Today, we listened to Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 in G

One of my children said the piece made her think of 'A Nice Day.'

Here is a wonderful list of living books on Bach.

Our favorite book are the Opal Wheeler books : 

 The Boy From Thuringia.

We are still enjoying the works of Johann Bach.

We listened to Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring and the kids recognized it right away. It's often used in weddings.

CLICK HERE to listen

Here is the english translation, it was first written in German:

Jesu, joy of man's desiring,

Holy Wisdom, Love most bright;

Drawn by Thee, our souls, aspiring,

Soar to uncreated light.

Word of God, our flesh that fashion'd,

With the fire of life impassion'd,

Striving still to truth unknown,

Soaring, dying, round Thy throne.

Through the way where hope is guiding,

Hark, what peaceful music rings!

Where the flock, in Thee confiding,

Drink of joy from deathless springs.

Theirs is beauty's fairest pleasure;

Theirs is wisdom's holiest treasure.

Thou dost ever lead Thine own

In the love of joys unknown.

 

The kids then drew what came to mind as they listend. One thought 'Christmas Time' and another pictured a pleasant place, with a peacrful sky and flowers.

This is our first year studying classical composers and we're all very eager to see how it goes.

Today we started with Johann Sebastian Bach. ( 1685 - 1750 ) 

 We used Opal Wheeler's book, which is a lovely book, in story-form, of his life.

And we used this Bach CD and other info from Classical Composers  

We listened to a couple of his pieces as the kids danced about. We discussed what the pieces would be if they were drawings, what colors might they be, how the music made them feel and what they thought about as we listened.

 We started a composer notebook with Famous Composers Notebooking Pages from NotebookingPages.com and we'll continue to add to it with writings as we study Bach and others.

 This is a picture of young Bach ( in the center ) and his family.