I know how very important music is and I was thrilled when I learned that I would have the opportunity to teach music appreciation to my children! Zeezok Publishing LLC has let us review their Music Appreciation Book 1: for the Elementary Grades and it is simply amazing! There are seven composers to study in this curriculum and I decided to start with Beethoven.
Music Appreciation 
This music appreciation curriculum is an all-in-one. It has different elements that come with the set, each one a stand alone study, but together it is a complete and standard approved music class.
There are seven composers that are covered in this curriculum. Each composer has a book about his life story and how he becomes the famous man of music that we know of today. Here are the seven composers covered in this class:
- Beethoven
- Schubert
- Paganini
- Mozart
- Haydn
- Handel
- Bach
Each book is a stand alone and complete story. Amazing information about these men that was a treat to learn and to teach to the children.
The Student Activity Book is broken down according to composers. In the beginning of the chosen composer there is a weekly lesson study breakdown . It provides what is required for the standard as well as how much should be accomplished in a single week.
Once you have chosen your composer, each weekly lesson looks a lot like this:
- read from the life stour book according to the chapters suggested
- answer the comprehension questions
- talk about the character qualities of the composer
- tidbits of interest
- listen to music by said composer via CD
- make composer lapbook
- vocabulary
- geography
- how music is created
- nature study
- learn instruments
- how the orchestra works
- and so much more!
The Music Appreciation Music Discs are an amazing copulation of the composers’ music. There are five CDs that are in this study and you will be directed to listen to specific tracks as you proceed through the lessons. This makes it incredibly easy to teach with these CDs. This way I do not have to go hunt on the internet so that the children can listen to the composition requested. I like that!
There is also a Lapbook CD that I received that has all of the lapbook pages on it. Once I got the CD opened on the computer via the disk drive, I was able to pick and choose what lapbook I wanted to print and get ready to use with the children. There are directions listed on this disk as well.
How This Worked for Us
As I mentioned above we started this music appreciation class with Beethoven. I used this class with both Ana (she is 11) and Joseph (he is 8) and it was easier for me to read the composer book out loud to both of them. It was fascinating to learn so much about the life of little Ludwig. His story impressed and amazed me and the children. The life story books in this set are worth the time in my opinion, they are very well written, as well as easy to understand for a child that reads well. The other products in this curriculum are an incredible added bonus that makes for a well rounded and fully complete music class.
Once I had all of the supplies ready for the lapbooks, it was fairly simple to complete each class.
The lessons are set for weekly usages, but sometimes the story part was so engrossing that we would complete all of the book activities, lap book work, listen to the correct music track(s) and then jump right back into the next chapter of the book. At one point I looked at Ana and said, “How would you like to quit school and study music full time?” I don’t think she was as impressed as I was that Beethoven was 11 years old when he stopped going to school and dedicated his life to music.
The Student Book was an enjoyable part of the class for Ana, as she did most of the workbook related sections. She said that her favorite part of the Student Book was the fact that it wasn’t all questions and answers, it had fun stuff in it too! Just like that, she didn’t hate doing the writing portion of this class, and for that I am pleased!
The lapbook allows for the hands on approach to the learning process. This suits my children well.
For the children the lapbooks lets them feel more involved in the class, which is important for them so that they will more easily remember the lesson being taught. And of course the skills that are practiced with all of the cutting, stapling, and taping goes a long way in my book!
When we were not creating our lap books, we were devouring the book of the life of Beethoven. No question that this man was gifted by the great Creator. He produced some incredible musical pieces that thrill our hearts when we listen to them. And we listened to them numerous times, not just for the class time required.
Once we finished up with Beethoven, we begin to get into the life of Mozart. Ana chose him because she said that she knew his name and that she wanted to learn more about him and his life. Without a doubt, Mozart was a brilliant composer and his life story is astounding. I know no other five year old that could produce such a beautiful piece of music, let alone as well as young Mozart did.
As we delve deeper into the class we are continually amazed at the abundant gifts of these composers. God was not shy when He handed out these blessings!
We have so very much enjoyed this class and we look forward to learning about the rest of these men of music.
See how this class stacks up in my fellow Crew members homes:
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Visit again soon to see what other goodies the kids and I have to share with you!
In His Grace.
Callie
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