Composer study is one of the many fun things we do in our homeschool. For one school term, we get to know a composer’s music by listening closely to around 5 to 6 selected pieces. We enjoy the music, and watch out for patterns, instruments, and feelings that it might evoke.
I usually just follow the composer study planned out over at Ambleside Online (AO), while Sanne makes her own playlist. She also looks at the recommendations from AO, but also includes composers that they are familiar with, either from her music lesson pieces, ballet recital numbers (pre-pandemic times), musicals that they’re watching or listening to.
Planning
At the start of every school year, I would already gather our materials – biographies, images, digital books (if any), music files, and other resources – for the whole year.
I learned, after a number of terms doing it, that it would be better for me to print and download all the materials we would need for the school year, and not for just one term. Hence, my playlist for the year is always laid out already.
I also print out an image of our composer for the term and display it in our schoolroom. And of course, I research on our composers and make sure to tell my children about them.
A Handy Book of Biographies
A book about some of the most well-known composers will be handy in any homeschool.
Thomas Tapper’s series, A Child’s Own Book of Great Musicians, is compiled in this compendium. For the youngest students (ages 5 to 8), read aloud or for independent reading. You can use it as a quick reference guide (or a quick read aloud) for the whole family’s composer study.
Now available at the TLB Book Shop, you can read about the lives of Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, Grieg, Handel, Haydn, Liszt, Schubert, Schumann, Verdi, and Wagner in this edition.
Playlists for you
We created these YouTube playlists to go along with the composers featured in this book. Click for 6 or more works by each composer. Enjoy your composer study!
