Methodology
One way to do music with your child is to outsource music lessons. However, there are many other options as well. You can teach your child music notes and to read music with a simple xylophone.
Music appreciation comes from listening to music. Try playing classical music, or any other music you want your child to learn to appreciate, for at least an hour a week. If the music is instrumental, you could even combine this with an hour a week of art. When you introduce a new composer, tell your child whose music you are playing at the beginning of the lesson.
You can also tie music appreciation into history – study composers as they come up in the timeline of your history study. For the years where there aren’t many composers to study in history, you might focus on instruments in the orchestra and various musical forms instead.
Suggested Resources
Music Appreciation
- Classical Composers Series – 50 Best of Series (Albums of classical music)
- Rise of the Masters: 100 Supreme Classical Masterpeices Series (catchy excerpts from famous composers)
- Colouring Book of Great Composers – Bellerophan (includes biographical information)
- Stories of the Great Composers by June Montgomery and Maurice Hinson
- Classics for Kids podcast – features music plus biographical information
- Vox Music Masters (CDs with biographies of composers while music is playing)
Music Theory/Music
- What to Listen for in Music by Aaron Copland
- Elementary Music Theory: Note Speller by Mark Sarnecki
- Elementary Music Rudiments by Mark Sarnecki
- The Traditional Book of Folk Songs published by Excelsior Books