How To Design your Own Composer Study Using Classics For Kids

Classics For Kids is my absolute favorite resource for classical music composer study.

The Activity Sheets are full of great info about the composers, as well as activities.

Combine the Activity Sheets with the Podcasts (there are four podcasts for most of the composers), add a few YouTube videos, and you have a complete composer study!

How To Design your Own Composer Study Using Classics For Kids:
Step 1
~First decide which composers you will be studying for the year. (We will be studying 9 composers this year. There will be more to come on the composers we're studying in another post.)
~Print out the Activity Sheets for each composer selected.

Step 2
~Download all 4 Podcasts per composer.
~Create playlists in iTunes (or your favorite MP3 player software).
~Burn your playlist to a CD.

Step 3
~Visit YouTube and do a search for the composer.
~Select four to eight videos per composer. Try to select videos that contain the entire piece of music. (Note ~ When completing the weeks lessons; if you save more than four videos for a composer, watch two videos some weeks.)
~Add your selected pieces to your Favorites list.
~Create a Playlist for each composer and add the selected videos to it.

Step 4
Composer 1, Week 1
~Listen to the 1st Podcast about your selected composer at least once (more if your child enjoys it.)
~Watch/listen to the 1st YouTube video you saved to your composer Playlist.
~Complete the Activity Sheet to go along with your selected composer.

Composer 1, Week 2
~Listen to the 2nd Podcast about your selected composer at least once.
~Watch/listen to the 2nd YouTube video you saved to your composer Playlist.

Composer 1, Week 3
~Listen to the 3rd Podcast about your selected composer at least once.
~Watch/listen to the 3rd YouTube video you saved to your composer Playlist.

Composer 1, Week 4
~Listen to the 4th Podcast about your selected composer at least once.
~Watch/listen to the 4th YouTube video you saved to your composer Playlist.

Repeat for each composer.

The composers we will be studying for the early elementary years include:

Baroque Period
Antonio Vivaldi
George Frideric Handel
Johann Sebastian Bach

Classical Period
Franz Josef Haydn
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Ludwig van Beethoven

Romantic Period
Gioachino Rossini
Frederic Chopin
Johannes Brahms
Modest Mussorgsky
Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Antonin Dvorak
Edvard Grieg
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov

Modern Period
Scott Joplin
Sergei Prokofiev
George Gershwin
Aaron Copland