Just arrived from the library: Leonard Bernstein’s Young People’s Concert series, which aired on CBS from 1958 to 1973. Backed by the New York Philharmonic, playing to a packed house of children in Carnegie Hall, Bernstein conducts and chats his way through the marvels and mysteries of music.
Scott watched this series, bit by bit, years ago in our New York days. He recently discovered our library owns it, so we’ve got plans to immerse ourselves in these DVDs for the next few weeks.
The fun Mr. Bernstein has with the music and the audience reminds me of this wonderful Bobby McFerrin moment, which I think I’ve linked to before.
Moment :43 and the swell of laughter that follows is pure, real, unexpected joy. I’m thinking about it and it’s hard to find examples of a crowd of adults reacting with such spontaneous and childlike delight. It’s like the first time a baby takes up a crayon and makes a streak of color upon the paper or the wall. Magic just happened!
• How Do Dinosaurs Say Good Night? by Jane Yolen & Mark Teague. From our Rillabooks list. Technically it was Jane who read this one—11 times in a row—to her insistent little sister. That Jane, she’s a keeper.
