Experience Live Performance!

I can’t stress enough the importance of students experiencing a live performance in any form of art or any instrument. Live performance has huge benefits in child development. According to a study done at University of Arkansas in 2014, “Field trips to live theater enhance literary knowledge, tolerance, empathy among students, as well as increases vocabulary and improves ability to read the emotions of others.” I believe exposing children to any kind of live art media is of value to success in adulthood.

What inspires us, shapes us.

For example, if a child takes piano lessons but has never experienced a live piano concert, how does the child know what the end result of the learning process should be?  What motivation would the child have to continue working to enhance skills if he doesn’t know how the skills are used and expressed?  If one is learning how to bake, but has never seen or tried a cake, why would you continue baking?

“Field trips to live theater enhance literary knowledge, tolerance, empathy among students, as well as increases vocabulary and improves ability to read the emotions of others.”

We are very lucky to have quality live art all around us in the Bay Area. My absolute favorite concert series is Cal Performances at University of Berkeley. Cal Performances offers the finest in music, theater, dance and much more. This series invites the best of the best in art which gives us all an amazing opportunity to be inspired by the richness of human experiences from all over the globe and from many centuries. They offer both matinee (daytime) concerts on Sundays and evening performances with the same performers at both concerts. All of these performances are priced very reasonably.

In February Cal Performances offer many choices. Choose any that may appeal to your children such as pianist Yefim Bronfman, Japanese traditional Taiko drummers (Kodo), the Danish string quartet, or my favorite, Montréal’s award-winning contemporary circus troupe, The 7 Fingers. I have seen them many times now and enjoy them more each time.

From Cal Performances’ catalog: “Montreal's award-winning contemporary circus troupe presents its latest creation, a playful and poignant exploration of the role ancestors play in the shaping of modern identities. For Reversible, each of the company's cast members researched generations of family history, interviewing grandparents and great-grandparents about their aspirations, struggles, and secrets. Through astonishing acrobatics, aerial stunts, and dynamic dance movement, the artists build an intergenerational bridge between past and present, then and now. ‘The collective virtuosity of this troupe is something to see—and, crucially, to feel.’ (The Boston Globe).”

I will continue to post my suggestions for Cal Performances from time to time. Please check the blog and watch for the ticket icon for my favorites. I hope Inspire parents will invest in their child’s development by finding time to attend any of the enjoyable performances and be inspired along with their children.