New Curriculum Release:
The Story of Classical Music
A Music History and Appreciation Course for the Home & Classroom
$199
Learn the story of classical music, from its origins in medieval chant up through the polyphonic masterpieces of J.S. Bach in the Classical Encounters Music History Series, Part I. This course contains 24 lessons that richly narrate the story of classical music for families, classrooms, and the adult learner. By contextualizing the development of Western music within the key artistic, historical, and philosophical movements that contributed to its flowering, each masterpiece of the classical canon comes to life as both a cultural synthesis of its own time and an artistic expression of transcendent beauty that crosses all borders of time and place.
A 272 page beautiful teacher’s curriculum handbook mailed to you, containing 24 lessons with engaging, fully scripted stories of composers and their worlds. Hardback with high quality paper and premium color featuring beautiful art from each time period studied, this book doubles as a lovely coffee table book!
Listening activities for each week's lesson that bring classrooms and families together in hearing the full splendor of each week's masterpiece.
Lifetime license for curriculum use in your home, co-op or school.
Rich immersion in each of the 6 era-specific parts of the book through a Digital Library of Learning Materials, including:
Six Playlists (Spotify, Apple Music & Youtube) for each of the six era specific parts of the course, featuring 11 hours of medieval, Renaissance & Baroque era masterpieces.
Video art tutorials on architectural pieces and decorative arts of special significance to the composers' worlds by Florence-based artist Elisabeth Waldstein.
Music Term Video Tutorials from author Sadie Hoyt.
Complete set of 95 flashcards of the key composers, music terms, and the significant pieces of art/architecture and historical events that contributed to the story of classical music.
This Course Contains:
The 4 Key Elements of the Course:
Composers’ Stories
In-depth Listening Activities
Historical Context
Drawing Tutorials
How It Works:
01.
Purchase the course. This includes a rich online library of learning resources, a mailed 272 page curriculum teacher handbook, and a lifetime license to use Classical Encounters curriculum at your school, homeschool or co-op.
02.
Factor in how many students you have in your classroom and add additional Listening Journals to your order so that you have one per child. Each child will need their own copy to complete the listening, drawing, journaling and quiz activities that accompany the curriculum.
03.
After purchasing the course you will receive an email with a password to access your library of online resources. As you wait for your beautiful books to arrive in the mail, start perusing playlists and art + music tutorials that provide rich immersion as you learn the story of classical music.
Your Teacher Handbook: The Story of Classical Music
272 page textbook
This is a lovely hardcopy investment for your school, co-op or homeschool that can be used year after year.
Contains 24 fully scripted lessons on 22 composers and their worlds.
Richly narrated, steeped in beauty and with engaging knowledge for all, this guide brings multiple ages together in encountering the masterpieces of the classical canon.
A beautiful hardback with high quality paper that features art and architecture from the eras studied, this also doubles as a lovely coffee table book!
Listening Journals for Grades K-8
(Recommended: one book per child)
Listening Journal for Grades K-3
$10/per journal
Though the curriculum content is intended for older ages (grades 3+), this 76 page activity book was created with homeschooling families in mind, so that learning the story of classical music can be a family affair. It includes coloring pages and simple circle & describe prompts to help littles stay engaged while absorbing the music contained in the corresponding music guide. The coloring illustrations are carefully selected, ensuring high quality depictions of topics from the composers’ worlds.
Listening Journal for Grades 3-8
$20/per journal
This 150 page activity book features a drawing, listening, and journaling activity for each lesson in the curriculum followed by a quiz. These activities are designed to deepen understanding of music history + theory while facilitating a connection to the works of music as living pieces of art. Students will learn 22 composers and their styles, 59 music terms, 8 of the most important instruments of the Renaissance and Baroque eras, and how to hear and identify key musical elements in the music.
Not sure which Listening Journal is best for your child or student? Click below for a sample of pages from each Listening Journal.
Art Tutorials
Learn how to paint and draw key pieces of architecture and decorative arts from the composers’ worlds through video tutorials by Florence-based artist Elisabeth Waldstein!
Who is this Curriculum for?
Teachers & Parents
who want to give their students the highest quality education in classical music history and appreciation
Classrooms
Grades K-8
Life-long Adult Learners
who want to grasp the significance, history and distinct artistic details of one of the world's richest art forms
All Educators & Students
who understand the vital necessity and transformative power of the arts in education!
You should not buy this book if you are someone who:
Views music as a disposable extra curricular subject that comes second to other subjects
Wants dumbed-down cartoon versions of composers stories
Thinks that kids don't need or can't absorb high quality writing, design, art and music.
What Students Will Learn:
The key artistic and historical events that shaped the development of classical music
The stories of 22 composers
The distinct contribution and style of each composer
How to identify medieval, Renaissance and Baroque styles of music
59 music theory terms
Introductions to the 8 most important instruments of Early Music history
How to actively listen so as to fully encounter the distinct artistic gift of each musical masterpiece
How to articulate what you hear through guided journal prompts
Extra gold nuggets of knowledge you'll learn along the way:
The different aesthetic goals and musical "virtues" of each era
How key movements and events in history, philosophy, art, architecture, and decorative arts directly contributed to stylistic developments within classical music.
How classical music is a powerful mode of artistic expression that is capable of expressing the full scope of the human experience and the order, harmony and beauty of the cosmos.
Meet the Author
Sadie Hoyt holds a Bachelor of Arts in History & a Master of Music in Chamber Music and has performed as a pianist in music festivals across the United States, Canada and Austria. She runs a private piano studio, performs regularly as a collaborative pianist and creates educational resources for deepening or jumpstarting classical music appreciation in the home or classroom.
With over 18 years of teaching experience to kids of all ages, I aim to create educational materials grounded in academic & aesthetic excellence for your home or classroom.
Praise for Classical Encounters:
“Classical encounters is an inspiring, multifaceted program that my whole family enjoyed. Each week’s lessons engaged our senses and helped us encounter the rich beauty of the foundations of western music. The program was thorough, conveniently laid out, and easy to follow. This was a perfect addition to our home studies!”
— Carrie, Mother of 4
“Sadie has developed a beautiful curriculum for introducing children to classical music! My children loved the polyphony coloring pages and I was impressed with the amount of history included in the guide. We all enjoyed painting Notre Dame in watercolors while listening to Sadie's carefully curated selections. The materials are beautifully formatted and easy to follow. This is a sweet way to make memories with your children, and educational as well.”
– Lynne W.
“Sadie's Classical Encounters music program has benefited our family so much. My homeschooled kids range in age from 6 to 14 and we all learned so much from both the historical and musical components. My personal favorite was learning about Hildegard of Bingen. The art projects were a huge hit too! I highly recommend Sadie's program to all families looking to bring beautiful music and art into their homes.”
– Micaela D.
Why You Should Invest:
Classical music is one of the most powerful art forms that we have, and as such, all children & adults deserve to encounter its beauty.
Music is the great synthesis of culture and humanity. It crystallizes the human experience into a sonic world that we can enter. It allows us to step inside the art, culture, history, and human experiences of times past and present.
Classical music is the literature of music. With masterworks reaching back 800 years and stretching all the way to the present, it encompasses musical works that have proved capable of speaking to the heart of what it means to be human across all time periods, continents and cultures. If we work hard to enrich our lives with the canon of literary masterpieces, why should we not also enrich our lives with the canon of musical masterpieces?
Children of today are in greater need than ever before of good art. Born into a world that often prioritizes passive consumption and hyper productivity over creative participation, children need to encounter powerful works of art that remind them of their inherent worth as a creative being meant to play an active part in this beautiful life. Classical music is a powerful creative, contemplative space that allows each child to fill in the dots with their own unique interpretation, to process complex emotions, and to experience rich catharsis.
1. Music of the Ancient Cathedrals: Hildegard of Bingen
2. Notre-Dame, The Cradle of Polyphony: Leonin & Perotin
3. A Renaissance Rose: Guillaume du Fay
4. Renaissance Masters of Polyphony: Giovanni da Palestrina & Thomas Tallis
5. Musical Tapestries of Whitehall Palace: William Byrd
6. Dowland’s Tears: John Dowland
7. Music of the Cosmos: Orlando Gibbons
8. Attend a Masque at Banqueting House: William Lawes
9. The Birth of Opera: Claudio Monteverdi
10. The Dancing Sun King and His Musician: Jean-Baptiste Lully
11. Opera in the Land of Poets and Playwrights: Henry Purcell
12. Crowning Jewels of the Aria: George Frideric Handel
Overview of Contents
A complete list of chapters:
13. The Rise of Instrumental Music: Arcangelo Corelli
14. Harpsichord Dances at Versailles: François Couperin
15. Italian Sacred Drama: Giovanni Battista Pergolesi
16. Shivering Strings: Antonio Vivaldi
17. A Royal Birthday and Coronation: George Frideric Handel
18. A Barge Party on the Thames River: George Frideric Handel
19. Three Unusual Pearls of Paris: Jean-Philippe Rameau
20. Zimmermannsches Kaffeehaus: Georg Philipp Telemann
21. Chorales and Cantatas at Thomaskirche: Johann Sebastian Bach
22. Bach’s Clavier: Johann Sebastian Bach
23. A Thrift Store Find: Johann Sebastian Bach
24. Baroque into the Cosmos: Johann Sebastian Bach
Take a peek inside!
(Download the first pages of the opening chapter.)
Ready to bring Classical Encounters to your classroom?
Create a personalized package below:
(Please note: since our curriculum prints and ships on demand, turn around time is
2-3 weeks for delivery. Purchase now to send those printers to work!)
If you are a school that has a tax exemption, please email me your certificate and order request at:
sadie@sadiehoyt.com