It's true. Famous composer, George Frederick Handel, born on this day in 1685, had to smuggle a small keyboard called a clavichord into his house to be able to fulfil his dream of playing music. His father was a barber and surgeon (those careers often went hand in hand in the 1600s) who wanted his son to be a lawyer. He didn't want him to waste his time learning music!
Here is a modern version of an Italian clavichord:
One of Handel's best-known pieces is his Hallelujah Chorus, performed here in a shopping centre in Canada.
Wouldn't you like to be able to sing along to such stirring music? There's an opportunity to do this, every second year in Bathurst, just before Christmas. But you'll have to wait till Christmas in 2013, because the last performance was only a few months ago, at All Saints Cathedral.
If you would like to find out more about Handel,Classics For Kids is a great site to explore. There's a page about Handel there, but also lots of interesting information for children who want to explore classical music, and guidelines for parents who want to help them do it.
The site includes an interesting timeline of composers, musical games, articles for parents and an interactive chart of the instruments of the orchestra.
