Music study – modern artists?

We do composer study as part of our CM go-op. You can see a list here at RCHA Scope and  Sequence.  John Williams is always a favorite because of familiarity. FInd other movie composers, too. Currently, we’re studying Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington and jazz. You can see the plans at the above link or here – http://www.charlottemasonincommunity.com/duke-ellington–louis-armstrong.html

I think the “Only Classical” music thing is not because only classical music is good, but in an attempt to only listen to the best, we listen to what has endured.  So, in our time, that will be different than in Charlotte Mason’s time.

These are “classical” but not classical composers: Gershwin, Bernstein,  I second John Williams (composer of movie scores) AND John Williams (the guitar player – classical guitar).  How about John Cage, for some odd and avante garde compositional techniques?  Or Arnold Schoenberg from some truly avante garde compositions  (hard to listen to, in my opinion, but fascinating!)  Claude Debussy – impressionist-type composer.

How about composers of scores for musicals? I’m thinking about Meredith Wilson (The Music Man) or Lerner and Lowe (My Fair Lady, I  think) or the Hammersteins (The Sound of Music).  Maybe Leroy Anderson? (a favorite of a couple generations ago – Grandfather’s Clock, Sleigh Ride, etc., all orchestral, but SO easy to listen to).

If you could stand it, you could do opera for a bit. *L*  Or, how about just the overtures to go along with the operas, that’d be easier.

I know, operettas!  Gilbert and Sullivan – so much fun!

How about composers of different countries? Isaac Albeniz (Spain), Percy Grainger (Australia), Heitor Villa-Lovos (Brazil), Jean Sibelius (Scandanavian), etc.  OOOh,  Edvard Grieg (New World Symphony).

Ballet? Think Nutcracker and Romeo & Juliet (Tchaikovsky) and more modern ones (Copland, Ralph Vaughn Williams, etc.)

I’m a music teacher by training, and I get bored with always doing composers – -so this year, we did Bernstein (I intro’d him by listening to Jim Weiss’s recording of Romeo and Juliet, then explained that Bernstein wrote a modern re-telling – West Side Story, told them the storyline and then listened to some of the music from WSS.  Our girls are too young to experience the movie (cursing, etc.).  But I felt this was a good intro.)

Right now, we’re working through the instrument families in the orchestra.  Later in our schooling, I have plans of spending a term on just choral music or just vocal music…..or even just a performer (Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughn, Billie Holiday – I’m not sure why I’m thinking so much about jazz!). Sometime, I want to explore just piano music or just the music of whatever instruments our girls are studying at that point.  Again, not for a LONG time, but a couple weeks would be enough to get a feel for it.

Another thing I’d like to do sometime is do church music through the ages – Hildegard of Bingen (or something like that – nun’s music, Gregorian chant).  Right on up through John Wesley and Lowell Mason (who actually had a lot to do with the public school movement in Boston). and then ending with Stuart Townsend and the Getty’s who in my opinion are right up there with the greatest hymn writers of all time.

After spending time with quality music of all genres and generations, you could spend a bit of time on popular music— not necessarily GREAT music, but popular and the discussion of how music relates to the culture (the old Seinfeld question of “Does life follow Seinfeld or does Seinfeld follow life?”) and politics and social condition could be really interesting to a music-nerdy type like me!!  So you could bring in country music, current jazz, R&B, Rap??? (is that really music??? I’ve got some qualms about that, personally).

I’m sorry this is such a long post — but I LOVE thinking about all the different ways to study music. I get very excited about it and then realize that we still have to do the other subjects……and laundry and cooking!

Anyway, I hope you’ve found some new names and some inspiration.

Karen, those are great ideas! If you’d be interested in sharing what you put together, I’d suggest submitting your ideas to http://www.charlottemasonincommunity.com.  Jenn Stec who runs that site is really trying to compile ideas for classes that different CM groups (or families) can use.

Oh, Christie, I’m not put-together or organized *L*! Those were all just ideas off the top of my head and things that I’ve been dreaming about.  I don’t really have anything put together….I usually think something up and make it work as we go.  (bad, I know.)  If I ever get organized and truly put together, I’d love to share!  (When I’m done homeschooling and done being a librarian and done sewing my own clothes, I want to create my own “general music” or “music appreciation” curriculum! )

Cynthia Meyers Ross and Karen Meyers Stangl have a book called <span style=”text-decoration: underline;”>The Music Teacher’s Book of Lists</span> — fabulous resource for every homeschooler.  It is literally a book of lists: American composers, other nationalities, composers of every genre, rock bands, dates, eras, etc.  Just piles of lists.  My copy is from 1994, I’m not sure if it’s been updated or not.  But I use it for inspiration.

JenniferM, I think one of the best things about the community of homeschooling is the passion we all have for different topics and things.  I think it’s probably the greatest strength.  I love that about this forum, too.  Everyone here is so generous about giving tips and ideas.

As far as emphasizing music in our home, I’m not sure if I do.  I mean, I play what we’re studying almost everyday…..and if the house is quiet for a bit, I play whatever I’m in the mood for.  I’m actually quite terrible at making sure our girls practice their piano lessons (I just forget!  I make them do math, etc., and then I forget to make them practice piano.)  I play piano whenever I have a spare 5 minutes or so (or after they’ve all gone to bed).  But sometimes there’s quite a bit of bad-mommy-guilt in regards to our daughters’ study of music.

One thing I appreciate about my upbringing (public-school, though it was) is that my parents played a wide variety of music.  Christian radio throughout the day; classical piano music (mom and I both took lessons); my dad would play the classical radio station and the old country (Hank Williams Sr., Eddy Arnold, Les Paul – there’s another great one to study! innovator of electric guitar).  Dad always sweetened music with a healthy (or not) dose of Spike Jones (made fun of classical music – very, very fun) and Homer & Jethro (made fun of early country/pop music – not always politically correct, or kind, but again, very, very fun).  That would make another good study: listen to the “real” version of songs/ pieces and then the parody version.  Fun, too.

My reason for being very selective with “music study” artists–my kids are growing/grown up.  They are largely making their own music choices now.  The ENTIRE WORLD is playing modern and contemporary music at them.  I simply tried to create a window in which they were exposed to something else—a space they could listen to something enduring, to at least influence their taste just a tiny bit before the rest of the world inundated them with four-chord songs.  🙂

Wow this is amazing. I seriously know less than nothing about music, except that everytime I try to listen to today’s stuff, country especially, I have to turn it off. It is terrible. Now get me going on color theory and fashion I could ramble all day. This list will definitely be book marked.

I too, would study other artists as well. I will be especially focusing on Broadway composers such as Rodgers, Hammerstein, Bernstein, Andrew Lloyd Webbers, Irvin Berlin,  Gershwin etc…

I also plan to study composers for film movies such as John Williams, James Horner etc….

I plan on studying cultural music from around the world.

We may do some artists studies as well, studying musicians who while may not have had their hand as much in the composing, are still historical performers such as Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Bing Crosby, Louis Armstrong etc…

I also plan to do a modern era study (1900+), and study music from each decade. I think if you want to truly understand music, then you can’t just focus on the old classical composers, you have to study ALL the artists who have made an impact. While we may not like the style of some of their music, there are modern artists who will be viewed some day as important as our classical composers.  These are modern artists whose music has already become, and will remain legendary – The Beatles, Elvis, Rolling Stones, Johnny Cash etc.. You may not like their stuff – but they had a strong impact on the music world, and modern music history cannot be studied without learning about these revolutionary artists. And to me studying modern music is as important as study classical. Though, I think it’s better suited for older ages, since many of the modern artists came during times when there was cultural strife.

Also, as my children dictate, we will also learn about artists that interest them. Whether that’s Bach, Jeremy Camp or Katy Perry – I honestly don’t care. While I agree that much of today’s music is “twaddle”, at the same time, much of it, isn’t. We are in an era now, where there is so much more freedom of expression and cultural diversity. Once upon a time, all music was for the most part expected to conform. That barrier is gone today.

There is music that I do not like – but who am I to say that that rap star who is creating music in a form that means something to him, that is rapping about his personal struggles, his survival, his culture – is twaddle, just because I don’t like it? Or, who am I to say that that country singer, singing about the abuse she survived is twaddle, when indeed, it is a testament to her power and strength?

All music has the power to move somebody, to leave an emotional mark on them, and as such, all music deserves respect for that reason.