Classical and modern melodies… We listen to them every day, and some of them seem to be memorized. But do we really hear them? The artistic director of the Children’s Musical Theater of the Young Actor talks about what music can teach us and our children.
Psychologies: How to listen to music?
Alexander Fedorov, artistic director of the Children’s Musical Theater of the Young Actor: First, create an atmosphere. Do not listen to music with headphones: there must be air between the sound source and you. She must come to you, and you to her. Just like a good wine that becomes oxygenated and becomes richer, so music, passing through space, becomes saturated with meaning.
Let you listen to it for a while. Even if you fall asleep — it’s not scary. It means she comforted you. You can’t listen to real music. Choose a melody and live with her, her feelings. For example, I cry every time I listen to Tchaikovsky’s sixth symphony.
Do you recommend starting with her?
If this is your first experience, then it is better to start with something easier: for example, Rachmaninov’s second concerto, Chopin’s preludes and nocturnes, or Beethoven’s sonatas. This is not just music — this is an intimate conversation that awakens feelings.
What is the difference between understanding music and enjoying it?
Only a sophisticated listener can enjoy music. Buy a record or CD, turn it on with good equipment… Then the music has a therapeutic effect. And just at the moment when music starts to help you, you can enjoy it. And when one melody has fulfilled its purpose and helped you, another one takes its place.
Why are geniuses born at the crossroads of epochs, on the eve of wars and global conflicts? Handel, Verdi, Puccini, Bizet, Glinka, Rimsky-Korsakov… So that we all get this medicine, a charge that lasts for tens, hundreds of years.
How do you start introducing your child to music?
Definitely not worth starting with modern popular music! Start small — turn on a video play, a recording of a symphony orchestra, or a fairy tale opera. For example, Mozart’s Magic Flute. A child is an exclusively emotional being. He should get emotional pleasure from music, feel warmth and interest.
Don’t make him watch the tape, but ask him to draw what he hears. The images that arise in his mind. Until the age of seven, a child absorbs everything like a sponge. For the first time he sees the stars, the butterfly, the sunset. It is necessary not to miss the moment and catch his interest.
Your theater troupe has children between the ages of eight and seventeen. Is it easier to work with them than with adults?
It is more difficult because children are not professionals. Before you tell them what to do, they need to be taught it. And at the same time it is easier — because children are sincere, honest and straightforward. If they are bored, they will be bored and show it with all their looks. If it’s fun, laugh. Not all adults have that luxury.
How does music help a child on stage?
Children know the fear of the dark or the fear of getting lost. But they do not know other feelings until they have experienced them. For example, betrayal and love. Music helps young actors convey emotion to the viewer, even if they do not fully understand what lies behind it.
Does popularity affect children?
Now is a difficult time — a time of rapid success. This is dangerous. Modern child stars will be of interest to producers and viewers as long as they remain children. Until the voice breaks and the appearance changes. If nothing else appears in their place, then the child will cease to be interesting. A path leads to any goal, it is better to overcome it gradually.
I understand parents who bring their children to us and to other studios. They were born and raised in timelessness, in the 80s, 90s, when no one did anything with them at all. Therefore, they expect records from their children: they themselves did not have such opportunities. But my motto is «Do No Harm». There is no need for records — after all, they are just children.
Do children need classical music and how to make them fall in love with it?
Not just needed — needed! Music makes up for the child’s lack of life experience. This is his emotional airbag — it teaches him to feel and understand his feelings. Music in general is the most emotional thing that has ever been invented by mankind. She can’t help but evoke a response. Penetrating directly into the brain, it gives rise to images in it.
I first attended an opera performance at the Bolshoi Theater at the age of eight. My parents persuaded me for a long time and literally dragged me into the box. The whole performance — it was «Carmen» — I sat without moving. The next day I went to the store and bought a record of Scheherazade by Rimsky-Korsakov. Just because I liked the picture. Thus began my acquaintance with the great composers.
Children should be brought by the hand into the auditorium, sit next to them and listen.