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Music makes us better at math . . . I have seen an amazingly thorough syllabus of American history through music, from early folk songs to hip hop.

Zoo Curriculum: Music — Songs can be written; a play or skit can be musicalized. Music inspired by animals can be listened to, such as Carnival of the Animals, by Saint-Saens, or Peter and the Wolf, by Prokovief. (There are beautiful illustrated books about both.) Music that describes each animal can be created spontaneously by the children.
– Laurie Block Spigel, from Education Uncensored

Listening to music can be inspirational, soothing, invigorating, thought provoking. Playing music of a specific time period can help history come to life.

Studying music at an early age creates an innate sense of rhythm, increases coordination, and develops intelligence. There have been studies published showing that children who learn music become better at math, academics, even at sports. The hand-eye coordination developed by playing the violin will, for example, make you better at baseball. Finding the rhythm in you and in your life, recognizing it, developing and fine-tuning it, may be one of the secrets to a good life.


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See also:

Check out the amazing website Songs for Teaching -- all about using music to teach a variety of subjects.

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General Music Education updated


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Instruction - general and specific

General

  • Carnegie Hall's Digital Library offers curriculum materials – FREE – browse by grade level, skills and concepts, musical genres, instruments.
  • Online free – Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra, by Benjamin Britten.
  • 8 notes.com. Free sheet music and lessons for voice and many instruments.
  • Highly recommended by NYC Homeschooling parents, Meryl Danziger has created an innovative approach to teaching music, called The Music House.
  • Folk of the Wood - free lessons for acoustic instruments (guitar, fiddle, mandolin, etc.)
  • Berklee Shares, from Berklee College of Music, has free lessons you can download. Topics include Production & Technology as well as specific instruments.
  • The Free Music Education Center has an online music dictionary, biographies of musicians, a history of music, as well as lessons.
  • Homespun Tapes has a catalog of instruction tapes and videos for a wide range of instruments and styles.

Guitar / Mandolin

Piano

My kids studied the piano. We enjoyed using the Bastien series. This method was developed by a family of musicians. They offer a theory workbook with lessons to match each piano lesson in their series, from young beginner to adult.

For finger exercises, we used Edna Mae Burnam's series, "A Dozen A Day."


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Musical Instruments


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Recordings, Sheet Music, etc.


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Music Museums, Organizations, etc.


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Music Camps

  • Fiddle Workshops and Camps. A great listing of fiddle camps all over America, and even including Scotland, Ireland and Canada.
  • Music and Dance Camps run by the Country Dance and Song Society, at Pinewoods Camp in Buzzard's Bay, MA; Timber Ridge Camp in Highview, WV; and Ogontz Camp, in Lyman, NH. Family Week and Campers' Week are recommended. Lots of informal music-making, mostly folk music of various kinds.

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Websites by and for Kids

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