Category: Music Study

Renoir and Vivaldi

Tracy2 Comments on Renoir and Vivaldi

We’ve initiated our new art and music study over the last several days, beginning with Renoir and Vivaldi in these first few weeks.

Renoir

Our first assignment was a picture study and coloring page of Renoir’s “The Girl with the Watering Can.”

What do you talk about in a picture study with a four year old and a three year old? I keep it pretty simple.

First, I usually ask them questions about the picture. Who’s in the picture? What is the girl holding? Where do you think she is? What makes you think she’s in a garden? etc.

Next, I ask them about colors, lighting, or anything unusual about the picture. For this one, the kids were fascinated that that her boots were black and her dress was blue. My fashion-conscious daughter really thought she ought to have had blue boots.

And last, I have them choose a part of the picture that is their favorite. The whole exercise probably takes us maybe ten minutes. I don’t drag it out. I just want them to get used to looking for details.

Over the next few days, we continued our picture study by coloring a picture of Renoir’s painting. I love this exercise because it really gives me a good look at the different personalities of my children. My son is Mr. Meticulous, and he scrutinizes every inch of the original to match it as closely as he can. And he does fret if he can’t find the right color to use to match the picture. My daughter, on the other hand, is a true artist and balks at the thought of anyone telling her how she ought to color her picture. She HATES to match the colors, and in this instance, showed her distaste by purposely scribbling outside the lines. And, I might add, included all the colors of the rainbow in the margins around the picture. But regardless, I know she will remember that blue dress with the black boots for a long time to come.

She finished her picture in two days (she was done with it after the first day, but I stretched it to two days). My son, however, took the whole week. And why not? It was because of his precision that it took so long. I just gave the little one some extra coloring pages to make up the difference in days.

Vivaldi

For Vivaldi, we’ve danced to the music, listened to it a number of times, and read his biography in Lives of the Musicians. Our facts to remember: He was called “The Red Priest” because of his red hair and red robes; he worked most of his life in an orphanage for girls; and he played the violin. I picked simple facts that I knew would stand out to my kids.

Next, we’re tackling a little music theory this year, too. We clapped out quarter notes and half notes and will gradually add in the rest as time allows.

Art and music time is my fun time. I’m not at all worried about sticking to a schedule; it’s just a fun subject to open our day with.

Music Study: Learning the Brass Family

Tracy

We have been learning about the instruments in the brass family, since those were among the instruments of choice for Handel’s Water Music.

In addition to reviewing our instrument cards that I got for free off of CurrClick.com, I’ve also been using the kidsite from New York’s Philharmonic Orchestra: nyphilkids.org. The “Instrument Storage Room” allows the kids to click on the silhouette of an instrument, then the instrument appears with a brief history of that instrument, a musical clip of the instrument to listen to, and occasionally a video clip to watch.

My son had such a blast with this! I’d love for him to learn to identify the instruments by their sound, but I’m not sure that the clips they provide are distinct enough for that lesson. We’ll see how it goes: I’ll “play it by ear” (wink, wink).

More on Music

Tracy1 Comment on More on Music

The kids had so much fun sequencing the different changes in Handel’s Royal Fireworks music.

As you can tell, my son really got into it. As the music changed from loud to soft, they made a pattern with our fireworks cards: big fireworks, little firecracker, big fireworks, little firecracker, big fireworks. Then we counted how many times the music was big and how many times the music was small (loud and soft). The changes are very distinct, and both the kids did really well with the exercise, much better than I anticipated.

Another activity that we’ve added to our study has been identifying instruments. We’ve started with the brass family for now, since these and the wind instruments were the primary players in Handel’s original production. (King George I had said he did not want strings! But Handel stubbornly added the strings in later performances of the pieces.)

Anyway, my son especially got into this activity. He loves anything music related. And I got the kit of cards for free from CurrClick.com! The cards include instruments and labels for all the instrument families, including many instruments that I’ve never seen or heard of before.

After this week, we head back to Handel’s Water Music. We’ll sequence some of those pieces as well, now that the kids have a good idea of how to do it. We will also learn more from Handel’s bio, and study the brass, woodwinds, and strings instruments. My plan is to have the kids learn to identify the instruments by sight and by sound (as much as we can get through).

I can’t believe summer is almost over! We have really enjoyed our laid-back summer schedule. It truly has been a great success, very little planning and structure on my part and just enough structure to give the kids something to look forward to each day. That said, both kids seem eager to get the real school going with complete workboxes and even the timer!  So that, too, tells me that it’s been just the break we needed. I couldn’t be more pleased with how my summer experiment turned out.

Let’s Make Some Noise!

Tracy

We’ve been watching and listening to Handel’s Royal Fireworks music this week, in preparation for our own fireworks celebrations. And I wanted to share some of what we will be doing today, tomorrow, and Monday—in case anybody wanted some ideas.

In addition to watching the Youtube video, we’ve also done a lot of dancing and pretend trumpet playing. Today, we’ll be coloring a fireworks page from the Harmony Fine Arts download.

We’ve also been talking about the movements in the music as little fireworks and big fireworks, and I made these cards to sequence the movements (assigned for Monday).

On Saturday, I thought I’d let the kids play with sparklers as they listen to the Royal Fireworks music. And then, for a snack idea, I loved this “Firecracker Float”  from Mrs. Happy Homemakers blog. (Click on the image for the recipe.)

Have a happy 4th!

Handel’s Water Party

Tracy

We had so much fun preparing for this. The only disappointment was that the day turned out to be extremely hot. But all in all, it was hugely successful.

A little background: Handel wrote his Water Music at the request of King George I for a water party. There were two boats on the Thames River that day: one held the guests, the other held the musicians. Brass and woodwind instruments were primarily chosen because of how well those sounds can carry, though Handel often added stringed instruments in his later performances of the pieces.

The Menu:

We served “sailboat” sandwiches, a little bit of a take off your typical sub. Dad helped make these, and I love how the cheese made the sails.

Also, on the menu–blue jello with swimming gummy fish. This turned out much better in theory than in consumption. The gummies rather disintegrated in the jello, but the kids didn’t mind. Next time, though, I think I will add the fish after the jello is served.

And of course, goldfish crackers–what kid party would be complete without them?

The Craft:

We made our own trumpets to play along with Handel’s music. I ran across this idea as a craft for the Bible lesson of Jericho, and we just never got around to it. So, I pulled out my paper towel rolls, styrofoam bowls, and aluminum foil for our long anticipated trumpet craft. This was a huge hit.

I love this picture! Notice the Handel CD under her arm.

The Game:

I wrote questions about Handel and his music on each fish, borrowed a magnet fishing rod from one of the kid’s puzzles, and brought along a couple of sand pails (one to fish from, one for the caught fish). It always amazes me how much information the kids can retain!

The Set-up:

It just so happened that the bridge that was our setting for the party had two short piers on other side. We adopted these as our two boats, placing the music in one “boat” and our picnic in the other.

All in all, it was a lot of fun, though very hot. And my daughter thanked me over and over again all the way home. I think she takes after Mommy just a little bit; the girl loves a party.