Michelle, how do you determine which composer/artist to study, for how long, and what materials to use? I would really like to incorporate this into our homeschooling. Thank you!I began my response and then decided it would have made it's own blog post anyway. :-) So that's what I'm doing to day.
Basically, the way it's usually done in the Charlotte Mason way is that we pick and choose artists and composers according to the time period we're covering in History. Truth be told, we do this with many of our subjects. Once we're in a historical time, we can choose art, music, geography, literature based upon that time in history. It really does streamline what we're doing and reduce our overall time spent "schooling".
That said, whether you use the CM method or not, you can utilize the artist and composer studies in your own homeschool.
Choose an artist and a composer. We are currently studying Vincent van Gogh and Mozart.
We study the artist and their works for 12 weeks.
Let's look at my Van Gogh study as an example. We are going to study 6 of his paintings.
- Starry Night
- Starry Night Over the Rhone
- Bank of the Oise at Auvers
- Girl in the Woods
- Water Mill at Kollen Near Nuenen
- View of Paris from Vincent's Room in the Rue Lepic
The first 2 weeks of the 12-week term will focus on Starry Night. On Monday, Wednesday and Friday, I will put the painting/print in front of them. They will examine it quietly for 5 minutes. I will then remove it and have them narrate what they saw. If they are short for words (and sometimes the younger ones or those new to the concept ARE short on words), I prompt them with questions from a list I found on an art site:
List of Questions. We do this 3x for two weeks for that one painting. Then move to the next one.
On the other two days (in our case, Tuesday and Thursday) we study the artist. As with everything, we use living books for this. Of course reading triggers interests in specific things which may lead us on a research project.. or not. :-) The artist studies take place, again, twice per week for 12 weeks. Much information, activities and hands-on projects can be done in that time.
Now, as it applies to composers, the process is the same. We choose 6 songs/compositions. Like the painting being examined for 5 minutes 3x per week, we listen to the composition for 5 minutes. The children then narrate back what they heard. How did it make them feel? What sort of instruments caught their attention? Do you think the artist was happy or sad when he wrote this? There is no limit to the prompting questions that we can come up with if the child needs them. And again, the studies of the composer exactly as we do the artist study.
I hope that this was of assistance and answered the question fully. Also, if anyone else would like to share some other information, please do so in the comments!
On the other two days (in our case, Tuesday and Thursday) we study the artist. As with everything, we use living books for this. Of course reading triggers interests in specific things which may lead us on a research project.. or not. :-) The artist studies take place, again, twice per week for 12 weeks. Much information, activities and hands-on projects can be done in that time.
Now, as it applies to composers, the process is the same. We choose 6 songs/compositions. Like the painting being examined for 5 minutes 3x per week, we listen to the composition for 5 minutes. The children then narrate back what they heard. How did it make them feel? What sort of instruments caught their attention? Do you think the artist was happy or sad when he wrote this? There is no limit to the prompting questions that we can come up with if the child needs them. And again, the studies of the composer exactly as we do the artist study.
I hope that this was of assistance and answered the question fully. Also, if anyone else would like to share some other information, please do so in the comments!
Happy Homeschooling!
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