Teaching Kids About Classical Music

I've been looking for some time for a good way to introduce my kids to classical music. It's important to me that they have a well rounded appreciation of all types of music, and no education would be complete without an understanding of classical. I was thrilled to find this really cool book and CD set and wanted to share. It's called The Story of the Orchestra.

The book is broken down into sections that feature the Baroque, Classical, Romantic and Modern eras of Classical music, and each section of the book introduces a composer and prompts you to listen to some of his work on the CD. At the end of the book, each of the orchestral instruments are introduced and you can also hear a piece that highlights that instrument.

Since we got it two days ago Caleb has been reading the book every free moment. My 5 year old Julien has decided that Bach is his favorite composer. Ilana asks me to dance every time the CD goes on, and even 10 month old Sadie gets all excited and starts waving her arms and clapping.

I'm even learning a thing or two about classical music. I'm looking forward to taking the kids to the Symphony. Interestingly, the book was written by Robert Levine, who is the editor of the Classical music section of Amazon.com.