From My Window

I took Nathan to his first concert today! The Lakewood Symphony did a children's performance of the William Tell Overture, Largo from the New World Symphony, and the Carnival of the Animals by Saint-Saens. Nathan's favorite animal was the fish and his favorite instruments were the cellos and string basses. He sat quite still on my lap during the whole 45 minute performance, rubbing Buddy Bear's ear and watching with great interest. Sometimes he smiled in the middle of songs and he clapped excitedly for a few of the ones he really liked. I enjoyed exposing him to fun music, and it was neat to let him see the real instruments in the orchestra since we often go over the orchestra pages in his children's picture dictionary. The conductor did a good job making the performance interesting and accessible to the kids, reading Ogden Nash's humorous poems that go with the Carnival and also using the Largo to demonstrate the "composer's toolbox" of different ways to change music--varying tempo, key, rhythm, and adding familiar sounds, tunes, and even silence. It was lots of fun and I look forward to taking Nathan again!