In my latest studio policy I had a section about parents playing quality classical and jazz music to their children (in the car and/or home), and surprisingly have had a few parents come to me and say they are happy to do this but need suggestions of cds to buy and/or artists to look up.

I'm wanting works that will appeal to 5-10 year olds. I'm thinking maybe Schumann's Carnaval, Flight of the Bumblebee, Sabre Dance, some Matthew Hindson piano compositions and some Argentinian piano music so far (clearly haven't put too much thought into it at this point :P). Anyone have a standard list they send out to parents they could steal, or any suggestions?

For 5 year olds I would suggest "Beethoven's Wig". It's a real hoot!

Don't over look Peter and the Wolf. Speaking from personal experience, it can really fire the imagination of 4 and 5 yr olds!

Also, at that age, I was fed a diet of Gilbert & Sullivan.

Most recording labels offer cheap series of CD classical favorites from their libraries, "Best of Beethoven," "Best of Bach," "Best of Mozart," "Brunch with Handel," "Lunch with Lehar," "Tea with Tchaikovsky," etc. The budget-label Naxos has a "Classical Music Start-Up Kit" in 2 volumes, complete with extensive entry-level notes about composers and music.

http://www.amazon.com/Perchance-Dream-Lu...568&sr=8-19

Above is a beautifully played collection of music that some of your students are likely to play in the not too distant future. We listen to it at my house and everyone (even my 15 year old son) approves!!!!!

I remember being introduced to a lot of Debussy pieces with the CD Debussy for Dreamers when I was an early teen. I still love Valse Romantique.

There is a big difference between the ears of a 5 year old and a 10 year old. There is no reason why an older child can't enjoy more advanced jazz music like Sonny Rollins, Miles Davis, etc. Even if he/she doesn't fully understand it, the student will absorb the language. Of course, you should attempt to find something that is more diatonic, not too complex. "Relaxin" or "Steamin" with Miles Davis are both good choices. "Saxophone Colossus" or "Newk's Time" are great Sonny Rollins records. Oscar Peterson's "Night Train" is another great one.

I have never met a person who didn't like Kinda Blue by Miles Davis.

My daughter LOVES http://www.classicsforkids.com/ It's a free podcast and each episode is about 6 minutes. We put them on her ipod and listen to them in the car. We both enjoy the information as well as the music. They do fun themes for holidays too. I did not grow up with classical music so it is nice to have a wide variety of samples. Then when we like something, we find the full pieces.

Vince Guaraldl's Charlie Brown Christmas Sound track might be an easy sell.

Claude Bolling has wonderful art music that in my mind straddles the two genres.
Dave Brubeck's Jazz Impressions of Eurasia is great.
Glenn Gould's most current recording of Goldberg Variations is among my favorite classical piano music.