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Illustration by Chelsea O'Byrne
When I was very young, my dad would always play music in the house when he was working at his drafting table. An architect by trade, he had a vast record collection which included a lot of jazz, but he also had classical music records, especially orchestral and piano music that he enjoyed playing while he designed buildings.
My three sisters and I would dance and twirl to Mozart’s Eine kleine Nachtmusik and Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons. Whenever he played Tritsch-Tratsch Polka by Strauss, we would grab our skipping ropes and skip to the beat. We would request Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata when we were getting ready for bed, Haydn’s Clock Symphony (No. 101) when we were playing Snakes and Ladders, and Chopin waltzes were always our favourite while playing dress-up. Another favourite was Strauss’s Thunder and Lightning Polka, which he played when the weather was stormy. Listening to classical music was normal for me and my sisters and it was part of our daily routine. I eventually learned how to play the piano and cello and my sisters learned how to play the recorder and guitar.
After I married and had my own children, I was excited to introduce them to classical music. However, this excitement soon led to disappointment as they were totally disinterested whenever I played my favourite orchestral pieces. When I played Pachelbel’s Canon my kids would only listen for a few minutes and then quickly find an excuse to exit the room. Or, if I played Handel’s Water Music, they would immediately decide it was time to play outside. Even when in the car, they would request to change any orchestral music to a pop station. No matter what piece I chose, they always found an excuse to not listen. I was beginning to give up.
Then one day in October, everything changed. My eight-year-old daughter came home from school and announced, “I want to dress up as a bumble bee for Halloween this year. Can you make me a costume, Mom?” Well, of course, I agreed to sew her a bumble bee costume. But at the same time, the bumble bee gave me an idea.
I worked all week on the costume which consisted of a yellow and black tunic with little silvery wings and a black headpiece with antennae. It was totally buzzworthy. On Halloween night, the jack-o-lanterns were placed in the window and it was time to go out trick-or-treating. My daughter put the costume on and looked in the mirror. She beamed and her eyes lit up. She began flapping her arms and making buzzing noises – and I was ready. “Can you fly like a bumble bee?” I asked. As she began to buzz around the room with her arms flapping, I quickly started playing Flight of the Bumble Bee by Rimsky-Korsakov.
As the fast-paced violin music began to play, my daughter buzzed around the room to the music. The violins played up and down the scale feverishly in a presto rhythm and the chromatic notes gave a buzzing, humming effect. She never stopped moving, darting around the furniture in a frenzied state. When the music came to its final bars, my daughter yelled, “Play it again, Mom!” So I played it once more.
Just then, my 10-year-old son walked into the room. He was dressed as a skeleton. He watched his sister moving around the room to the bumble bee music and said, “Hey, can you play some spooky music for me?” I immediately agreed because I was ready for him, too, with Dance of the Goblins by Bazzini. He didn’t dance around the room like his sister; however, he nodded his head in time to the music and I could tell that he liked it. I was overjoyed. My kids were finally enjoying orchestral music.
After trick-or-treating, my daughter asked me to play the bumble bee music once again. She flew around the room, then sat down to look through her candy bag. As she examined the chocolate bars, I played The Sorcerer’s Apprentice by Paul Dukas and to my amazement, she did not find an excuse to leave the room. Even more amazing, my son walked in and sat down with his candy to listen to the music, too.
Since that Halloween night, classical music has become more prevalent in our household. The Flight of the Bumble Bee made me realize that my daughter preferred action music, such as The Skater’s Waltz by Waldteufel or hopping like a kangaroo or swimming like a fish to The Carnival of the Animals by Saint-Saëns. I discovered that my son enjoyed modern classical, such as Star Wars by John Williams. I became more adept at finding music that suited my children’s tastes, rather than my own tastes. Eventually, my kids took up playing instruments. My daughters learned how to play the viola and clarinet and my son became interested in keyboard and percussion.
I still have that bumble bee costume. I have it stored away in a special box marked “Buzzworthy.” I hope to pass it on one day to my grandchildren and see what happens.
Jerri Carson lives in Victoria.