Jump to content

Menu

Classical music curriculum for K/1st?


IceFairy
 Share

Recommended Posts

Maybe start with simply playing the same piece each day during quiet time for a week. Ambleside online has a music rotation posted.

 

Take your child to free concerts (starting with short ones) in your area. Local Universities are the best for having free concerts.

 

Piano lessons.

 

Go to utube and find things along these lines:

and watch one a week.

 

Most libraries have music to loan- do a rotation of your own and play pieces in the car on a regular basis.

 

There are also a lot of recordings specifically for kids, to teach them about a composer or a time period- some are horrible but some are a lot of fun and libraries usually have them too.

 

I have Peter and the Wolf http://www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/shows/peterandwolf/index.html on my ipod- I can't tell you how many times my children have watched this film while in waiting rooms or on trips.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Oh, and I forgot, you can find almost any opera on podcasts plus transcripts of the opera online.

 

I asked my 18 yo once how on earth she knew so much about music and music history and she looked at me like I had lost my mind- because I had done most of the things I listed above off and on over the years and never considered it a "curriculum" but the cumulative effect of years of music being in her life had taught her more than I realized.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We keep a lot of music on in the background and I know that the kids are becoming more and more familiar with many pieces. We have the Classical Baby DVDs and our 5.5 year old loves pointing out a "baby movie" piece when it comes on our Pandora classical station. He makes connections pretty easily, too. For instance, we watched Beauty and the Beast for the first time a few months ago and as soon as he heard the theme, he said, "this sounds just like 'Aquarium,'" which is the name of the Classical Baby piece with Carnival of the Animals (which inspired the B&B theme).

 

We play our Pandora classical station during dinner, during baths, during coloring time, Lego time... pretty much anything where the kids are working with their hands and can let their minds wander.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We play streaming music from different NPR programs. Classical New England has had a lot for Bach this month, so we add in a few library books about Bach, for example.

 

I often use the music as background for when I'm reading to some of the children while the others play, or if I'm trying to calm everyone (including me!) down. Bach, unfortunately, is too busy to be calming for me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Little Einsteins. :p

(Actually, it's not that bad, but geared toward the preschool audience.)

 

 

It is a bit young for a 5-6yo,, but my kids (4.5 & 5.5) still enjoy watching it AND they have learned quite a bit of music & musical fundamentals from the show. I have always encouraged them to "participate" (yell out when the characters ask questions etc.), and through it they have learned rhythm, instruments & their sounds, dynamics, tempo, terminology, composers, and the music itself. When we started some private MusikGarten type lessons, they were already ahead of the game.

 

When I put a classical piece on in the car, my son lights up and says, "Little Einsteins music!" then we have fun with them trying to guess the composer (they don't have the combinations memorized -- yet -- but they do know a lot of names!)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...