Music appreciation for children is one of the great thought and life giving aspects that we can give our children in the homeschooling environment.

It is a simple and enjoyable goal to achieve. Below you will find some of the best homeschooling resources that we have used to instil a love for music and composers.

The Story of the Orchestra, Robert Levine

Allow yourself to be taken by the hand and gently lead into the fascinating world of the orchestra. Your host takes you through the ages of music and the major composers. You will learn along side your child using this tool for music appreciation.

A CD accompanies the book so that you have your taste buds whetted for more of each composer’s music. The second section focuses more on each of the different sections of the orchestra and then on each of the instruments in that section. Again the CD allows you to hear each of these instruments.

This is a wonderful stimulating way for your whole family to be more acquainted with the orchestra. We listen to the CD at breakfast time while I read the information form the book to the children (between mouthfuls that is!)

The Illustrated Book of Ballet Stories, Barbara Newman
A most gorgeous book in typical DK style! The book tells the story of the ballets while your child listens to a selection of music from the ballets. Our 7 year old daughter listens entranced with the music of Tchaikovsky flowing over her as she looks through this book over and over again. The illustrations include both drawn and photographs from live performances of the ballets. There is also a lot of additional information about the composers and the art of ballet.

Majors for Minors series of tapes and CD’s.

Playtime and Bedtime with Bach

These have been a welcome addition to our collection, our favorites being Baroque for Babies and Symphony of Sleep. We have enjoyed them with our babies and we even still listen to them in the car on our way to activities. This is a lovely way to begin to introduce music appreciation for children in the very young.

The Encyclopedia of Music, Dorling Kindersley

For older children with a genuine interest in music, this book is a must. It is the most comprehensive book of the orchestra as well as composers lives that I have found.

This Classical Kids Collection is definitely our all time favourite resource for music appreciation for children. They come in CD and tape form. Each story tape focuses on a composer, either telling the story of his operas or his life story. Interwoven into the story is the music of the composer. Even our 4 year old revels in the story and music and our 11 yr old has enjoyed them over and over again for the last 5 years.

Mozart’s Magic Fantasy tells the story of his famous opera “The Magic Flute” from the perspective of a young girl who gets caught up in the mystery of the stolen princess.

Beethoven Lives Upstairs is in the narrative form of a young boy who is put out by having Beethoven move in as a boarder, and he writes to his uncle to complain. A heart warning story letting you see the physical challenges that this supposedly temperamental composer had to overcome.

Vivaldi’s Ring of Mystery is a fantasy story of a young orphan girl in Vivaldi’s orphanage in Venice, searching for her grandfather.

Bach Comes to Call is narrated as though Johann Sebastian Bach were telling his own life story to a young girl who is reluctant to practice the piano.

Hallelujah Handel is a heart stirring story of a young orphan boy in London whom can sing like an angel (Handel’s music) but cannot talk and how Handel and a young girl Katrina help him find peace and a home. This one must be our favourite.

Tchaikovsky Discovers America covers this remarkable man’s life works as he tries to escape from the paparazzi on his visit to New York. The narration helps you to “see” the music from his famous ballets like Swan Lake and Sleeping Beauty.

Mozart’s Magnificent Voyage covers his life story (leaving out the distasteful side of his nature) from his son’s point of view as he travels in a flying ship through time visiting his father’s life form early childhood to death.

Do you need more help in allowing music appreciation for children to become a natural part of your homeschooling lifestyle? Read Music for Life which shows how you can naturally integrate music into your lifestyle and home.

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