As we read about an artist, I like to have the children work on a project which helps them gain some insight into his work. Often they do a work of art using the style or technique of the artist we are studying, such as a watercolor painting or a plaster of paris fresco.  Sometimes, though, I like them to do a work of art based on the subject of a chosen painting.  We did this recently with Pieter Bruegel’s painting The Land of Cockaigne.

First we read the beautiful book The Fantastic Journey of Pieter Bruegel.

This book is written like a diary account, imagining what may have happened on Bruegel’s real-life two year journey through France and Italy during the 16th century.

We gathered a little more information about this particular painting in the book What Makes a Bruegel a Bruegel? before the boys began their own drawing of “The Land of Cockaigne”.

They enjoyed imagining what foods they would place in their own legendary worlds, where cotton candy clouds rained M & Ms and slices of pizza grew up out of the ground. When they were done drawing, they labeled their work “The Land of Cockaigne”.  This fun activity is a simple way to help children remember an artist and one of their famous works of art.

A friend recently sent me a link to Classics for Kids, a site which produces free radio programs and podcasts about composers and classical music. This is an awesome site!

We had the opportunity to see the childrens opera Mozart and the Magic Flute last night. Before we left, I went to the Classics for Kids site and did a search for Magic Flute. We were able to listen to this brief, 6-minute long podcast produced for kids. The children had a good idea of the story line, as well as some ideas about how Mozart crafted the score so that the musical voice for each character was unique.

This site has games, lesson plans, activity sheets and recordings of past shows. You can also subscribe to the weekly podcast and download recent shows as MP3 files.

We’ve only just scratched the surface of this site, but I know we’ll be using it a lot more next year when we are studying the Renaissance.

Recently I attended a concert and heard an incredibly gifted singer. I left the concert feeling inspired. I could never sing like she does. But it was an amazing experience to listen to someone who was both extremely talented and committed to working hard to develop her talent to the utmost of her ability.

I walked out of the concert hall feeling that whatever I do, I must do it with all my strength. Her excellency inspired in me a desire to be excellent in my own sphere.

This is just one reason why all children, regardless of ability, should be exposed to the arts. There is something in our hearts which thrills when we see or hear something lovely. The great masters like Bach and Chopin produced music that was beautiful and complex. Most of the modern music one hears on the radio (even Christian radio!) is not, strictly speaking, excellent from a musical standpoint.

Our children will benefit from learning to enjoy classical music. If they have been raised on a diet lacking in the classics, it may take awhile to develop their palate. You might begin with something like Peter and the Wolf. Read the story and then listen to the music. See if the children can imagine what is happening as they listen. Later, you can choose something like Carnival of the Animals, perhaps encouraging them to draw a picture of what they are listening to.

As in picture study, it can be beneficial to organize the works you study by composer, choosing one composer per quarter and thereby learning to recognize and enjoy several works from four different composers each year. Try to find a quiet time during the week when you can listen. My children enjoy listening to classical music as they are falling asleep.

Directed Listening

It is also helpful to take time for directed listening, when you can tell them the name of the composer and the piece being listened to. Afterward, the children can share how the piece made them feel, if they heard any particular instruments, if they liked the song, or if they imagined anything while they were listening. You can listen to lots of classical music for free on your computer. Try Classic Cat for over 5,000 free selections.

If you just want a broad overview of a particular time period, you might try Classical Archives. As of this writing, they are offering four free “one-click concerts” from the Baroque period, the Classical Period, the Romantic Period or the Modern Period. Each concert has about two hours of music selected from the best of the genre.

One to avoid…

The most important part of music appreciation is, of course, the music. Don’t spend so much time reading about composers that there is never time to listen to any of their works! Nevertheless, it is good to take time to learn something about their lives. Avoid or censor books like Krull’s Lives of the Musicians.

Children don’t need to know the unsavory details of a musician’s life to appreciate their music. In fact, that kind of information causes me to appreciate it less!

Learning about Composers

We enjoy uplifting biographies which help us to know something about how their lives were shaped or the motivation behind various works. If a biography tells my children how hard these musicians had to work to become truly excellent, that is even better!

I do not own any of the Opal Wheeler musician biographies, but I have heard they are good and they are on my wish list. We enjoy The Farewell Symphony by Anna Harwell Celenza. Her books come with a CD of the song, which is a nice addition.

We usually listen to books on tape in the car. I like the Classical Kids series for this, such as Beethoven lives upstairs and Mozart’s Magic Fantasy. These tales are one part history, three parts engaging story, with some of the composer’s best music showcased throughout.

My kids enjoy the cartoons and humorous quips in the Getting to Know the World’s Best Composers series by Mike Venezia.

I also look at garage sales and thrift stores for children’s classics videos with the musical score and some semblance of the story line intact. Often you can also find inexpensive classics compilations on CD. I prefer the ones that devote an entire CD to one composer, rather than mixing them, as it better facilitates the idea of learning one composer at a time.

If you are nostalgic and love the way the classics sound on old records, you might check out Kiddie Records Weekly. You can download the files or stream them straight from the computer, all for free. They have The Nutcracker Suite, Capital Music Appreciation Singles (which includes Peer Gynt Suites, Waltz of the Flowers, and Swan Lake), Peter and the Wolf and Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Mikado, in addition to some other music appreciation titles. Take a few minutes to browse this wonderful site. They’ve got Five in a Row titles The Carrot Seed and Madeline,
and so many children’s classics you won’t believe it! We have linked to most of these on My Audio School, as well, in a more child friendly format.

The next post in this Home Library Builders series will continue with the theme Whatever is Lovely, touching on Poetry, Shakespeare and Charles Dickens.

“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” Philippians 4:8

Music Mind Games by Michiko Yurko is the most enjoyable and profitable thing we have used in studying music theory. The first time I used this book was with a classroom of three year olds. I was able to teach them many basics of music theory through engaging games. We all had fun and I was amazed at what they were able to learn. In just a few short months the three year olds had learned many difficult rhythm patterns, which they could clap or say. One child could build a long rhythm string and another could tap it out on a drum. It was astounding. They also learned the names of all the musical notes in ascending and descending order, and several other theory concepts.

The children’s favorite game was Yurko’s Blue Jello card game. She prints note stems onto cards and assigns a silly name to each rhythm (such as Blue for the quarter note and Jello for the eighth note). The children can build–and read–complicated rhythms as they learn the names for the different stems.

Here is a video of her working (playing!) with a two year old.
The child is learning how to read rhythm and loving it. There are many videos on this site which will give you an idea of how to do some of her games on your own. Try to find the ones in English!

There are tons of games in this thick book. Many can be done with very young children, and many are of value even to older, more advanced students. I took piano lessons for 12 years but only began to understand some music theory concepts after working with this book. I have not used this book for a few years with my children, as music theory is pretty low on our priority list at the moment! But if you need music theory, you can’t go wrong with these materials. They are truly excellent. Here is another link to this book on Amazon, if you want to read more reviews and “see inside”.

Before you order it, one caveat: many of the games require supplies which do not come with the book. You can purchase many of the supplies needed as a set, called the Puppy Packet, but it is not cheap.

Each item in the Puppy Pack can be purchased individually, and by clicking on the individual links you can easily see how you might make your own Music Alphabet Cards and Tempo Cards and other needed supplies for use in the games. There is also a Magic Staff pack available for sale.

I used the book for a long time before buying any additional supplies. I was able to make supplies for many of the games myself using markers and index cards. The Blue jello word cards can be downloaded and printed quite inexpensively, as well. Click here to view a sample. Many other supplies cannot be purchased as they are out of print, but this game book is still more-than-worth the purchase price for anyone who is serious about having fun while teaching music theory to a child.