The Nutcracker Music for Kids: What to Play Before You See the Ballet
Taking a child to The Nutcracker this season? The eight pieces to play first, which music goes with which scene in Act I and Act II, a two-week listening plan, and a name-that-dance game so they recognise every tune from their seat.
The short answer: start with the Nutcracker Suite
If you have a week or two before the show, play your child the Nutcracker Suite, Op. 71a. Tchaikovsky picked these eight numbers himself for concert use, and they premiered in March 1892, nine months before the full ballet (Wikipedia):
- Miniature Overture
- March
- Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy
- Trepak (Russian Dance)
- Arabian Dance (Coffee)
- Chinese Dance (Tea)
- Dance of the Reed Flutes
- Waltz of the Flowers
Six of those eight come from Act II, the Land of Sweets, which is often the part younger children enjoy most. Then add two pieces the suite leaves out: the battle with the Mouse King and the Waltz of the Snowflakes, the big scenes that end Act I.
The whole ballet score is about 90 minutes of music without the intermission (Wikipedia). That's too long for most kids to sit through at home. The suite is the right size, and each piece gets a story to go with it, so that on the night, your child hears a tune and knows who is about to come on stage.
This guide is for the parent, grandparent or godparent who has tickets for late November or December and wants the first ballet to land.
The story in two minutes, so the music has pictures
Tell this once, then tell each piece's part again when you play it. The details come from the ballet's usual synopsis (Wikipedia). Your company's version may change some of them.
Act I. It's Christmas Eve, and the Stahlbaum family is throwing a party. Mysterious Uncle Drosselmeyer arrives with presents and gives Clara a wooden nutcracker. Her brother Fritz breaks it. At midnight, the Christmas tree grows to enormous heights, and an army of mice led by the Mouse King attacks the nutcracker and the toy soldiers. Clara throws her slipper at the Mouse King, the nutcracker wins, and he turns into a prince. He leads Clara through a moonlit pine forest where snowflakes dance.
Act II. They arrive in the Land of Sweets, ruled by the Sugar Plum Fairy. To celebrate Clara's bravery, the sweets dance for her one after another: chocolate, coffee, tea, and more. Mother Ginger comes on, and children pop out from under her enormous hoop skirt. Flowers waltz, and the Sugar Plum Fairy and her Cavalier dance to close the night.
One thing that confuses kids: the girl isn't always called Clara. In Hoffmann's original story she's Marie, Balanchine's New York City Ballet version also calls her Marie, and Russian productions call her Masha (Wikipedia). Check the program and use the same name at home.
Act I music, scene by scene
These are the numbers in Tchaikovsky's score, in order (Wikipedia). The "listen for" notes are ours, things a child can actually catch.
| Music | What's happening on stage | Listen for |
|---|---|---|
| Miniature Overture (in the suite) | Curtain is still down | Light, quick and quiet. Tell them, "This is the start. The party is coming." |
| The Christmas Tree | Family decorates, guests arrive | Busy, happy music. |
| March (in the suite) | The children parade at the party | Trumpets and a tune they can march to around the living room. |
| Children's Gallop and Dance of the Parents | Kids run about, grown-ups dance | Fast, then stately. |
| Arrival of Drosselmeyer | The mysterious uncle and his gifts | The music turns strange and spooky for a moment. |
| Grandfather Waltz | The party winds down | An old-fashioned dance. |
| Clara and the Nutcracker; The Battle | Midnight, the tree grows, mice attack | The music builds and builds as the tree grows, then the drums and brass of the battle. |
| A Pine Forest in Winter | The nutcracker becomes a prince | A huge, sweeping melody. It's the most dramatic music in the ballet. |
| Waltz of the Snowflakes | Dancers whirl like a snowstorm | Voices singing with no words. The score calls for a soprano and alto chorus, sometimes a children's choir. |
The battle and the snow scene aren't in the suite, so search for them separately. With some kids, the battle is the part that makes them want to go.
Act II music, scene by scene
Act II is mostly a series of short dances, each with its own sweet. This is where the suite earns its keep.
| Music | Who dances | Listen for |
|---|---|---|
| The Magic Castle in the Land of Sweets | Clara and the prince arrive | Shimmering, magical music. |
| Chocolate | Spanish dance | Quick and proud, led by the trumpet. |
| Coffee (Arabian Dance) | A slow, sinuous solo or duet | Low, slow and dreamy. |
| Tea (Chinese Dance) | A short, bouncy dance | Very high flute over plucky low notes. It lasts about a minute, so don't blink. |
| Trepak (Russian Dance) | Big jumps and spins | The fastest piece. It speeds up to a crash at the end. |
| Dance of the Reed Flutes | Often shepherdesses or marzipan | Three flutes playing together. |
| Mother Ginger and the Polichinelles | Kids appear from under her skirt | Silly, rowdy music. |
| Waltz of the Flowers | The big group dance | A harp solo first, then the horns bring in the waltz tune. |
| Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy | The Sugar Plum Fairy's solo, part of the pas de deux | The twinkly celesta. |
| Final Waltz and Apotheosis | Everyone, then goodbye | The big finish, as Clara leaves the Land of Sweets. |
The celesta story is a good one for kids. It looks like a small piano but plays metal bars, so it sounds like a music box. A Paris instrument maker, Auguste Mustel, invented it in 1886, and Tchaikovsky was one of the first major composers to write for it. Petipa, the choreographer, asked for music like "drops of water shooting out of fountains" for the Sugar Plum Fairy (Wikipedia: Celesta).
Productions differ. Companies reorder dances, cut some, and restage others. Some, including New York City Ballet and San Francisco Ballet, have restaged the Tea dance to drop old stereotypes (Wikipedia). The music stays Tchaikovsky's, but what's on stage may not match the table exactly. The program will have the running order.
A two-week listening plan
Little and often beats one long sit-down. Five minutes in the car or at breakfast does more than a 90-minute recording on a Saturday.
Week one: one dance a day. Play one suite piece with its bit of story: "This is the Russian dancers. Watch for big jumps." Start with Act II, because a kid who knows the Sugar Plum Fairy and the Trepak is already looking forward to the second half.
Week two: add Act I. Play the March, then the battle and the snow scene, and tell the story in order. If the battle music scares them at home, better to find out now than in row G.
The last three days: play the whole of Act II in order. That's roughly the second half of the show, so they'll know what's coming after the intermission.
At bedtime: the Waltz of the Flowers and the Sugar Plum Fairy are good wind-down music. Set a sleep timer so it doesn't play all night (how to set one on iPhone).
The night before: ask, "Which dance are you most excited to see?" Whatever they say is the moment to nudge them about during the show.
The name-that-dance game
This is the game that makes it stick, and it's best with two or more kids.
- Put five or six suite pieces on one playlist and shuffle it.
- Lay out a prop for each: a square of chocolate for Chocolate, a coffee bean or mug for Coffee, a tea bag for Tea, a flower for the Waltz of the Flowers, a sugar cube for the Sugar Plum Fairy, a fur hat or a scarf for the Trepak.
- Play the first ten seconds of a track. The first to grab the right prop wins it. (The chocolate tends to be popular.)
- Once they've got the easy ones, play from the middle of a track instead of the start.
A kid who has won the tea bag three times will grab your sleeve when Tea starts in the theater. That's the whole point.
Versions worth playing after the real thing
Once they know the originals, these are fun to compare.
- Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn's The Nutcracker Suite (Columbia, 1960) turns the dances into big-band jazz with renamed titles: "Sugar Rum Cherry" is the Sugar Plum Fairy, "Toot Toot Tootie Toot" is the Reed Flutes, "Volga Vouty" is the Russian Dance, "Chinoiserie" is Tea, "Arabesque Cookie" is Coffee, and "Danse of the Floreadores" is the Waltz of the Flowers (Wikipedia). Ask them to guess each one before you tell them.
- Disney's Fantasia (1940) sets the suite to animation of fairies, fish, flowers, mushrooms and leaves, leaving out the Overture and the March (Wikipedia). It's good for a kid who wants pictures with the music, but the dancing on stage will look nothing like it.
Save these for after the show. Before it, stick to the orchestral versions they'll actually hear.
How long is The Nutcracker, and is my child ready?
The music runs about 90 minutes without the intermission (Wikipedia). With an intermission, most performances take around two hours, but check the running time on your theater's page, since some companies cut or add numbers. Many companies also post a minimum age or a recommendation for young children, so read that before you buy. A child who already knows the Act II dances usually finds the second half the easiest to sit through.
Can my child listen along on headphones during the show?
No. Phones and headphones go off before the curtain, and the orchestra or recording in the theater is the music. The listening at home is so they recognise it live, not so they follow along. A whisper of "This is the tea one!" is about the right level of participation. If your child needs a break, the end of a dance, when the audience claps, is the least disruptive moment to step out.
Which recording should I play?
Any full orchestra recording is fine. The notes are the same, and the tempos differ a little. Search "Tchaikovsky Nutcracker Suite Op. 71a" for the eight concert pieces, or "Nutcracker Op. 71" for the complete ballet with both acts. If your child liked the voices in the Waltz of the Snowflakes, look for a recording that uses a children's choir there. Antal Doráti's 1975 recording uses a boys' choir (Wikipedia). Stick to one recording for the two weeks, so the music they learn sounds the same every time.
Setting it up in Trending Music
Trending Music is our app, so weigh this section accordingly. It's free and it does the two jobs here: an act-by-act playlist and a sleep timer.
- Make two playlists, "Nutcracker – Act I" and "Nutcracker – Act II." Search each piece with "Tchaikovsky" in the search, such as "Tchaikovsky Trepak", then tap ••• and Add to Playlist. Put them in story order, using the tables above. Our playlist guide goes through it step by step.
- Make a third, shuffled playlist for the name-that-dance game.
- For bedtime listening, open the player, tap the moon button, pick a time and tap Start, or choose End of current song so it stops after the waltz.
What it can't do: it isn't a classical-music app. It doesn't list the ballet number by number, and search results for a piece can mix several orchestras and arrangements, so check the artist and pick the same orchestra each time. The free version has ads; Premium removes them. If your family already uses Spotify or Apple Music, the same lists work there.
More for the holidays
If the Nutcracker gets them into instrumental music, winter songs that aren't Christmas songs has more pieces with no words, including Vivaldi's "Winter" and Leroy Anderson's "Sleigh Ride." For a child who's learning songs for a school concert this December, how to help kids learn their winter concert songs uses the same little-and-often approach. And for the rest of December, the best Christmas songs is sorted by moment, from decorating the tree to Christmas morning.