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How much do you know about the famous composers? Johann Sebastian Bach was one of the most important composers during the Baroque period. He’s a great place to start when introducing your children to music appreciation. To make it extra easy, I’ve made a free printable workbook for you!
Bach is probably the composer who shows up most often in jokes and memes. I’m sure you’ve seen some, but if not do a quick search on google or pinterest and you’ll see what I mean!
My personal favorite joke is one an 8 year old student of mine told me: ‘Why did Mozart get rid of all his chickens?’ ‘They kept saying ‘Bach, Bach, Bach!’
Why should kids learn about music history and composers?
Bach lived hundreds of year ago. Is he even relevant for kids to learn about these days? Is there any benefit to continuing to study the great composers of music history?
History is so important for children, because it is a story they can learn from. Through history, we learn why our world is the way it is. History shows us how our society and culture has developed through time.
Bach’s life and music may be in the distant past, but he can help children learn about both history and our present day world. Many of the famous classical composers are still referenced in popular culture and even in current popular music that is being made today. You’ll see later on that even if you might not have known it, you’ve already heard Bach’s music.
Even more, learning about composers and music history is a simple way to bring history to life for kids. The arts, especially music, are an easy jumping off point into any historical time period.
Learn about Bach
Bach is one of the most well known Baroque composers. In his own time he wasn’t very well known as a composer. Just as an organist. Here’s a very brief overview of his life for you. Just enough to get you started learning with your kids at home. If you’d like a more comprehensive look at Bach’s life, britannica.com has an excellent biography. I’ve also given some children’s book suggestions at the end.
Bach was born in Eisenach, in Thuringia, a region of what is now Germany. He was born in 1685, the exact same year as Handel. Despite this, and both living in Germany, they never met
He had a very musical family. Both his father and his uncles were musicians. As such, he would have received an early start to his music education at home. At age 10, Bach was orphaned, and went to live with his older brother who continued his music education and taught him to play the organ. Five years later, he went to a boys’ choir school.
As an adult Bach held positions as an organist and music director for a number of churches. As a result, a large part of his music is sacred music. Aside from his work in churches, he also worked as a court musician and musical director first for the Duke of Saxe-Weimar, and later for Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Cothen. When he accepted the position to work for Prince Leopold, the duke actually imprisoned Bach briefly to keep him from going!
In his personal life, Bach had an extremely large family. He had 20 children in total. His first wife was his cousin, and after her death he remarried to Ana Magdalena Wilcken. Many of his children who survived until adulthood became musicians and composers in their own right.
The Baroque
The Baroque refers to the period from 1600 – 1750. During the Baroque there was a focus on ornamentation, and extranvagence. Baroque music was often highly ornamented, and keyboard music would often be embellished and ornamented by the performer.
The most famous Baroque artist was Rembrandt, who is especially well known for his portraits. In music, other major Baroque composers include Vivaldi and Handel.
Architecture was also extravagant, and featured lots of small ornate details. For example, the image below from the Catherine Palace in Russia is an example of Baroque style.
Bach’s Music
Bach wrote over 1000 pieces of music during his lifetime! He wrote a wide variety, including keyboard music, masses, concertos, chorales, songs, and much more. A lot of his music was sacred and written for use in the churches he worked in, but he also composed secular music, especially when he was working in court.
Here are some examples of Bach’s music for you to enjoy:
- Jesu Joy of Man’s desiring is one of Bach’s most commonly recognized pieces. Instrumenal arrangements of it are often played at weddings.
- Brandenburg Concertos – This video is special, because it is actually filmed in the Palace of Cothen. Remember Cothen was where Bach worked for Prince Leopold.
- Toccata and Fugue in D minor – You have almost definitely heard the opening of this piece before! It is very popular around Halloween and as a soundtrack to anything sppoky.
Activities to learn about Bach with your child
- Listen to Bach music during meals or while doing chores
- Encourage your child to draw and color what they feel while listening to a piece of music.
- Read books about Bach’s life and about music history.
- Learn new words, vocabulary, and geography related to Bach. Can your child find where Germany is on the map? I had one student who mind-blown when we learned about Mozart, who was from Austria, because it was not in Australia!
Free composer workbook
Request the free printable composer workbook below. The workbook is best suited to elementary aged children, and can be used as a multi-day learning project. Or you can just take the pages that suit your child best and use those. YouTube links to Bach’s music are included for some of the activities. I’ve viewed them all myself, but always recommend you preview them before watching them with your child. There are 10 pages of learning and activities sheets including:
- Bach’s life
- The Baroque period
- Bach’s music
- Writing pages
- Listening pages
- Word search
- Crossword
- And more!
Want to learn more?
If you and your kids enjoy exploring Bach’s life and music together here are some ideas to keep learning! YouTube and the local library are my favorite resources for further learning. They are both absolute treasure troves of resources.
Music
- Toccata and Fugue in D minor
- Jesu Joy of Man’s desiring
- Playlist of Bach music for studying
- Another playlist of Bach music if you still want more!
Books
- Take a visit to your local library and explore the children’s books they have on Bach and the Baroque. I’ve included some excellent elementary level books on Bach below, but your library will likely have others too! (Please do preview the books and videos before using them with your child. You know best what is appropriate for them!)
- Sebastian Bach, The Boy from Thuringia by Opal Wheller and Sybil Deucher. This is an older book, but really brings Bach to life for children. It is long enough that elementary age kids would enjoy being read this story bit by bit over a few days. This is possibly the most comprehensive book for young children to really get to know the great composer, especially if you would like to read together with your child.
- Becoming Bach by Tom Leonard is a shorter less in-depth book, but has more beautiful illustrations. It is written from the perspective of young Bach, so children can really connect with his story. This would be a good choice if you’d like a picture book for children to enjoy reading themselves.
- Sebastian: A Book About Bach by Jeanette Winter is another well-written book about Bach with lots of colorful illustrations that elementary age children would enjoy.
J.S. Bach was one of the most influential Baroque composers. Kids can learn a lot about history through this important composer. It takes only a couple minutes a day to do one of these Bach themed music appreciation activities with your child. Download your free composer workbook below if you’d like some pre-made activities to get started with!
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Thank you
Thanks so much for this resource 😊
thank you