Vocal music for appreciation

George Gershwin and Rodgers and Hammerstein are who I think of as far as composers.  Two of my favorite soprano singers who sing broadway and jazz are Kelley O’Hara and Sylvia McNair.  McNair also has sung opera, but she now has ventured out to sing jazz.  Also, I love Julie Andrews – Sound of Music and Mary Poppins.  Titanic has some great music as well as Phantom of the Opera.  Les Mis is good too, but you would want to select specific pieces of music for young children.  These are just a few off the top of my head.

Leonard Bernstein -select some songs from  West Side Story (I”m thinking of ones like “Maria”, “Somewhere”, etc.)

Lerner and Lowe music – some show-tunes (My Fair Lady)

How about some light jazz? Duke Ellington’s”Love You Madly”, Jerome David Kern’s “All the Things You Are”, some Cole Porter tunes?

For something more “classical”: Franz Schubert wrote some art songs “Der Erl Konig” – the story behind it is a bit scary, but it’s a great piece for hearing emotion in music and text painting.  It’s written in German, but still easily listened to.  Or opera – Bizet’s Carmen….Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess (“Summertime”).

How about old country artists?  Les Paul invented the electric guitar and was innovative in recording.  He and his wife, Mary have some really neat pieces.  (And Mary was the first to sing “with herself” – recorded herself singing one part, went back and over-dubbed her singing the second part.  There’s a neat YouTube video with Les Paul explaining his recording techniques – which were ground-breaking at the time.)

What about focusing on choral music for a term? Mendelsson’s Elijah (an oratorio), Handel’s Creation or Messiah oratorios.

Coming up with music/ musicians to study is my favorite part of homeschooling!

We sampled various styles of music along with where we were in history. It’s a lot of fun. It’s fun to sample music from other cultures around the world too.

Oh, and I have tossed I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General into your listening list. What kid wouldn’t like that? 🙂