Have you ever heard a group of 5th graders argue over whether Mozart or Beethoven was better?! No?…well, I have. It’s a far cry from where this group started when we learned about musical eras! Teaching music history has always been a struggle for me because I never know where to start. There are so many great composers to cover, how do you choose?!
Musical Eras in Elementary Music
This year, my 3rd-5th graders learned about musical eras. 3rd grade focused on the Baroque and Classical Eras and 4th-5th grade studied the Romantic and Impressionist Eras. Next year, I plan on having 5th grade study “Modern” composers (20th century).
When studying the eras, my goal is that my students know the major musical components of each era. We do some aural identification to see if they can differentiate between each era. Here are the main points I teach for each era:
Baroque
The Baroque era is full of “fancy” music! Lots of Baroque music was played for royalty (this is where the fancy comes in). Composers from this era loved to add extra notes to their music to show off how well they could write! Ensembles were small and only included a few key instruments. Composers: Bach, Handel, and Vivaldi
Classical
The composers of the Classical era produced much simpler music, a big contrast to the complex writing of the Baroque era. Memorable melodies were the most important thing. Orchestras expanded as well! Composers: Mozart, Beethoven, and Haydn
Romantic
The Romantic era was all about emotion! Composers tried to express deep emotions such as love, tragedy, and grief. They accomplished this by writing for bigger ensembles than had ever been seen! Composers: Tchaikovsky, Wagner, and Brahms
Impressionist
Composers from the Impressionist period were very creative. Their goal was to create an atmosphere or mental picture for the listener. They used instruments in new and inventive ways to create the sounds they wanted. Composers: Ravel and Debussy
Composer Research
While teaching about the musical eras, I introduce a few of the major composers from the time period. After studying each era, we move on to our composer research.
I wanted my kids to get a general overview of the most popular composers from each era. In order to do this, I decided to split them up and have each of them research a different composer.
I created a mini research project for each composer on Google Slides. My 3rd-5th grade kiddos are 1 to 1 with Chromebooks, so I knew this would be the perfect way to push it out to them. I have them create a copy of the document and put their name in the title. Then they share it with me and I put them all in a folder with the teacher’s name.
Here’s what’s included in the project:
- Short Biography of the Composer
- Words to Know
- Basic Information
- Interesting Facts
- Listening Examples (stay tuned for a pro tip!)
- SQUILT journal
- Opinions
- Questions
Things I Learned
My favorite part about doing these on Google Slides was having the kids share them with me. Not only was I able to keep track of them all in one folder, but I could check in and see how they were progressing on the project!
We spent about two weeks studying the musical eras and then two more weeks doing the composer research. All of my students had a chance to finish in that time period and were able to do short presentations as well. You could spend as much time as you need with your students!
Here’s your pro tip when it comes to the listening examples. Embed the YouTube video into the slide! This keeps your kiddos from going onto YouTube and browsing. If the video is embedded, it will play straight in the slide without any ads! To do this, just click on Insert > Video > YouTube Link. You can also force the video to start and stop at any point!
This tip also works when the students need to find a picture of their composer. They can click on Insert > Image > Search the Web and it will bring up a sidebar image search. Again, this keeps them inside the Google Slide the whole time!
I don’t use Chromebooks in my class very often, but after doing this project I’ll definitely be incorporating them more! My students are so used to using them in their classroom, it was like second nature. Once they got their project onto their Drive, they just started working automatically! It was so awesome to see them engaged and learning about music history!
If you’re thinking of incorporating some lessons about famous composers, give these digital research projects a try! I really enjoyed researching all the composers and creating these slides! Everything is done for you. Just download and push out to your students! If you’re not 1 to 1, or just not into digital work, don’t worry! There are print versions for each composer!
Teaching musical eras and composers doesn’t have to be scary! There is SO much information out there that it’s best to keep it simple. If you give these research projects a try, let me know your favorite part! And let me know if your students start arguing over who is better! 😉
