Last week, I blogged all about my recent Music History camp and I also promised a free download of the lapbook of the music history periods.  The pdf is ready for download!  Read on for the details.

For camp, I had my students put each time period in a file folder (and we didn’t use the optional cover page).  In the my example pictured above, however, I put each period on a loose piece of cardstock paper which can then be stapled into a booklet.  Either way works just as well!

For each time period, students cut out and glued the pictures as I taught them about each time period.  Fitting all the pieces on the page is a bit like a puzzle!  I allowed them to arrange the pieces in any order or copy my example if they desired.

We discussed famous composers, compositional trends, and the evolution of the piano, as well as a little about the fashion, architecture, and art of the period.  I also played excerpts of pieces from each period so they could hear the music for themselves too.

I was impressed with how the students were able to relate what we discussed to things they have studied in school.  For example, one of my students brought up the Industrial Revolution in connection to the developments made in the fortepiano as it evolved into the modern piano!

I hope you can make good use of this pdf with your own students, to help them gain a better picture of the times in which the famous classical composers lived!  You can download the free pdf on the Printables > Lesson Plans page by scrolling down to the M’s for “Music History Periods Lapbook.”

Stay tuned — I am diligently working on individual composer lapbooks (Bach and Mozart are nearly finished) in order to add them to the Color In My Piano shop!  If you are planning your monthly group lessons in your studio for the year, you might consider choosing a composer-of-the-month/year as a fun way to incorporate music history!  :)

Note: The fashion illustrations in this pdf are used legally per the copyright guidelines from Dover Publication’s “Historic Costume CD-ROM and Book: From the Renaissance through the Nineteenth Century” clip art book/CD.  The rest of the images are in the public domain and were obtained through commons.wikimedia.org.

Joy Morin is a piano teacher in Ohio with great passion and dedication for helping her students experience the wonders of music making. She has eight years of teaching experience and holds a Master of Music degree in Piano Pedagogy. Joy maintains a blog about piano teaching at ColorInMyPiano.com.

Joy has blogged 769 posts here.

Related Posts:

• 2012 Music History Camp
• Group Piano Class Ideas
• Teacher Resources @ Clavier’s Piano Explorer site
• More Details About My Homeschool Music History Class
• 4 New Lapbooks Added to the Shop