The Baby Composer

Music can be a great element in our raising as human beings. I wanted to share a personal experience that I hope will encourage parents or teachers to implement all types of music in the everyday environment of their kids and students. Through this blog, I do not claim to be a "Baby composer." If you want to know about a baby composer, I point my finger to Mozart. :)

My parents never forced me to listen to music or to pick up the violin, but they did influence me.

We lived in the state of Merida, Venezuela, for approximately one year during my childhood, I was five years old during this time. My dearest musical memories are tied to this special place, I would even go as far as to say that this period of my life was a monumental one in relation to my love and innate understanding of music. My dad was both intentional and relaxed in his approach to educate me on classical music; he would often create an atmosphere around it. He would play it in the car, at home, and he would occasionally share his headphones with me as he was listening to a pivotal point in a classical concerto just so I could appreciate that particular interesting moment. I never complained about listening to this specific type of music, and I think part of it has to do with the fact that I was so young- As a five year old, the most natural thing to do at that point was to explore and learn. I think that, in a very interesting way, music embodied that adventurous endeavor for me. I always imagined worlds, interesting realities, interesting stories while listening to a concert, I made up movies in my mind thinking as I was listening.

At five years old, I was familiar with the names of the great Brazilian composer Heitor Villalobos, I loved the music of the Argentinian composing genius of Astor Piazzolla, my favorite part of the day happened during the morning when my dad would drive me and my brother to school in the cold Meridian weather, listening to Brazilian music and enjoying the wake of the city through our drive along the mountainous landscape. I am happy today that I can remember these moments vividly, because of the love of music I shared with my dad and my brother. In saying all of this, I am thankful to my parents for exposing me to classical music as a baby, I am one hundred percent indebted to them for creating an atmosphere of music around our home since I can remember.

As I write and compose orchestral arrangements, I confess that my feeling of love for music is deeper than the words I could ever use to describe it. My appreciation, my love for this art started from that moment that I remember going to school and listening to sounds that were foreign and different from the ones I was familiar with. Nevertheless, these colorful variations of tone and mood were the most interesting part of my day and are part of the most special and memorable moments of my childhood.

My advice to kids and young musicians in relation to their music playing would consist of the sole notion of listening. Listen to the greats of the classical world. Listen to Mozart, to Bach, to Tchaikovsky, to Dvorak, to Haydn, Beethoven, all of these greats left us with something of immeasurable value. They left us with road maps, they left us with guidelines of excellent music. The music of the greats consisted of a display of incredibly complex technical, functional and mechanical dexterity that was not just harmonious to the ear but it also encapsulated the most real and sincere human emotion.

My ever varying and present musical bubble trained my brain to separate and distinguish the different instruments composing the orchestra. As a teenager, I could listen to an orchestra and tell you every instrument as it came in and went out, I could understand the different textures and colors that each instrument was displaying, and I would think about pieces without stopping. I think this hunger for a deeper understanding came from my introduction at such a young age and I believe this has been a fundamental asset in my journey as a composer.

Music has not only taught me to play and to compose, but beyond that, music has taught me to feel and understand feeling- to express feeling and to work to create something meaningful and rich. Music taught me to express human emotion in ways that are complex, interesting, and even mathematical- all elements which add value to the art.

I argue that music is the purest art form, it is one that does not need words to communicate, it does not need a vocabulary to be understood by a human being. It is the greatest teacher to the aspiring musician because it demonstrates, it is transparent and generous in it's teachings of theory, mechanics and the purity of its creation.