Music Appreciation

The following is a review of Music Appreciation Book 2: For The Middle Grades from Zeezok Publishing with the TOS Homeschool Review Crew. 

This Music Appreciation Book 2 set is such a delightful way to learn about composers. This includes the readers (Great Musicians biographies) and the Student Activity Book.  The consumable Student Activity Book includes instructions for creating a journal and for accessing the online component. In addition to the Student Activity Book, the set includes these nine composer books: 

• Frederic Chopin, Early Years
• Frederic Chopin, Later Years
• Robert Schumann and Mascot Ziff
• Adventures of Richard Wagner
• Stephen Foster and His Little Dog Tray
• The Young Brahms
• The Story of Peter Tchaikovsky 
• Peter Tchaikovsky and the Nutcracker Ballet
• Edward MacDowell and His Cabin in the Pines

The consumable pages of the student activity book are three-hole punched for creating a music binder. The lessons can turn into a resource, once completed. 

My daughter Emily plays the piano and, we enjoyed listening as she played several selections from the books. One thing she commented was that the binding made it hard for the book to remain open as she played. For this purpose, the printed copy of our downloaded book actually worked best. 

     She is currently in college as a music education major and shared her viewpoint regarding this collection: 

“The Music Appreciation book is geared toward the middle grades. It features chapters on 7 composers and spreads information over multiple weeks. The book contains much more than simple information. It contains vocabulary words, recipes, history, and musical terminology. All components are centered around each composer. The composer books are in story format and include popular and lesser known music compositions by the composers. The stories are easily readable and the information is put in a way which makes it enjoyable for younger children. All of these books would be an excellent addition to any music teacher's library or any family's home. I especially appreciate the compositions spread throughout the composers books and the fact that an online recording of each is accessible through this company. Children can play and listen as they read along.“ 

The books include scannable QR codes which open web pages with additional information and songs related to the lessons. We found this to be a great bonus as we scanned them with our cellphone. Our musical family enjoyed listening to the songs together which incorporated the lessons into family time. 

The download we received through Dropbox was the ebook about Tchaikovsky and The Nutcracker Ballet. It is written in an engaging storybook style with charming black and white pictures. 

My daughter was happy to see Edward MacDowell included in the composers; in fact, his music was the first that she played from the biographies. The open student book picture d shows a sample of the lessons about MacDowell. The student book includes full color illustrations throughout. 

After reading through these books, I hope to complete our collection by adding the first set, too. We were surprised to receive a download copy instead of print version of one of the books in the set. As we are reviewers and not direct customers, I don’t know how this experience would translate for someone actually purchasing the set. A coordinating coloring book and lap-book are also available for purchase. 

Click below to read other TOS Crew reviews of this set.