|
God in His infinite wisdom
created mankind to be motivated by music. Music affects us emotionally,
physically and spiritually. Today, music comes in many different sounds and
styles, including Classical, Country, Contemporary, Rock, Gospel, and Jazz
to name a few. Because music so profoundly and personally touches us,
children learn best from the great composers. It is of utmost importance to
expose them to both fine music and lyrics.
You can combine history and
music together in a study. The Timetables of History, by Bernard Grun,
displays the development of music in any given period from Ancient history
to the present. Many Mesopotamian musical instruments were found in the
Royal Tombs at Ur. This assortment included magnificent 12-string harps and
lyres, reed pipes, hourglass drums, tambourines, kettledrums, and flutes.
You can research many
classical composers in the book, The Spiritual Lives of Great Composers.
I have compiled a list of classical composers in chronological order
according to their life span. The authors and composers that wrote hymns are
also well worth studying. Both their words and lives can be inspirational.
You can find background information of hymns in Amazing Grace: 366
Inspiring Hymn Stories … and 101 More Hymn Stories… both by
Kenneth W. Osbeck. I really have enjoyed these books.
Your approach to music
appreciation should fit into your family’s individual needs and convictions.
You can study one composer at a time by reading his biography and listening
to his music. Develop your own music appreciation notebook; add data and
information about the composer, narrations of music that you have listened
to, poetry that correlates with your music, copy-work of lyrics, and so on.
Alternately, you may choose listening to good music in the background as a
more relaxed approach. My own children have portable CD players and
sometimes listen to classical music while they are doing chores. Jonathan,
my 14 year old, listens to classical music while doing his math (this seems
to stimulate his logical thought processes).
For those of you that wish to
have more direction in your music appreciation, I have ideas listed in the
project pages of each Unit (pages 46, 74, and 89). I selected these to
correlate as closely as possible with the lessons in the Master Lesson
Planner.
View list of composers in study.
View list of music appreciation ideas in study.
|
