Maestro Classics- Schoolhouse Review

I love music, especially good music and I love to expose my children to classical music in an enjoyable way.  I am thrilled with a new resource from Maestro Classics I recently got to review. Maestro Classics specializes in music education through stories set to quality classical music. Maestro Classics CDs have won over 45 awards. I received a CD of The Sorcerer's Apprentice and a CD of  Casey at the Bat. The ideal age range for The Sorcerer’s Apprentice is 6 and older and Casey at the Bat is appropriate for all ages. They cost $16.98 for the CD and are also available as an mp3 download for $9.98.

 

Both The Sorcerer's Apprentice and Casey at the Bat are intended to be interactive. The narrators speak to the listener and invite participation frequently. I really liked the interaction of the disc. At times it was like having a music teacher in my car while we were listening. I loved the explanations about how the music was composed or modified to create a certain sound. Each album also comes with a 24-page activity book that includes little puzzles like word searches and crossword puzzles, extra information, sheet music, and trivia specific to the album. Casey at the Bat includes the poem and Sorcerer’s Apprentice includes a biography of Dukas.

  The Sorcerer’s Apprentice is the story of the Sorcerer’s Apprentice set to the music of Paul Dukas. The music is played by the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Following the 11 and a half minute presentation, there are several educational tracks. I personally found the history of The Sorcerer’s Apprentice and biographical sketch of Dukas fascinating. The next several tracks of the CD explain how the piece was composed including various themes present in the music and percussion listening. After further education on the musical work, the students are invited to listen again without narration. Then there is a short track explaining how to make music with household materials and a play along track.

 

Casey at the Bat is also played by the London Philharmonic Orchestra. The narration of the poem combined with sound effects really brings this iconic poem to life. There is a track about the poem, poet, and how Casey at the Bat became popular as well as why there are various versions of this poem. The rest of the disc includes discussions about composing music. To illustrate the poem Little Cabin in the Woods is used both with the original music as well as a new composition to tell the story. After several tracks about composition, Casey at the Bat is played again. There is also a track with young Suzuki violinists playing the Casey march and a play along section at the very end of the CD.

 

The only time we ever really sit and listen to a CD or audiobook is while we are in the car so that is where we listened to both of these albums. We loved them both. The music and sound effects were superb, the narration was interesting and entertaining, and even the heart of my 4 year old was captured with Casey at the Bat. For a week or two every time we got in the car she asked to listen to Casey again. I think of the two, my favorite was the Sorcerer’s Apprentice though. The music was so beautiful and I enjoyed the track without narration and I really loved how the different motifs of music were explained and then changed a little and explained again. I also must say that I could picture the cartoon many of us have seen while I listened. I wanted to get up and dance with the brooms, but since I was driving when we listened to these albums I restrained myself. The one thing that I didn’t like is that occasionally the narrator’s tone would drop very low and it was hard to hear in our car, but that would not have been a problem if we were primarily listening in the house. We didn’t utilize the booklets because they seemed to be a bit young for my older kids and a bit too advanced for my younger kids. Also, since we were in the car, there wasn’t a very good time to use them. I was really impressed with the high quality of both of these albums and would love to listen to more albums from Maestro Classics. I also just discovered as I was finishing up this review that there are homeschool resource guides to all the albums available for free on the website. These guides include additional printables as well as unit study resources to turn your album into an integral part of a unit study. I am going to have to look more into those! Be sure to check out the reviews because the Review Crew also reviewed several other albums from Maestro Classics.

 

Easter

We did something slightly new with our egg dying this year- we used sticker stencils on the eggs. I always liked the idea of wax resists on eggs, but I never had a ton of success with it. This year I saw a kit that had sticker stencils and thought they might be fun. They were! The kids loved them.

On Sunday after church we had an egg hunt. It was too fun. I hid 1 egg a little harder than the rest… See that yellowish blob on the car between the hood and the windshield? hehehe I figured that would be a challenge for Tiger, but in the end Strawberry found it while riding on B’s shoulders. And I managed to capture her joy as she cackled over the fact that her siblings didn’t find it.

Then we came inside and had a small gift for each child. Little one was most interested in the boxes, paper, and empty eggs. 

Tiger was super excited to get a co-operative game to play with the family.

It was a beautiful Easter with many family memories and discussions of the Risen Lord.

Vacation Time

For the past several years, we have been able to spend a couple of days at the Great Wolf Lodge with a group of other homeschoolers. We have had so much fun each year. This year, the kids figured we weren’t going because we went to Utah for the family forum, but B and I had already booked our 2 day getaway. We surprised them the Sunday before we left. This year Little One loved splashing in the water and climbing on the water stuff with Tiger and everyone else. He also loved floating.

He wasn’t sure what to think of the giant wolf. He kept walking up towards him and then when the wolf bent down to wave, Little One ran away crying and grabbed Pumpkin Pie. After that, he walked behind him and kept walking towards him until he got looked at. It was really funny. He was scared but wouldn’t leave the vicinity of the wolf and watched everyone high five or hug him and then walk away.

This year, Tiger had a companion for the Howlin’ Tornado… here he and Pumpkin Pie are conspiring which slides to attack next. Unfortunately, just about every time I tried to take a picture of Butterfly, she turned around.

ARTistic Pursuits- Schoolhouse Review

 

Butterfly loves art. She lives and breaths it. She loves color, drawing, and fashion, but she really loves sculpting with different media. So, when ARTistic Pursuits was offering the opportunity to review a new book- Sculpture Technique: Model she was thrilled. Model is intended for students ages 11-18. This 83 page spiral-bound book about modeling costs $47.95.

There are three chapters on modeling with putty, clay, and fiber. Unless you have an art studio you probably will not have most of the materials needed to complete these lessons. A materials list and table of contents can be found on the ARTistic Pursuits website. Each unit includes an explanation on elements of sculpture, several pictures of contemporary works using the media, as well as 1-2 pages thoroughly describing the properties of the materials that will be used. This section on the properties includes a description of the material, tools used to model it, and safety concerns, as well as some basic instructions. Additionally, each project includes step by step instructions with drawings to show how to model and form the sculpture. These sections include tips and tricks and cautions to help the student in their new experiences. Unlike other books by ARTistic Pursuits, the pacing of this book is self-paced. Part of this is due to the materials being used. For example, a student might take several hours on part of the sculpture and then need to stop and wait for the materials to dry or set. After several projects with the materials, there is a section on evaluating the work. This section is a series of reflective questions regarding the experience. The end of the book includes an essay entitled, “The Road to Creativity” by Daniel D. Ellis, answer guides for the evaluations, a course description which could be used for a high school transcript or portfolio, a 36 week suggested classroom schedule, and a template for one of the fiber arts projects.

After my initial disbelief that it was possible/desirable to model with putty, I would have thought that modeling with clay and putty would be very similar but this book shows different techniques and processes to model with. While it is similar, there are some things that clay can do that putty can’t. Some of the techniques taught in the section on putty include brining about motion within a static object and how to form small additions in the sculpture like a fin or leg. The section on putty ends with painting the sculpture.

The section on clay recommends an air-dry clay as firing is not necessarily an option for most students as it requires expensive ovens and extra skills and knowledge. It includes basic projects like pinch pots and slab vases as well as more complex modeling like using the slab method to create a 3D sculpture of a bust. The basic coil method is expanded into making more than a coil pot but an animal sculpture. The section ends with painting the sculpture.

Butterfly was really excited to explore the possibilities of modeling with fibers and got very creative in her projects. She spent a lot of time on her projects. The text suggested specific projects, but Butterfly did not want to be confined to the project listed, so she utilized the techniques and general projects to create her own sculptures. The concept of working with fiber arts was very new to her and she was quite successful thanks to the great instructions that were mostly easy to follow. I did need to step in and assist a little bit with explaining things because she is still 10, but I only needed to clarify a little for her. She did all the work herself. She was able to experience making pre-felt from roving, designing the colors, modeling with felt, and needle felt modeling. She had a wonderful time figuring out what colors to blend to create her sculpture. The first project took her many hours as she had to make the felt from roving, design her flower and then sculpt it. She chose not to use the template provided in the book but drew on her knowledge from a chocolate modeling class she took to create the rose. She also chose to use some techniques found later in the chapter on needle felting to create the rose rather than gluing things. This was her favorite project. She also did some need felting and created a sculpture of a horse as well.Although not listed in the suggested materials, I highly recommend the needle felting finger guards I found at the craft store. They didn’t protect 100% as the rubber is thin in some places, but Butterfly was very grateful to have them.

Some of the projects, like creating a vase with felt were not as exciting to her, mostly because at age 10, she likes to experience something and then try something new rather than spend many many days going in great depth on a subject. After she spent quite a few days working on her rose and then many hours making her horse, she was ready to try something new. For a high schooler or scholar phase youth, this book does an excellent job of going in depth. For a love of learner, or upper elementary student, it has a wide variety of projects to give exposure to various media. Last week she asked me to go to the store to buy some putty for her to try her hand at putty sculpting. Unfortunately I haven’t had a chance to get to the store yet, but it is on my shopping list for this week so she can begin the next section next week.

Be sure to check out the other reviews of ARTistic Pursuits. In addition to the new Sculpture Technique: Model, there is also a new one on constructions. Sculpture Technique: Construct looks fabulous. Other members of the crew reviewed elementary and preschool books.