Music Scale Construction

I want to share this post over at Montessori Station:
Montessori Station - Music: Major Scale Construction

Having found this image over at Junk Seller (doing a Google search for C Major charts), I fell in love with this as a potential Montessori activity. The children can build this!




I am going to introduce it to my son later in the month of December - as a manipulative. I'll let you all know how it goes!

Music of the Orchestra - Maestro Classics

My son has had a fascination with the orchestra for many long months now. I've been a bit concerned about how to continue to support this interest without squelching, without making it my own and dictating every aspect, and still encouraging it with limited means. AND at an elementary age level (gone are the 3 part cards! although he will sometimes create 4 and 5 part cards as sets of card games!).

A few weeks ago, Homeschool Buyer's Co-op had a deal I couldn't turn down. My son has been saving up money to purchase more of the CDs at Maestro Classics, but other expenses have always gotten in the way and then we just couldn't decide which ones to get if purchasing individually.

And these things do NOT go on sale!

Well.... Homeschool Buyer's had them for 44% OFF the usual price if more than 50 people bought them. We signed up! Shipping was included (media mail shipping), $1.95 for HBC's administrative fee - and we have the most wonderful CDs for learning and appreciating orchestral music.

10 CDs! One is a duplicate but in Spanish - so 9 unique CDs!

Each CD comes with a little booklet with information on the instruments used on that CD, the composer, the conductor, a word search, another word game, synopsis of the story, music sample, music theory lesson, historical reference... all in one booklet!

Each CD has the full-length music of note (oh how I LOVE having full-length music!), along with sections on the life of the composer, something more about the music as well as patterns of the music and the moods it creates, "want to have some fun" section and more.


We have listened to several already - probably too much for one day in order to really "get" everything that is on each CD, but we just LOVE listening! And the patterns even in "Sorcerer's Apprentice" - I'd picked up on many of them they noted, but there were several new ones for me too! Very cool!


Now we are currently analyzing "The Story of Swan Lake". With an 8 year old boy to boot! LOVE it!


Thank you Montessori and thank you Homeschooling ;)

Montessori Music - Piano Lessons

Our music has not been entirely Montessori - and that is as it should be!

In a school setting, the primary child has the bells, as well as rhythm activities, group songs, and cultural music. The elementary child continues with these activities, studies music in history and other cultures, and is introduced to the tone bars.

Then that child will have other musical influences outside of school, varying with the family and living situation.

For us, we have had the following influences and experiences:

Primary: 

• Full Montessori primary level music: bells and rhythm specifically
• Can You Hear It? 
• Our Musical Year - Level 1
• 1 year of Montessori school with the group singing; 1/2 year at another Montessori school; 1 year at a local non-Montessori preschool (lots and lots of songs)
• Church hymns and prayer time songs
• Atrium music - 3 years

Elementary: 

• Elementary Montessori music begins with reinforcing all primary presentations, allowing time for extensions
• Can You Hear It? 
• Our Musical Year - Level 1
• Christian Light Music, levels 1-4 thus far (they focus on shaped notes)
• The Story of the Orchestra
• Children's choir at church: 2 semesters
• Atrium music - 2 years
• Sacred Harp singing (all shaped notes; 4-part singing with the melody in the tenor rather than soprano)

Is Montessori music curriculum enough? No. Music needs to be part of a child's life and for the most part, we can assume that music IS a part of the child's life, in some manner or another. It is written in their souls. 

Therefore Montessori music presumes that music saturates a child's life and the materials are designed to hone in on certain key aspects in order to enrich the child's experience elsewhere and fulfill his inner soul. 

Recently, my son received his long-awaited big Christmas present (we're just over 3 months late): 

He started his first lesson the same evening - and is already 3 lessons in (the next day as I type this!).
(Editing just before this post goes live: he's halfway through book 1 because of his previous music experience)

We are skipping the entire activity book that corresponds with this level. Why? Because the Montessori primary music alone covered it ALL; but then he's had the other experiences as well. The only thing for which we'll pull out our music flashcards to reinforce are the intervals - which Montessori covers, we just didn't as much as we could have. Again - Montessori music was not meant to be the child's ONLY music experience - but if it is their only experience, they are still on strong footing. 

I like The Music Tree books, because they have a Montessori feel for them. 

• They were developed at a music school in conjunction with the students (sounds like the history of Montessori, huh?)
• Book 1:
• it gets the children hands on the black keys immediately; using BOTH hands; and in multiple octaves (this is the first song!). 
• The child immediately becomes adept at moving across the keyboard, using black and white keys (white keys are brought in just a couple of lessons in). 
• The child is given exercises in playing the same patterns in multiple locations on the keyboards (using those intervals of 2nds and 3rds, etc!) - this is possible because the staff lines are not introduced until halfway into the book. The focus is on the pattern, not on just memorizing the location of notes. 
• In this way, the child is playing real music with real patterns before focusing too much on the scale of notes; he'll be able to adjust to both bass and treble readily. (how many of us are stuck in one or the other because we played a single clef instrument in our youth? or our piano lessons didn't include bass clef until we had "learned" treble clef?)
• Additional books: 
• Corresponding activity books fit together and extend better than others I've seen, or those that I used to teach myself over the years, and even those I used in my own lessons. 
• the second book as a full set of staff lines and looks more like a regular piano books
• starting in the 1st book and continuing ahead, there is constant review on each page
• AND the children write their own songs based on patterns they are learning

Orchestra Studies - Montessori Style

My son recently discovered a deep appreciation for orchestral music. And I was surprised. I couldn't even figure out why I was surprised, which was more surprising!

I know, that sounds psychotic.

Then we re-discovered this treasure, tucked away behind our little-used tv in the game cabinet (it's an entertainment cabinet, but we store games in it, along with a small tv/vcr combo, CD player, CDs, videos/DVDs (few), tapes (yes! tapes!) and some building blocks):

And the pieces of my surprise-mystery fell together..... 

I have played the clarinet since I was 11. Self-taught, after years of self-teaching piano and organ; then a year of cornet in the school band. I was 1st chair most of the way through middle and high school; and played in a community band for a short time in college. 

I have memories of my son at about 8 months old INSISTING on putting his little fist into the bell of the clarinet every time I'd play. It was so adorable how focused he was on feeling that sound, but at one point he bumped things just right that the reed actually cut my lip and it was too swollen to play for many days. He would touch the sore spot gently and say, "Owie." And kiss it :) 

We've always sung songs - with our daycare children and friends; in the parish atrium; at our prayer table; at church; in the car. 

As an infant, my son would fuss in the car until I started singing; he was fine as long as he could hear me sing. Not talking; just singing!

But songs with words do not build an appreciation for the orchestra. 

We did listen to jazz and classical in his youngest years but somehow music got away from us and we just didn't listen to much music at all (except in the above listed places - we just didn't have time for radio or CDs - strange as that sounds). 

We DID have the movie Milo and Otis and there is some fantastic music in there! 

At around age 4, we picked up the book above - it is listed in a few Montessori catalogs and they had it at the Montessori school he attended at age 3. 

The inside images are works of art; there are questions and suggested things for which to listen within the corresponding music selections. He LOVED it. But again, time got away from us, the book slipped into oblivion and life moved on. 

For the last 3 years, we have been using Level 1 of the music program Our Musical Year - a resource that sadly seems to be out of print :( I am relieved that we purchased level 2 already. It is set up monthly, and has two CDs - one is the background music for each song, just one verse, played slowly; for the child to learn the tune and sing the song to; the second CD has enough repetitions for all verses and is normal tempo. The idea is for the child to learn to SING, not just to match someone else's singing. We pick a new song to learn each month; most months ;) 

Last school year, he spent fall semester in the church choir. He didn't want to do it, but I want him to have basic skills in a variety of areas, while he is still in elementary (this will pay off in adolescent years - more in another post). He ended up LOVING it; and sang for Christmas morning Mass. And asked if he could do another semester - so he did preparations for Easter. He ended up not singing Easter Mass because he became dizzy during rehearsal beforehand. Now, his singing voice just isn't there yet, so it's not that he's not allowed to be in choir again, but the choir director suggests waiting a couple of years.... ;) During this choir time, I would play the clarinet for him to hear the pitches. 

This only fueled his love for music further. 

Last November, we visited a music store recently when we visited family; he was able to play a couple of guitars and try out some drums while there, thanks to the very friendly and helpful staff. And he was exposed to all sorts of new instruments and sort through music books to find Star Wars and Lord of the Rings. Little did he know I was there to price the lesson books for learning piano. Grandma ordered his new keyboard during our visit as a Christmas present, but we've not yet been back for "Christmas" - so he'll have a surprise next month when we go back!

By the time we got home, he had decided that he would like to learn the recorder (we have 2 of them from a college music class I took, along with a "teach yourself how to play recorder" book). He's ok at it - but he loves it and that is what matters. 

Right about this time, I set out some items I'd ordered a while back from a homeschool swap group: The Song of the Unicorn and the Story of the Orchestra. 

  

He was SOLD. The CD was a great combination of story (narration) and song (almost all instrumental). 

The orchestra book goes into each instrument, highlighting a song with that particular instrument in solo, as well as highlighting individual composers from different times, with just enough information for all children to learn (providing those Montessori keys) with enough left for exploration for those interested children. 

This is where I became so surprised. But should I have been? On the one hand, music has been part of our lives; on the other hand, there has never been a focus on instrumental music. 

He can pick out instrumental sounds I never could have previously; and he recognizes themes across genres. He can tell you the likely composer or at least the style of about half the compositions we hear; and he LOVES to listen to the classical music station in the car. 

Please. Nobody tell my 7 year old son that most kids his age are NOT like this. Fortunately, we spend a LOT of time with mostly homeschoolers - who at least accept each other's differences (most of the kids he spends time with are in the children's choir he was part of last year, if that says anything!). :) 

Yes, there are some primary level nomenclature and classification cards we could use for the orchestra. But he has started on his own charts and diagrams - why mess with perfection? ;)