Instruments and Music

Music is so much more than playing notes in order. It’s an expression of human nature. Learning to play an instrument can be challenging, but the feeling of playing a piece all the way through with feeling and passion is more than worth the trouble. Math is closely related to music since reading sheet music requires fractions, counting, and understanding abstract concepts; being able to do all of these things simultaneously while imparting emotion into the music is quite an accomplishment indeed. Playing an instrument has been shown to help with other disciplines of study across the curriculum. Our partner site Songs For Teaching® has excellent musical resources for all kinds of topics.

	Classical Music Stories features 20 classical pieces of music and uses the narrative aspects of the music to tell a story with pictures. It also includes activities and worksheets for each section.
	I Know A Shy Fellow Who Swallowed A Cello is a funny take on I Know An Old Woman Who Swallowed A Fly. The shy fellow’s body changes with each instrument he swallows until he coughs them all up n a wacky musical ensamble. The text rhymes and has a fun sing-song rhythm to it. This is a great read aloud book.
	The Jazz Fly is trying to get to town for a jazz concert but all of the animals he asks can’t understand him since he only speaks jazz. Finally, the dog understands and takes him. The fly combines all of the animal sounds into a jazzy number that everyone loves. This book comes with a CD and is a blast to read aloud. Kids will love repeating the sounds and making up their own.
	The Remarkable Farkle McBride is a musical prodigy who gets bored with all of the different instruments until he discovers that the whole orchestra is his favorite sound. Rather than intimidating kids, it shows that it’s ok to try something new. The text is playful and written in limerick style to accompany the equally fantastic illustrations.
	Zin! Zin! Zin! A Violin is full of bright and fluid imagery. The story grows from a single trombone player to a full fledged orchetra, teaching the names of the different group sizes along the way.
	Can You Hear It? combines art and music into a single book/CD set. Look at the images of famous paintings while listening to the classical music and make the connections. It includes a guide of what to look for in each pairing.
	Berlioz the Bear and his musical family have been practicing for weeks and are on their way to the concert when a strange buzzing noise is emitted from his bass. The mule cart they’re riding in gets stuck and no one seems to be able to help them. The culprit for the buzzing bass flies out and stings the mule allowing the family to make it to the concert in time. Berlioz is a cute look into the world of music for young readers.