Let's Talk Art & Music

[KrissiK]

What did you do with your primary kids for those subjects?My boys will be second graders next year and I'd like to incorporate A & M. Did you do it TWTM way? Get a boxed curriculum? Do it at all? Did you coordinate with SOTW chronologically or did you do the most "popular" composers? Did you study composer's lives? Or just get your kids familiar with their music?

[2_girls_mommy]

I haven't incorporated art and music TWTM way. I have had my 2nd grader doing Rod and Staff music workbooks for theory. Then we follow the What Your 2nd grader needs to know books for ideas, and expand on them. It touches on a lot of different topics. We had a lot of fun doing this last year. We use the Wee Sings C.Ds and others for learning the songs. And we check out a lot of C.Ds from the library on each topic. My girls sing in children's choir at church in the fall until the Christmas pageant, and my 2nd grader is now teaching herself the recorder, which is also helping her learn to read music. Both of my kids take a Kinderbach music class at co-op, so we do a lot of music. :)

 

For art, we do the same thing with the WY2GNTK, plus a lot of SOTW projects. Sotw 2 has soap carving, weaving, mosaics and tons of things. With WY2GNTK we touch on the basics of art like lines and colors, and then examine some different types of art and try our hand at them. There are online lesson plans that I use to help sometimes. It has worked so far for us, although I may do a year of drawing next year w/some WTM ideas.

 

I kind of stumbled upon using the What Your x Grader Needs to know for art and music the year my dh was laid off right before we started 1st grade. I already had a copy of the book, but hadn't purchased yet what I had planned for art and music. I decided it was better to do something with what I had than do nothing because I couldn't purchase what I wanted.

[birchbark]

I'd recommend the Classical Kids Collections for music appreciation/composer study. Our DS loves them and it is so easy to implement these audio stories blended with music. We also do piano lessons and that sums up our music curriculum.

 

For 2nd grade art we went through Usborne's What Shall I Draw, and then started Mark Kistler's online drawing lessons which he is still doing now. There are a lot of other art curricula out there tho if you'd like something more comprehensive.

[Dawn E]

Dd is in 2nd. I just purchased the Harmony Fine Arts program and am looking to incorporate it into our studies. I purchased Atelier, which I think is a wonderful program, but still I was having trouble organizing it and making it happen. I have enrolled her in an after-school art program. She will get the hands-on art experience there and we will continue doing art and music appreciation with the help of Harmony Fine Arts.

 

We also have many books from the series "Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists" and the author also has a series on the composers.

[FO4UR]

For music, sing familiar tunes in solfegge or numbers (or both;)). This is good ear training and builds the foundation for music reading. Keep it fun...use songs they like (or can laugh at...thinking 2nd grade BOYS:D LOL) It doesn't matter if it's goofy and silly, so long as it gets them to associate the pitch patterns with a name (solfegge or numbers of the scale - NOT a, b, c....).

 

Taking that same concept, let them pick out tunes on a keyboard or a recorder (or both).

 

Play echo games. Tap/drum/stomp in 4/4 and 3/4 meters. Play "guess what song I'm drumming"

 

As they are gaining familiarity with the above, begin teaching the values of notes & rests, and pitch placement on the treble and bass clefs. These are two seperate skills...teach them seperately before putting them together.

 

This is more important than knowing composers at 2nd grade!!! However, the simplest and most enjoyable way to get to know the composers is to listen to the music and call a Mozart piece, a Mozart piece...and Bach, Bach. Kids can hear the difference in style even if they cannot articulate those differences. Articulating what makes Mozart Mozart will come in time...for now, keep it simple...listen during normal family times. Don't make it "school." If a composer happens to pop up as we are going through history, great...but at 2nd grade, I wouldn't sweat it. Get familiar with the music/style now, and in the next round through history it will be fun to study the composers place in time and in the development of music.

 

Most kids love learning about the instruments. My dc LOVE Peter and the Wolf!

 

 

Don't ask me about art though....when I find the time to squeeze it into our schedule, I'd like to do picture study ala AO. sigh! I'd like to do more of a focus on skills, but I'm at a loss for how...my ds6 loves to draw and I'd like to build on that.:lurk5:

[cheryl h]

This being our first year hsing...it has been too much for me to fit in myself without going bonkers. Dd11 has been taking violin lessons for 7 years now and ds9 has been taking piano for 4 years so I pretty much call that music for them, and their teacher does a good job at incorporating theory. Trying to figure out how to afford piano for dd/ds6 twins, poor things keep getting the short end of the stick. We listen to a lot of music together as a family and they get some group singing time in at church. I tried bringing home some different classical music CD's from the library and they turned there nose up at it. Art...ha! I farmed it out. They get to do some crafty/art type stuff at co-op on Mondays. They all have their 4H art classes once a month, the younger ones are learning color(primary,secondary,complimentary) as well as shape manipulation and string art. The older kids are doing fine art and learning more complicated principles involved with watercolors and will move on to something else. Gotta love the 4H classes! Dd11 is also taking 4H Photography. I think we've got it mostly covered but without any of my participation other than driving. It's not that I don't like it, I'm just up to my eyeballs in getting my kids transitioned from private school to hsing permanently and it's mentally a lot to do. Love all the ideas though, maybe I'll be up to it next year or this summer.:001_smile:

[Aurelia]

We use Atelier for art and Bastien piano for music lessons. We listen to different genres (classical, Irish, gospel, etc) songs in the car.

[Terabith]

Okay, singing familiar tunes in solfege.......I think I need some tutoring in how to do that. Is there a web site that helps with this?

 

What are the R&S music workbooks like, theory wise? I so want my kids to learn how to draw and to be able to read music and sing a song, but I feel at a loss as to how to teach this.

[dands]

I so want my kids to learn how to draw and to be able to read music and sing a song, but I feel at a loss as to how to teach this.

 

 

I feel the same way. :confused:

[FO4UR]

Okay, singing familiar tunes in solfege.......I think I need some tutoring in how to do that. Is there a web site that helps with this?

 

 

Not that I know of....I draw on my own music background and do it without a whole lot of thought. I keep thinking I need to write a how-to manual b/c it's not that difficult for the average mom to do imho.

 

If a song is in the key of C, C is do/1, D is re/2, etc, etc... Hand signs are not necessary, but might be fun and helpful.

 

Twinkle, Twinkle

 

do do sol sol la la sol

fa fa mi mi re re do

sol sol fa fa mi mi re

sol sol fa fa mi mi re

do do sol sol la la sol

fa fa mi mi re re do

 

or

 

1 1 5 5 6 6 5

4 4 3 3 2 2 1

5 5 4 4 3 3 2

5 5 4 4 3 3 2

1 1 5 5 6 6 5

4 4 3 3 2 2 1

[monalisa]

Finishing Kindermusik for the Young Child (goes through age 7), then will start Piano lessons. My DD did Music Together from 18 mos until age 4, then Kindermusik through this year. Loved both programs (Music Together is my favorite though, but it it only goes to age 5).

 

Using Classical Magic (LOVE IT!) for learning classical music, along w/ Mike Venezia biographies from the library for learning about the composers.

 

For Art, we are starting Artistic Pursuits Book 1 right now, and I have high hopes! I own Drawing With Children, but haven't used it.

 

We've had a little (VERY little) music in Classical Conversations, and a bit more art, but not what I'd consider adequate.

[Karen in CO]

I am artistically challenged, but my kids all love art. Our local art museum offers weekend gallery talks and family programs which take you through a part of the collection, then the kids get a chance to do a project based on what they saw. It is a great way to add more depth to your art program.

 

I also enroll them in art classes at an art school a couple of times a year. It is great for them to work with professional art teachers and try different media than we normally use.

 

At home, we read from The Annotated Mona Lisa which I had saved from when my ds from in high school. We use some of those books How Artists See ...... which gives me a way to talk to them about art. We use the Usborne Art Treasury to have more art experiences. I also start them early with Celebrate Art to give them all those fun activities like salt dough beads and finger painting.

 

For music..... we just listen to music and sing right now. We have Classical Kids and the Peter and the Wolf. We listen to Mozart during math. We also love the Putumay Kids collections of music - the kids need Jazz and so do I. When they are a bit older and I have more patience, I'll get them in lessons for an instrument.

[2_girls_mommy]

What are the R&S music workbooks like, theory wise?

 

 

They are seriously simple, but they get the job done. The 1st one (1st grade) spends most of the year getting familiar w/the scale. We use the flashcards too, and sing the scales and other things the brief teacher instructions lay out. We are in 2nd now, and it has spent time on learning the notes and rests. So it moves slowly, but builds each year. It doesn't take much time, so that is why we add the extra stuff in. (like learn a new song a week, or rent a music video or C.D. from the library that week..)

[MelanieM]

I've been researching this same thing lately, and am about to order the following resources from Amazon:

Art History for Dummies

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Music History

Story of the Orchestra

 

We'll use the first two to tie art and music into our history studies (they both start with prehistoric times and move through to modern), and the third looks like a super fun resource for learning more about classical music and supporting composer studies.

 

We're also using Artistic Pursuits and Discovering Great Artists, plus lots of how-to-draw books, for a hands-on art experience. We listen to music while we play, and I often have the kids open up our CD binders and randomly make a selection so that they get exposed to a variety from our collection -- jazz, rock, R&B, classical, country -- there's a bit of everything there!

Edited January 24, 2010 by MelanieM

[Terabith]

If a song is in the key of C, C is do/1, D is re/2, etc, etc... Hand signs are not necessary, but might be fun and helpful.

 

Twinkle, Twinkle

 

do do sol sol la la sol

fa fa mi mi re re do

sol sol fa fa mi mi re

sol sol fa fa mi mi re

do do sol sol la la sol

fa fa mi mi re re do

 

or

 

1 1 5 5 6 6 5

4 4 3 3 2 2 1

5 5 4 4 3 3 2

5 5 4 4 3 3 2

1 1 5 5 6 6 5

4 4 3 3 2 2 1

 

Okay, which would you recommend? The number system makes more intuitive sense to me, using one as whatever the key is, but I see solfege used more in music classes.

[Shifra]

Did you consider Discoveries in Music put out by the Calvert School? It is admittedly expensive, but there are 32 lessons (a full years worth) for grades K-3 and all the supplies are included for one student. I didn't buy a kit for my son (who was the second student using the course)--I just went ahead and got a separate flutophone, triangle and lap harp for him to use (you can find those instruments at www.lyons.com or at www.rainbowresource.com) . However, if you wanted to have your second child do all the worksheets, then you would need to buy a second student kit. My children just watched the videos, but if they are doing all of the activities suggested, it is a really full music curriculum. Rainbow Resource has Discoveries in Music available in VHS format on sale.

 

Most public or private schools start their students on recorder as a first instrument. If you want to go that route, Oak Meadow has a very good 3-4 year recorder program meant for homeschooling parents to teach to their children (you do not have to order the rest of the Oak Meadow curriculum in order to use the recorder program). A very colorful recorder program is Progressive Recorder Method for Young Beginners. The first volume comes with a CD and a DVD (the second volume only includes a CD). If you complete either program, you child should be able to play any song on the treble cleff with little trouble.

Edited January 26, 2010 by Shifra