bit from Fantasia.


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Watch the movie Fantasia ( Disney) with them, lost of good tunes.


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## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

Odd things:

Strings: Tippett's Corelli Fantasia
Elgar's Introduction and Allegro
Full string section transcription of Beethoven quartets (excerpted as necessary): Bernstein, Opus 131; Toscanini, middle 
movements of Opus 135; Furtwangler, Grosse Fuga.

Orchestral with good stories:
Sinfonie Fantastique -- last two movements (noting especially Dies Irae quote and col legno string effects near the end.)
Obviously suites fro Peer Gynt, Swan Lake
Picture at an Exhibition (piano or orchestra)
Forgive my going against your preference, but Mozart's Clarinet Concerto is tuneful, astounding, and not vapid.
Beethoven's Eighth is pretty good too.

20th century:
Petrushka
Til Eulenspiegel; Don Juan
Last two movements of Mahler 5, slow movement of Mahler 

Piano
Crumb: Makrocosmos (either volume)


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## Guest002 (Feb 19, 2020)

At 6, I seem to remember being quite taken with Rimsky-Korsakov's Flight of the Bumblebee and Grieg's 'Morning Mood' and 'In the Hall of the Mountain King' from his incidental music for Peer Gynt. Also Handel's Water Music. I didn't get into the Fireworks music until I was 8, but that's good fun also. 

I also liked what turned out to be Aram Khachaturian's Adagio from Spartacus (though we knew it as 'the theme from the Onedin Line'!)

I also second an earlier suggestion for Camille Saint-Saëns Carnival of the Animals.

And since you've already got them listening to Ben's Frank Bridge Variations, the obvious next move would be to get his Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra on the boil...


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## Joachim Raff (Jan 31, 2020)

*Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf is a brilliant start*. The concept of individual themes being a animal/character is so easy for children to enjoy. If children enjoy, they tend to want to learn. Anything complex is a no go.

*Camille Saint-Saëns Carnival of the Animals* is another good one
*Tchaikovsky's ballet suites* are another.

Just keep it simple


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## 20centrfuge (Apr 13, 2007)

I have two daughters and when they were little I had a playlist for them: here are some I liked:

Grieg: Wedding Day at Troldhaugen





Schubert: Der Jungling an der Quelle





Puccini: Turandot - Nessun Dorma


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## MatthewWeflen (Jan 24, 2019)

This is the playlist I have for my boys, 8 and 5. It is heavy on peppy overtures and famous pieces that cultured people should be familiar with from Loony Tunes 

Rossini - William Tell Overture
Bizet - L'Arlesienne Suite No. 2 IV: Farandole
Grieg - Peer Gynt Suite No.1 - 1. Morgenstimmung
Grieg - Peer Gynt Suite No.1 - 4. In der Hille des Bergkonigs
Pachelbel - Canon in D
Mozart - Eine Kleine Nachtmusik (first movement)
Tchaikovsky - Nutcracker Suite - March
Tchaikovsky - Nutcracker Suite - Dance of the Sugarplum Fairy
Tchaikovsky - Nutcracker Suite - Russian Dance
Strauss - An der Schonen, Blauen Donau
Strauss - Radetzky March
Konigratzer March
Marsch der Finnlandischen
Wagner - Overture to Tannhauser
Wagner - Die Walkure (Ride of the Valykries)
Bizet - Carmen Suite 1 - I. Prelude
Rossini - La Gazza Ladra Overture
von Suppe - Overture to Leichte Kavallerie
Mozart - Sonata 16 in C major KV545
Elgar - Enigma Variatoins - Nimrod
Wagner - Der Fliegende Hollander Overture
Bach - Toccata and Fugue

They're also fans of Brahms' Hungarian Dances.


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## sstucky (Apr 4, 2020)

Copland—Billy the Kid and Rodeo
Lukas Foss—Griffelkin
Ravel—Mother Goose Suite and L’Enfant


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## marcospt (Apr 6, 2020)

Wow! Thank you all for the suggestions, building a playlist to start listening


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## MatthewWeflen (Jan 24, 2019)

I should add that we just straight up listen to Beethoven's symphonies. But they are long works, so I don't have them on playlists. Of those, my older son quite likes the ode to joy potion of the 9th. Both boys like the 1st movement of the 5th. They also like the storm from the 6th.


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## NLAdriaan (Feb 6, 2019)

The above is a fantastic rollercoaster compilation of all kinds of music, including 'classical music', by Carl Stalling, who used a pretty virtuoso symphonic orchestra as a DJ would use a turntable now. Of course these are Looney Tunes cartoons soundtracks, but they deserve a place of their own on any kids playlist.

Other suggestions would be the orchestral suites of Ravel (Tombeau de Couperin, Ma mere l'Oye) and perhaps L'enfant et les Sortileges. And how about folksongs by Berio and the Stripsody by Cathy Berberian!

Somewhat more back: Schumann's Kinderszenen. Weber's Freischutz ouverture

Baroque music: a single part of Bach's Kunst der Fuge or the Goldberg varations could be a surprise hit. And Purcell's King Arthur has great tunes, Handels Concerti Grossi op 6.

And Monteverdi's l'Orfeo.

Good luck in finding out, let us know what music they really like and sing along!

I must say I took my kids to concerts of Bruckner 5 and Mahler 7 from the age of 8, and they were interested (not that they are listening to such music on their own, but who knows, the seed is planted anyway).


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## Euler (Dec 3, 2017)

MatthewWeflen said:


> Of those, my older son quite likes the ode to joy potion of the 9th.


Beethoven at his most magical


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## Bigbang (Jun 2, 2019)

First of all, what does Vivaldi and Mozart have to do with whether your wife or kids will not like the music? I am willing to bet that there are a few members who do not like what their spouse likes. For sure. So unless you have to listen to the playlist as well I would not take the two composers out of it. BTW, for the kids...get the vivaldi ring of mystery cd. Apparently is is popular with kids, well according to the parents that is. I own it myself along with a few others, for those occasions when I feel the need to revisit my kid in me. 

Not sure about the wife but if she is not listening to CM now, anything goes.


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## aussiebushman (Apr 21, 2018)

Whatever you choose, be very careful to observe the children's reactions. Expressions of pleasure will confirm you are on the right track. Wrong choices that are not enjoyable to them could turn them off classical music for ever. Please remember that music that YOU enjoy may simply not appeal to them.

The game I played with my girls when they were small was to play recordings and make it a game to have them identify the country of origin, than the composer, finally the work. 

Best to keep it simple and melodic. Bach, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Elgar, selected bits of Prokofiev and Shostakovitch. Good luck


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