Having completed the first book in this series a few years ago, we were really excited to get to review the new Music Appreciation Book 2: for the Middle Grades by Zeezok Publishing.
WHAT IS IT?:
Music Appreciation Book 2: for the Middle Grades continues this series with additional composer studies and could be completed before or after the first book in this series, although Book 2 is intended for middle school students and Book 1 is geared more toward elementary school students. When I reviewed Book 1 a few years ago, I used it with one elementary and one middle school student who worked on it together, having the younger student complete the easier tasks and the older student complete the harder ones. That level includes a lapbook CD, while Book 2 offers the lapbook as a separate purchase.
The Book 2 Collection includes one student workbook and nine individual books containing the seven composer biographies. These include:
- Frederick Chopin, the Early Years
- Frederick Chopin, the Later Years
- Robert Schumann and Mascot Ziff
- Adventures of Robert 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
Four weeks of work are provided on each composer, with the exception of Chopin, which covers five weeks. In addition, the workbook includes QR codes and an app website that provide quick links to the digital recordings of each composer’s music as it’s covered in their biographies. This set it apart from the first book, which had a separate CD of the songs.
This program is available for $166.99.
OUR EXPERIENCE:
Personally, I love classical music and enjoy learning about the lives of the great composers. Every year, I treat myself to a symphony subscription for Mother’s Day. Holden is my 6th grader, and he also enjoys classical music, so we were both looking forward to reviewing this second book in the series together!
Compared to the first book, which we reviewed in 2016 and completed in our 2016-17 school year, I really like some of the changes they’ve made in Book 2. I appreciate not having to cart around the CD’s and a means of playing them whenever we needed to listen to excerpts to go along with our reading. It’s much easier to whip out my phone wherever we are at the time and use the app website at www.app.zeezok.com to play the selections. And since it uses a website to hose the material, it now has added supplements like videos that demonstrate different concepts that are discussed in the activities from the workbook. Holden really enjoyed the variety of ways to interact with this program.
If you want to access the music without the website, you can also use a QR reader app to scan the QR codes that are catalogued in the front of the workbook in order to listen to the appropriate selections.
I also really love that the publisher included a suggested schedule in the front of the workbook. It’s not a daily schedule, but a weekly schedule that outlines all of the assignments for the week, and then you can pace them as you see fit. We stuck with the suggested schedule during the review period, which means that in 5 weeks, we completed the first two books of both the early years and later years of Chopin. We learned so much about his life from early childhood to his death. Who knew that many composers lived such meager lives, totally devoting themselves to their music to the neglect of all other aspects of their lives? I guess I always imagined composers coming from wealthy families that could afford to provide the special musical education necessary to hone the craft, but that simply was so often not the case.
Each week of activity pages in the workbook includes comprehension questions for each chapter of the reading assignment, a summary of the composer’s Character Qualities and how they are demonstrated in their lives, plus Tidbits of Interest that provide additional interesting details related to the reading. After that, there are about 3-7 additional activities that are widely varied from week to week and from composer to composer. Some would have you play along with an instrument, examine some sheet music and learn about notes and musical rhythms, bake a recipe from a food that was popular at the time the composer lived, or write out personal responses to some thought-provoking questions in your journal (or on the page, as we chose to do instead). And if you’re trying to meet National Music Standards, there are little blurps of additional suggested activities that will ensure you meet those standards in your music education, as well.
At the end of each composer’s section in the workbook, there is also a quiz on that composer, as well as complete answer keys for the written exercises and comprehension questions. Most of the composers also have some kind of timeline included, as well, to help summarize the events you’ve read about.
If you decide to purchase the separate lapbook, the lapbook assignments are scheduled throughout the workbook so you’ll know exactly when to complete them. In addition, there is also a composer coloring book that can be purchased separately. I know when my older daughter was being homeschooled, she really enjoyed coloring while I read aloud to her, so it’s nice that they offer additional options for those who enjoy these kinds of extra activities.
The recipes are all printed on the page like little recipe cards, so if you didn’t mind cutting up the pages of your workbook, you could easily snip out the cards and keep them in a separate recipe box. I did that with some of the recipes from the first book that we tried and enjoyed. I remember in particular a brown bread that was really good! We didn’t try any of the recipes this time around, simply because we’ve been following a measured nutrition plan for the last few months, but I’ve got my eye on the recipe for Poppy Seed Cake to use down the road.
At the end of the unit for Chopin, Holden had the option to take his final composer quiz either on paper in the workbook or online on the app website. He isn’t great with writing (which is why he answers most things orally, and I take dictation), so I had him take the online quiz. This gave instant grading for every answer, turning green for a correct answer or red for an incorrect answer. At the end, you get your score and have the option to share the results on either Facebook or Twitter.
Overall, we really enjoyed the program! We like variety, so it was great that there were so many variations in the activities. You can work hands on, do a writing activity, listen to music, watch a video, read a book or have someone read it aloud to you, cook something, learn about musical careers, do internet research, or any number of other things, making it a great program for all types of learners.
At the end of the five-week review period, Holden told me how much he has been enjoying the music program, and we’ve found we like doing a week’s activities on Fridays when we don’t have other school work to do. It would be simple enough to break it up into smaller chunks during the week, but we enjoy beginning with the story and working through the activities in one sitting when we have no time constraints. I know we’ll have no trouble completing the 29 weeks of work this school year. There’s so much to cover, but it’s fun and something that we look forward to doing.
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