Today, I’d like to share some amazing music appreciation books for families. This is a list of our family’s favorite music audiobooks.
These books would make a great addition to your homeschool, classroom, or your family’s library.
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Amazing Musical Instruments!: Your Guide to the Orchestra Through Sounds and Stories by Genevieve Helsby (comes with interactive CD-ROM)
This book is jam-packed with tons of information, folks, and it comes with an interactive CD that is amazing. This book describes all of the families of instruments, all about the orchestra, and a bit about some famous composers. There is in-depth information about all the various instruments, including more obscure ones. The history of the instruments and parts of the instruments are explained clearly. Best of all, when you pop in the CD, you can actually hear all the many different types of instruments, as well as musical compositions. Leo was obsessed with this book and CD last year and I’m always amazed by how much knowledge he has about composers and musical instruments. I think the interactive CD really assists with learning. It’s the next best thing to a music class!
Can You Hear It? by William Lach
I absolutely adore this book, folks. I think it is such a creative way to engage the reader. Basically, this book involves an I Spy of sorts for both your eyes, and your ears. The book contains twenty-six gorgeous pieces of art and each artwork goes along with the music on the audio CD. On each page, you are asked to find an object. Once you find it, you read the story and listen to the CD. You are asked to listen for (here is the I Spy for your ears) part of the story. For example, at one point you are asked to listen for horse hooves (castanets). That one is Seuss’ favorite. In another story you are asked to listen for car horns on a city street. This book truly engages the reader and is a great way to sneak in both art and music appreciation.
Jazz Fly by Matthew Gollub
The next two books make me grin. For well over a year, Seuss would wake up in the morning and need to listen to these books in full before eating his breakfast. It was so adorable, folks. Matthew Gollub’s books are fantastic. The illustrations are fun, the font is funky, and Jazz Fly is a fantastic character. In the first book, Jazz Fly, a drummer, gets lost on his way to a show. He has to stop and ask various animals for help. The conversations involve scat singing, which never fails to mesmerize my children.The book is oodles of fun to read, but it’s even more fun to listen to Gollub tell the tale on the audio CD.
Jazz Fly 2: The Jungle Pachanca by Matthew Gollub
In the second Jazz Fly story, Jazz Fly and his band break down in the middle of the jungle. The band needs a ride to the tropics for a show. As they converse with others, they need to speak in Spanish, so you get a fun mix of scat, Spanish, and musical words. I love that the Spanish words are displayed in one color and the musical words in another. This audiobooks engaging with a fun latin vibe.
Sergei Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf: With a Fully-Orchestrated and Narrated CD by Janet Schulman
We discovered this book at the library. It is the classic Peter and the Wolf fairytale put to music. Well,, the story haas aa kinder ending than the original. That bit bothered me a bit but my kids didn’t know the difference. Each character is played by an instrument. The music is beautiful and adds to the story and helps to get children interested din classical music.
Story of the Orchestra: Listen While You Learn About the Instruments, the Music, and the Composers Who Wrote the Music! by Robert Levine
This book and accompanying audio Cd make for a perfect introduction to the orchestra. The book covers each instrument, musical periods and styles, and famous composers. At certain points in the book, readers are asked to listen to the CD.These illustrations in this book are colorful and fun, and occasionally somewhat goofy– that makes them a big hit among my crew!
Zin! Zin! Zin! A Violin! by Lloyd Moss
This vibrantly illustrated book is a great introduction to the orchestra for young children. This book is set up like a musical counting book. Each instrument of the orchestra is introduced – one by one- until there are ten. The fonts and illustrations are extremely engaging. There is also a great Reading Rainbow episode, wherein this book is mentioned, which is how I learned about it years ago.
Tell me, folks… what are your favorite music appreciation books? You know I love a good book recommendation. Please share here!
Are you looking to take your family’s read alouds to the next level? Join the {virtual} Family Book Club at My Little Poppies:
All of the books (and more!) from the {virtual} Family Book Club at My Little Poppies can be found here:
All of the lessons, crafts, and activities based on each book can be found here, listed by title and author:
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Where words fail, music speaks.
~Hans Christian Andersen
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