Summer Music for Kids - orchestral and vocal works
- Jun 1, 2017
- 2 min read
Continue the previous discussion on summer music for kids, I'm going to talk about some orchestral and vocal compositions that are appropriate for young musicians. In my opinion, study various genre, literature, musical style, and composers is a step to artistry. Take a break from practice, listen to other great pieces, or watch a performance can broaden students' horizon and help them feel connected to the music they are learning. The following suggestions can be self-guided studies for students and homeschoolers especially. I've included multimedia resources here in order to make the learning more engaging.
Orchestral Repertoire
Felix Mendelssohn's A Midsummer Night's Dream is a great piece to study. Classics For Kids produced an excellent episode on this topic, with sound tracks, composer's biography, quiz, and activity sheet included. Don't forget to bring up William Shakespeare, program music, and other important music terms.
Celebration of the 4th of July is a big event in the summer. Use the opportunity to introduce parade music, such as John Philip Sousa's The Stars and Stripes Forever.
Which little boy would not like cowboys and horseback (or donkey) riding? Aaron Copland's "Hoe-Down" from Rodeo and Ferde Grofé's "On the Trail" from The Grand Canyon Suite are good examples. Here is a YouTube clip of the piece with scene of the Grand Canyon and donkey riding.
George Gershwin's "Summertime" from the opera Porgy and Bess would be a piece for advanced teenage students who can appreciate Jazz. You can find the piano arrangement in Melody Bober's Popular Performer Series-Gershwin (early advanced level). The following is a performance by Norah Jones at the 2003 Tanglewood Jazz Festival.
Expanding Musical Horizons
Before Vivaldi's Four Season, singer from the 13th century had written song to praise summer - Sumer Is Icumen In (“Reading Rota”). It's important in musical history because at the time the Church was singing in Latin, the Royal Courts in French, and this was the first piece of English music. Key words to study are canon, ostinato, and polyphonic texture.
El Grillo (The Cricket) by Josquin des Prez (c.1450-1455 to 1521) who was the preeminent composer of his era. This is a humorous song, and according to some was about a colleague of Josquin’s, singer Carlo Grillo (his name translates as “cricket”). This piece is a good example of "text painting."
Have a nice summer and enjoy the music!
Comments