Composer Study: Our Resource List
Composer study has been a simple addition to our homeschool over the years. We don’t spend a ton of time learning about composers, but still get some basic knowledge while we learn to appreciate the incredible music.
Our plan is easy. Spend one day per week over the course of a month focusing on a particular composer. So, four times during the month, we are casually listening to a composer’s music during school work and learning a little bit about his or her biography via living literature, audio books or webpages.
As I’m preparing to embark on composer study for the 2nd round, I decided to pull together all our previous resources in one handy list to make my planning easier. I hope you’ll benefit from the list, too! I’ve kept it quite simple: just a few quick website links and a visual reminder of the books and CD’s on our shelves.
Adding a little composer study to homeschooling doesn’t have to be difficult at all!
(This post contains affiliate links.)
Johann Sebastian Bach
Sebastian Bach, The Boy from ThuringiaJohann Sebastian Bach (Getting to Know the World’s Greatest Composers)
Mr. Bach Comes To Call
Bach’s Goldberg Variations w/CD(Gr.2-4) by Celenza Anna Harwell (Feb 1 2005)
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig Beethoven and the Chiming Tower BellsBeethoven Lives Upstairs
Ludwig Van Beethoven (Revised Edition) (Getting to Know the World’s Greatest Composers)
Johannes Brahms
Johannes Brahms (Getting to Know the World’s Greatest Composers)Brahms: Complete Piano Music
Frederic Chopin
Frederic Chopin (Getting to Know the World’s Greatest Composers)Chopin: Greatest Hits
Duke Ellington
Making Music Fun – Biography and You Tube Performances
Duke Ellington: The Piano Prince & His OrchestraDuke Ellington (Getting to Know the World’s Greatest Composers)
This Jazz Man
Masterpieces By Ellington
George Gershwin
George Gershwin (Getting to Know the World’s Greatest Composers)Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue
Summertime
Ultimate Collection (Gershwin) (2 CD)
George Frederick Handel
Handel at the Court of KingsHallelujah Handel
My Name is Handel: The Story of Water Music
Franz Joseph Haydn
Joseph Hayden: The Merry Little PeasantHaydn: The String Quartets (7CD)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Mozart, The Wonder Boy (Great Musicians Series)Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Getting to Know the World’s Greatest Composers)
Mozart’s Magnificent Voyage
Mozart’s Magic Fantasy: A Journey Through ‘The Magic Flute’
The Best Of Mozart
Johann Pachelbel
Sergei Prokofiev
Peter and the WolfPeter and The Wolf
Franz Schubert
Franz Schubert and His Merry FriendsSchubert: Complete Symphonies
Robert Schumann
Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
The Story of Peter TchaikovskyPeter Tchaikovsky (Getting to Know the World’s Greatest Composers)
Tchaikovsky Discovers America
Tchaikovsky Wrote a Great Ballet (feat. Maestro Classics Vocal Ensemble)
Antonio Vivaldi
I, VivaldiVivaldi’s Ring of Mystery (Audio CD)
The Best of Vivaldi
Vivaldi: The Four Seasons
Richard Wagner
Did you know Renoir painted a portrait of Wagner?
Wagner: Tannhäuser Overture; Siegfried-Idyll; Tristan und Isolde
Additional Musical Resources That Have Been Worthy of Our Time:
These don’t cover one composer particularly, but they are fabulous audio resources for learning more about classical music in general.
Peggy’s Violin a Butterfly in TimeSong of the Unicorn
Story of the Orchestra : Listen While You Learn About the Instruments, the Music and the Composers Who Wrote the Music!
Classical Kids Christmas
Do you make composer study a part of your homeschool? I’d love to hear about your favorite resources!
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This is great! Thanks for sharing this information. The more accessible and understandable we can make the arts for homeschool moms, the more we will all find the focus to include them in in our studies.
We’ve enjoyed a series of books by Anna Harwell Celenza. Each one focuses on one composer and the story behind one of their famous pieces eg The Farewell Symphony or Duke Ellington’s The Nutcracker Suite.
Oh, yes! I forgot about those books. Thanks for the reminder!
this is a great list! thank you
do you have your kids notebook at all with composers or just keep it to reading and listening? i tend to feel i have to notebook everything 🙂
Good question, Laura. No, I don’t have my children notebook about composers very often. Early on in our homeschooling I did, but it proved to be overkill (and killed the enjoyment.) Mostly, we just listen to the music and read the biographies. My children all take instrument lessons, too. While they aren’t always directly learning about composers, there’s a lot of music education happening around here. In other words, we don’t have time for the extra notebooking. 🙂
Thanks Cindy,
I appreciate your reply. Yes, I wholeheartedly agree on the overkill of having to record everything! My children take piano as well and there’s just only so much precious time to fit the important things in. Thanks for your advice 🙂
I have just found your website! Thank you so so much! I’ve been homeschooling for a couple of years now and just stepping into the CM philosophy and I love it! Your lists and links are very helpful. God bless!
Thank you for the encouraging message! I’m glad you’ve found plenty of helpful resources! 🙂