• About
  • Read the Blog
    • Preschool Learning
    • Elementary Learning
    • Homeschooling
    • Parenting and Family
  • Become a VIP
  • Shop
  •  

Music Appreciation in Our Homeschool

This page may contain affiliate links. See my privacy policy and disclosure statement for more information.

By listening to the classic greats and studying musical theory, I'm able to provide a simple course in music appreciation to my elementary schooler!
This week I decided it was definitely time to pull out the books and do something for more detailed music appreciation.

Last week, Raisin gave a very brief report about Mozart for his co-op Culture day. (The country was Austria). As we prepared for it, we found some favorite music to play after his presentation. He loved it!

Raisin recognized songs from his computer curricula (it is called “learning music”). He recognized songs from his bedtime CD of classical music we made for him. In fact, he wanted more music. 

The main problem is that while I enjoy music, I don’t really know much about it. Don’t get me wrong: I can read music and play the piano amateurishly. I know what “dynamics” are. But when it comes to classical music, I am not educated at all.

On the other hand, my husband is truly moved by music. He gets it. Once again, this is one of those subjects that he is much better in than I. And yet, I get to be the teacher every day. I decided it is time I learn about music too.

I Learn about Music Appreciation

Since I was not satisfied with the “pop science” music appreciation books I found, so I decided to go for the real thing: a book written by an expert musicologist. First, I looked up a college level music appreciation course and found what book they used. Then I bought a used previous edition of that book for a small price, and the listening CD to accompany it.

Today I read through chapters 1 and 2 myself.

Teaching My Son Music Appreciation

After I was familiar with the content of the chapters, I went back. Together, we listened to the first song suggested on the CD.

Actually, we listened to it three times. Raisin loved it! We first listened to it with no commentary from the book. Then I read the book which talked about what was happening (dynamics, repeating themes, etc.) as we listened to it. Then we listened to it again with a short reminder guide of the song’s structure.

It took us 15 minutes but Raisin says it was his favorite part of school today.

This may or may not work in the long run. But I’m satisfied that Raisin had a little bit of music appreciation for now. I look forward to listening for patterns, learning about what makes music great, and coming more familiar with classical music and composers as we learn together.

Isn’t the self-education of the parent a wonderful part of homeschooling?!
music appreciation | Line upon Line Learning

What do you do to learn or appreciate music in your homeschool or classroom?

If you like this post, you may also like...

My daughter loves to make music! We read Zin! Zin! A Violin and learned about instruments. Then she matched the model instruments to the picture cards.Instruments Busy Bag Default ThumbnailSpring Break or Not? Homeschool co-op classes can be educational or fun or both! Think outside of the box and find extra or curricula classes you'd like your homeschoolers to take with a class.100+ Homeschool Co-op Class Ideas Why We areWhy We are Grateful to Homeschool Mentor Monday: Teacher Appreciation Week

Comments

  1. melissa r tittle says

    November 23, 2017 at 10:46 pm

    What was the college level book you used?

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Homeschool Moms Share- Favorite Homeschool Art and Music Curriculum - Teach Beside Me says:
    February 10, 2014 at 6:03 am

    […] Music Appreciation in Our Homeschool from Line Upon Line Homeschool […]

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Enjoy life-long learning. . . one day at a time.

Hands-on learning activities, ideas, games, and printables for parents, homeschoolers, and educators

Search the Blog

Search the Shop

Line upon Line Learning’s Products

Our digital learning products are available at these sites:

The Line upon Line Learning Shop

TeachersPayTeachers 

Boom Learning

(What is Boom?)

Advertisement


Note: I include advertisements on my site. See my disclosure policy for more details.

Copyright 2019 Rebecca Reid
About Rebecca Reid
Privacy and Disclosure Policy
Book Review Policy (at Rebecca Reads)
Contact Rebecca Reid

Advertisement

I’m a Contributer!

Big Book of Homeschool Ideas Vol 2

The Big Book of Homeschool Ideas vol 2
ebook
| Hard copy (Amazon)

Learn with Play

 

Learn with Play ebook

Get the eBook 

Copyright © 2019 · Beautiful Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in