Author: michaelantonello

A longtime Minneapolis, Minnesota, executive, Michael J. Antonello functions as the principal of Golden Valley Financial Advisors, where he assists business owners and high-net-worth clients in navigating life insurance and related products. Michael J. Antonello provides a potentially tax-free, limited-risk pathway toward wealth accumulation while helping ensure proper asset protection for estates.

How Playing the Violin Improves Learning Outcomes for Children

Minnesota resident Michael “Mike” J. Antonello spent many years working in the insurance business. Working in financial management for most of his adult life, Michael Antonello’s interests included supporting the fine arts. After 23 years in this industry, he has turned a hobby into a viable career in music playing the violin.

Playing the violin was, in part, a decision his mother made him make as a child, but this decision fueled his passion for music. For years, experts have extolled the virtues of learning to play an instrument, but these advantages extend to children as well.

One study conducted by McMaster University’s Institute for Music and the Mind revealed that children only need to play the violin for one year to reap some of its benefits. The study reported that children who play the violin had improved attention spans and memories. Other benefits include improved speech, language processing, and reading skills.

Another study reported in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry reported that learning to play can address mental disorders. More specifically, the study focuses on enhanced brain development and how playing music can assist children with overcoming some psychological disorders.

Visit https://michaelantonello.com/home to learn more.

Stravinsky’s “Rite” Could Not Have Been Written Any Other Way

For years, Michael J. Antonello (and his wife) were patrons of the fine arts. A resident of Brighton, Minnesota, Michael “Mike” Antonello has performed as a concert violinist and recorded several albums, which can be heard on his website, http://michaelantonello.com.

Classical music, even in this time, has a place in an environment where music continues to change and evolve into another incarnation of itself. In fact, a little over a century ago, Igor Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring pushed boundaries of what was considered decent and challenged the status quo. The ballet and accompanying orchestra has been described as jarring, frenzied, and aggressive, but the music added authenticity to the content of the ballet.

The ballet’s concept focuses on a pagan sacrifice that takes place in a season usually associated with the birth or renewal. The ballet is divided into two parts, the “Adoration of the Earth” and “The Sacrifice” with each piece devoted to taking the audience through the process of choosing the sacrifice to the actual sacrificial dance.

The accompanying instrumental is equally traumatic and is best described as jagged, dissonant, and unpredictable rhythmically, which might be unsettling to refined audiences. However, considering the subject, the music seemed to merely express the emotions that are conveyed throughout the ballet.

Rooted in Slavic folk songs, the ballet did not go well with Parisian audiences in 1913 (its first show). Some accounts describe what ensued within the first few minutes as a riot. Many believed the contention began between some of the audience members who actually booed the performance.

Today, though, Stravinsky is a master who is believed to have influenced others who came behind him. Bela Bartok, Pierre Boulez, Edgard Varese, and Gyorgy Ligeti have all been influenced (or even challenged) by this composer and a work that challenged everything about ballet at the time.