Orchestra & Famous Composers : Half a Hundred Acre Wood

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Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens
Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens
Woodwinds and Brass and Percussion and Strings,
These are a few of my favorite things!

Once upon a time, I played flute, piccolo, bass drum, cymbals and baritone (but… not all at the same time).

In high school, I placed my flute on a shelf to collect years of dust and walked away from a God-given talent, mainly because I never developed a love of the music I played. In the midst of playing solos and ensembles, memorizing many pieces, and leading an entire section of instruments, I had never actually studied classical music or composers. I never appreciated the music I played. I never enjoyed it. Even when I played solos with band accompaniments, I could not tell you anything about a composer or even recognize a piece (except Stars & Stripes Forever). That was two decades ago (TWO DECADES?!?!?). And yet I have thought back longingly to those moments when conductor unified chaos. (Really, I wish I could raise my hands and conduct my home in such a way.)

And so now we return to the formal study of such things. I personally have come to appreciate this aspect of Fine Arts more in the past year, albeit through The Nutcracker and Disney’s Little Einsteins. (If you’re like me and want an easy way to incorporate Fine Arts into your home, visit Wikipedia’s List of Little Einsteins Episodes for a list of Little Einstein’s episodes along with each art/music focus and then go to this list to find out which episodes are on which DVD. Last year prior to our official composer study, our boys already knew the names “Stravinsky” and “Tchaikovsky” and were familiar with their music due to Disney’s Little Einsteins, specifically, Rocket’s Firebird Rescue (Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite) and Christmas Wish (Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite).) And despite the fact that I ran away from this classical music stuff at one time, now I look forward to it. It’s fun! (I now love taking the boys to the Symphony!)

The main thing for composer study is to simply listen to the music to become familiar with the composer’s sound and style, and to learn the vocabulary. You can supplement with biographies and notebooking pages, or coloring pages, or let your child draw or scribble, but the most important thing is to listen to the music and gain a basic understanding of classical music!

Towards the bottom of this post, you’ll find a list of the resources we’ve found, but before I get to that point, here’s my filtered, less intimidating list of things we might use this semester (ha! This one looks intimidating, too, but so you know, it’s not intended for you to use all of this stuff! Find one or two things you’d like to use, but mostly just try to listen to the music of each composer. If you come across broken links, please let me know.)

Did you know? Our Mission: Great Commission curriculum series incorporates a study of the Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and Modern Eras over a three year period, as well as famous composers from each time period along with a study of each section of the orchestra using the book A Child’s Introduction to the Orchestra.

A Child’s Introduction to the Orchestra

Enjoy learning about famous composers and the sections of the orchestra! In A Child’s Introduction to the Orchestra, children are encouraged to listen and learn as they are introduced to some of the most powerful compositions from the greatest composers from from the Baroque to Modern Era. Students learn about composers through memorable anecdotes, and they discover the inspiration behind musical masterpieces. As they learn about each instrument of the orchestra, they hear the sound of the actual instrument featured in a specially-selected composition. Students listen to musical examples by downloading audio tracks available at a link provided in the book. Also included is a removable poster of instruments and their location within an orchestral seating chart. This resource is used in our Mission: World Wonders, Mission: Faith Forgers, and Mission: Lasting Liberty curriculum.

Suggested grades: Elementary through Middle School
Price: $19.99
Format: Hardcover book with dust cover. A link to download digital music corresponding to text.

Because of the enormous amount of time it takes for me to research in compiling these link lists, I ask that you do not copy and paste the links in other documents, websites, or emails, but instead send people to this webpage. Thank you for honoring this request!

As a parent…

These are the resources that I find helpful to introduce children to the orchestra and classical music. Our most favorite classical music and composer study was this Hands-On History Activity Pak: Composers by Homeschool in the Woods. For a detailed review of this fantastic resource, click here.

Videos:
Let’s Go to the Symphony Video
George Meets the Orchestra
The Orchestra Song
The King’s Singers Singing Famous Composers’ names in they style of the Composer
The Story of Great Music: Free lessons on the Renaissance and Early Baroque Era
Meet the Instruments Study. For a review of this resource, click here.

Printable Activities:
A study of Prokofiev and Peter and the Wolf
Famous Composer Notebooking Pages
Activities, Resources and Lesson Plans from the Dallas Symphony Orchestra
Famous Musician Resources from Practical Pages
Composer of the Month wall chart
Orchestra Lapbook
Orchestra Teaching Resources/Printables
Free SQUILT Lessons to practice music appreciation. Also available for purchase is the fantastic SQUILT Meet the Instrument Study.
Click here to read a review.
Orchestra Lapbook
Very fun interactive Classical Music & Composer Study, including classical music audios, composer timeline, instrument seating charts, and much more!

See additional orchestra and symphony websites for kids or interactives listed at the bottom of this post. You can also try out two free lessons on The Renaissance and The Early Baroque Era from The Story of Great Music.

As a tutor or co-op teacher…

I find some of the resources below helpful for introducing a group of children to the orchestra, instrument families, and/or composers.

Classical Conversations Orchestra MP3 Song (Free Public Library – CC Connected)
Orchestra Seating Charts (Printable)
Musical Instrument Bingo & Flashcards

Coloring Sheets:

Instrument Coloring Book
My Musical Instrument Book and Activity Pages
Composer Coloring Pages

Classical Composers Notebooking Pages

Feel free to use our composer notebooking pages from our fine arts notebooking packets!

The following image is from our Impressionists & Classical/Romantic Era packet, just to show you what the composer pages look like.

Each composer page includes a place to write something about the composer or the music at the top, and a section along the bottom to draw as you listen.

Listening Flowcharts

Sometimes it can be easier to listen for specific parts of an orchestral piece by using a listening guide or flowchart. We’ve put these together for Handel, Bach, and Mozart but do not have versions available for other composers.

Handel, Mozart, and Bach Flowcharts. We’ve put together three listening guide flowcharts for:

(Click on each link to download. Please do not upload these files on other websites or social media. To share with others, share a link to this webpage, not to the file itself. Thanks!) You can use the audio CD from Classical Music for Dummies to listen to these orchestral pieces.

Handel, Bach, Mozart Resources (Cycle 1)

Composers Biographies, Printables, and Resources

The Story of Great Music: Free lessons on the Renaissance and Early Baroque Era
SQUILT Spotlight on Composers Handel, Bach, and Mozart
Renaissance & Baroque Era Fine Arts Notebooking Packet
Music Lapbook. For corresponding book, click here. For a video read-aloud of this book, click here.
Bach Lapbook
Learn about Handel
Learn about Handel’s Water Music
Handel Activity Sheet
Bach Coloring Page
Getting to know Bach
Let’s Go Mozart pdf book – includes biography and so much more!
A-BACH-cadbra pdf book
Mozart Composer Study Resources & Printables
Bach Composer Study Resources & Printables
Handel Composer Study Resources & Printables
Mozart Lesson Plan

Music
Classical Conversations Orchestra MP3 Song (Free Public Library – CC Connected)
Musopen: offers free Classical Music MP3s and Classical Composer Bios
Free Bach MP3s(and info)
Free Mozart MP3s
Handel Water Music MP3 or streaming audio
Mozart Piano Concerto No. 22 in E-Flat video

Beethoven, Brahms, & Dvorak Resources (Cycle 2)

Composers Biographies, Printables, and Resources

Classical Era Fine Arts Notebooking Packet
Beethoven Interactive Google Doodle (fun!)
Getting to know Beethoven
Getting to know Dvorak
Beethoven Unit Study & Lapbook
Dvorak Coloring Page
Beethoven: The Story of a Little Boy Who Was Forced to Practice (Booklet with Q&A)
Beethoven Lesson Plan
Learn about Beethoven Page

Music

Classical Conversations Orchestra MP3 Song (Free Public Library – CC Connected)
Musopen: offers free Classical Music MP3s and Classical Composer Bios
Free Beethoven MP3s
Free Brahms MP3s
Dvorak Cello Concerto MP3
Dvorak Symphony No. 8 MP3
Dvorak Symphony No. 9 MP3

Tchaikovsky, Debussy, & Stravinsky Resources (Cycle 3)

Nutcracker Art Tutorial
Modern Era Fine Arts Notebooking Packet
Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6 (Pathetique) Video Performance {~45 minutes long}
Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6 Fourth Movement Video Performance
Tchaikovsky Coloring Page
Debussy La Mer: Dialogue du Vent et de la Mer Video Performance
Debussy Coloring Page
Debussy’s La Mer with Score
Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring Video Performance
Stravinsky Coloring Page
Stravinsky Lesson Plan

Music

Classical Conversations Orchestra MP3 Song (Free Public Library – CC Connected)
Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring (Le Sacre Du Printemps)
Free Tchaikovsky MP3s (and info)
Free Debussy MP3s (and info)
Free Stravinsky MP3s (and info)

Orchestra & Famous Composers Extension activities

Here’s our great-big-ole bunch of resources for studying the orchestra instrument families or famous composers. This is the Orchestra Study Buffet: pick and choose something to do until you’ve had your fill. Happy music-making!

Orchestra Printables
Composer of the Month wall chart
Famous Musicians Biography Notebooking Pages and Music Appreciation Log Sheets
A study of Prokofiev and Peter and the Wolf
Graphical Timeline of Composers (more exhaustive list with no Timeline figures)
Music Worksheets
Instrument Coloring Book
Instrument Mini-book Lapbook components
Homeschool Helper Orchestra Lapbook
Orchestra Seating Charts (Printable)
Melody Lap-n-Note Lapbook
My Musical Instrument & My Classical Music Book
World’s Great Men of Music by Harriette Brower
Classical Music & Composer Study ($)
SQUILT Meet the Instruments Flashcards ($)