Which composers/artists/poets to study?

[Gwenny]

I'm planning on studying a different composer, artist, and poet every four weeks this year. Nothing too in depth, but just reading poetry by that poet, listening to that composer, and looking at art by a certain artist. My problem is that I'm not sure who to study.

 

Who would you consider important people in these fields? Beyond Bach, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Degas, I really don't know who to study.

 

All this has to be appropriate for a 7 yo.

 

Thanks,

Gwen

[Kfamily]

Ambleside Online would have some great suggestions. Each year would have poetry suggestions and for art and music just click on those categories.

 

http://www.amblesideonline.com

[MissKNG]

This fall we are going to listen to a 'composer of the month' starting with German composers because my heritage is largely German. So maybe select based on your heritage to start. It makes it more meaningful imo.

[helena]

For composers I would base it around these wonderful (and cheap) cds:http://www.amazon.com/Story-Beethoven-Ludwig-van/dp/B000001KCZ/ref=pd_sim_m_29. I would change a photo and name card onto our bulletin board each month, listen to cds, and find library books. (I've been thinking about doing this :)).

 

For poets, we already do the casual monthly poet thing, and it's worked out very well. Some of their favorites are:

Rachel Field

Robert Frost

Robert Lewis Stevenson

Lewis Carrol

Basho

Christina G Rossetti

Margaret Wise Brown

Beatrice Schenk de Regniers

Shel Silverstein

AA Milne

Joyce Kilmer

and many more..

Some books that we've loved (and found age appropriate poems):

http://www.amazon.com/Random-House-Book-Poetry-Children/dp/0394850106/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1279075188&sr=1-1

http://www.amazon.com/Poetry-Speaks-Children-Book-Read/dp/1402203292/ref=pd_sim_b_12

http://www.amazon.com/Family-Poems-Favorite-Poetry-Children/dp/0786851112/ref=pd_sim_b_1

The entire Poetry for Young People series

 

Two of my personal favorites to read with my girls are:

Keep Climbing Girls

http://www.amazon.com/Keep-Climbing-Girls-Beah-Richards/dp/1416902643

and

Woman's Work by Maya Angelou

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/woman-work/

 

Artist study.. I'm interested and all ears! :bigear:

 

:)

[Lostinabook]

We use the rotations from Ambleside Online.

 

eta: My kids also each have a copy of Poetry Speaks to Children. I bought one for ds for his birthday one year & dd liked it so much she asked for a copy for her bday. Dd also has a copy of Where the Sidewalk Ends that she reads over & over again. It came w/a cd of Silverstein reading a few of the poems. I know this isn't exactly what you're looking for, but these have really sparked a love of poetry in my children.

Edited July 14, 2010 by Lostinabook

[Guest mrsjamiesouth]

I'm planning on studying a different composer, artist, and poet every four weeks this year. Nothing too in depth, but just reading poetry by that poet, listening to that composer, and looking at art by a certain artist. My problem is that I'm not sure who to study.

 

Who would you consider important people in these fields? Beyond Bach, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Degas, I really don't know who to study.

 

All this has to be appropriate for a 7 yo.

 

Thanks,

Gwen

 

 

We are using Stories of Great Composers. It is a workbook with a CD. You read 2 pages about the Composer and then listen to his music.

 

For Poetry, Scholastic has a set of Poetry for Young People.

[kalanamak]

These are perfect for a 7 year old:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Music-Masters-Composer-Biographies-Records/lm/3H8EHSTQZYXOS

The What Makes A....is perfect, too:

 

http://www.amazon.com/What-Makes-Van-Gogh/dp/0670851981

 

Look at the other titles.

 

We are also doing ALL of the Venezia "Getting to Know", including the DVDs we got cheap or at the library:

 

http://www.mikevenezia.com/mikevenezia/

 

For poetry we look at children's books, such as Poetry Speaks to Children, and just go for the ones that are meaningful for kiddo. Stevenson, Milne, Silverstein and this book:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Scranimals-Jack-Prelutsky/dp/0688178197

 

is FULL of plays on words that really appeal to kids.

 

HTH

[Nestof3]

I love reading picture books and short chapter books to my boys about artists and composers. I have kept a list for some:

 

They are on the left-hand side bar of my blog. I have lists of books and videos for that age group on:

 

Artists

Van Gogh

Renaissance artists

Baroque artists

 

Composers

Baroque composers

 

Also, here is my Monet list:

 

Katie Meets the Impressionists

The Magical Garden of Claude Monet

Monet -- Getting to Know the World's Artists

A Picnic with Monet

Linnea in Monet's Garden: video

A Blue Butterfly: A Story about Claude Monet

Claude Monet: Sunshine and Waterlillies

A Walk in Monet's Garden

Painted Tales – Volume 1 (Umesh Shukla): video

Each imaginative tale stars a painter set within some of their most recognizable masterpieces. "In winter still" tells the story of Claude Monet and his enchanted garden at Giverny. When children are banned from playing in the garden, only a remarkable little boy can warm life back into Monet's garden paradise.

 

And Beethoven:

Ludwig Beethoven and Chiming Tower Bells (Opal Wheeler) set of book, study guide and listening CDs from Rainbow Resource

 

Beethoven Lives Upstairs: Video

The 39 Apartments of Ludwig Van Beethoven: Book

The Heroic Symphony(Anna Harwell Celenza): Book and CD

Classical Kids – The Best of Beethoven (Children’s Group): CD

Animated Hero Classics: Beethoven DVD

[ABQmom]

I love reading picture books and short chapter books to my boys about artists and composers. I have kept a list for some:

 

They are on the left-hand side bar of my blog. I have lists of books and videos for that age group on:

 

Artists

Van Gogh

Renaissance artists

Baroque artists

 

Composers

Baroque composers

 

Also, here is my Monet list:

 

Katie Meets the Impressionists

The Magical Garden of Claude Monet

Monet -- Getting to Know the World's Artists

A Picnic with Monet

Linnea in Monet's Garden: video

A Blue Butterfly: A Story about Claude Monet

Claude Monet: Sunshine and Waterlillies

A Walk in Monet's Garden

Painted Tales – Volume 1 (Umesh Shukla): video

Each imaginative tale stars a painter set within some of their most recognizable masterpieces. "In winter still" tells the story of Claude Monet and his enchanted garden at Giverny. When children are banned from playing in the garden, only a remarkable little boy can warm life back into Monet's garden paradise.

 

And Beethoven:

Ludwig Beethoven and Chiming Tower Bells (Opal Wheeler) set of book, study guide and listening CDs from Rainbow Resource

 

Beethoven Lives Upstairs: Video

The 39 Apartments of Ludwig Van Beethoven: Book

 

The Heroic Symphony(Anna Harwell Celenza): Book and CD

 

Classical Kids – The Best of Beethoven (Children’s Group): CD

 

Animated Hero Classics: Beethoven DVD

 

Great list! Off to check out your blog...

[Kirch]

For composers, I'd start with Bach, Handel, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Verdi (if you want to touch on opera), Debussy, Tchaikovsky, and Aaron Copland.

 

It would be really cool (if more complicated!) to study a contemporary poet and artist for each composer. For example, when you study Debussy, you could also study Monet and Emily Dickinson.

 

Hmmm . . . I'm feeling inspired. Don't know if I have the time right now, though!

[....]

We recently did a series of unit studies like this. The big hits with the 8 yro were Kandinsky, Mondrian Art (and she did her own Mondrian project), Mozart (mostly Marriage of Figaro that she liked) and for poetry last year, we just worked through Music of the Hemispheres by Fireworks Press.

[Mallory]

If you are like me you spend so much time worring that you aren't going to teach the "right" artists or you'll miss somthing so that it rarely gets done at all.

 

It doesn't matter who you teach. If they know the "important" names great, if they know an obscure name that they love that is great too. In fact just going by what kind of books/CDs/DVDs your library has might work the best. Or if it is a good library, then picking books that catch your fancy.

 

We are going to study the 34 artists in Art Fraud Dectective this year then spend the last week or two of school solving the book!

[toddandleah]

I like to coordinate poetry/art/composer studies with history. Which of course will be difficult if you're studying ancient civilizations :) There's a book called Discovering Great Artists, that has art activities for kids in the styles of great artists, starting in the Renaissance period through modern times. Others have made some great recommendations for music/composer study. For our border trips, we load up the kids' mp3 players with all kinds of classical music from all periods, oratorios (Messiah), some opera, books on tape etc. In fact, I found an Opera for Kids, which has well-known arias that have been translated into english. I think this has been helpful for them to know what they're singing about without spoiling the musical integrity.

 

I would also recommend staying away from those classical music CDs that add lyrics to great works with the idea that this will get children interested in classical music. I have the same complaint with the Little Einstein television show. IMHO, when your kid is 30 and can't hear Beethoven's 5th without singing about Beethoven's wig, well, it's sort of ruined now isn't it?

 

Just some thoughts,

leah

[momto2Cs]

I love reading picture books and short chapter books to my boys about artists and composers. I have kept a list for some:

 

They are on the left-hand side bar of my blog. I have lists of books and videos for that age group on:

 

Artists

Van Gogh

Renaissance artists

Baroque artists

 

Composers

Baroque composers

 

Also, here is my Monet list:

 

Katie Meets the Impressionists

The Magical Garden of Claude Monet

Monet -- Getting to Know the World's Artists

A Picnic with Monet

Linnea in Monet's Garden: video

A Blue Butterfly: A Story about Claude Monet

Claude Monet: Sunshine and Waterlillies

A Walk in Monet's Garden

Painted Tales – Volume 1 (Umesh Shukla): video

Each imaginative tale stars a painter set within some of their most recognizable masterpieces. "In winter still" tells the story of Claude Monet and his enchanted garden at Giverny. When children are banned from playing in the garden, only a remarkable little boy can warm life back into Monet's garden paradise.

 

And Beethoven:

Ludwig Beethoven and Chiming Tower Bells (Opal Wheeler) set of book, study guide and listening CDs from Rainbow Resource

 

Beethoven Lives Upstairs: Video

 

The 39 Apartments of Ludwig Van Beethoven: Book

 

The Heroic Symphony(Anna Harwell Celenza): Book and CD

 

Classical Kids – The Best of Beethoven (Children’s Group): CD

 

Animated Hero Classics: Beethoven DVD

 

 

I also have an unsorted list of books on my blog... Music & Art Books

[MamaAkins]

Any suggestions on artists/composers that would fit well with our Middle Ages/Medieval/Renaissance studies this year?

[toddandleah]

Music of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance utilized the forms of chant (think Gregorian chant) which is monophonic - it has just a single voice, Organum introduced polyphonic music - an accompaniment to the single melody. Look also for Motets. These forms (plainchant, organum, and motet) are all liturgical/sacred. The Renaissance gave rise to the Madrigal (secular). Instrumental music, dance and canon forms are popular.

 

The links below gives a good summary. If you scroll down you'll find a list of composers and time lines.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_of_the_Middle_Ages

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renaissance_music

 

leah

[Nestof3]

Any suggestions on artists/composers that would fit well with our Middle Ages/Medieval/Renaissance studies this year?

 

Here is our Renaissance Artists list:

 

http://www.keepandshare.com/doc/1553873/ren-artists-pdf-november-20-2009-9-24-am-39k?da=y

[Nestof3]

I also highly recommend Secret World of Hildegard for the Middle Ages:

http://www.amazon.com/Secret-World-Hildegard-Jonah-Winter/dp/0439507391/ref=sr_1_14?ie=UTF8&qid=1279129430&sr=8-14-spell

 

and find some music from your library that she composed.

 

I also just bought this fantastic book, A Day with a Troubadour by Regine Pernoud from my library bookstore.

http://www.amazon.com/Day-Troubadour-Regine-Pernoud/dp/0822519151/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1279137448&sr=8-2

 

We also started listening to Song of the Unicorn (Classical Kids story and music) today and are enjoying it.

http://www.amazon.com/Song-Unicorn-Various-Artists/dp/B00001SIBJ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1279137399&sr=8-1

Edited July 14, 2010 by nestof3

[GoVanGogh]

I live between two large cities with numerous art galleries. I always do our artist study around whatever is currently on exhibit. We read a a book or two on the artist prior to visiting, then I let my child get a few postcards or small prints of his favorite pieces. We take those home to study further.

Most galleries have either free or half price days. Many also offer guided tours for school groups, homeschoolers included.

 

I recently bought Handle on the Arts, but haven't started it yet.

http://www.handleonthearts.com/

[mcconnellboys]

Here are two online studies that might give you some ideas. One is for music appreciation and the other for art:

 

http://www.classicsforkids.com/

 

http://gardenofpraise.com/art.htm

[NanceXToo]

For composers, you can go to this site:

 

http://www.makingmusicfun.net/

 

Which is FREE, by the way :)

 

Scroll down to "Meet The Composer" under "Music Library" and that link will bring up a list of composers, by era. And when you click on each of their names, it will give you a "mini bio" that you can read with your child.

 

It will then give you suggestions of which song/s to listen to of theirs, which you do on Youtube. Also free. :)

 

Sometimes they even include printable worksheets (coloring pages, word searches, and so on).

 

I did that with my fourth grade daughter for "Music class" last year. Each week we did a different composer and listened to their music on Youtube.

 

If you wanted to go more in depth with some of them, I'm sure you can find kid's books on some of the more 'famous' composers at your library.

[Gwenny]

Thanks for all the great replies and links! I've now got my artists picked out. I went to the library website and picked out the artists that had the Getting To Know books and videos to go with them. I'll do the same for composers next and possibly get the CD's someone linked.

 

I'm finding it hardest to find books about poets. Langston Hughes is the only one so far that I have found a children's book about. Though I still have a bit a research to do. There also don't seem to be a lot of books of only one poet's poetry. I'll have to pick them out of several books.

 

Gwen

[mcconnellboys]

I have a children's book on Walt Whitman, so I know there's one for him, too.....

[helena]

Thanks for all the great replies and links! I've now got my artists picked out. I went to the library website and picked out the artists that had the Getting To Know books and videos to go with them. I'll do the same for composers next and possibly get the CD's someone linked.

 

I'm finding it hardest to find books about poets. Langston Hughes is the only one so far that I have found a children's book about. Though I still have a bit a research to do. There also don't seem to be a lot of books of only one poet's poetry. I'll have to pick them out of several books.

 

Gwen

 

Did you see the Poetry for Young People series? Each book covers one poet, give a little bio, and a little insight to each poem.

[Gwenny]

Did you see the Poetry for Young People series? Each book covers one poet, give a little bio, and a little insight to each poem.

 

 

I just found that my library has a bunch of these! I'll just pick the 9 I have heard of the most and go from there. I love the library!

Gwen

[Irishmommy]

Did you see the Poetry for Young People series? Each book covers one poet, give a little bio, and a little insight to each poem.

 

Thanks for this, I think my library has enough for me to do at least one poet every two to three weeks!

[Nestof3]

Thanks for this, I think my library has enough for me to do at least one poet every two to three weeks!

 

:iagree: Thanks! My library has 15 in the series.

[EmilyK]

This whole thread has been really helpful.

[woolybear]

Barb at http://harmonyartmom.blogspot.com has lots of wonderful suggestions.

[AudreyTN]

We're doing 6 week chunks. The first 4 artists I chose were the Ninja Turtles. :) (Michealangelo, Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael) EVERY TIME the boys watch the movie or see anything about the Ninja Turtles they ask me about their names... so that's where we're going to start. :)

 

As far as music goes, the first 6 weeks we are going to have an introduction to the Orchestra using Peter and the Wolf to help identify the different instruments. After that, we've got: Elvis Presley, Handel, Louis Armstrong, Mozart (or Bach, I can't remember), and Johnny Cash. I tried to alternate between "classical" music and something a little more contemporary.

[ABQmom]

Great thread! Can anyone offer some insight on how to schedule these things into your day? We've done it all at one time or another, but I'm not good at keeping up with it--I never know where to fit it in.

[kalanamak]

Great thread! Can anyone offer some insight on how to schedule these things into your day? We've done it all at one time or another, but I'm not good at keeping up with it--I never know where to fit it in.

 

I stick the Mike Venezia books in between our LA stretch and our math stretch, often with a fig bar eaten while I read.

 

The Vox music masters I started in the car when kiddo was 3, and now he listens to them while he colors his Dover historical coloring books in the evening.

 

We play Go Fish the The Art Game cards here and there.

[helena]

Great thread! Can anyone offer some insight on how to schedule these things into your day? We've done it all at one time or another, but I'm not good at keeping up with it--I never know where to fit it in.

 

We start our mornings with poetry, I call them into class and it's the first thing out of my mouth. Sometimes we just do a quick read through of our "poem of the month", other days we really get into it. I think it helps everyone calm down and start focusing on the school day.

 

Vox cds we do in the car while driving to classes

[jpklehm]

This is a wonderful thread. I was considering doing this, too, but was trying to figure out how to do it with an almost 13 yo and a 7 yo. My difficulty was trying to fit it into their day when they have such different school schedules.

 

I now have more names and books to add to my list so maybe it's as easy as planning it right before or right after lunch... I have to remember not to make things harder than they are! :)

 

Pam

[Beth in SW WA]

Just a quick shout-out for ArtPuzzleHD and ArtAuthority on the iPad. We look at these daily. Not as a formal art time, but just because the photos of the paintings/sculptures are beautiful. My girls love these apps (and they don't even know they're learning).:001_smile:

[KrissiK]

I ordered Harmony Fine Arts for the first time this year and it looks really good. She has music and art spelled out for you in several different options depending on what you're looking for and I'm really excited about starting it. Of course, it's something I could have planned out myself, but it would have taken a lot of time. She follows the 4 year history rotation, so if you're doing that, you will study the art and composers that correspond with the period in history you are at. Of course, since we're doing year one we are not studying ancient Egyptian art, but we're doing an overview of the "most famous". For example, this year the kids will study Beethoven, Bach, Tchaikovsky, etc. in music and in art they will study Renoir, Picasso, Cassat, O'Keefe, etc. It looks good to me and the materials were pretty easy to assemble. I will also be adding a applied art and music component using Drawing with Children and attempting to teach my boys beginning music theory and how to play "Row Row Row your boat" on the Recorder!:D

[Gwenny]

I'm not scheduling the artist/composer/poet study into the day, but instead I have a check-off list on the side of that week's planner. We do a lot of read alouds anyway, so I'm just going to mix these into those. As I read one, I check it off the list. Near the end of the week, I look to see if I need to read one the books. I figure if I read some books each week about each of these subjects, we will at least be a little familiar with their work. The composers we will listen to on our drive to piano and at bedtime.

 

I fear that if I make it a "subject" to be studied, my daughter will come to hate it as she does all school. This way, it's just slipped it there without notice.

 

This is what I put on the side of the planner:

Artist-Cassat

Poet-Longfellow

Composer-Bach

I just put a check mark beside it when I've read/listened about them.

 

When my daughter was in K, we did this with artists and it worked well. Last year I failed to plan who to study and when, and never got around to doing it.

 

Gwen

[kalanamak]

I stick the Mike Venezia books in between our LA stretch and our math stretch, often with a fig bar eaten while I read.

 

 

I forgot to add: look for his videos at the library. Once you've watched a couple, you can add hammed-up accents to your readings of the books. This means I can easily get 5 readings in, as there is a lot of info for a little guy to absorb, but he doesn't get bored because of the hammy accent.

 

The theme to the vids can be heard here:

 

http://www.strangefire.com/kiki/www/lyrics.htm

and this has helped kiddo with mere names. When we bump into one in the rest of the world, he perks right up, because he knows that name from the ditty. We sing it in the car, too.

[kalanamak]

This way, it's just slipped it there without notice.

 

 

 

:iagree: Isn't that what teaching art appreciation is all about? So that we have the above in our adult life?

[ABQmom]

I forgot to add: look for his videos at the library. Once you've watched a couple, you can add hammed-up accents to your readings of the books. This means I can easily get 5 readings in, as there is a lot of info for a little guy to absorb, but he doesn't get bored because of the hammy accent.

 

The theme to the vids can be heard here:

 

http://www.strangefire.com/kiki/www/lyrics.htm

and this has helped kiddo with mere names. When we bump into one in the rest of the world, he perks right up, because he knows that name from the ditty. We sing it in the car, too.

 

I didn't know there were videos! Thanks.

[KellyT01]

There's also the Classics for Kids stories on CD (Beethoven Lives Upstairs, Vivaldi's Ring of Mystery, etc) that you can probably find at your local library. They're basically an interpretation of events that could have happened in the composer's life that are acted out with many of the compositions playing in the background. DD loves listening to them. We usually do some biography study on the composer, listen to the Classics for kids podcast, listen to some of the more well known pieces, and listen to the classics CD if there is one. We are studying one period at a time (baroque is this year) using the timeline on the classics for kids website.

 

Another great resource is the Beethoven's Wig CD's which have funny songs written to go along with a composition. They're pretty amusing and it has definitely helped my kiddos remember the pieces and the composer.