The History of Classical Music

by Rebecca J. Berg

Beautiful Feet Books

This is a wonderful but resource intensive approach for both studying the history of classical music and developing music appreciation and recognition skills. Targeted at students in grades five through eight, the course is outlined in this 31-page guide. The companion Timeline is similar to others from Beautiful Feet with figures to cut out, possibly color, and attach to the enclosed timeline.

I love the resources selected for this study. Spiritual Lives of the Great Composers by Patrick Kavanaugh is outstanding. The Story of the Orchestra by Robert Levine is the other “fact” book required. Literature selections used with the study include Dance Me a Story, Beethoven Lives Upstairs, and Tchaikovsky Discovers America. The two “volume” coloring book, A Coloring Book of Great Composers, from Bellerophon Books offers information in addition to illustrations to be colored. Another recommended resource is a tool to reinforce for all this information—The Composers Card Game. For the music itself, the recommendation is “The Music Masters” 18 CD Collection.

If that’s not enough, there are even more optional resources listed in the guide along with some useful websites.

The study requires creation of a student notebook where all work is kept. The course is very multi-sensory, extending into geography, history, religion, and language arts with reading, vocabulary, composition assignments, research projects, drawings, map work, and listening activities.

The Jumbo Pack includes the guide plus all of the CDs, books, and timeline. The Literature Pack includes all but the CDs.

Posted 2/ 2008