21 Lessons in 20th Century American Music Appreciation ~ Review
21 Lessons in 20th Century American Music Appreciation is a great open-and-go type of program if you would like a basic music overview. It's so easy to just sit with your children and spend about 20 minutes learning about music history.
Disclosure: I received a free copy of this product for review, all opinions are 100% my own.
Are you looking for a program to learn more about American composers with your children? 21 Lessons in 20th Century American Music Appreciation might be just what you're looking for!
Our family loves music, many different styles of music from classical, blues, ragtime to rock. So I was really excited when Gena Mayo of I Choose Joy offered me the opportunity to review her new music appreciation program!
What Is 21 Lessons in 20th Century American Music Appreciation?
Gena has created a 38-page ebook that covers 21 different lessons on composers and music styles from John Phillip Sousa, blues, jazz, Charles Ives, rock and roll, folk music, and more!
Each lesson gives a brief summary of the artist and then links to selections of his music to listen to. The music selections are videos on YouTube, it also links to podcasts to learn more about the composer.
For older children, Gena has included a 20th Century Music History notebooking page. This gives them a special place to record the vital facts about the composer, their famous music pieces and other interesting facts.
There is a 2nd notebook page that can be used for studying the actual musical piece. It has questions about the tempo and dynamics, mood, instrumentation, etc.
I love that under the section headings, it says what it means in simple language for the child to understand easily. The bibliography links to the books used on Amazon if you would like to read them for a deeper study.
This study doesn't cover the history and social aspects that were going on in the time period that each artist lived. In some ways, I would love if that was included and in other ways, I'm glad that it doesn't.
Since it's left out it is easy to pair it with any modern history study that you are using and customize it to your famili’s beliefs.
21 Lessons in 20th Century American Music Appreciation is a great open-and-go type of program if you would like a basic music overview. It's so easy to just sit with your children and read the summary of the artist or music style and then listen to the suggested pieces on YouTube.
A lesson takes us about 20 minutes to finish, that is if we don't get sidetracked listening to more selections!
If you'd like to dig a little deeper the podcasts and books listed in the bibliography make a great starting place. This is a great course to use with your children from K to high school! My favorite curriculums are created by other homeschooling mothers like Gena who know how busy it really can be during our days.
Gena has created a fun, easy-to-use program that actually gets DONE! We have been making this part of our circle time and are loving it.
