I didn't plan anything ahead of time for this afternoon, but some of the books we got from the library did lead to notable learning.
1.) L and I had picked out "
The Magic Flute" when we were at the library last week, and while RJ and L had no interest in actually reading it (which was weird, since they normally love being read to), I was able to find an animated version online, so they were exposed to it, and I told them that they were watching and listening to an opera, which involves the characters acting and singing out the story. Part
1,
2, and
3 are all on YouTube.
2.) A little later in the afternoon, RJ and L wanted to read
The Usborne Story of Music, which we had also borrowed from the library. We had borrowed this particular book from the library before,
back in September, but had only made it to about page 5 before getting sidetracked from the music theme by the rigors of kindergarten homework, so we returned it before finishing it.
Today, when RJ opened the book, he recognized it and accurately told me where we had left off before. He told me that he wanted to continue where we left off, so that's what we did. We read the pages covering Renaissance Music and Baroque Music, each of which comprised a two page spread. This book is actually intended for older children (Amazon's listing has it rated for age 10 and up), but I like to use more advanced books fairly often. Whenever I choose a book from the library, I choose it because it has good information either for me to provide in a developmentally appropriate way, or because it is actually a good read for the kids. I choose this book for both reasons. While there are a LOT of concepts covered per page, the information is arranged similarly to a Children's encyclopedia, with relevant illustrations nearby, which is appealing to my children.
I also don't just read the text to my kids, who are a few months shy of 6 and 3. Instead, I start reading text I find interesting (skimming quickly is a great ability to have for this - I can usually get through half a page to find the interesting stuff before they start bugging me to start reading!), and then follow their inquiries about the pictures to jump around, filling in any missing information as needed. Luckily in this book, each two-page spread has fairly discrete bits of information, so many of the paragraphs do not need to be read in order to make sense. This is helpful when reading to a three year old who likes to jump around on the page depending on which pictures are interesting to him. I also don't push them to move onto the next section, but rather take time to discuss the pictures and answer their questions and engage in impromptu demonstrations. Doing this is the main reason why I can read a book intended for a 10 year old to my significantly younger children. For example, there was a small section about recorders, which had a picture of the bass, tenor, treble, and descant recorders. L asked, "what's that?", and pointed to the picture. The text merely said, "Recorders of different sizes were often played together", but I explained that they were all recorders, like the one they have, but that the different sized recorders play different ranges of notes. Then RJ chimed in, saying that he thought the biggest one played the low notes and the smallest one played the high notes. Then, I asked him if he could show us what kind of notes each recorder could play and the three of us sang our lowest notes for the bass, and our highest notes for the descant, while I helped them make some medium notes for the tenor and treble recorders. They really enjoyed making the different pitches with their voices.
Concepts covered:
Any concepts in parentheses and italicized were my addition to what was in the book, or something that I should add in the future.
Anything printed in red was in the book, but we skipped, accidentally
Renaissance Music
- Great interest in music, art, & learning in the 15th and 16th centuries in Europe (Note to self: I should probably have shown them where Europe was on their wall map)
- Renaissance means rebirth
- Composers - people who write music
- Composers work at the courts of wealthy noblemen, kings, and princes
- Composers wrote music to entertain, for dancing, and for church
- Duke of Burgundy in France employed the best composers and musicians
- Guillaume Dufay
- Gilles Binchois
- they wrote French songs called chansons
- Printing developed during this time (1450) in Germany
- First music book was printed in Italy in 1501
- Before printing they had to write out music by hand
- Printing made it cheaper and easier to print throughout Europe
- Pictured
- Man playing treble viol (looks like a violin)
- Man playing a lute
- Man playing a flute
- Man playing a bass viol (looks like a double bass)
- Dancers - they could only take small steps while dancing because their clothes were stiff and heavy
- (They were not wearing costumes - that's how people dressed when they went to parties back then)
- Before 16th century, instruments were used to accompany singers
- From around 1500 instrumental only music was being written, primarily for dancing
- Some of the instruments were the recorders and a keyboard instrument called a virginal
- Recorders of different sizes were often played together
- Pictured - Bass, Tenor, Treble, and Descant Recorders
- Discussed and demonstrated that the pitch range for the bass recorder was the lowest of the recorders, then the tenor, then treble, then descant, which had the highest pitch range of the recorders. We sang our lowest and highest and middle pitches together.
- Church music was still prevelant
- Thomas Tallis started writing church music for the whole congregation, not only the choir
- Madrigals - songs often about love, sung in small groups
- first written in Italy
- Andrea Gabrieli wrote many famous madrigals
- Before the renaissance, instruments were played by professionals, but during the renaissance, rich people were learning instruments for pleasure.
Baroque Music
- European Music from 1600-1750
- Instrumental music became more important
- New types of music were written
- Organ music was prevalent
- (An organ is an instrument with a keyboard that controls the flow of air through the pipes, which makes the sound)
- Instruments such as the flute were improved to play more notes
- Unlike modern metal flutes, baroque flutes were made of wood. (We talked about how my flute is made of metal, but the pictured one was a hollow wooden rod with holes to cover with one's fingers to make the different pitches, more like their recorder)
- People wrote books on how to play instruments
- Composers began to write marks on their music to tell the players to play loudly or softly, using Italian words
- 'piano' is italian for quiet
- When the player sees it, they should play quietly
- Concerto Grosso - piece of music for a small group of solo instruments and an orchaestra
- Famous concerto - The Four Seasons, written by Vivaldi
- I have Summer on my iPod so we listened to it, and I explained that it was only one part of the concerto. (Note to self: I should get the other three seasons)
- Famous concertos - six Brandenburg concertos by Bach in 1721
- Oratorio - a religious story performed by a choir, orchestra and solo singers
- Unlike an opera where the singers act out the parts
- Famous oratorio - Messiah by Handel
- I reminded them that the Magic Flute from earlier was an opera (although I left out that it was an opera from the classical period, not the baroque)
- Violin was very popular during the Baroque period
- Especially in Italy
- Stradivari was a famous violin maker
- Violins made by his workshop are very valuable today
- Called Stradivarius Violins
- Public concerts started during this period
- Previously, only churches and wealthy people hired musicians, the latter only to play in their homes for parties
- Musicians no longer had to rely on churches and the court for their livelihood
- Handel made his living from staging operas and oratorios
- Suites are a set of songs to be played one after the other for dancing
- Jean-Philippe Rameau wrote suites for keyboard instruments like the harpsichord
- Pictured - harpsichord
