Teaching Kids Music

I've had many years experience teaching music in all kinds of settings to kids. I have taught violin privately and in groups. I have been an orchestra director. I have taught general music in both public and private schools. And currently I am teaching music in our homeschool co-op.

I love teaching kids and I love teaching music.

I really love introducing kids to GREAT music, and I want you to do the same. So here are some ideas for you.

Peter and the Wolf by Sergei Prokofiev
My girls (and most kids) love this story set to music. If you are not familiar with it, the different characters in the story are represented by different instruments in the orchestra. We started by listening to this in the car because it's about 25 minutes long and they couldn't wander out of the room. Now they ask for it at home. Although we have a book that goes along with the CD, my girls prefer to just listen to the story.

Carnival of the Animals by Camille Saint-Saens
This was another one I introduced to the girls in the car. There is no narration to this piece, so having a companion book to help identify the animals and instruments is helpful. The book we have has commentary by Barrie Carson Turner and illustrations by Sue Williams. Of all the books I have seen for this piece, I think this one is the best.

I also like to teach kids some basic music terms at a young age. I start with forte (loud) and piano (soft). One way I like to illustrate this is to play the 2nd movement of Haydn's Surprise Symphony. I have the kids lay down and pretend to sleep. The piece starts out very quietly...perfect sleeping music. Then there is a sudden burst of sound and the kids "wake up". I tell them how Haydn heard that people were falling asleep in his concerts and so he decided to play a joke on them. He wrote a lovely first movement to his symphony giving the audience ample time to get sleepy. Then the second movement started...quietly at first and then with a big "surprise" (thus the symphony's nickname). Kids love this! And it's a great way to teach musical concepts, using great music by a famous composer.

Right now, because it's the beginning of spring, we are listening to Vivaldi's Four Seasons (particularly Spring) and Beethoven's Spring Sonata for violin and piano.

I have many more ideas that I'll share with you in the future...but for now, go to your library or itunes and educate yourself and your kids. You don't have to be a musician to expose them to excellence in music.

Happy listening! I'd love to hear back from you about how your kids responded.