Submitted by Marilyn Rippy, Tama, Iowa
Idea posted October 15, 2015
I have a Composer of the Month bulletin board. It has multiple facts about the composer on it and lots of pictures.
When my voice starts to go, I plan a composer lesson around these awesome books that include CDs. You don't have to talk! The series is First Discovery - Music, and they have books for: J.S. Bach, Beethoven, Berlioz, Chopin, Debussy, Handel, Mozart, Purcell, Schubert, and Vivaldi.
I also have composer coloring books, and I give a page on the composer to the kids to color while they are listening to the music. Kids don't get to color in their classes anymore! They love it.
Another book I use with 2nd-5th is Lives of the Musicians - Good Times, Bad Times (and what the Neighbors Thought) by Kathleen Krull and Kathryn Hewitt. I have several copies of the book, and I have the kids in KAGAN groups to read the stories. Each student has to come up with one thing they learned about the composer (aside from his birth/death dates, that he composed music, or that he lived a LONG time ago). The students stay focused on the task, and they don't have time to ask questions.
It also helps that with kids now we can say, "I'm not sure. You should check that out during your free computer time today and tell me about it tomorrow morning!" It's nice when the teachers tell me the kids were listening to a composer or looking up information on someone.
Another option if students continue to have questions: You could write the questions down and look them up, then revisit the composer at the beginning of each class that month - "You'll never guess what I learned the other day about (insert name of composer here)." Give them a question or two and the answer and move on.