MADE in Lake County: Music To Share With Your Children

MADE is a paid partnership with Little Lake County.

Have you met this month’s MADE in Lake County business owner Laura Knight? Laura is the owner of Knight Music Academy, a community music school in Lake Zurich. She is here today with a guest post sharing some of the Academy’s instructors’ favorite musical pieces to share with your children. 

Whether you have a child formally involved in music, or if you’re thinking about it, listening to professional recordings is a great way to introduce or reinforce concepts such as tempo, dynamics, and phrasing while exposing your child to different styles, sounds, instruments, and genres.

Music is many things, including a great conversation starter. It is also a way to develop critical listening skills. Here are some questions to ask after (or while) listening:

• How did that piece make you feel?
• Did that piece sound happy or sad or scary or funny?
• Was that piece fast or slow?
• What kind of instruments did you hear?
• You can also call out when music is getting louder or softer.

The instructors of Knight Music Academy have shared some of their favorite pieces in different categories. A complete list of each teacher’s favorites can found on the Knight Music Academy instructors’ website bio page.

Favorite orchestral works:
Symphony No. 7 & 9 by Ludwig van Beethoven
Romeo and Juliet Suites by Sergei Prokofiev
Daphnis et Chloe by Maurice Ravel
Le Sacre du printemps (The Rite of Spring) by Igor Stravinski
Scheherazade by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Finlandia by Jean Sibelius

Music for Bedtime:
Julia Florida by Agustín Barrios
Yo-Yo Ma’s Eternal Vow from “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” soundtrack
Arthur Rubenstein’s recording of Chopin Nocturnes
Clair de lune from “Suite bergamasque” by Claude Debussy
Ambient 1: Music for Airports by Brian Eno
Sleep by Eric Whitacre

 Favorite solo pieces:
Cello Concerto by Edward Elgar
3rd Piano Concerto by Sergei Rachmaninoff
Veni Veni Emmanuel by James MacMillan (percussion)
Sonata for Flute and Piano– Yuko Uebayashi
Morgan by Richard Strauss (voice)
Tres Piezas Españolas by Joaquin Rodrigo (classical guitar)

Stay tuned for more information about Knight Music Academy’s Mini Mozart classes for moms and tots next week! Knight Music Academy was also featured in our 2015 12 Shops of Christmas! Read more here.

Knight Music Academy
579 N. Rand Rd., Lake Zurich | (847) 726-8742
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Disclosure: Knight Music Academy is our featured MADE in Lake County business. This series is part of a paid promotion partnership with Little Lake County. All thoughts and opinions belong to the writer of the story. If you are interested in featuring your locally-owned business in our series, please contact the sales team.