When I was young our home was filled with great music, and I am CERTAIN this fostered my love of music today. It is my hope that you will nurture this love of music in your own children through using the resources in this Ultimate Guide to Composer Study.
This guide can in no way list EVERY resource available for composer study. I have, however, tried to include as much as possible to make this post a COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE TO STUDYING GREAT COMPOSERS.
* Please be sure after you read the post to enter for the 4 CD set giveaway from Maestro Classics! These are a wonderful addition to your music library.
It is not hard to compose, but what is fabulously hard is to leave the superfluous notes under the table.
~Johannes Brahms
This year we are focusing on one composer each month. Also, if we are studying a particular country we will touch on a few famous composers from that place. I use a combination of worksheets, notebooking pages, living books, and quiet listening to reinforce the knowledge of our composer.
I take a few steps when planning a unit on a composer:
1. Find a good living book about the composer; my children love stories about composers.
2. Research the BEST music of that composer
3. Find notebooking and/or lapbooking elements for the composer
4. Search my favorite sites for resources: Homeschool Share, HS Launch, Making Music Fun, and Squidoo
We have been doing something called SQUILT (Super Quiet UnInterrupted Listening Time) since I started homeschooling. I HIGHLY recommend this as a start! It gets your children used to listening and builds the habit of attention they need for great music.
Please enjoy the links I've provided in this Ultimate Guide to Composer Study! As you can see, there are a wealth of resources -- free, for purchase and download, and otherwise! There is NO EXCUSE not to add composer study into your homeschool!
How should you study composers with your children? Following are some links to help you get started. They include "how to" posts and also full units on composers.
- Composer Study - Charlotte Mason Style
- More Charlotte Mason Composer Study
- Music Study @ Simply Charlotte Mason
- Music Study @Ambleside Online
- Composer Study Resources @ Our Journey Westward
- Non Stress Musical Learning
- Harmony Art Mom's Charlotte Mason Composer Study Blog Carnival
- How to Do Music Study @ Epi Kardia
- Composer Study @ Wonder in the Woods
- Getting Your Child Interested In Classical Music @ Milk and Cookies
- Why Music Is Important in Our Children's Lives
- SQUIDOO offers many composers resources... see this Bach composer study - and see the sidebar at that link for related composer studies.
Whether you purchase CDs or .mp3 files, here are some collections of quality music. You may also want to listen to streaming internet radio or purchase a subscription to a music service. There are so many ways to listen to great music.
- Any "The Best of...." CD -- An example is this Best of Beethoven
- Beethoven's Wig -- (a personal favorite!) - there are 4 volumes
- DSO Kids Listen By Composer - biographies and samples of music
- Classics for Kids - this link is a wonderful list of composers and works that are essentials
- Classics for Kids - a different link than before - for a physical CD
- Spotify USA - the Netflix of music... pay for a subscription and listen to ANY music you choose.
- Pandora - create your own music stations based on composer
- Songza - a relatively new app and online streaming music player -- FREE -- my FAVORITE!
- Meet the Musicians DVD series
- search YouTube for various composer study playlists -- here is an example of one on Maurice Ravel
{Speaking of Ravel, this is a video of a performance of his Piano Concerto for the Left Hand -- talk about amazing!}
There are a few resources that teach children about composers, while also teaching them about famous stories in music:
*It would be impossible to list EVERY book about a composer... please be aware there are literally hundreds of storybooks about composers. Try to add stories of the composers to your library and enrich your children's exposure at every opportunity.
- Getting to Know The World's Greatest Composers
- Famous Children Series
- Sower Series Biographies of Famous Musicians
- Great Musicians Series - by Opal Wheeler
- "Who Was?" series
- Magic Treehouse books - several are about composers -- an example is Moonlight on the Magic Flute
- Printable composer books by Thomas Tapper at Project Gutenberg (FREE)
- Librivox recordings of Tapper books (FREE)
- Lives of the Musicians: Good Times, Bad Times, and What The Neighbors Thought
- A list from the American Musicological Society offers more composer biography suggestions
- How we use living books for composer study in our homeschool
There are several composer curriculums available for purchase and/or download. Sometimes it's just nice to have it all done for you!
- SQUILT Music Appreciation
- Stories of the Great Composers
- A Young Scholar's Guide to Composers
- Famous Composers and Their Music
- Bob Jones Homeschool: The Composer
- Harmony Fine Arts Plans
- Classical Composers Monthly
- Making Music Fun
- Magnificent Masters of Music
- History of Classical Music from Beautiful Feet Books
- Search "Composers" at Currclick - WOW!
Coloring or drawing while listening to music is something we do A LOT. When I was a public school music teacher I would roll out a huge piece of butcher paper and let the kids have turns coming to it and drawing what they were hearing. It was always a magical time. Here are some resources (books and printables) for coloring, etc... while listening.
- Coloring Books of Composers @ Lamppost Publishing
- Hey Kids! Meet The Composers @ Making Music Fun!
- Woman Composers @ West Music
- Composers @ Super Coloring
Notebooking and Lapbooking about a composer make my children's learning more memorable. I always search Squidoo, Homeschool Share, and HS Launch. Following are many other resources --- by no means could I list EVERYTHING!
- Famous Composers Notebooking Pages @ Notebooking Pages
- Free Composer Notebooking Pages @ Homeschool Notebooking
- Cool Composers Notebooking Pages @ Homeschool Notebooking
- Composer Notebooking Page @ The Notebooking Fairy
- Great Composers Notebooking Pages @ The Notebooking Nook
- Famous Musician Biography Pages @ Practical Pages
- World's Greatest Composers from Confessions of a Homeschooler
- Free Homeschool Biographical Notebooking Pages (@ Homeschool Helper) -- scroll down to "Musicians"
- LOTS of pages at HS Launch - you must search "notebooking pages" and "musician"
- Composers Lapbook Activity Packs from Homeschooling in the Woods
- Classical Composers Connections @ Homeschool Share
- Classical Composers and Instruments Lapbook from Knowledge Box Central
- Verdi Composer Study and Opera Lapbook from Jimmies Collage
From Homeschool in the Woods
These final resources don't fit into a particular category. They are, however, helpful when studying composers. Many are computer games and apps - good for when you need time fillers or are sitting at that doctor's appointment! Some are video series and online instructions.
- Musician Quizzes by Music Tech Teacher - lots of online games
- Great Composers iPhone/iPad app
- Composer of the Day - iPhone app developed at Wittenberg Univ. - LOVE THIS!
- Composers Gallery @ They New York Philharmonic
- Great Composers @ Arts Alive
- Learn about some composers @ Starfall
- Learn about composers @ Music Motivation
- Keeping Score! - a video series on PBS -- wonderful, full length episodes about composers.
- Keeping Score! online resources by the San Francisco Symphony
- Great Composers at Documentarystorm
- Composer Busts -- get the bust for the musician you are currently studying!
I'll leave you with probably one of my favorite resources for simply introducing dozens of classic pieces of music to children...
Beethoven's Wig is wonderful - worth the investment in all of the volumes. I promise...