Yes, the spring is finally here! Our children can spend more time outside after being cooped up in houses during the long winter. Don’t you just love spring air? And gentle crocuses and snowdrops pushing their pretty heads through the soil? Everything is so full of vitality and exuberance! Just like Vivaldi’s music in his Concerto No. 1 in E major, Op. 8, RV 269, Spring (La primavera). More widely this timeless piece of music is known as being a part of four Vivaldi’s violin concerti The Four Seasons. And this is a perfect piece to use for introducing your young one to classical music.
Here are some of the activities you can do with Vivaldi’s Spring:
- Talk with your child about spring, then listen and enjoy the music together!
- Try guessing together, while listening, what some fragments of music remind you off: singing of birds, rain, thunderstorm, etc. You can check out sonnets supposedly written by Vivaldi to get some ideas.
- Move together with the music, pretend doing different things related to spring with the music.
- Read children’s books before or after listening to Vivaldi’s Spring. For younger readers I recommend The Story Orchestra: Four Seasons in One Day by Jessica Courtney-Tickle. Older readers might enjoy the story behind Vivaldi’s creation of Four Seasons. For that purpose I love Anna Celenza’s book Vivaldi’s Four Seasons.
- For even dipper immersion into Vivaldi’s world, listen to Vivaldi’s Ring of Mystery by Classical Kids CDs. Can’t praise enough this magical story that will make Vivaldi and his world so much closer to young students. For kids ages 6+.
Kids Inspired by Classical Music and FineArt 