Tag Archives: composer study

Composer Study: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Take 2)

It may be cliche, but Mozart has always been my favorite composer, and so I was delighted to spend some time with his music this year in Cycle 1 of Classical Conversations.  In class we just focused one one movement of a piano concerto, but I wanted to take more time than that to help my children become familiar with the man whose name has become synonymous with classical music.  We’ll spend the next few weeks going through some of the resources I’ve pulled together here.  (We used many of these a few years ago when I did a composer study on Mozart with my older kids, but there are a few new ones as well.)

Audio Resources

Of course there are hundreds of recordings of Mozart’s music available (check YouTube or your local library), but here are a few audio resources created especially for children.

The Classical Kids recordings are a wonderful way to introduce children to composers and their music.  Each one tells a captivating story, using the featured composer’s music as a soundtrack.  There are two recordings about Mozart:

The Beethoven’s Wig series is a fun way to help children become familiar with famous pieces of classical music, with comical lyrics being sung to the melodies.

If you want to learn more about Mozart’s life and music, here are a few listening options:

Video Resources

My younger kids’ favorite way learning about classical music is watching Little Einsteins.  There are several episodes that feature music by Mozart:

There is also a fun animated series starring Mozart and his family, Little Amadeus. The DVD set comes with a CD-ROM with lesson plans to go along with each episode, as well as printable sheet music. I haven’t found anywhere to watch the whole series streaming, though the first season is on YouTube, and reruns still play on our local public television station.  

If you want to look at a specific piece of music, The Magic Flute is really a wonderful way to introduce children to opera.  The BBC produced a 30 minute animated version that tells the basic story sung in English.  For a more authentic experience, I recommend the Opéra National de Paris video of the complete opera.

Books

For some biographical information:

  • Mozart (from the Famous Children series) by Ann Rachlins (short enough for younger children)
  • Mozart (from the Getting to Know the World’s Greatest Composers series) by Mike Venezia.
  • Mozart, the Wonder Boy by Opal Wheeler (chapter book)

We have several picture books about Mozart we’ve started going through:

While not about Mozart, The Magic Flute: An Opera by Mozart adapted by Kyra Teis, tells the story of the opera.

Additional Resources

If you want to go a little deeper in your study of Mozart, here are some great ideas to check out!

Composer Study: Johann Sebastian Bach

 

 


I don’t know how we passed over Johann Sebastian Bach when we were doing composer study a few years ago, but I’m glad we’re be listening to some of his music this year with Classical Conversations.  Here are a few of the “extras” I’ve pulled together to expand upon our study at home.

 

Audio Resources

Video Resources

For my younger children, one of their favorite ways of learning about classical music is watching Little Einsteins.  There are several episodes that feature music by Bach:

Books and Other Reading

Composer Study: George Frederick Handel

George Frederick Handel

Back when my big kids were little, we spent some time learning about several great composers. As our family grew, somehow that got put aside, which is one of the reasons I’m glad we’re doing Classical Conversations. We’re getting ready to head into the last six weeks of CC for this year, and I thought I’d take some time to revisit some of the resources we found the first time we talked about George Frederick Handel. (His name has different spelling variations. This time we’re going with the Anglicized version.)

Since our time in class on CC community day is spent primarily listening to one specific piece of music, I thought I’d share the resources again for others who want to learn more about Handel’s music during their days at home.

Audio Resources

My Name is Handel from Maestro Classics

One of my main resources this time around will be My Name is Handel: The Story of Handel’s Water Music from Maestro Classics. The first track on the CD is a 38 minute story about the story behind Water Music. This is followed by a short biography of Handel, a silly song called “My Name is Handel” with words set to the Hornpipe theme from Water Music, and a closer look at Handel’s music with Maestro Stephen Simon.

If your kids like silly songs, check out “When the Angels Play” from Beethoven’s Wig 3: Many More Sing Along Symphonies, which puts words to Handel’s (Harp Concerto in B♭)

Another great resource that’s available free online is from Classics for Kids. They have four short episodes related to Handel, including one on Water Music.

Hallelujah Handel from Classical Kids

The main thing we listened to last time we studied Handel was Hallelujah Handel by Classical Kids, which tells the story of Handel and an orphan boy.  My kids love Classical Kids CDs because they tell entertaining stories while introducing the music of the featured composer, who is always a character in the audio drama. Hallelujah Handel is one of our favorites in the collection, and since I think everyone should be familiar with Handel’s Messiah, I can’t recommend this one highly enough.

If you just want to learn more about Handel’s life, check out The Story of Handel . My kids aren’t wild about this series because they’re pretty much just composer biographies with their music playing in the background, but I still think they’re worthwhile. We’ll get out some building toys or coloring pages and listen while we play,

Books and Other Reading

The book Hallelujah Handel tells the same story as the Classical Kids CD, but from a totally different perspective.  I enjoyed it just as much, especially the illustrations.  Last time Ian and I both enjoyed Handel (from the Famous Children series), as well as Handel and the Famous Sword Swallower of Halle, which weaves biographical information around a fascinating incident from Handel’s hometown.  This time around I’d like to try reading Handel at the Court of Kings by Opal Wheeler and Handel (from the Getting to Know the World’s Greatest Composers series) by Mike Venezia.

Video Resources

For younger children there are two Little Einsteins episodes have music by Handel: “Annie, Get Your Microphone”  and “Rocket the Bug” (both feature Water Music).

For older children and adults, Musical Contexts: All About Handel is short by informative.  Also, if your library has videos available from Films On Demand like ours, there are three documentaries on Handel. For an extended study on Handel’s oratorio Messiah, check out Handel’s Messiah: The Biblical Message Behind the Musical Masterpiece.

I’ll be adding a post about Bach and updating my resource list soon since we’ll be talking about them over the next few weeks as well!

Elementary Music Appreciation Course (Crew Review)

Music Appreciation Review
When we first started homeschooling one of the things that drew me to the Charlotte Mason method of education was the attention paid to composer study.  Classical music has been a part of my life since childhood, and I want my children to be familiar with and appreciate it as well.  I’ve had my eye on the Great Composers books from Zeezok Publishing LLC for quite a while and was SO excited to get a chance to review the entire Music Appreciation: Book 1 for the Elementary Grades collection, starting with one of my children’s favorite composers: Beethoven.

About the Music Appreciation Book 1 Collection

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This collection is an incredibly rich resource, providing materials for seven 4-week unit studies based on the lives of Bach, Handel, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Paganini, and Schubert:

  • 7 biographical novels by Opal Wheeler, one for each composer, all softcover except the one Schubert (not sure why we received a hardcover since I know they do publish it in softcover)
  • 1 Student Activity Book (softcover with perforated pages)
  • Set of 5 Audio CDs
  • CD-ROM with files for making a lapbook for each composer
  • (Coordinating coloring book available for separate purchase)

Each of these items is available for individual purchase, but unless you already own something, the you’ll want everything that comes in the collection to complete the lessons.

The heart of this curriculum is the Wheeler books, which focus on the composers’ lives and childhood musical background.  Although the book occasionally references topics covered when studying other composers, for the most part each unit study is self-contained, so they don’t necessarily need to be done in the order they are presented.

BeethovenI chose Beethoven for our first study.  Ludwig Beethoven and the Chiming Tower Bells starts with Beethoven as a very young boy and tells about his musical career all the way through his moving 9th Symphony, composed when he could no longer hear.  While the book does talk about Ludwig being forced to practice in the middle of the night as a child and his father’s desire to see him become a musician like Mozart, it is very appropriate for children and doesn’t mention his father’s abusive nature.  Instead the focus is on Ludwig’s relationships with other members of his family, his various teachers and his many musical experiences growing up.

The book also includes music for several of Beethoven’s compositions, which are simple enough for intermediate piano players to be able to play and enjoy as they go through the book.  (These selections are also on the audio CDs.)  Some are interspersed with the text to experience as you go through the book, and there are also several at the end for further enjoyment.

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After you have read the chapter for the week, the Student Activity Book is full of questions, activities, and ideas for further study.  Each unit starts with a Weekly Lesson Outline that lists all the reading assignments and activities that will be covered, making note of those required to meet national music appreciation standards.

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Each week’s assignments include:

  • reading a chapter in the Wheeler book
  • a page of comprehension questions
  • study of character qualities demonstrated in the chapter
  • listening assignments from the Music Appreciation CDs
  • “Tidbits of Interest” expounding upon specific information in the chapter
  • Lapbook activities
  • Extras like geography, history, or music theory

The Student Activity Book functions as both a workbook and a textbook, with some pages having activities to complete and others containing additional reading material.

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The CD-ROM contains the pieces needed for each composer’s lapbooks as well as pictures of completed lapbooks.  These pages include instructions about how to assemble each piece, but to find out where to place it, you have to look up the examples or read the directions in the Student Activity Book.

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Our Experience

I chose the Beethoven unit because most of my children are already somewhat familiar with his life story and his music, but there was still a lot for everyone to learn.  This curriculum is designed for K-6th grade, so I planned to include Ian (2nd grade) and Elijah (Kindergarten) as well as seeing how much Arianna (preschool) could participate.

We started each week’s work reading a few pages from Ludwig Beethoven and the Chiming Tower Bells while the kids colored.  The boys probably would have been able to read the Wheeler book themselves, but it would have been laborious, so I used it as a read aloud instead.  (An audio version is also available both on CD and as an mp3 download.)

I bought two copies of the coordinating coloring book for the younger two to use since Ian would be using the Student Activity Book.  I was thankful that there were multiple coloring pages for each chapter, because I found Ian had an easier time listening when he was coloring (and my 2-year old wanted to do what everyone else was doing as well).  The pictures directly related to the chapters in the book, so they were a great way to include everyone.  I was a little surprised when the coloring books arrived and they were just stapled together rather than being actual bound books, but that ended up making it easy to take them apart and share the quality coloring pages from 2 books among 4 children.  I don’t know that we would have enjoyed the study nearly as much if I hadn’t gone ahead and gotten the coloring pages.

DSCN1249xThere was so much material in the Student Activity Book, I ended up taking almost twice as long as the suggested four weeks to get through it.  Even though the curriculum is intended for all elementary grades, I felt like much of it was too difficult for my Kindergartner and 2nd grader, though it would be perfect for upper elementary students.  We adapted things and often just went through the material conversationally.

The boys enjoyed working on the lapbook together after we had finished reading and dismissed the little ones.  I struggled a little bit with figuring out exactly what went where,  confused that some of the instructions were in the Student Activity Book while others were on the pages with the lapbook materials themselves.  I think when we go through the next unit I’ll be able to figure it out better, but since this was the first lapbook we’d ever created, I would have felt a little more confident if all the information I needed were in one place.

My Thoughts on Zeezok Publishing’s Music Appreciation

20160317_094524xI am in awe of how much work went into putting together this curriculum.  There is SO much to do and learn about in each study!  Even though we found it to be a bit overwhelming at this point, I think we’ll get a lot more out of it as my children get older.  I’ll probably get the audio books for future studies so we can get through the books as we drive and save our time at home for all the other activities.

Music Appreication Book 1_zpsu33n9px8The only change I would like to see would be separating the Student Activity Book into a textbook and separate workbook.  It is designed to be consumable, with one needed for each student, but so much of it is extra reading material or instructions for lapbook activities that could easily be reused, so it felt a bit wasteful to me.  Since I have multiple children, it would be nice to only be purchasing extra copies of the pages that actually get written in rather than the entire book.

There’s definitely more in the weekly lesson outline than I can get done in the time I usually allot to composer study each week.  In the future I will probably stretch out each unit more intentionally.  Or if I do want to keep to the schedule, I might even use it as a traditional unit study, where it’s the main focus of the school day with other subjects coming out of it (since history, geography, reading, writing, and of course fine arts are all included.  However we end up using it, I am thankful for such a well-designed, detailed curriculum for studying the lives and music of so many great composers.

Music Appreciation for the Elementary Grades {Zeezok Publishing LLC Review}
Crew Disclaimer

Composer Study: Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

When I was a little girl, I was obsessed with ballet.  One of the first cassettes I ever remember purchasing was music from Tchaikovsky’s three ballets: Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, and Nutcracker.  Even people without a connection to ballet are probably familiar with these musical works, but they were a part of my very being.  In my piano lessons I worked harder on Tchaikovsky pieces than anything else, just because he had composed those three ballets.   I no longer eat, sleep, and breathe all things ballet, but even so, there is something magical for me about this music, so I really enjoyed our composer study this past month on Piotr (Peter) Illyich Tchaikovsky.

Audio Resources

Tchaikovsky wrote a lot more than just ballet music, so we had plenty of listening options this month.  The boys were already familiar with a lot of his music from Nutcracker, so we mostly focused on the 1812 overture (what boy wouldn’t love the idea of a cannon being fired as part of an orchestral piece?) and the music from Swan Lake.  Here’s what was on our composer playlist for the month:

Video Resources  

As usual, the boys knew many of the themes we were listening to from watching Little Einsteins episodes that feature music by Tchaikovsky:

The boys loved watching the part of Fantasia that contains the Nutcracker Suite, and we were all amazed by a YouTube video of the Great Chinese State Circus doing a scene from Swan Lake (not pure ballet, but SO worth watching just to see the main dancer’s incredible balance).  Ian also enjoyed watching an entire performance(in two sittings) put on by the Kirov Ballet.

Books

To help Ian understand what we were watching and listening to, I got a copy of Margot Fonteyn’s retelling of Swan Lake.  The illustrations are by Trina Schart Hyman (who also illustrated the Caldecott award-winning St. George and the Dragon, one of the boys’ favorite books).  He loved this book and brought it to me to read over and over throughout the month.  We also read Tchaikovsky Discovers America, which tells the same story as the Classical Kids CD from a different perspective.

Once again, a month flew by and we were saying good-bye to Tchaikovsky just as we felt like we were starting to get to know him.  We’re getting ready to move so we’ll be taking a break.  I think we’ll use this next month or so to go back and revisit some of the composers we’ve already learned about.

Composer Study: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

We recently spent two months focusing on the music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.  The core of our composer study this first “introductory” year has been the Classical Kids CDs, and since there were two on Mozart I just decided to spend a little extra time on him.  (Or at least that made a nice excuse for enjoying my favorite composer for a little longer.)  I also wanted the boys to become familiar with the music from The Magic Flute in preparation for a children’s theater presentation by the LA Opera called The Magic Dream (which featured much of the opera’s music).  Although we also listened to plenty of Mozart’s other creations, most of our time was spent with The Magic Flute.

Audio Resources

It would be easy to listen to Mozart for at least a week without repeating any music, but I kept our selection limited. Here’s what was on our composer playlist:

Video Resources

Because my children are still so young, one of their favorite ways of learning about classical music is watching Little Einsteins.  There are several episodes that feature music by Mozart:

The Magic Flute is really a wonderful way to introduce children to opera.  The characters and other elements of the story capture their imaginations, and the productions are often colorful and visually intriguing.  I was amazed at how fascinated Ian was by YouTube videos of various performances of The Magic Flute. He especially enjoyed one by the Opéra National de Paris that showed the complete opera. (He sat watching for an hour!)  We also checked out a DVD from the library and watched the whole opera in segments as we folded laundry together.

Books and Other Reading

For some biographical information we read Mozart by Ann Rachlin from the Famous Children series.  Both boys really enjoyed The Magic Flute: An Opera by Mozart adapted by Kyra Teis, which tells the story just like a fairy tale book. We didn’t get to Mozart (from the Getting to Know the World’s Greatest Composers series) by Mike Venezia.  A chapter book I’d like to try later is Mozart, the Wonder Boy by Opal Wheeler.

Additional Resources

I also found many wonderful ideas for composer study on Mozart that we’ll use when the kids get a bit older here. I’m sure we’ll come back to it in the future when Mozart pops up again in the Ambleside Online composer study schedule.

Christmas Music for the Whole Family

Last year at Christmas I found myself in a bit of a dilemma when it came to music.  I wanted to listen to traditional Christmas carols, and I wanted my children to become familiar with them, but most of the Christmas music in my collection just wasn’t great listening for children.  The albums I did have that were kid-friendly either threw in lots of songs about Santa and other non-Christ-centered elements of our cultural Christmas celebration, or else featured cartoonish voices that grated on my nerves rather quickly.  I knew there had to be something out there with children’s voices singing the classics, but Arianna was a newborn and I wasn’t really up to searching.

carols

This year I started early, found a few resources I really liked, and took December off from our usual composer study in favor of focusing on Christmas carols.  My favorite Christmas CD comes with a book: Christmas Carols for a Kid’s Heart.  We didn’t read the stories of the carols this year, but probably will go through next year during Advent.  In addition to using mostly children’s voices on the CD, it also includes all the verses, which I really appreciate.

Christmas CarolsAnother good album that has LOTS of great songs on it is the Christmas Carols CD from Cedarmont  Kids (also available as an MP3 download on Amazon, so you can listen to samples.)  This one sounds a little more like a stereotypical children’s recording, but I still find it enjoyable.

Classical Kids ChristmasThe last CD we used was A Classical Kids Christmas (also available as an MP3 download).  I haven’t fully made up my mind about this album.  It attempts to tell a story (I think) which I really couldn’t follow.  I love the rest of the Classical Kids CDs, so I was a little disappointed with this album.  Still, the production quality is excellent, and the music is beautiful. That’s really all I was looking for, so it’s still worth listening to (for us, anyway).

While I played everything on these CDs, I selected 4 carols that I wanted the boys to really feel like they knew, and then I put those at the beginning of our iPod playlist.

  1. Joy to the World
  2. O Come, All Ye Faithful
  3. Away in a Manger (I also had Ian learn this on the piano.)
  4. Silent Night

I figure these are songs they are guaranteed to hear throughout the season, especially at church, and I want them to recognize them and sing along.  Next year we’ll add a few more to learn intentionally, and I’m sure they’ll be picking up others along the way.  Hope you and your family are having a merry Christmas season!

Composer Study: George Frideric Handel

As we approached the holidays, I knew we’d soon be hearing strains of Handel’s Messiah.  I wanted my children to recognize it when they heard it, so last month we focused on George Frideric Handel for our composer study.  Handel must have had a rich faith. His settings of the Scriptures in Messiah are beautiful, and once you become familiar with the music, it’s almost impossible to read the book of Isaiah without his melodies running through your head.  He also had a heart for the orphans of London, where the German-born composer chose to live much of his life, and Messiah, which he wrote in just twenty-four days, was performed annually at a benefit concert to support the Foundling Hospital (orphanage).

Audio Resources

The main thing we listened to was Hallelujah Handel by Classical Kids, which tells the story of Handel and an orphan boy.  Ian was fascinated by the story, as he has been with all the Classical Kids CDs.  They’re really the core of our composer study this year.  Here are a few other things we listened to (in order of relative interest to my kids):

Video Resources (for children)

Two Little Einsteins episodes have music by Handel: “Annie, Get Your Microphone”  and “Rocket the Bug” (both feature Water Music).

Books and Other Reading

The book Hallelujah Handel tells the same story as the Classical Kids CD, but from a totally different perspective.  I enjoyed it just as much, especially the illustrations.  Ian and I both enjoyed Handel (from the Famous Children series), and he got a kick out of Handel and the Famous Sword Swallower of Halle, which weaves biographical information around a fascinating incident from Handel’s hometown.  When my kids are older, I’d like to read Handel at the Court of Kings by Opal Wheeler, but it looked a little too long for Ian to handle right now.  I’d also like to go through Handel (from the Getting to Know the World’s Greatest Composers series) by Mike Venezia

And for grown-ups (or older children):

I found a couple interesting videos on YouTube: Handel’s Messiah: The Biblical Message Behind the Musical Masterpiece and Musical Contexts: All About Handel.  Also, if your library has videos available from Films On Demand like ours, there are three documentaries on Handel.

I opted not to attend a performance of Messiah this year, but hopefully as the children get older we’ll have a chance to enjoy it together.  One year I’d like to go through the Handel’s Messiah Family Advent Reader, which I discovered a few years ago and am looking forward to using someday when everyone will understand.

Composer Study: Antonio Vivaldi

Antonio Vivaldi (1678–1741) | Composer | Biography, music and facts

There is an amazing amount of kid-friendly resources related to Antonio Vivaldi.  I thought I possessed a basic knowledge of Vivaldi before we began our composer study on him last month, but by the time we got through October, I had learned an incredible amount.  Ian enjoyed our time with Vivaldi so much he was reluctant to leave him behind, but since he felt the same way about Beethoven, I know it will pass.

Audio Resources

Of course the main part of any composer study is music.  We listened to a few pieces on their own, but mostly I just let the boys enjoy the pieces in the background to stories about the composer.  Here’s what was on our composer playlist:

  • Vivaldi’s Ring of Mystery from Classical Kids (This is a fictional story that incorporates many historical details, with lots of beautiful music accompanying the story.  Ian requested this at least once a day for the first week, and continued asking for it frequently the rest of the month.)
  • The Stories of Vivaldi and Corelli CD from our library (This one was a little dry for the boys, but it had lots of great music.  They never asked for it, but neither did they ask to turn it off.  It made great background listening while they played.)
  • Classics for Kids episodes on Vivaldi
  • “It’s Spring!” from Beethoven’s Wig 2: More Sing Along Symphonies

Video Resources

 Little Einsteins episodes that have music by Vivaldi (Elijah’s favorite show):

Books and Other Reading

Vivaldi spent several years working with the girls at an orphanage in Venice.  This setting has inspired numerous fictional works, both for children and adults.  Here are the children’s books we read about Vivaldi and some of the young musicians at the Pieta:

And for grown-ups:

I had so much fun this month doing my own study!  I read several novels about girls at the Pieta or just set in Venice around Vivaldi’s time. A few years ago the BBC produced a documentary called Vivaldi and the Women of the Pieta featuring a choir of all female voices (including the basses!), which I really enjoyed watching (preview first being watching with older kids–some sensitive content).  I also discovered a wonderful resource on our library’s website: documentaries you can watch online free just by entering your library card number!  I enjoyed watching two on Vivaldi and one on Venice (though I couldn’t find them on Amazon).  See if your library has videos available from Films On Demand.

As we entered into Vivaldi’s world through these books we wanted to find out more about the fascinating city of Venice.  So we “rowed” Papa Piccolo which is about a cat who lives in Venice.  I listed some of the movies and books we watched about the city in this post.  I think Venice will forever be in Ian’s mind, and I hope someday he’ll get a chance to visit Vivaldi’s city himself!

Composer Study: Claude Debussy

Last month we started becoming familiar with the music of French composer Claude Debussy.  There weren’t a lot of extras to go along with our study, but that didn’t lessen our enjoyment.  I’m realizing that one composer a month is rather a quick pace, for I’m finding myself surprised when we come to the end of a month and move on.  This first year I’m really only trying to introduce the whole idea of composer study, so I think we’ll keep with my original plan.  However, next year will be Ian’s official “Kindergarten” year, and I think then we’ll slow down a little and just do one composer per term, probably sticking with the suggested schedule from Ambleside Online.  (Actually, I included their composers for this year in our own schedule because I knew we wouldn’t be doing a full study and I wanted to hit all the major composers this year as an introduction.)

Here’s what we listened to in our month with Debussy:

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