Composer study schedule: 36 weeks of listening, one piece a week

This schedule covers a 36-week school year with six composers, six weeks each. Each week has one piece to listen to and one small thing to do. The whole plan takes about ten minutes, two or three times a week. The six composers are Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Debussy, and Copland, in the order they lived.

Use it as written, or swap in other composers with the composer study planner.

How each week works

Day one. Play the piece. Say the composer’s name and the title. Listen with no other task.

Day two. Play it again and do the week’s activity.

Day three, if you have it. Play it once more in the background, at lunch or in the car.

By the end of six weeks, your child has heard six pieces by one person, several times each, and can tell that composer’s sound from the next one’s.

Weeks 1 to 6: Bach

Print the Bach fact sheet and read Bach for kids.

Week	Piece	One thing to do
1	Toccata and Fugue in D minor, the opening	Find a photo of a pipe organ and count the keyboards
2	Brandenburg Concerto No. 3, first movement	March to the beat and count how many times the main tune returns
3	“Air” from Orchestral Suite No. 3	Draw one long, slow line while it plays
4	Prelude in C major from The Well-Tempered Clavier	Listen for the pattern that repeats in each bar
5	“Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring”	Hum the flowing tune, then the slow hymn tune
6	Badinerie from Orchestral Suite No. 2	Name the solo instrument, then fill in a notebook page

Weeks 7 to 12: Mozart

Print the Mozart fact sheet and read Mozart for kids.

Week	Piece	One thing to do
7	Eine kleine Nachtmusik, first movement	Conduct with a pencil
8	Twelve Variations on “Ah, vous dirai-je, Maman”	Name the tune, then count the variations
9	Rondo alla turca	Clap each time the opening tune comes back
10	Overture to The Marriage of Figaro	Whisper when the music is soft and stand when it is loud
11	Horn Concerto No. 4, last movement	Gallop around the room
12	The bird catcher’s song from The Magic Flute	Listen for the pan pipes, then fill in a notebook page

Weeks 13 to 18: Beethoven

Print the Beethoven fact sheet and read Beethoven for kids.

Week	Piece	One thing to do
13	Symphony No. 5, first movement	Tally the four-note pattern, with the listening guide
14	“Für Elise”	Raise a hand each time the opening tune returns
15	“Moonlight” Sonata, first movement	Draw the night sky
16	Symphony No. 6, “Pastoral,” the storm	Point to the thunder, the rain, and the calm after
17	“Ode to Joy” from Symphony No. 9	Sing the tune on “la”
18	“Rage Over a Lost Penny”	Act out looking for a lost coin, then fill in a notebook page

Weeks 19 to 24: Tchaikovsky

Print the Tchaikovsky fact sheet and read Tchaikovsky for kids.

Week	Piece	One thing to do
19	March from The Nutcracker	March, and freeze when the trumpets stop
20	“Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy”	Tiptoe on the bell notes
21	The swan tune from Swan Lake	Find the oboe, with the Swan Lake guide
22	Waltz from The Sleeping Beauty	Count “one, two, three” and sway
23	1812 Overture, the last four minutes	Count the cannon shots
24	Piano Concerto No. 1, the opening	Tell the piano from the orchestra, then fill in a notebook page

Weeks 25 to 30: Debussy

Print the Debussy fact sheet and read Debussy for kids.

Week	Piece	One thing to do
25	“Clair de lune”	Paint with watercolors
26	“The Snow Is Dancing”	Drop bits of paper and watch them fall
27	“Jimbo’s Lullaby”	Rock a toy animal to sleep
28	“The Girl with the Flaxen Hair”	Hum the first line back
29	Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun, the opening	Name the instrument that plays alone
30	Arabesque No. 1	Trace the rising and falling notes in the air, then fill in a notebook page

Weeks 31 to 36: Copland

Print the Copland fact sheet and read Copland for kids.

Week	Piece	One thing to do
31	“Hoe-Down” from Rodeo	Hold a barn dance
32	Fanfare for the Common Man	Make a grand entrance
33	Variations on “Simple Gifts” from Appalachian Spring	Count how many times the tune comes back
34	“Saturday Night Waltz” from Rodeo	Waltz with a partner
35	“The Cat and the Mouse”	Decide which notes are the cat and which are the mouse
36	“The Open Prairie” from Billy the Kid	Draw the land the music shows, then fill in a notebook page

What to print

One composer fact sheet for each composer, at the start of the six weeks. One composer study notebook page at the end. A listening journal page for any week your child wants to draw.

Place each composer on the composer timeline to print as you go.

Ways to change the plan

Twelve composers, three weeks each. A wider survey for older children.

Three composers, twelve weeks each. A slower plan with more time to know each one. This matches the term-long study described in Charlotte Mason composer study.

Follow the seasons. Move Tchaikovsky to December for The Nutcracker.

For the reasons behind the plan, read composer study for homeschool.