Do you get tired of hearing the same Disney songs over and over? 

 When my daughter hit about 3.5 years old, she became increasingly interested in Disney music, and stopped requesting classical music regularly. Yes, this was a bit heartbreaking for her classical musician mama who exposed her to the best stuff since birth! When she was younger she'd ask for Peter and the Wolf or Bach, since I played them for her so often that they became familiar. She could identify instruments and particular pieces at a frighteningly young age. Then it turned into Frozen, Moana, then Trolls music at our house -- how about you?? I mean, I can enjoy a few rounds of “Let it Go” myself, but after so many repetitions, I find myself craving the beauty and complexity found in Mozart, Beethoven, or Chopin. And I don’t want my daughter to lose sight of these great masterworks, just because they don’t involve cartoon characters and exciting storylines.

What about you? While you may or may not have the same background in classical music that we do, you can probably identify with the crazy feeling you get when you just can’t handle one more repetition of that song! You can also probably identify with the desire to nourish your child’s mind and ears with high quality music.

During this phase, I learned to get a bit more creative to incorporate classical music into our day. Today I’m sharing 2 simple strategies for incorporating classical music into your child’s life, even when they may seem less than excited about it. 

1. Turn Taking
2. Creating Positive Associations

Turn Taking - is just what it sounds like! In the car and at home, we often take turns listening to the music of our choice. For us, this might look like: 1 Frozen song, 1 classical song, 1 Frozen song, 1 classical song, etc. (You can sneak in your favorite genre of music, it doesn’t have to be classical!) Turn taking is a crucial social skill for preschool aged children to learn, and this is an easy way for us to practice it, in a way that benefits both of us!

Creating Positive Associations - This is doing a fun activity while you listen to a piece of music. Make sure to connect the activity directly with the music, and when your child requests to do the activity again -- they get to hear the music again. Later on, when your child hears that piece of music, they smile as they remember the fun activity that went along with it.  I have two examples below.

1. One day, I turned on the Wedding March by Mendelssohn. I told my daughter the title of the piece, and we had a pretend wedding ceremony, which she loved. A few nights later during bathtime, she wanted to listen to the "wedding song" again! So some of her bath toys got married, which she thought was fun, and we both got to listen to a great piece of classical music, which I thought was fantastic! We ended up having many pretend wedding ceremonies in the coming days, all while listening to Mendelssohn.
2. One of our Clap for Classics! “Nutcracker” activities was a candy cane hunt that went along with the Arabian Dance. The first time we tried it, it was so fun -- I hid about 6 candy canes around the room, we turned the lights down low and I gave her a flashlight to shine around and look for them, while we listened to the dreamy music by Tchaikovsky. Wouldn’t you know it, this activity became a favorite that she wanted to repeat many many times, and each time we did it, we listened to Tchaikovsky’s Arabian dance. Later when she heard that piece of music in a different context, she looked at me and instantly remembered the candy cane hunt that she had so much fun with.

These are 2 examples of how having a positive association with a piece of music can encourage repeated listening to that piece. Someday when she’s older and hears these songs, she’ll smile and in the back of her mind there will be a flicker of a memory of pretend weddings and candy cane hunts with her mommy.

Hope you have some fun creating memories with your child as you associate fun activities with great music. And, make sure to check in with us here at Clap for Classics! or join us in our membership for lots more resources to get you and your kids delightfully engaged with classical music!

Ps. As an update, my daughter is now 5, and we move pretty seamlessly between Disney, classical, and other genres of music! She still has phases where she wants to listen to some particular song or album over and over, but I love that she and my 2-year-old son are interested in many types of music, and know that fun can be had with any of them!