• Develops literacy, vocabulary, geography, history!
• Exposes the student to great composers lives and works!
• Fun, creative hands-on work!
• Develops critical thinking skills!
• Develops study in a self-determined manner!

Music History for ages 11-adult, covering the lives and works of German and Viennese Composers of the 1800s-1900s. Schubert, Schumann, Bruckner, Strauss II, Brahms, Schoenberg, Hindemith and Weill are the eight composers presented.

The course provides an overview of music, what it is and how it works, to aid in the student's appreciation of these composers and their works. It then presents a historical overview of the period in history, and how various movements and wars changed the course of art.

This sets up three-four full lessons per composer, in a 34 lesson course. The life of each composer is explored. Then, numerous works are watched and listened to, as links take you to video performances featuring some of the greatest musicians of the 20th century, and other performers. The student not only hears the pieces, but watches them. Several documentaries are included, to allow the student a deeper understanding of the composers and their lives, and the process of creating a performance.

Done in tandem with our Haydn/Mozart/Beethoven/Mahler course, the student gets a full picture of how remarkable was the accomplishment in classical composition expressed in Germany after the 1780s, one which continues to fill the world with great music.  (Add the greatest of all composers, Bach, yet another German, and Handel, a German working inEngland, and the accomplishment becomes mind and ear-boggling!)

Composers and Concepts covered:

• What is music?
• Romanticism
• Schubert
• Schumann
• Bruckner
• Johan Strauss II (the Waltz King)
• Brahms
• Modern music
• Schoenberg
• Hindemith
• Kurt Weill