In April, I introduced a series of blog posts that I have been going through over the last few months, sharing some of my favorite Charlotte Mason homeschool resources broken down by subject. These are the ones we’ve tried and have been so helpful in making our days run more smoothly. They have also engaged my kids in whatever subject we’re covering. In some cases, they’re resources that have been made by other homeschooling moms or are from reputable homeschooling companies, and sometimes they’re just different items that have been helpful to us in a specific subject.
These are by no means the only resources out there, and I will offer others in some subjects that I have heard of but haven’t had the chance to try yet, or I have friends who have used them and appreciate them. But the main list will be the resources we’ve used in our homeschool over the last six years that have been so helpful to us.
Today I’m sharing my favorite resources for music! This includes composer study, folksongs, and hymns. I was also going to discuss music lessons, but up to this point, the only thing we’ve done in that vein is two years of Hoffman Academy online piano lessons, so I don’t feel like I can contribute much to that part of the conversation. The online lessons worked well for us, so if you’re looking for an option for piano lessons, check out Hoffman Academy!
I have one resource to mention in this category that covers all parts. A Touch of the Infinite: Studies in Music Appreciation with Charlotte Mason is a book I first heard about several years ago on the Mason Jar Podcast. In it, Megan Hoyt discusses all aspects of music in a Charlotte Mason education. I have not been able to look at it myself, but I have heard good things about it, so I wanted to list it here.
Composer Study
With Musical Appreciation the case is different; and we cannot do better than quote from an address made by Mrs. Howard Glover at the Ambleside Conference of the Parents’ Union, 1922:––
“Musical Appreciation––which is so much before the eye at the present moment––originated in the P.N.E.U. about twenty-five years ago. At that time I was playing to my little child much of the best music in which I was interested, and Miss Mason happened to hear of what I was doing. She realised that music might give great joy and interest to the life of all, and she felt that just as children in the P.U.S. were given the greatest literature and art, so they should have the greatest music as well. She asked me to write an article In the Review on the result of my observations, and to make a programme of music each term which might be played to the children. From that day to this, at the beginning of every term a programme has appeared; thus began a movement which was to spread far and wide.
“Musical Appreciation, of course, has nothing to do with playing the piano. It used to be thought that ‘learning music’ must mean this, and it was supposed that children who had no talent for playing were unmusical and would not like concerts. But Musical Appreciation had no more to do with playing an instrument than acting had to do with an appreciation of Shakespeare, or painting with enjoyment of pictures. I think that all children should take Musical Appreciation and not only the musical ones, for it has been proved that only three per cent of children are what is called ‘tone-deaf’; and if they are taken at an early age it is astonishing how children who appear to be without ear, develop it and are able to enjoy listening to music with understanding.”
Charlotte Mason (Philosophy of Education)
This Lesson is somewhat more difficult to give in the country home, if there are no musicians in the family. But what a sad home it is for the child when there is no music! A pianola, a gramophone must be bought if possible, or still better, find some neighbour who can play.
About six works by some great composer are chosen for study each term. These compositions are played or sung to the children constantly and studied carefully. The children are taught something about the form, harmonic structure, thematic development of the composition and some information is given about the life of the composer. An article appears every term in the Parents’ Review on the composer and his works, which is a great help to the teacher or parent who is giving the musical appreciation lessons.
Boys and girls living in London have great opportunities. Concerts are often arranged especially for them, and sometimes professional musicians are engaged to perform the works at some private house where there is a branch of the Parents’ Union School. Children can be taken to the Sunday Concerts at the Queen’s Hall or Albert Hall. It is not necessary for them to stay all through the performance—take them out after the finest composition has been played. But, as I said before about pictures, it is not much use taking them to concerts unless they have some previous idea of what they are going to hear. Familiarity with the work means enjoyment of the finished performance. A musical home is a happy place. Encourage your children to learn instruments so that there may be Chamber Music in the home in after years. Teach them to listen and discriminate between good music and what is inferior: form, in fact, such a love of it that it will be a necessary part of their leisure in after life.
Marjorie F. Ransom (Parents’ Review)
Resources
Tillberry Table
The Complete Book of the Great Musicians (also available on Archive – this book was also listed in PNEU Programme 94 for Form II)
AmblesideOnline Composer Study Resources
Freegal
Articles
Because composer study, as with art in picture study, is about getting to know the music itself, our composer study time is very simple. I pick the music of one composer to learn about per term. This is usually based on the AmblesideOnline rotation; however, I really appreciate the Tillberry Table guides for our composer study, so if she does not offer that particular composer, I might look for a contemporary of that composer whom she does provide and use that person instead.
Over the term, we focus on six of that composer’s pieces (again, from AO or Tillberry Table). If I have access to a brief biography (either through the Tillberry Table guides or the book linked above), I might read that or summarize it during our first week. I also usually like to print out a picture of our composer and artist for the term and hang them in our school area.
Tillberry Table offers YouTube playlists with recordings for each artist, or I search for a live recording before the lesson if we’re not using a Tillberry Table guide. Then I let my kids know the title of the piece we’ll be listening to that day, and we watch the performance together for about five minutes. Afterward, we spend some time discussing what we heard, and that’s it. I’ll add whatever piece we listened to that day to our general school music playlist on Plex (I like to use Freegal to download the MP3s for free) and then play it after we finish our morning lessons, in the car when we’re driving somewhere, or whenever the opportunity presents itself.
Hymn/Folksong
I must close, with the disappointing sense that subjects of importance in the child’s education have been left out of count, and that no one matter has been adequately treated.
Certain subjects of peculiar educational value, music, for instance, I have said nothing about, partly for want of space, and partly because if the mother have not Sir Joshua Reynold’s ‘that!’ in her, hints from an outsider will not produce the art-feeling which is the condition of success in this sort of teaching. If possible, let the children learn from the first under artists, lovers of their work: it is a serious mistake to let the child lay the foundation of whatever he may do in the future under ill-qualified mechanical teachers, who kindle in him none of the enthusiasm which is the life of art. I should like, in connection with singing, to mention the admirable educational effects of the Tonic Sol-fa method.
Children learn by it in a magical way to produce sign for sound and sound for sign, that is, they can not only read music, but can write the notes for, or make the proper hand signs for, the notes of a passage sung to them. Ear and Voice are simultaneously and equally cultivated. (Home Education)
CHARLOTTE MASON (HOME EDUCATION)
Perhaps we do not attach enough importance to the habit of praise in our children’s devotion. Praise and thanksgiving come freely from the young heart; gladness is natural and holy, and music is a delight. The singing of hymns at home and of the hymns and canticles in church should be a special delight; and the habit of soft and reverent singing, of offering our very best in praise, should be carefully formed. Hymns with a story, such as: ‘A Little Ship Was on the Sea,’ ”I Think When I Read That Sweet Story of Old,’ ‘Hushed Was the Evening Hymn,’ are perhaps the best for little children.
Charlotte Mason (School Education)
Resources
Children of the Open Air YouTube Channel (she has a lovely introduction to solfège here)
Hymns and Folksongs YouTube Channel
Andrew Remillard YouTube Channel (for instrumental versions of hymns)
Hymnary
Folk Music of England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales & America
Freegal
Articles
When we were still in our homeschool co-op, two of the moms were assigned the task of picking and teaching our hymns and folksongs for the term. Fortunately, the mom who taught our hymns the last two years that we were in the co-op (I taught folksongs during this time) was more musically inclined, so she implemented some singing lessons, which were somewhat along the lines of solfège. I linked to a YouTube channel above that includes many videos about solfège, which Charlotte Mason mentioned specifically in Volume 1. I’m not particularly musically inclined, I like to keep our Morning Time simple, and solfège was part of our piano lessons, so I chose not to include it during our hymn/folksong time. It’s a lovely way to help your children learn more about music and singing, though, if it’s something you feel would fit well in your homeschool!
Now that we are no longer in the co-op, I pick our hymns and folksongs. Last year, I chose the hymns based on the liturgical year, a practice we also did in our co-op. I chose our folksongs based on the time periods in which we were studying. I have not decided whether to do this again next year or follow the AmblesideOnline schedule.
We sing our hymn and folksong twice per week during Morning Time. For our first “lesson,” I’ll play a recording of the song on YouTube so we can listen to it together. Then the next time, we’ll read and narrate the words of the song, and I’ll briefly share any background about it. In the following “lesson,” we’ll listen to it again, then listen once more while we hum along with the tune. After that, we’ll sing along with a recording (I usually try to find instrumental-only) as we feel comfortable with that. This was the general pattern we had in our co-op, and it worked well for us, so I also chose to implement it at home.
The Hymns and Folksongs YouTube channel is so helpful as she records beautiful versions of the AO rotation hymns and folksongs. I also appreciate Andrew Remillard’s channel as he offers instrumental recordings of hymns, which is what I prefer to use as our accompaniment for most of the term. Hymnary is where I research and find hymns when picking them myself. And the last link for the Folk Music of England. etc., is especially helpful when looking for folksongs from specific time periods.
So these are most of the music-related resources we use in our homeschool. Again, though I appreciate music and have my favorite composers, I am not enormously musically inclined, but these resources have helped. What indispensable music resources would you add to this list?
In my next post in this series, I’ll be sharing our favorite homeschool supplies! If you’re not signed up for my newsletter, click here to get a notification when the new post is available!
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