Late apologies and new beginning

Fri 15 Oct 7 pm Tampere Hall

Tampere Filharmonia

Christian Arming, conductor
Vilde Frang, violin
Mahler: Blumine
Brahms: Violin Concerto
Zemlinsky: The Mermaid

After the interwiev of Vilde Frang I had high expectations both for her perfomance but also for Elli's behavior. How embarrasing would it be if Elli caused a scene when the soloist would surely know who to blame! Even Elli has never done anything that could be heard or noticed from the stage I keep that possibility in mind.

Actually year ago we were listening to a concert were a student orchestra were playing Einojuhani Rautavaara's A Requiem in our Time Elli wasn't so silent: After every slow movement she was crying aloud. She has been always very senstitive to "sad music". And after fast movements where there was a lot of banging and action going on, Elli was laughing. I am not sure why we didn't leave right away when she cried for the first time. I would never tolerate that from her now for one second even though she wasn't making noises during the music but between movements (if I remember right). I am really embarrased for my thoughtlessness that day. After that incident I think there was like 6 months I didn't take her in any concerts not ecpecially ment for children. But I think that incident was my mistake, not Elli's.

Last May she had her first "adult's concert" (as Elli puts it) and she sat still and wanted to come again. So was the concert last Firday. We only listened to the first part of concert because Elli was so exited about the wedding we were going the day after. She wanted to stay but then she said "ok, this time I'll leave". I think that the reason she didn't want to leave was she thought she would be left without the delicatess she always gets during the intermission.

After the concert I asked Elli the question I always ask: What did you think about it? This time she didin't talk about music but said: I wish the girl who played the violin was my sister. When I asked her about the music she said she liked the last movement the best because it was most fast and furious. I think that is true, during the second movement of Brahms she was a bit anxious and was not so focused on the music. But she was happy eating a lollipop and waiting for something more interesting to happen.

The music doesn't have an age limit

I was honoured to make an interwiev with the great violinist Vilde Frang a day before the concert she had with Tampere Filharmonia. She seems to be a very real person and  I really enjoyed discussing with her. After the interwiev we just kept talking and she promissed I could share something of it in this blog.


We were talking about music and children. Vilde Frang started her career as a soloist at a very young age, she was 10 years old when she played front of a symphony orchestra for the first time. Frang said the most important reason she became "living the music" was her parents. They gave her the good circumstances to explore music. Vilde Frang told she listened to concerts of Oslo Philharmonic from a 3-year-old. Of course I told her about Elli, and she said she is honoured to play also to such a young listener. It's all about training a child's ear to explore music. All children should have the same opportinity to use their imagination and all their senses. In my opinion culture is a great tool to do that.

Vilde Frang doesn't think she was a wonder child (even though the Norwegian media wanted to make her one) but she absorbed all the music she was given. I think she put it nicely: she was given a possibility to form her own world of music from a very young age. I agree with Vilde Frang about that making or listening to music is not a question of an age.

There are so many things I would like to write about Vilde Frang and our inspiring discussion. But as I was a journalist on a duty I can not share the things that I learned during the interwiev. You can read more in Rondo Music Magazine in December. Vilde Frang will be in the cover. Unfortunately the article is published only in Finnish.

Shhhhhhhh!

That is the most common thing I have to say to Elli in the concert. And I'm afraid that is the word everybody is thinking too. I think Elli is behaving very well for a 5-year-old, but the concert hall is a place for the adults. I prefere having seats on the back row where nobody else is sitting. At least in Tampere Hall there are areas in the audience that have so poor acoustics that they are usually empty. So those are good places to go with a child.

Even though Elli doesn't talk or jump around, all those little movements she does surely disturb people sitting next to or behind us. She plays to be the conductor and waves her hands or she waves the hole body in the rythm. I would be disturbed to sit behind her if I wanted to see the orchestra.

Usually we get cheap tickets because I know musicians from the orchestra. So for me it is not a big loss if a can't really concentrate on the music. The reason I feel uncomfortable about every little noise Elli makes is that there are people who have payed money for their tickets to have a relaxing evening.

But on the other hand there isn't completely silent in the audience anyway. People are coughing, whispering (yes, some adults do), and searching some things from their handbags. So as it seems to be impossible for adults to be totally silent can I really demand a child to be totally silent?

From Sibelius to kangaroos

Friday 1.9.2010 
Tampere Philharmony
Hannu Lintu, conductor
Alban Gerhardt, cello
Strauss: Don Juan
Unsuk Chin: Cello Concerto (Finnish premier)
Sibelius: Lemminkäinen, Four Legends


It was something like Monday or Tuesday when Elli asked if she can come to the concert this week. She was really looking forward to it. And she was so nice. It takes few minutes for her to get used to the rules: no whispering, no turning around etc.

Unsuk Chin's Cello Concerto was strange. I think Alban Gerhard forgot his solopart at some point. He stopped playing and maybe as an excuse tuned his cello. Then the conductor Lintu turned and said to the audience: "We will continue from bar number 41." So even if the reason was he really had to retune his cello, that was a bit embassasing. And Elli was amazed what happened. After Lintu had said his comment, the audience laughed. And for those few seconds the concert hall wasn't that formal place it usually is. And after that a 5-year-old should understand that the silence in the audience is back. I had to whisper her what just happened, why suddenly it was ok to laugh.

And again after the first part of the concert she had possibility to go home. She wanted to stay. I think Sibelius was maybe the most interesting piece for her too. She really listened to the music. When she was sitting on my lap, she was pressing her legs next to mine in the rythm. Not the metrical rythm, but all the accents, for example in the 3rd movement of Cello concerto. So she got some kind of connection even with a modern music like that.

During the third movement of Sibelius Elli got totally tired. She whispered if we can go home and when does the concert end. I don't think she enjoyed much the concert after that. But she sat at my lap and was totally quiet. I even thought that she was asleep. It felt great to hold her, my little girl.

It is a big problem at child's point of wiev that the concerts are so late. She usually goes to bed at 8 pm and the concert ends at 9 pm or after that. And after taking two buses we are home at 10 pm.


Today Elli had another concert. We were at the free children's concert. Kengurumeininki was playing and Elli was jumping around, playing fish and kangaroo with other children. I looked at her when she was dancing and having good time. She was so happy. That is what children need, freedom to move and scream. For some reason Elli askes to go to the "adults concerts". I'm really happy that I can give her the possibility to experience music in many ways.

Elli in the Music Wonderland

When my daughter Elli was 4 years old she saw her first classical music concert. She liked it.

This blog is about following her first steps in the world of music. Maybe I am a bit late with this blog because many things has already happened. When Elli was 18 months old she asked if she could have her own French horn. That being said it is obvious that Elli lives in the family filled with music. When I was a child I didn't know what French horn is.

So this blog is all about music and children.

Last Friday the 24th September I was again in the concert with Elli. Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra was playing Einojuhani Rautavaara's opera Kaivos (The Mine). It wasn't really a children's opera. There were gunshots and the whole story was a bit depressing. But we went there because Elli wanted to. (I think that the real reason she wants to go to the concerts is that she can dress like a princess and see the orchestra. I don't think a 5-year-old really wants to sit there 2 hours listening to the music.)

Before we went to the concert I had to explain her what a mine is and warn her about the gunshots. The first two acts were boring. Elli had really hard times sitting still. There were no other people sitting in our row, so I let Elli go and lay on the floor. She was quiet.

During the intermission I asked if she wanted to go home. No, she wanted to stay. The third act was the best. Elli sat still and listened. Ok, I had to give her a lollipop. After the concert I asked her what the best part was, and she said: "The best part was when the mine went broken. It sounded like a pile of blocks collapsing." Wow, I thought, she really had listened. And the mine really collapsed in the opera. And it was an orchestral version, e.g. no acting involved.

I don't claim that my child is more musical than children usually are. I think she has good circumstances to explore the great wonderland of music.