I think Baroque music works for a number of reasons, the one mentioned already is that it is contrapuntal, or many voices talking to each other rather than a lead melody and supporting harmony. This style of composition is only occasionally used now, but it was considered the supreme accomplishment both aesthetically and intellectually in its day, and beyond. Also, it was still very much used in religious contexts and for spiritual contemplation, and some of the slow movements come in uncannily at 60 beats per minute, or a meditative resting heartbeat. Speculation on slower brain wave patterns closer to alpha (pre-dream) states have also been suggested as a result of that style music.
Plus, frankly, once you start to hear the voices chasing and talking to each other, it is seven degrees more wonderful than you first imagined or heard.
As for Composers, Pachabel's Canon in D is a great piece, he was a friend and teacher of the Bach family.
Johann Sebastian Bach of course, his Inventions, 2 and 3 part, his Brandenburg Concertos, Air on a G String, his Well Tempered Clavier of Preludes and Fugues (piano preferably, Glen Gould preferably) and don't miss out on the Goldberg Variations by Glen Gould (number one classical recording for several decades)
Vivaldi of course the four seasons, his violin, and mandolin concertos
Telemann, Corelli, and Scarlatti are lesser known but wonderful Baroque composers (Scarlatti by Horowitz, on piano, great stuff)
Finally, have you heard of Pandora? It is a web application and for Iphone as well, it is like a customizable radio station. You pick a composer or song and it plays music LIKE that all day long for you. It is WONDERFUL, and a great way to find new music of a certain type. The free version has ads, which I don't get any more because I paid $36 not to, figuring $3 a month for an endless stream of customizable new music in the veins I like or want to explore is a ridiculous price and bargain. My wife is from Brazil, for example, we pick a few well known artists or songs and a whole buffet of similar artists and songs streams into our lives, I discover some new gem I never heard of every day.
We shared the free report on "Is Music a Birthright?"(
http://www.brillkids.com/ext/partners/ebook-free-download-2.php) that gives some perspective the challenges of learning music, and their roots, some of which was brought out in our discussions. SoftMozart has some similar, more in depth articles on the origins and challenges of traditional music notation as well, the summary of which you can see in this thread
(
http://forum.brillkids.com/teaching-your-child-music/information-about-music-history-and-theory-every-parent-should-know/new/#new).
What I also added, in a different section, to try and give some perspective of the range of approaches and choices, is a series of posts about the four common approaches to learning piano (up to now). I believe that our methods, both Hellene of SoftMozart and Piano Wizard Academy, begin to shape a "fifth way". What is important to appreciate is they were both developed in response to something that was not really working, in the context of the limitations of the other approaches, trying to compensate for those gaps and yet leverage their strengths. Though each method has its advocates and champions, including Hellene and I for our own, and those advocates can be as we have seen quite passionate and compelling, NONE OF THESE APPROACHES IS PERFECT. We do strive to honestly "perfect" our process every day, with more and more knowledge, and this forum has been I think very fruitful in its exploration of the options. Here is my latest contribution to that conversation.
http://forum.brillkids.com/teaching-your-child-music/four-common-approaches-to-learning-piano-some-pros-and-cons/msg60967/#msg60967I don't know how many parents are following all this, but I can tell you if you are, you are now MUCH more knowledgeable about both the challenges of music education, and the pallet of options available, and I hope it helps you all find your own unique solution to your children's needs, and leads to a less dogmatic, more practical, efficient and fun way to bring music into their lives.
Digg
