Another bright idea from Bright Ideas Press....A Young Scholar's Guide to Composers

As our year began, I wanted our music program to go deeper and be more consistent. I wanted to expose the kids to exceptional music and to be able to learn about the composers. How neat that one of the products I was asked to review for the TOS Crew was A Young Scholar's Guide to Composers from Bright Ideas Press! This is a study of composers over the last several hundred years, but what makes it different is that it's written from a Christian point of view.

Geared toward 4-8 graders, this book provides all you need to have your own music appreciation course at home or in your co-op. It's a 32-week curriculum. Each section consists of a biography and notetaking sheet, as well as the materials needed to make a composer info card. In the appendices at the end, there are also printables for mapping where each composer was from and a timeline printable that spans several hundred years, as well as a composer bingo game and a list of listening resources and sites for each composer. While the music is not included in what you buy, they give lists of free listening resources online. The authors provide a guideline for teaching each section over a three-day time frame.

The biographies are thorough but won't bog down older elementary readers. The authors provide information about the composers' personal as well as professional lives. I appreciate that they keep things age-appropriate. In the introduction they explain something of their dilemma in choosing who to include and how to present their lives when many of these men led lifestyles we would not condone.

My kids and I, although they are younger than the recommended age frame, have been using the program in a modified version. We read the biography of a composer and then choose a piece to listen to. As we listen, we try to find certain elements in each piece. We compare elements from different composers' pieces. My older two will be second and third graders next year, and I want to use the program in its entirety then.

Like I said, it's written from a Christian point of view. What this means is that the authors have tried to discover what role faith had in the lives of the composers without trying to play judge. While they do draw some conclusions based on the lifestyles and writings of the composers, they are quick to admit that only God knows what's in a man's heart.

Y'all, this is one that worth every penny, in my opinion! It's 329 pages of useful information and learning resources. This is one you'll want for your homeschool group or co-op library. To learn more about ordering, click here. For the cd version, it's $29.95, but the print version is only $5 more at $34.95. You can check out sample pages here. To find out what other Crew members have to say, click here.