Sooner or Later…

Our family uses the Ambleside Online for our curriculum.  Right now we are using year 1 for Thomas and Lindsay and a loose combination of AO/HEO for Robert.  One advantage is several areas are planned to be studied as a ‘group’ so that we don’t have to fool with 3 artists, 3 composers, or 3 Shakespeares.  This is a huge benefit as Robert has some minor LD issues and sometimes things just do not go as well as I would like.  The plan is laid out with a major composer(s) and some of their important works to be listened to over the course of a term (3 months).  The Yahoo support group offers further help on where to find the works–usually for free or for a very inexpensive price.

That said there are still times that it is hard to get to composer study.  Additionally, Robert only has 4.5 years left until his formal schooling years are finished.  He will have had an opportunity to have met and learned about a few composers, but not as wide a variety as I would like.  What to do?  

In rambling through Project Gutenberg’s collection I found this book that should help cover more composers.  The book begins with  Palestrina  about 1525 and ends with Serge Koussevitzky who directed the Boston Symphony Orchestra from 1924-1925.  Many of the composers listed at the AO site are included in this book so we will still be able to use their recommended resources for music and additional materials.

Next there is a second ’series’ that we have access to and have enjoyed.  This ’series’ is a cd collection of musical greats called Vox Music Masters.  Each of these cds has a narration of the composer’s life interspersed with music that was composed during the time-span of that portion of the narration.  So a talk about the early career would have some music from the early career.  The cd ends with 30+ minutes of uninterrupted music.  We first encountered these cds during a stint in virtual public school.  I wasn’t too certain about cd narration as a learning tool, but when Robert asked to listen to them as his bedtime music…well not many 12yob are asking for classical are they?  This series is an easy, easy way to learn about great composers esp. during the hectic times of life.  

Many of the composers from both AO and the book are contained in the cd series.  There are also additional composers in this series that I want my children to be familiar with such as Foster and Sousa.  These composers don’t seem to be listed as part of the composer rotation, but are an important part of American music. 

After this we will most likely backtrack to previous years composers.  We will be studying Medieval times in a few months and I’d like to study the music at the same time.  Unfortunately this music was in the rotation for the 2004-2005 year and won’t be studied again until 2014–a bit too late for Robert.  But,if we work through the book, study Medieval music, and add in some American style music he should have a good taste of what the music world has to offer.  I’m not to worried about adding the music of Broadway as our involvement with both theater and ballet give us ample opportunities to hear the many different styles and songs. 

I’m still debating about purchasing these for the younger crew–the cost isn’t high, but there are other things (books) that the money could buy.  Somewhere in there I’d like to add a  study of the symphony.  Then,as the composer’s favorite instruments are mentioned,  they will understand that instrument’s look and sound.  (Hmmm…I just noticed they have composers).

I used wikipedia and google for basic pictures and other information.  Charlotte Mason learning encourages students to form a picture in their minds of the scene or event being described in the lesson.  It is difficult to do this without some idea of what life looked like in 1525 or as simple as what a harpsichord looked like. With these images we will have audio, visual, and kinesthetic learning covered–oral will be their narrations of what we read. 

So that’s the plan.  Hopefully it will work as well in real life as it does in my planning notes.