Music

Children are surrounded by music. They hear it every day, but they aren't always listening to it. Music can be a window into history, but it is more than that. The joy of sharing music and discovering new worlds through sound can be an amazing experience. There are many books published about all of the different composers, compositions, and performers, but there are also books on the history of instruments, music within different cultures, and the history of the varying music genres. Using music in the classroom can be very helpful in helping students learn about new things, or to remember certain concepts. As children we were all taught songs to help us remember something, and I bet most of us can still sing many of them today. Teaching students about the different genres of music, the cultures they derived from, and the history of music in general can help students become much more interested. Music works well when teaching across content areas, because it can be tied into almost any subject. When looking for informational texts on music for the classroom, it is important to find books that have accurate information. The books should also be on a variety of genres since students have many unique interests.

Some of my favorite book choices:

Long Live Music!
By: Peles Les Chats, Christian Olivier, and Lionel Le Neouanic 

Les Chats, P., Le Neouanic, L., & Olivier, C. (1996). Long live music! Mankato, Minnesota: Creative Editions.


Interest Level: 8 years and up
Grade Level: 3 and up
Lexile: Not Available
Guided Reading: Not available

 
Long Live Music's text features are not my favorite, mainly since the pages are quite busy and the illustrations are a little odd to me, but I love the quality of information. Even though there is a lot of information, it is presented in a way that is fairly easy to follow. Musical terms are in bold and defined, which I find to be a very helpful tool. The history of music included in this book goes all the way back to early civilizations, and it works up to the music of this generation. At the back of the book, instruments are separated onto pages by type. Each of the instruments is shown through the labeling of a picture, and even obscure, unique instruments are included. This book would be great to use for a music history unit in the Social Studies content.



Music Math
By:  Kieran Walsh

Walsh, Kieran. (2005). Music math. Vero Beach, Florida: Rourke Publishing.

Interest Level: Ages 9 and up
Grade Level: 4-6
Lexile: 750-849L
Guided Reading: Not Available

I think it is great when a book can teach across content areas, such as Music Math. This book takes math from the textbook and applies it into the real world, which is appeals to children. The examples used in the text are easy to understand, especially because they are real-world application problems. As the book goes through the math problems, a music concept is tied into each problem and then explained. With the progression of the book, the music concepts get more challenging.  Tying two content areas together by attaching the music to the math problems and using real-world problems helps students remember the information they are being taught, because they will most likely reach a deeper level of understanding.