Charlotte Mason composer study: how it works and how to start

In a Charlotte Mason homeschool, composer study means living with the music of one composer for a whole term. The family picks about six pieces and listens to them often, a few minutes at a time, over about twelve weeks. There are no lectures and no tests. The children listen, and then they tell back what they noticed.

It is one of the simplest subjects to add to a school week.

Who Charlotte Mason was

Charlotte Mason was a British educator who lived from 1842 to 1923. She trained teachers, wrote six volumes on education, and guided a network of home schoolrooms and schools through an organization called the Parents’ National Educational Union.

Her schools gave children a wide range of subjects in short lessons, using well-written books in place of dry textbooks. She called these living books. After a reading, a child told back what they had taken in. She called this narration.

Where composer study came from

Mason called the subject musical appreciation. She wrote that the idea came from a mother, Mrs. Howard Glover, who played good music for her young child and found that the child came to know and love it. Mason added the practice to the programs she sent to families each term.

Each term’s program named one composer and a short list of that composer’s works.

The method in five parts

One composer for a term. A term is about twelve weeks. There are three terms in a school year, so a child meets three composers a year and comes to know each one well.

About six pieces. Short pieces, or single movements of longer ones. One piece is the focus for about two weeks.

Short and often. Ten minutes, two or three times a week, is plenty. The music can also play at lunch, in the car, and during handwork.

Little talk. The adult names the composer and the piece and then lets the music speak. No lesson on form or theory is needed.

Telling back. After listening, ask the child to tell you about it. What did you hear? What did it make you think of? Which part did you like best? A young child may draw the answer.

A term, week by week

Weeks	What to do
1 and 2	Piece one. Read the first part of the composer’s life.
3 and 4	Piece two. Play piece one again once or twice.
5 and 6	Piece three. Read more of the life story.
7 and 8	Piece four. Find the composer on a timeline.
9 and 10	Piece five. Play a “name that piece” game with the first four.
11 and 12	Piece six. Finish the life story. The child tells or writes what they know.

The composer’s life

Read a short life of the composer across the term, a few pages at a time. Choose a book written as a story by an author who cares about the subject. Your library will have picture-book and chapter-book lives of the best-known composers.

Each composer page on this site has a short life story to read aloud. Start with the guide to composers by era.

Do you need worksheets?

No. The method needs only the music and a child’s attention.

A simple record is still useful, and many families like a page for the binder. The composer study notebook page gives a child a place to write or draw a narration at the end of the term. The composer fact sheets work as a first page for each composer.

How to choose composers

Pick composers whose music you can find with ease and whose pieces come in short lengths. Over three or four years, move among the eras, so a child hears Bach, Mozart, Chopin, and Debussy as different voices.

A first year could be Bach, Mozart, and Tchaikovsky. The composer study schedule lists pieces for each.

Common questions

What if my child does not sit still? Let them draw, build, or lie on the floor. Listening does not require sitting.

What about more than one child? Composer study works with all ages at once. Older children tell back in more detail or write a paragraph.

What if I know nothing about music? You learn alongside your child. That is the method working as planned.

Does it pair with other subjects? Mason’s programs studied one artist a term in the same way, through a handful of pictures. Many families match the composer and the artist to the period they are reading about in history.

Print and play

Build a term plan with the composer study planner. For a wider look at planning a year, read composer study for homeschool.