Composers From the Baroque, Classical and Romantic Eras

We've just finished a three week unit on classical music composers from the Baroque, Classical and Romantic music eras. It was unusual for us in that we didn't really chop and change our learning styles as we went along. Normally our units will include some interactive work, creative work, reading, writing, making, cooking, field trips etc. 

But this unit focused mostly on one composer a day, where we listened to some of their work (they were all male!) and created a page or two in a scrap book about their lives, work and how they interacted or otherwise with other composers.

We did make some tiny musical instruments out of Lego though!

Here's our list of composers:

Vivaldi

Handel

J. S. Bach

Haydn

Mozart

Beethoven

Schubert

Mendelssohn

Chopin

Liszt

Strauss Jnr.

Brahms

Tchaikovsky

... and Debussy, who took us firmly into the 20th Century.

Baroque, Classical and Romantic Composers

Our new term has started with a thematic unit on composers from the Baroque, Classical and Romantic music eras. The eras themselves are not set in stone but it is fascinating to see how some composers crossed over from one period into the other. Beethoven, for example, set out writing music in the classical style, but by the time he had written his Symphony No. 9, it is very clear to hear how his music by then was more in the Romantic style.

For this unit, the children are making a chronological scrap book of some of the main composers in each era.

It's interesting to see the geographical dimensions of the composers' lives too.

 Trying out manuscripts.

We started with the Baroque music period - I particularly love music from this era.

Vivaldi kick-started our scrap books.

Listening to his work, while we work.

We studied Bach on a particularly warm September day so the kiddies worked on some choreography to suit his music, while the neighbour and I looked on :)

Ludwig Van Beethoven's ancestors came from Holland. We tried Dutch waffles (to be softened on top of hot drinks) because Beethoven's ancestry was a good enough reason to do so :) 

More to come on this unit...

Finding Fossils!

Papa took the children on an afternoon trip with a paleontologist to search for fossils in a bed of Oxford clay. What a cool day! 

Learning about some local finds from the Jurassic period.

Off to find their own fossils!