Volume 26 Issue 3 - November 2020

EARLY MUSIC
Testing the Waters:
Tafelmusik’s
Baroque for Baby
MATTHEW WHITFIELD
T
he cognitive benefits of musical
studies are well-documented and
often repeated – used to attract
and draw in prospective students to
music schools and studios across the
world. For many parents, music lessons
for their children is as much an investment
in their future as the pursuit of
cultural understanding and artistic
accomplishment – a résumé-building,
college-application-enhancing tool in
some future well beyond the horizon.
But while the decision to undertake musical studies is often pragmatic,
even when it is not it should be initiated as early as possible,
exposing even babies’ ears to the widest possible range of symphonies,
songs and sounds and encouraging our little geniuses to connect with
as much aural diversity as possible. As a parent, it can be challenging
to consider such things, especially when entering one’s fourth Baby
Shark marathon of the day, but Tafelmusik is helping make the introduction
of classical music to our youngest family members slightly
easier with their latest album, Baroque for Baby.
Curated by Tafelmusik violinist and mother of two, Cristina
Zacharias, Baroque for Baby was released digitally on major
streaming and digital music services on October 16 and features repertoire
by a wide range of early music composers including Telemann,
Purcell, Lully, Vivaldi, Handel, Monteverdi, Rameau, Merula, Sweelink
and Marais. With Tafelmusik’s entire discography to choose from,
achieving a balance of enlivening music with calming, quieter pieces
for relaxation and sleep, would be a challenge to almost anyone, but
not so for Zacharias, who comments in the Baroque for Baby release:
“There is nothing more magical than watching a baby or young
child respond to music – the immediate natural and instinctive
response to melody and rhythm is a reminder of just how fundamental
music is in our lives …. Improvements are evident in selfregulation,
spatial awareness, memory, language development,
self-expression, motor skills, just to name a few. As a musician and a
parent, the importance of music for babies is no surprise to me.
With the notable exception of Johann Sebastian Bach (and some
of the more complex works by Handel and Zelenka), much of the
Baroque-era repertoire here is relatively straightforward and accessible,
using driving rhythmic figures, simple melodic and harmonic
devices, and repetition-based forms, all of which make this style
of classical music perfectly suited to younger listeners. Within this
general framework, however, there were many decisions to be made:
“I looked for music that I thought was particularly engaging for
kids and I wanted to present a wide range of styles and moods[…] I
tried to feature all of the instruments that make up Tafelmusik’s core
group (strings, winds and harpsichord), and looked for a variety of
Cristina Zacharias
rhythmically or lyrically catchy pieces, and lots of different versions of
what Baroque music could be.”
This daunting challenge of surveying the 17th and 18th centuries
through 35 unique tracks is remarkably successful, with juxtaposition
and contrast keeping the listener’s attention and interest throughout.
Whether the percussion-heavy Moresca from Monteverdi’s Orfeo,
Handel’s virtuosic Trio Sonata in G Minor with magnificent woodwinds,
or the string-forward Ouverture-Suite by Telemann, this
superb album contains something for everyone, aficionado or
neophyte, old or young.
As successful a collection as this may be for your early music
columnist, the fundamental question pertains to its titled purpose:
how well does Baroque for Babies test with actual babies? To help
answer this, I recruited my son (B, who will be two in February)
to listen to as much of Baroque for Babies as possible, both while
moving around and playing, and also while seated at mealtime. The
first, most easily noticed aspect of B’s listening adventure was the
way in which he physically, viscerally, manifested the sounds he was
hearing through physical gesture. With a conductor father, it is no
surprise that he has absorbed some association between arm-waving
and aural input, but the energy and range of his full-body movements
were even more impressive, knees bouncing and arms waving like
some sort of juvenile Mahlerian caricature.
It should be noted that such jubilant output was in response to the
equally jubilant musical selections playing at the time. More so than
any key signature, time signature, or instrumental timbre, it was the
tempo and rhythm together that appeared to drive these reactions;
more introspective works were met with a trance-like silence punctuated
by the occasional transfer of food from the high-chair tray to B’s
mouth – perhaps in an attempt to refuel before the next barn burner.
While B was unable to listen to all three-dozen tracks over our two
allotted listening days, unlike a symphony or song cycle, Baroque for
Babies allows us to absorb its material in smaller segments, repeat favourites
and find those tracks that hold special meaning for both B and me.
(As previously mentioned, air-conducting Telemann quickly became
our Saturday afternoon activity.) With expertly curated selections showcasing
a tremendous range of musical variety, Tafelmusik’s newest
digital release has something of interest for everyone, big and small.
As pandemic restrictions continue to wreak havoc on the
performing arts, being able to share musical moments with the ones
we love should be savoured more than ever. By supporting Tafelmusik
and other arts organizations through streaming, donating, and
purchasing merchandise, you are playing a role in the increasingly
precarious future of these groups. So I encourage you to try Baroque
for Babies, whether you have a child or not – because, as the saying
goes, “There’s a child in each of us.”
Matthew Whitfield is a Toronto-based harpsichordist and organist.
SIAN RICHARDS
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