Classical music about clocks and time for kids

A clock keeps a steady beat, and so does a musician. Composers have had fun with that for 250 years. This page has ten pieces about clocks, midnight, and the hours of the day, with what to listen for and games to play.

Ticking clocks

1. Symphony No. 101, “The Clock,” second movement, by Haydn. The bassoons and the plucked strings go “tick, tock, tick, tock,” and the violins sing a graceful tune on top. The ticking never stops, even when the music turns stormy in the middle. Read Haydn for kids.

2. “The Syncopated Clock,” by Leroy Anderson. A wood block ticks along, and every so often it skips a beat. That hiccup is the syncopation. Read Leroy Anderson for kids and what is syncopation?

3. “The Viennese Musical Clock,” by Zoltán Kodály. Bells, chimes, a piano, and a celesta play a bright march. A clock in the palace strikes, and toy soldiers parade around it. Read Kodály for kids.

4. Tick-Tack Polka, by Johann Strauss II. A fast, cheerful polka with a ticking beat. Read Johann Strauss II for kids.

Midnight

5. “Midnight,” from Cinderella, by Prokofiev. A wood block ticks, bells toll twelve, and the brass grow huge and frightening. The magic is over. Read the Cinderella ballet story.

6. Danse macabre, by Saint-Saëns. The harp plays one note twelve times. It is midnight, and the skeletons come out to dance. At the end, an oboe crows like a rooster, and they slip away. See the Danse macabre guide.

7. The Nutcracker, Act 1, by Tchaikovsky. The clock strikes midnight, and the Christmas tree begins to grow. Read the Nutcracker story.

The hours of the day

8. “Dance of the Hours,” by Ponchielli. A ballet from an opera. The dancers stand for the hours of dawn, day, evening, and night. A famous cartoon film gave the dance to ostriches, hippos, elephants, and alligators. Read Dance of the Hours for kids. Read the Fantasia music list.

9. “Morning Mood,” by Grieg. The sun comes up. See the Peer Gynt guide.

10. “Clair de lune,” by Debussy. Moonlight, late at night. Read what the title means.

A piece that is not about time

The Minute Waltz by Chopin does not last a minute. “Minute” here means tiny. Most pianists take a little under two minutes to play it. Read Chopin facts for kids.

The musician’s clock

A metronome is a clock for musicians. It ticks at any speed the player sets. A German inventor named Johann Maelzel patented the metronome in 1815, and Beethoven was one of the first composers to mark his music with its numbers.

Try the metronome for kids and read how to use a metronome with a child.

One composer went further. In 1962, György Ligeti wrote a piece for 100 metronomes. They are all wound up and set going at once, at different speeds. One by one they run down, and the last one ticks alone.

How an orchestra makes a clock

Clock sound	How it is made
Tick, tock	A wood block, plucked strings, or a bassoon
A chime	Tubular bells or a glockenspiel
A strike on the hour	A harp, a bell, or a gong, played once for each hour
Winding down	The notes get slower and softer
A cuckoo	Two notes, high and low, on a clarinet or a whistle

Things to do together

Be the pendulum. Play Haydn’s “Clock.” Swing one arm side to side, once for each tick.

Catch the hiccup. Play “The Syncopated Clock.” Clap each time the wood block skips.

Count to twelve. Play the start of Danse macabre. Count the harp’s twelve strokes.

Beat the clock. Play “Midnight” from Cinderella. Get from one end of the room to the other before the last stroke.

Tick at three speeds. Set a metronome slow, medium, and fast. Walk to each one.

Draw the day. Fold a page in four. Draw dawn, day, evening, and night while “Dance of the Hours” plays.

Questions to ask

• Which instrument made the best tick?
• How did the music tell you it was midnight?
• What time of day does your favorite piece sound like?

Print and play

Clap through the rhythm cards. Read tempo words in music and classical music about trains and machines.