I just had the incredible privilege of hearing the Requiem for the Living, by Dan Forrest. Written by a fairly new-ish composer (as in, young, alive, still composing, not dead like Mozart and Beethoven), this choral piece stunned me. I went to school with the composer, and never dreamed he would someday write something like this. Traditionally, the Requiem is a multi-movement choral work written for the dead; it is literally a mass for the dead. By contrast, Dan wrote his Requiem for the living - intended to bring comfort to those who are suffering through whatever pain has hit them in this life. The Requiem opens with the traditional Kyrie-Introit, but departs into one of the most incredible Requiem movements I have personally heard—Vanitas Vanitatum "Vanity of Vanities - all is vanity!" This music brings the listener through all the grief of personal pain. By the end of all the movements, the listener is pointed to the God of heaven and His Christ, who came that there might be a mitigation for suffering - an end - that peace may be both sought and found through the suffering of Christ.
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Can very young children learn to play the piano? Of course. Just think of Mozart - touring the country giving recitals by the time he was 5. Okay, so that's not the desired course of action for all children (certainly not for mine!), and Mozart was incredibly gifted, but... to keep it relevant, yes—young children can learn to play the piano.
My philosophy for teaching the very young is sound before symbol. That is, learn to play LOUDLY and softly before learning the symbols in music that tell you how loudly or softly to play. Is that how Mozart was taught to play piano? difficult to know for a fact, but I would bet so! |
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