Composer and choral conductor Richard Webster, who will direct the Five Choirs Festival at St. John's next weekend, offers his thoughts on the value of teaching the choral art to young people:
Children's minds are like sponges. They soak up anything and everything offered them, and quickly. That's why they learn a foreign language much faster than adults. So rather than fill their minds with drivel, why not offer then only the finest in music, art or literature. Given the proper tools, skills and encouragement, children can learn to sing Bach, Byrd, Howells and Mozart, and LOVE it. In doing so, we are not looking to create young snobs. By simply exposing them to beauty at a level appropriate to their development, we allow the hearts and souls to be moved by this beauty. One need only visit a rehearsal room when the director says, "Now let's take out the Bach and work on all those sixteenth notes and German words," and the resounding unison response from the kids is "Yesssss!"
Children's minds are like sponges. They soak up anything and everything offered them, and quickly. That's why they learn a foreign language much faster than adults. So rather than fill their minds with drivel, why not offer then only the finest in music, art or literature. Given the proper tools, skills and encouragement, children can learn to sing Bach, Byrd, Howells and Mozart, and LOVE it. In doing so, we are not looking to create young snobs. By simply exposing them to beauty at a level appropriate to their development, we allow the hearts and souls to be moved by this beauty. One need only visit a rehearsal room when the director says, "Now let's take out the Bach and work on all those sixteenth notes and German words," and the resounding unison response from the kids is "Yesssss!"
