Homeschool Music Appreciation

In this post I talk about how to help your kids not just appreciate but actually enjoy classical music without a pricey music appreciation curriculum. Some of my suggestions for teaching music appreciation do cost money, but not all of them. However, if you want to go beyond a general understanding and appreciation of classical music, there’s no getting around the fact that it will be an investment.

What is Music Appreciation

Some music is, in fact, better than others. If you disagree with this statement, you might as well stop reading now. If you ARE still reading, let’s define what music appreciation actually is. Music appreciation is essentially learning about classical music enough to truly appreciate it as an art form and enjoy it that much more. It generally involves learning about composers and the history of classical music as well as a lot of listening to classical music, obviously.

Why Teach Music Appreciation

Thanks to Plato, music is seen as a pillar of classical education. It helps students develop the ability to differentiate between what is aesthetically good and bad. And it actually helps to form their character.

“Education in music is most sovereign, because more than anything else rhythm and harmony find their way to the inmost soul and take strongest hold upon it, bringing with them and imparting grace.” ~ Plato

I’m sure the answer to “Why teach music appreciation?” will differ greatly on whom you ask. Personally, I have two main reasons. First, I agree with Plato that education should include teaching your child how to appreciate the aesthetically beautiful. And that includes a knowledge and appreciation for the canon of classical Western music.

I believe another responsibility of education is passing on one’s culture. For my family, that is Western or European culture, including the operas of Mozart, the symphonies of Beethoven, the ballets of Tchaikovsky or even traditional Irish step dancing, just to name a few. Not only are these art forms fun to watch and participate in, but they are also part of my family’s cultural heritage. I therefore have a strong incentive to pass along my culture to my children by exposing them to the best of Western music.

How to Teach Music Appreciation

“The way to acquire a good taste in anything…is always the same – be familiar with the best specimens of each.” ~ Sir Richard Livingstone

Some say “familiarity breeds contempt”, but according to science, it’s actually the other way around. There is something called the “mere-exposure effect” that basically says we are more likely to enjoy music that is familiar to us. What does this look like?

You could be playing Handel’s Messiah in December and then crank up the Hallelujah chorus. Close your eyes, do some air conducting. Your kids could fall in love the first time they hear it. Or maybe next Christmas, if they happen to hear that piece of music, they’ll be like “Ooh! I know that song!” And then maybe the following year they might actually start liking it themselves.

Bottom line is, if you want your children to ENJOY good quality music, you need to SURROUND THEM with good quality music. When I say “surround”, I don’t mean to only let your children listen to classical music. I can assure you, this will backfire. I have known parents like this. Their children end up hating some of the world’s best music because of their parents’ well-meaning but poorly-executed intentions. So how do you surround your kids with good quality music without blasting Beethoven from your home stereo 24/7 and banning Beyoncé?

• Listen to everything you love. Always keep the good stuff (referring here to classical music) on offer and in rotation. Mix it up. When we’re driving around to lessons or running errands, I play all kinds of music in the car.
• Get excited about the music you love and let your kids see you get excited! For example, play air violin to the best parts of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons!
• Sign your children up for proper music lessons and get involved (see more suggestions below).
• Let your children watch videos of full performances. You can find full-length ballets and operas on YouTube for free! And you don’t have to plop your kids down in front of the tv. Sometimes, on a weekend morning I’ll pull up an opera on YouTube to listen to while I do my usual routine. Half the time, my kids will get so interested in the performance they’ll sit and watch most if not all of it. And I don’t even have to ask them.
• Check out the library for books on the orchestra, your favourite operas, DVDs of ballets, etc.
• Take your children to performances. And yes, this can get expensive. But as wonderful as YouTube is, it’s not quite the same as seeing and hearing a performance live. I took my oldest daughter to her first ballet when she was 3 and she loved it. So don’t think you have to wait until they are “older” or even “old enough to appreciate it”. Appreciation comes with exposure!
• At the end of the day, an individual’s preferences in music are just that – individual. Don’t take it personally if your children don’t share your taste in music. Remember that taste in music can change a lot over time. And even if it does not, your child will have their preferences based on their personality, not on ignorance and lack of exposure to other genres.

Building on Music Lessons

Unless you find a teacher who is particularly passionate about the history of classical music, you could spend years practicing piece after piece on your instrument and not really have a good understanding of who composed what and when. If you already have your children in music lessons and want to build music appreciation on that, there are several things you can do.

• Annotate those music books! I add pictures and flags for each composer in my daughter’s Suzuki books. Not only does it help her differentiate the pieces, but it also draws her attention to things like which pieces were written by the same composers and just how many incredible composers hailed from Germany (or the region which we now call Germany).
• Make a timeline. Did you know that not all classical music is “classical”? There are different periods of classical music. As your child learns a new piece, put that composer’s picture on the timeline so they can start to gain an understanding of the different periods of classical music. (This is a great way to find new music that is similar to what your child already likes.)
• Use the internet to watch different performances of the piece your child is working on. Let them see and hear the different ways the same piece can be interpreted. Talk about the performances. Ask them what they liked and what they want to incorporate into their own practice.
• If you want to go even further, you can make music practice time lead into Italian. Review that Italian vocabulary!

Do you prioritise music appreciation in your homeschool? How do you get your kids interested in or excited about classical music?