ASK HSF Archives

Dear Homeschool Frederick,

Do you have suggestions for how to enhance our homeschool music program? One child is interested in taking lessons on an instrument, but the others are not and money is tight anyway. Any ideas?
-HSF Reader

There are lots of great ways to add music and music appreciation to your homeschool program.

1) For your child that is interested in music lessons, check out our music directory for a list of teachers and tutors in our area. Beyond the obvious benefits of learning a musical skill and self discipline, playing an instrument opens the door to meaningful social and group activities. Many homeschooled musicians play with the Frederick Regional Youth Orchestra, or St. Cecilia’s Youth Orchestra in Damascus.

2) Your other children might enjoy participating in a choir, either at church or with a local group. The Frederick Children’s Chorus and the Joyful Noise Homeschool Chorus in Frederick are two local options if your child loves to sing. The Western Maryland homeschoolers group also has a homeschool choir that is organizing now.

3) For general music appreciation there are tons of free opportunities here in Frederick. Hood College and FCC both offer plenty of high quality, free concerts and recitals. Check their calendars of events and you will be amazed at the number of wonderful concerts that are available.

Downtown Piano Works on Market Street in Frederick offers great free concerts with often international and nationally recognized musicians once a month in the Fine Artist Concert Series. Seating is limited, but this is another fabulous free opportunity to expose your children to high quality music in an intimate setting.

4) Finally, for some simple at-home music appreciation, you can listen to and discuss various genres of music, get some books from the library about important composers, or try out some online music sites for supplemental activities:

Martha Bees Music: Comprehensive listing of the music sites for kids, with enough into keep your toes tapping all year!

Playmusic.org: Provides information about musical instruments playing techniques.Created by American Symphony Orchestra League in partnership with Parsons School of Design. Great site!

New York Philharmonic: The Kidzone is a place for kids to come and learn about the New York Philharmonic and about instruments, music, and musicians.

Creating Music: this site received an A+ from Education World and was developed by a pioneer in electronic music, Morton Subotnick.

For the little ones:

Making Music Fun has some fun coloring pages, word finds, and printable games for kids. Another site to try is called Flash Music Games.

Good luck and enjoy the music!