Tuesday Book Club - Can You Hear It?

Todays post highlights the book Can You Hear It from the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

This book starts with a note to parents and teachers, then moves into an introduction of musical instruments and finally gets to the 26 classical music selections.

Each selection of music is accompanied by an art picture and things to listen for in the song.  For example: The Flight of the Bumblebee page asks: Can you hear the bee flying from flower to flower- the violins and the flute play it.  It then asks a few other questions that help paint a mental picture of the music being played.

The book comes with a CD of all 13 songs. 

I have never yet used this book in my classroom, but I see it as a great introduction to many classical pieces that helps us to springboard to learning about the composer, breaking down the rhythm or melody (if appropriate) or moving to music.  I plan on using it in 1st and 2nd grade next year!  The kids love I SPY so why not use a book where they hear instead of see??  We could even expand to play with other songs not included in the book.

Songs included are:
The Flight of the Bumblebee by Rimsky-Korsakov
The Four Seasons:Winter (allegro) by Vivaldi
An American in Paris by Gershwin
The Carnival of the Animals: The Aquarium by Saint-Saens
Romeo and Juliet: Dance of the Knights by Prokofiev
Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy by Tchaikovsky
The Four Seasons: Spring (allegro) by Vivaldi
The Carnival of the Animals: Fossils by Saint-Saens
Comic Duet for Two Cats by Rossini
The Carnival of the Animals: The Elephant by Saint-Saens
Billy the Kid: Gun Battle by Copland
The Four Seasons: Summer (Presto) by Vivaldi
The Carnival of the Animals: Finale by Saint-Saens