The Story of Classical Music

The curriculum provides excellent teacher support materials with clear guidance for non-specialists. The comprehensive teacher handbook and multimedia resources enable effective instruction without prior music expertise.

Includes a detailed teacher handbook, icons alerting to key activities, answer keys, and step-by-step guidance that one reviewer noted allows teaching without being a musician

The curriculum integrates substantial art history knowledge within its historical context approach. Students learn about architecture, art, costumes, and visual culture of different musical periods.

Every chapter begins with historical contexts that include developments in architecture, art, costumes, religion, and philosophy relevant to the featured composer

The curriculum is heavily structured around music appreciation with limited opportunities for open artistic exploration. Creative activities are constrained to specific drawing and painting assignments.

Activities follow a set pattern with drawing assignments and listening worksheets, with art projects tied to specific historical periods rather than open creative exploration

The curriculum provides limited art technique instruction, focusing primarily on watercolor painting tutorials for specific lessons. Art projects serve mainly as enrichment activities rather than systematic skill development.

Only one art tutorial project is included for each of the six parts, with video art tutorials by Elisabeth Waldstein for some lessons featuring European watercolor techniques

The curriculum facilitates direct instruction in music appreciation but provides minimal modeling for art techniques. Video tutorials exist for some art projects but are not systematically integrated.

Includes brief video lectures about music terms and some video art tutorials, with step-by-step guidance that makes it accessible for non-musicians

The curriculum teaches musical terminology explicitly but provides limited visual arts vocabulary instruction. Art vocabulary appears incidentally through historical context rather than systematic instruction.

Students encounter musical terms like melisma with video demonstrations, and lessons include terms for which students write definitions, but focus is on musical rather than visual arts vocabulary