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Composer Study for Kindergarteners?
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This is our first term of actually doing some CM curriculum, beyond read alouds and low-key nature walks. I’m wondering how people do music study / composers with kindergarten age kids. In the spring, I randomly selected Bach and played it as background music when they were doing art or building with blocks, etc. They actually really liked it and would even ask to hear it when it wasn’t on. (5YO and 2YO) I’m wondering if we should be a little more “formal” this fall.
I saw that AO has selected Haydn as the composer for this fall, and this morning we listened to the first selection while I was making breakfast, and they seemed to enjoy it. Should I add in some biographical information about him? A geography or history lesson? Something for her to color? I am just not sure how formal to get at this point. Thanks!
We LOVE the Beethoven Lives Upstairs audio (along with all the other composer stories that company does). You hear a great story of the composer’s life along with musical selections which really helps me be able to remember who wrote that great song I’m hearing and I know but before, just couldn’t remember if it is Mozart or Beethoven or Bach!
We always read biographies. Actually I’ve selected our artists/composers almost entirely on the availability of great biographies bc for me, knowing about the person makes the it more memorable. Just listening to music is rather like hearing it in the bank but not knowing enough about it to really ‘know’ it.
Enjoy!
shannon
Bios are not necessary but can be a great addition. If you have access to the composer bios written by Opal Wheeler, those are excellent. They have been reprinted so should be easy to find. The main thing, of course, is just to enjoy the music. We almost always read a biography. Just don’t feel like you’re missing the boat if you can’t.
As the children were growing we just listened to the music. Now that they are 11 and 15 I am just now adding SHORT bios (ala Mike Venezia) and a short reading in Spiritual Lives of the Great Composers. For now I would just say enjoy the music and ask them what they think about when they hear it (narration).
Another thing I wanted to add, is to check your local symphony orchestra ( if you have one). Ours (VSO), does a few children’s performances throughout the year. This year we’re going to see Le Carnaval Des Animaux, and they invite the children an hour early to explore all the instruments and ask questions. So we’re going to be listening to this beforehand and reading a short biography, and this piece has a few children’s books made to follow along, so we’ve gotten one of those too. I agree with the others though, that the most important thing is to just be enjoying the music.
Rachel
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