Music

[bbrandonsmom]

What do you do for music? Do your kids take lessons? Do you go to group classes-something like Music Together or Kindermusic for the little ones? Do you just play different types of music in the house and have instruments around?

[Dmmetler]

My 1st grader does the second year of Kindermusik for the Young Child, plus piano with mommy. Next year, I hope to find some sort of group music class-maybe a choir, and we'll continue with piano, music theory, and music history at home.

[patchfire]

My kindergartner gets exposure to basic music theory, the recorder, and some history through a homeschool enrichment program he & his sister both attend (Master's Academy for the Fine Arts). At home, we listen to Classics for Kids each week - usually one artist from the backlogs, and at the end of each month, we listen to the podcasts from that month.

 

Next year, I plan to get the at home kit for Music for Little Mozarts, and start him on piano lessons in second grade - he'll be seven and a half at that point. I will keep music history informal throughout grammar stage. I will probably do the fifth grade WTM recommendations during the latter half of fourth grade - hindsight is 20/20. :)

 

My fifth grader also attends MAFA, as well as taking piano lessons & trumpet lessons. She participates in a homeschool band. She's covering music history and world music in a much more systematic way - we used the WTM recommendations for fifth grade music appreciation at the beginning of the year, and now she's using The Complete Idiot's Guide to Music History (though she hates the title!).

 

We do keep various instruments around the house - xylophones, recorders, drums - and we have a piano.

[musicmommy]

All three of our boys study piano with me. They each need to pick one other instrument also. Ds 10 is taking guitar lessons and ds 8 is working on trumpet. He is also participating in a homeschool/private school band that I am conducting. Ds 6 is just waiting to get a drum set and also wants to work on clarinet.

 

We have a composer of the month that we study about. I have a poster I put up and we have various activities while listening to their music. The composer of the month was a part of my private lessons.

 

I also have put together a music theory type of program that we do two days a week.

 

We figured we need to take advantage of the fact that I hold a degree in music education. :)

[Snowfall]

DD is in 1st grade. We use the Pfeiffer House music curriculum, she takes piano lessons, and she does Kindermusik one session a year. (This will be her last year for Kindermusik! *sniff, sniff*)

[johnandtinagilbert]

piano (Pianimals, then Alfred)

 

w/ the history time we're in, we listen to music of the period and read about famous people in the genre

 

Rod and Staff has a simple, easy to follow music curriculum.