Vivaldi- It's Spring Time To Sing Vivaldi

Antonio Vivaldi- The Four Seasons: Spring

 

Although, it does not yet look like this in the high Rocky Mountains, it won't be long!

Classical Music for Preschoolers

I am not a fan of television. Yet there are times that I am grateful to turn on a movie for the children. I am very particular about the content of a movie, and for young children I am pleased with the Baby Einstein movies. One of the best is, Meet the Orchestra.



As a result of using this movie the boys are pretty good at picking out different instruments when they hear them. Even while listening to music when riding in the car my 5 year old will say did you hear that violin? and even my 2 year old always informs me when he hears the guitar in a particular song. Baby Einstein not only uses classical music in all of their videos, but they have Baby Bach, Baby Beethoven, and Baby Mozart which focus on that particular composer.



Not only do we watch these movies, but we listen to their soundtracks. When my oldest son was a preschooler he called classical music, his music.

Composer Study

A performance of Handel's Messiah was a treat after studying him for 12 weeks.

Once a week we take time for Composer study/music appreciation. Our school year is divided up into three 12 week terms. The ideal is to study a new composer each term. This year we are only studying two composers because that is simply all we could manage. Our first half of the school year we studied Handel, and currently we are studying J.S. Bach.

Ambleside Online has compiled a huge list of composers and their works to be studied. They have plenty of helps to get you started. We use much of their information, but shape it to fit our family.



This is all new to me. In my college days, I took a music appreciation class and was quite overwhelmed. I had never before studied anything like it. I grew up on Seattle grunge and Rock music. Thankfully, I am not passing that legacy onto the children. Rather, I am attempting to train their taste from a young age. This, like Nature Study, is giving us wholesome pleasures to pursue.