Music Notebooking & Lesson - Band vs. Orchestra

A recent trip to a high school band concert sparked a discussion about the difference between a band and an orchestra.

I wanted to teach a little more about this to my children, so I developed a short lesson.  {Be sure not to miss any of the music lesson I will be adding by subscribing to Homegrown Learners.}  

Have your children listen to this BAND PERFORMANCE:  The Stars and Stripes Forever by John Philip Sousa (The March King).  I like this video because they can SEE the band and watch the instruments being played. 

Maybe they could fill out a SQUILT listening sheets as a part of this lesson, too?  

After watching the band performance have your children then listen to this ORCHESTRA PERFORMANCE:  Pomp and Circumstance by  Edward Elgar.   This recording (by The National Children's Orchestra of Great Britain) should be very interesting for children.  

Encourage your children to listen for the differences between a band and an orchestra, and then do some research, too.  The short story is this:




1.  Orchestras have been around much longer than bands. 


2. A band does not have a strings section.


3.  Most music written for orchestra is longer than pieces for band.


Here is your Band vs. Orchestra Notebooking Set.  


(I've included a seating chart for the orchestra so your children can easily see the presence of a lot of STRINGS in the orchestra.) 

We have also been using the Compare and Contrast Notebooking Pages from The Notebooking Fairy, which are PERFECT for this lesson!   

If you have any questions, just let me know.   I hope you can incorporate a little music into your homeschool this week!




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Medieval Music Notebooking Pages

image credit

As we study the Middle Ages we are learning about the music of this time period.   My children keep notebooks of their Story of the World activity sheets and any supplemental map work, journaling, lapbook elements, coloring, or notes.

I've asked my oldest to research music of the Middle Ages and to find out specifically about the composer Hildegard von Bingen (listen to the music here), minstrels, and the instruments used in the Middle Ages.   

You can download the notebooking pages I've created.  The set includes:

1.  Music of the Middle Ages

2.  Minstrels

3.  Instruments of the Middle Ages

4. Composer - Hildegard von Bingen 

Music of the Middle Ages

Please let me know if you use these notebooking pages and if you have any requests for music notebooking pages! 

A Week to Remember

We are all recovering from a long, but FUN week of music camp.    I felt oh so disconnected from the world of my blog and social media, but strangely enough I also felt a huge sense of connection to my other (and first) passion - MUSIC!!  

Returning to the in-town church where my husband and I were married fourteen years ago was a real treat... we loved being members there so much, but when we moved further away from the city it just wasn't possible to attend anymore.   When the music camp director asked me to come to camp and teach - and bring my children - I couldn't refuse.  I had taught this camp YEARS ago and had so much fun... now I got to share it with my children.   

I can't begin to relay every experience they had, but here are some of the high points:

An organ performance for the children... the pipe organ here has over 4,000 pipes and was $1 million to build.   It is a beautiful instrument and the organist is amazing.  She played for our wedding and I always love listening to her.

Art instruction each day during the week, with the final products being displayed in the atrium on the last day: 

Guest performers - one day it was a percussionist who played circus themed music and let the children play along.  He also had them hula-hooping and taking part in a limbo contest!  

Another day the guest performers were a family of musicians - a wind player, harpist, ballet dancer and singer - and we also heard one member of their family play the Dijeridoo!    The children got to hear the wood recorder played beautifully - and since I was teaching recorders during the week this brought our learning FULL CIRCLE!

I've included this video... I had a moment of peace and thankfulness while listening to this simple Shaker piece by Aaron Copland... while gazing at the crucifix hanging in the atrium.  I was so thankful for all our blessings.   (I was also thankful because Miss LOVED the harp - I've been trying to convince her to take harp lessons!)

Another day we traveled to a center for puppetry arts and watched a show and made our own puppets.   This table of girls loved this activity -- and I loved that they made great friendships during the week!   

The week concluded with a performance ~ then a fun dinner out with friends from our church.   Miss B and her good friend from our home church (who went with us each day) had a sleepover last night to celebrate the week.  When I went to bed (EXHAUSTED!) at 10 p.m., the girls were eating popcorn, braiding each other's hair, and watching American Girl movies!   


My laundry is backed up.  I still could use another night of good sleep.  I need to go grocery shopping.  I haven't posted on my blog in several days.  I pretty much fell off the Twitter grid.  But guess what???   We made some memories, learned a lot, and cultivated the gifts God has given us.


It's doesn't get much better than that!


I'm linking up today with my friend, Marci, at Overcoming Busy.  She has a new link-up about living in the moment.  I thought my whole week qualified!!