I practice the Radio Swiss Classic lifestyle: it is my sound track at home and while driving. Until recently I turned it off when I picked my grandson up from school.
I left it on recently, and was surprised to hear him identify every solo instrument, then ask me about conductors, orchestras and concertos. They have a music program at his school and it is apparently quite effective.
I asked Spotify for a flute concerto, but the one it picked was heavy on orchestra and light on flutes. I whimsically said, “Get out of the way orchestra, we want the flutes.” He repeated it and has used the same sentence structure to ask the orchestra to clear out and stop covering clarinets and horns.
I played him my only love song arranged for an 80-piece band (If Offered A Choice), and he asked if I had conducted it or written the music. This led to a discussion of lyricists, his learning that singers rarely conduct simultaneously, the role of arrangers, and what an orchestra score does.
To say I was surprised is to put it mildly.
Comments
I don't think there's any singing-and-conducting here (did a quick skim-watch) but still instructive :-) Danny Kaye hilariously conducts the National Symphony Orchestra (1962) <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=919B1GvYfIY" rel="nofollow ugc">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=919B1GvYfIY</a> Danny Kaye - Aida's Triumphal March (New York Phil.) <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lE2aIk1fyso" rel="nofollow ugc">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lE2aIk1fyso</a> An evening with The New York Phillarmonic <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yfj0HbIi1i8" rel="nofollow ugc">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yfj0HbIi1i8</a> Danny Kaye & 56 Russian Composers <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCCaMqxi8U4" rel="nofollow ugc">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCCaMqxi8U4</a> Danny Kaye As The Professor of Music.mpg <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DP1J4pObRIE" rel="nofollow ugc">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DP1J4pObRIE</a> from "The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty" Danny Kaye Conducts Television City Philharmonic 1964 <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CbSAo0xPCI" rel="nofollow ugc">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CbSAo0xPCI</a>