Alternative Learning

Quandary

Here is the quandary (vocab): I do not like reading to my son about man’s inhumanity to man; he has enough to deal with without trying to grasp the perplexing notion of cruelty. HOWEVER, the “Wicked History” series books are so well written, organized, researched, and crazy fascinating – we can’t stay away.

We just finished the book on BAD BAD King Leopold II of Belgium (1835-1909); and he was indefensibly bad – Hitler and Stalin BAD. There were passages in the book describing atrocities under his leadership of the “Congo Free State” (his PERSONAL colony) so barbaric, that while reading aloud to my son, I had to skip over paragraph after paragraph.
On the plus side:
– we learned a LOT about what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo and came away fascinated
– we added to our hero list: George Washington Williams (a journalist), Edmund Morel (a most alert shipping clerk) and Roger Casement (a British consul). These men brought the brutal policies of Congo Free State administrators to world wide attention and censure (vocab)
– AND Leopold II died with just about everyone (well, maybe everyone) despising him. (ridiculously small consolation)

from “The Wonder Garden” book by Williams and Broom – stunning

The subject matter gets a LOT happier, but DRAT: we just hate it when a good book ends. We loved EVERY page of “The Wonder Garden” by Kristjana S. Williams and Jenny Broom; luscious illustrations accompanied by solidly interesting facts. This startlingly beautiful book showcases animals of five distinct habitats around the world. We were familiar with the Amazon Rainforest and the Great Barrier Reef, but we really hadn’t read anything about the Black Forest, the Chihuahuan Dessert or the Himalayan Mountains. This delicious book is SO on our “read-it-again list”.

Last night my son took a simple matching location-to-fact quiz and then we paired up one piece of music with each habitat.

Music to remind us of five living wonders of our world:
– The Amazon Rain Forest – hosting around 1,500 species of birds, Camille Saint-Saens’ “The Aviary” (from his “Carnival of the Animals”, 1886) was an obvious selection. The music is prefaced by an Ogden Nash poem read by Roger Moore. Elegant:

– The Great Barrier Reef – again, from Saint-Saens’ “Carnival of the Animals”: “The Aquarium”. Gloriously haunting music provides a backdrop for the world’s largest living structure (however, as beautiful as this linked video is, “The Aquarium” takes up only the first 2.5 minutes; the carnival’s donkey and the cuckoo movements follow, for some unknown reason):

– The Black Forest – the habitat for not only the world’s largest owls, but also the setting for several fairy tales from the brothers Grimm. My son and I listened to “Evening Prayer” from the opera “Hansel and Gretel”, composed by Englebert Humperdinck in 1893. We twiddled our fingers during the three minute LONG introduction; however once we got to the meat of the composition we enjoyed possibly the most comforting lullaby ever:

SIDEBAR: another Englebert Humperdinck??? – we followed Humperdinck’s “Evening Prayer” with a short discussion of British pop star (of the ’60’s and ’70’s) Englebert Humperdinck (but really Arnold George Dorsey) (obviously NO relation to the composer of the late 1800’s). My UCLA college room-mate, J’nette, warbled a mocking version of Humperdinck’s giant hit “Release Me” throughout our undergrad years, so I made my unappreciative son endure a trip down memory lane:

– The Chihuahuan Desert – Well, first of all, we had no idea where the Chihuahuan Desert was (southern parts of Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and northern parts of Mexico) and we are practically living in it! We felt the second movement (the “Largo” movement) of Dvorak’s “New World Symphony” evoked the loneliness, uncertainty, and the grandeur of this habitat:

– and finally, The Himalayan Mountains – we paired “the rooftop of the world” with “Approaching the Summit” composed by genius genius genius John Williams for the 1997 movie “Seven Years in Tibet”. We could hear how this music captures themes – majestic and mysterious – from both sides of the Himalayan Mountains (India and China):

Welcome to the best part of my day!
– Jane BH
(The story problems from this week seemed painfully frivolous after reading about the human suffering provoked by King Leopold II. I just couldn’t post any of them.)

26 Candles!

My son celebrated his birthday this past week! Among the wrapped presents, two spectacular books:

– “Star Talk” by astrophysicist and consummate showman, Neil deGrasse Tyson. So far – tremendously engrossing; last night we read about why astronauts grow taller in space (due to lack of gravity) (and apparently this is NOT good for bone density), the night before we learned how long it would take to travel to Mars via current space travel technology. (3 years). Full of quirky facts and explanations, this is exactly the type of book we like to spend time with.

– “The Wonder Garden” by Kristjana S. Williams and Jenny Broom focuses upon animal life in five distinct habitats (vocab) around the world. We are in the middle of the Amazon Rain Forest (located it on the new globe/another birthday present!) chapter. Gross fact from last night: the green anaconda NEVER STOPS GROWING. Ewww ewww ewww. Aside from that, this book is a jewel. The obsessively decorative artwork is first rate, the book is well written and the excellent research is apparent. Learning materials were NOT this captivating when I was in school.

Story problem – Farmer Brown recycles used horseshoes! Farmer Brown has 6 horses and is filling up a barrel with used horseshoes. He has found a craftsman who would like to purchase the horseshoes and turn them into “good luck” wall art items. If each horse gets fitted for new shoes every other month, how many used shoes will Farmer Brown have in the barrel at the end of a year? If he is able to sell the used shoes to the craftsman for $10 each, how much money will he collect by the end of a year? If it costs $125 to shoe one horse, how many horses could be shod from the money earned from selling the old shoes? (answers at bottom of post)

Speaking of horseshoes – our poem for the evening was “The Village Blacksmith” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1840), which led us to look at and talk about anvils (vocab) and bellows (vocab), which led us to our music theme:

Plink, clank, plink – the anvil as musical instrument! What a most satisfactory listening experience:

– The Anvil Chorus from Giuseppe Verdi’s opera of 1853, “Il Trovatore” (The Troubadour). This song of the gypsies praises hard work, good wine, and gypsy women. For my son, I emphasized the hard work and the unique sound of the sledge hammer hitting the anvil, and sort of didn’t mention the good wine and gypsy women. Outstanding production:

– The Feuerfest (fireproof) Polka, composed in 1869 by Josef Strauss, brother of waltz king, Johann Strauss II. This is probably one of our top ten favorite classical pieces; we like to anticipate each anvil clang. In this linked video Mariss Jansons conducts the Vienna Philharmonic WHILE “playing” the hammers and anvil. Adorable, and kind of spellbinding.

– Finally, “Heigh Ho” from Disney’s 1937 blockbuster, “Snow White”. Music by Frank Churchill, words by Larry Morey. Anvil plinking all over the place.

Welcome to the best part of my day!
– Jane BH
(story problem answers: 144, $1,440, 11 horses)

Club Gustav

And so it begins: a few nights ago, my son and I started reading, “The Eiffel Tower – Gustave Eiffel’s Spectacular Idea” by Cooper/Bock. Hmmm; the book’s facts differ slightly (actually markedly) from what the Wikipedia entry has to say about the tower and who’s idea it was. Regardless, I knew we would be interested in the construction of the Eiffel Tower – all of those triangles – and the fact is, Gustave Eiffel was a brilliant, innovative, experienced architect and engineer. We also looked at some of his bridges, and his structural plan for supporting the inside of the Statue of Liberty.

Meanwhile, it occurred to me that we had never listened to anything by Gustav Mahler, so I started listening to a LOT of Mahler (a LOT because each and every piece is SO long), selecting compositions to share with my son. And all of a sudden, I thought: we have two “Gustavs” already, why not have this week be all about spotlighting noteworthy “Gustavs”? So we added:

the art work of Gustav Klimt – we admired 12 of his landscapes (via a large calendar). We couldn’t stop looking at “Forest of Birch Trees” and “Island in the Attersee” (both 1902). We also spent time looking at every detail of his most well known painting, the shimmering richly patterned, gold-leafed “The Kiss” (1907).
a review of the music of Gustav Holst, a composer we are familiar with. We listened to a few movements from “The Planets”, his Morris Dance Tunes, and the march from his “First Suite in E flat for Military Band” (we like listening for the monarch reviewing the troops).
then, HOLY CATS, a short study of Gustave the Crocodile of Burundi (we located teeny Burundi on the globe). Oh, this is so sad: according to Wikipedia, “The World Happiness Report 2016 Update ranked Burundi as the world’s least happy nation”. Well, I am sure Gustave is not helping. So far, this 60 year old, 25 foot-long, bullet-proof baddest croc of them all, has killed 300 people. He is THE WORST. He is INFAMOUS (vocab word of the night).

Our music theme last night: what else? Gustav, Gustav, Gustave and Gustavo –

Mahler, Dudamel, and Holst

we listened to Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 in C minor, movement III, composed about 1890. There are a lot of moods and themes in this 10 minute movement – lush harmonies, frenetic rhythms, the lure of the exotic melody, and do we hear birdsong? Conducted by the sizzling Gustavo Dudamel:

we can hear Gustav Holst’s messenger god flitting willy-nilly all over the universe. We have probably listened to the “Mercury” movement from The Planets (composed in 1916) about 45 times. It just doesn’t get old.

and for Gustave the Crocodile we listened to, “Never Smile at a Crocodile” from Disney’s 1953 movie “Peter Pan”. Music by Frank Churchill, words by Jack Lawrence. What’s not to like?

Welcome to the best part of my day!
– Jane BH

Le Menu du Jour

~Oh, what a tantalizing offering~

Appetizers –
May we suggest – une petite matching quiz to review things we’ve been learning about lately?

Followed by – a bit of drawing with pastels, focusing on TEXTURE

Zen perhaps – a game of hangman: last night’s word was “vowel” – my son has just learned the difference between vowels and consonants (my bad for not explaining this YEARS ago). Now that he recognizes the prevalence of vowels in all words, the time spent playing our hangman games has significantly decreased.

For le final appetizer delicacy – a story problem from Le Fictitious Local Diner:
The diner’s back room is being decorated with crepe paper streamers for a homecoming banquet, and it is going to involve THE PYTHAGOREAN THEOREM! (FYI, my son understands square roots, but to cut WAY down on time, we used the iPad for this calculation).

The room measures 15 by 20 feet and the party planners want to criss cross royal blue and bright green (school colors) crepe paper streamers from the ceiling corners. Streamers are to be taped and artistically twisted together from one corner of the room, diagonally, to the other side of the room. OMGOSH, right before their eyes, a HYPOTENUSE!
1) how far is it from one corner to another (diagonally across the room)?

2) how many feet of streamer are needed to stretch from one corner diagonally across the room to the other corner, if 1.5 times the hypotenuse are needed to achieve an esthetically pleasing twist?

3) if both colors will be used from corners to corners, making sort of an “X” in the middle of the room, how many feet will be needed of each color? (answers at bottom of post)

Le Main Course –
A favorite book author team, Dr. Dominic Walliman and Ben Newman, who put together “Professor Astro Cat’s Frontiers of Space”, have a new A+++ book out (YAY!): “Professor Astro Cat’s Atomic Adventure” – another case of we-cannot-wait-to-open-it-every-night. So far, we have learned about gravity (we threw a whole bunch of things up in the air and watched the inevitable happen), the scientific method (brother Jim is a molecular biologist, so we are taking a personal interest in the scientific method), the periodic table (organizational perfection), protons and electrons (the speed of those elections mesmerizes us). We are spellbound by Professor Astor Cat’s topics – well chosen, well explained; and graphics – SPLENDID. This book should be on everyone’s Christmas list.

For side dishes – our current fiction novel: “Gabby Duran and Troll Patrol”. YES. And a reading from our current Tom Gates book (“Tom Gates Extra Special Treats – not”). YES.

To cleanse zee palate – a poem: tonight’s selection, “Keep a Goin’” by Frank L. Stanton, a journalist for the Atlanta Constitution newspaper and Poet Laureate of Georgia, appointed in 1925. This poem has been stuck in my head for decades (when my sister was in the 4th grade, she chose to memorize this poem, and in the process, said it aloud so many times that everyone in the family to this day can recite it). Thank heavens it is fun, uplifting, grateful. Good for everybody.

And finally, le dessert tray – three elegant morsels from Frederic Chopin:

“Grande Valse Brilliante”, a waltz composed by Chopin in 1834 and used in the ballet “Les Sylphides”, which premiered in 1909. Everybody who has taken ballet lessons has tour jete’d across the dance studio (hypotenuse style!) to this absolutely charming waltz:

“Piano Sonata No. 2 in B-flat minor”, AKA “The Funeral March” to ALL kids (“pray for the dead and the dead will pray for you”), was composed in 1839. A perfectly creepy recording from 1910:

“The Minute Waltz”, more properly known as Chopin’s “Waltz in D-flat major”, composed in 1847. A bit of false advertising, as this piece actually lasts just over 2 minutes:

Bon appetit!
Welcome to the best part of my day!
Jane Heiserman
(Story problem answers: 25 feet, 37.5 feet, 75 feet)

Talking in Circles

Circles Circles Circles: geometry review – my son knows the vocabulary of circles (radius, diameter, circumference and the concept of π) and can now find the circumference and area of a circle if given the measurement of the radius. We are able to work in the abstract, but we’ve done our share of figuring circumference and area of of pizzas, pies, and crop circles.

Crop Circles! Inspired by the “intergalactics” in “Gabby Duran and the Unsittables” – a clever, original, great read for us by Elise Allen and Daryle Conners (and now we are reading “Gabby Duran – Troll Control” – get this! A GIFT FROM ONE OF THE AUTHORS!!!! ), we wondered if there was proof of space aliens visiting planet Earth, so we took a bit of time to read up on crop circles (yay Wikipedia!) and view an array of photos. Well, my son learned the definition of “HOAX”, but rather than be disappointed that the crop circles were not evidence of visitors from the far beyond, we decided to be mightily impressed by the precision artistry yielded by the wide brush of a tractor. Wow.

Farmer Brown’s Crop Circle (story problem) – Farmer Brown has revved up the John Deere tractor and crafted a crop circle in the middle of his wheat field as a fun destination for his Halloween hay-rides. If the radius of his crop circle measures 100 feet, is the area of the circle larger or smaller than one acre (43,560 square feet)? If the horses pull the hay-ride wagon along the entire edge of the crop circle, how many feet will they cover? If Farmer Brown takes a photo of everybody in the center of his crop circle wearing alien masks will this be awesome? (answers at bottom of post)

Circling Back – We finished our Hannibal unit and here is what it boiled down to: in 218 BC, from Carthage (the northern-most tip of Africa), Hannibal led his soldiers, horses, and elephants northwest to the Iberian peninsula, east over the Alps, south to Rome, and finally ended up, full circle, back in Carthage and guess what? After 17 years of fighting, ravaging countless villages, and 720,000 soldiers dead: nothing gained. NOTHING.

We needed music that reflected despair and regret for the families ruined by Hannibal’s insane drive to obliterate the Roman Republic.

“Adagio in G minor for Strings and Organ” by Tomaso Albinoni. MUSIC CONTROVERSY: although the piece is attributed to Albinoni, who wrote fragments of the composition in the early 1700s, apparently Remo Giazotto actually pulled the piece together in 1958. This funereal work has been used in over 25 movies; sort of the go-to music for weepiness. This performance is outstanding:

“Serenade” by Franz Schubert, finished in 1828, just one month before Schubert passed away (SYPHILIS) (OH DEAR). No one can be cheered by this somber waltz of death – and take a gander at this semi-creepy, gloom-filled film clip:

“Symphony No. 3 in F major”, movement III, by Johannas Brahms, composed in 1883. Searingly sad. Monumentally beautiful. (Insider note: this movement served as inspiration for Carlos Santana’s 1999 piece, “Love of My Life”):

Welcome to the best part of my day!
– Jane BH
(story problem answers: smaller, 628 feet, YES this will be the highlight of the evening)

The Larger Picture

Looming Large: Hannibal and Elephants

“Hannibal Crossing the Alps on an Elephant” by Nicolas Poussin (1620-ish)

About Hannibal – we are reading from the Wicked History series, “Hannibal – Rome’s Worst Nightmare”. Hannibal Barca: an ambitious warrior with strategy skills perhaps surpassing history’s most effective military leaders. We are currently reading about Hannibal’s most outrageous achievement – crossing the Alps with 100,000 soldiers and 40 elephants. Interesting fact – when all was said and done – the Alps crossed and the war with Rome over (this would be the second Punic war – and isn’t PUNIC is such a weird word?) – only 1 elephant remained. (HEARTBREAK) (but isn’t the painting elegant? We LOVE it and we’ve ordered a poster of it.)

My son and I wanted to know more, so we also read “Unsolved Mystery: Where did Hannibal get his War Elephants?” from the Ancient Origins website (ancient-origins.net). This excellent short article: highly recommended.

About Elephants – we are reading from Cheryl Bardoe’s book, “Mammoths and Mastodons – Titans of the Ice Age” (titan – vocab). Absolutely text-book worthy. A mini-mini sampling of what we’ve learned:

elephant (mammoth/mastodon) tusks are “ringed”, similar to a tree trunk. Layers of ivory are added every day and reveal all sorts of stuff, like the elephant’s age, whether the female gave birth, food consumed, and the climate.
The remains of Columbian mammoths have been found in Texas! It seems so strange to us that these prehistoric creatures have walked where we walk. Crazy.

Large Pictures – Here is an abrupt change of topic: my son and I love looking at the ridiculous inventions of Rube Goldberg. However, Goldberg’s illustrations are so detailed, it is difficult for two people to absorb everything while sharing a book. So, we have found a most useful vehicle for enjoying the engineering shenanigans of Mr. Goldberg: a wall calendar! A big calendar page is the perfect size for us to appreciate every nuance of Goldberg’s contraptions.

And more large pictures! (at Le Fictitious Local Diner) – A large picture frame (3′ x 4′) has been installed on the wall next to the cash register at Le Fictitious Local Diner to showcase EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH.

If the diner employs 3 excellent cooks and 5 efficient and really nice waitresses, over the course of 4 years, how many times might each employee be designated as “employee of the month”? If the recognition comes with an honorarium (vocab) of $50, how much will the diner budget for this per year, and how much should each employee accrue (vocab) over the course of the 4 years? Lastly, if the diner spends $15 to get a glossy print of each EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH, how much will the diner spend on the photos in a year? (semi-trick question: some employees may be declared EOTM more than once in a year, and there is no need for duplicate photos, no sir, not at $15 a print). (answer at bottom of post)

The Elephant in the Living Room – music to celebrate the largest terrestrial (vocab) animal:

Baby Elephant Walk, composed by iconic American composer Henry Mancini in 1961 for the movie “Hitari”. This piece won a Grammy in 1962.

Pink Elephants on Parade, from the 1941 Disney movie, Dumbo, composed by Oliver Wallace and Ned Washington. This movie segment received a bit of bad press, as many thought a film for children should not glorify hallucinations resulting from the mixing of the elephant’s water with champagne. Ya know, this footage IS sort of disturbing.

The Elephant, from Camille Saint-Saens’ “Carnival of the Animals”, composed in 1886. The orchestra’s double bass perfectly matches the heavy lumbering steps of the elephant.

Welcome to the best part of my day!
– Jane BH

(story problem answers: 6 times, $600, $300, $120)

A Little Night Music

Question 1: If my son and I spend 15 minutes every night listening to classical music, how many hours of listening will we have stacked up over the course of a year? (answer at bottom of post)

Question 2: If we average 3 pieces per evening, how many compositions will we have listened to over the course of a year? (answer at bottom of post)

I have been thinking it would be helpful to have a tab on title-block that would take us to a page where our music themes were listed. So, OMGosh this has taken forever to assemble (and only includes music I have blogged about since July, 2014), but VOILA! This post is now tabbed on title-block as “Our Music Themes“.

(This is merely a listing; to read a few short lines of information about each composition and find links to youtube videos of said compositions, click on the links.)

Music Themes – Post Titles

Art set to music: Checkered House, by Grandma Moses – from “Good Books, Bad Books“

Over the River and Through the Wood – Lydia Maria Child
Sleigh Ride – Leroy Anderson
Carol of the Animals – Robert Davis

Art set to music: Pirate Chief, by Howard Pyle – from “Fly By“

The Maid of Amsterdam – traditional sea chanty
Overture to The Flying Dutchman – Wagner
Pirates of the Caribbean Suite – Klaus Badelt

Art set to music: The Clipper Ship, by Currier and Ives – from “Garden Par-tay“

Sea Songs – Ralph Vaughan Williams
Overture to H.M.S. Pinafore – Gilbert and Sullivan
Over the Waves – Juventino Rosas

Art set to music: The Fall of the Cowboy, by Remington – from “Answers for Everything“

Thanksgiving – George Winston
Hoedown – Aaron Copland
Back Home Again – John Denver

Back to School – from “If it’s August“

Flight of the Bumblebee – Rimsky-Korsakov
Entry of the Gladiators – Julius Fucik
Song of the Volga Boatmen – traditional

Barbershop Quartets – from “The Cliffs Notes Version“

Sincere – Meredith Willson
Mr. Sandman – Pat Ballard

Benjamin Franklin in France – from “It’s a Date!“

Overture to The Abduction from the Seraglio – Mozart
The Coffee Cantata – JS Bach
Symphony No. 45 in F-sharp minor (Farewell Symphony) – Haydn

Black History Month Selections – from “Conversation Circle”

Maple Leaf Rag – Scott Joplin
The American Scene: The Southwest – William Grant Still
Don’t Get Around Much Anymore – Duke Ellington

Blue Days – from “Something Blue“

Blue Skies – Irving Berlin
Blue Tango – Leroy Anderson
The Blue Danube Waltz – Strauss

Blue Moon Tunes – from “Second Time Around”

Moonlight Serenade – Glenn Miller
Rhapsody in Blue – George Gershwin
Clair de Lune – Debussy

Brazil, thinking about – from “Tick, Tick, Tick“

exploring “The Little Train of Caipira” – Heitor Villa-Lobos

The Cambrian Explosion – from “In Which We Learn about the Cambrian Explosion“

Simple Gifts – Joseph Brackett
Polka Dots and Moonbeams – Van Heusen/Burke
1812 Overture – Tchaikovsky

Chicken Coop Melodies – from “Farm Fresh“

Symphony No. 83 in G minor (The Hen) – Haydn
The Hen – Respighi
Pick-a-Little, Talk-a-Little – Meredith Willson
Chicken Reel – Joseph M. Daly/Leroy Anderson

Classical Broadway – from “Desperately Seeking Ganesha“

Rosemary – Frank Loesser
Piano Concerto in A minor – Edvard Grieg
Baby Face – Akst/Davis
Hallelujah Chorus – Handel
Don’t Cry for Me, Argentina – Rice/Weber
Violin Concerto in D minor – Brahms

Cuckoo for Music – from “Things that go Bump in the Night“

Organ Concerto No. 13 in F major (The Cuckoo and the Hen) – Handel
Symphony No. 6 in F major (The Pastoral) – Beethoven
The Cuckoo – Respighi

Dealer’s Choice (my son selects 3 from a list of 10) – from “Starry Eyed“

The William Tell Overture – Rossini
The Cuckoo – Respighi
Mambo – Leonard Bernstein

Dental Procedures, music for – from “Messenger Service“

Symphony No. 6 in F major (The Pastoral) – Beethoven
The Barcarolle – Jacques Offenbach
The Moldau – Bedrich Smetana

The Doldrums – from “Going Nowhere Fast“

Sea Songs – Ralph Vaughan Williams
We Sail the Ocean Blue – Gilbert and Sullivan
Sailing By – Ronald Binge

Duets! – from “Sap Happy“

The Flower Duet – Leo Delibes
Si Fino All’ore Estreme – Bellini
People Will Say We’re in Love – Rogers and Hammerstein

Einstein and his Violin – from “Brainiac“

Violin Serenade No. 6 – Mozart
Violin Serenade No. 13 (Eine Kleine Machtmusik) – Mozart
Violin Sonata No. 26 in B-flat major – Mozart

Exotic Lands – from “That’s Gotta Hurt“

Scheherazade – Rimsky-Korsakov
Overture to Abduction fro the Seraglio – Mozart
Arrival of the Queen of Sheba – Handel

Fanfare for the Water Bear – from “A Fanfare for the Water Bear“

Water Music – Handel
The Aquarium – Saint-Saens
The Wild Bears – Sir Edward Elgar

Franz Schubert Night – from “Dr. Livingstone, I Presume?”

Serenade – Schubert
Ave Maria – Schubert
March Militaire – Schubert

French Composers – from “A Test of Faith“

The Infernal Galop (The Can-Can) – Jacques Offenbach
Clair de Lune – Debussy
March of the Toreadors – Bizet

The French Horn – from “Working for Peanuts“

Water Music – Handel
Venus – Gustav Holst
Pavane for a Dead Princess – Maurice Ravel

Fun Music Only – from “Inventors Invent“

Dance of the Hours – Amilcare Ponchielli
Chicken Reel – Leroy Anderson
The Pink Panther – Henry Mancini

Good Shepherd – from “The Rattlesnake Sermon“

Sheep May Safely Graze – JS Bach
He Shall Feed His Flock Like a Shepherd – Handel
Tender Shepherd – Charlap/Leigh

Groundhog Day – from “Rodent Rage“

Winter – Vivaldi
Waltz of the Snowflakes – Tchaikovsky
Symphony No. 6 in F major – Beethoven
Put on a Happy Face – Strouse/Adams

Halloween, scary music for – from “Back in the Saddle Again“

Dance Macabre – Saint-Saens
Mars – Gustav Holst
Masquerade – Khachaturian

Harp Music of the Angels – from “Sunday School“

Harp Concerto in B-flat major – Handel
Harp Concerto in A major – Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf
Concerto for Flut and Harp – Mozart

The Hungarian March, 3 Ways – from “Travelogue“

Hungarian March – Berlioz
Hungarian Rhapsody No. 15 – Liszt
Hungarian Dance No. 19 – Brahms

Hymns: three from one – from “Riveting“

Ave Maria – Jacques Arcadelt
Symphony No. 3 in C minor (Organ Symphony) – Saint-Saens
Finlandia Hymn – Sibelius

Inventions for Inventions – from “Lights! Camera! Edison!“

Invention No. 6 in E major – JS Bach
Invention No. 8 in F major – JS Bach
Invention No. 13 in A minor – JS Bach

London Busses – from “Late Bloomer“

Jupiter – Gustav Holst
Pomp and Circumstance – Elgar
Fantasia on Greensleeves – Ralph Vaughan Williams
Overture to H.M.S. Pinafore – Gilbert and Sullivan

March Madness – from “Ranch Report“

Colonel Bogey March – Lieutenant F.J. Ricketts
The Imperial March – John Williams

March’s Marches – from “Wordery“

The Redetzky March – Johann Strauss, senior
March of the Siamese Children – Richard Rogers
The Washington Post March – John Philip Sousa

Mendelssohn’s Midsummer Night’s Dream – from “Flying, Farming, and Felix“

Overture to Midsummer Night’s Dream – Mendelssohn
The Wedding March – Mendelssohn

Michelangelo’s Rome – from “One Sculptor, One Scoundrel“

The Pines of Rome – Respighi
Palladio for String Orchestra – Karl Jenkins
Symphony No. 4 in A major (The Italian) – Mendelssohn

Minor Key Music – from “Miners and Minors“

The Hebrides Overture – Mendelssohn
In the Hall of the Mountain King – Edvard Grieg
Ride of the Valkyries – Wagner

Minuet in G to the Power of 3 – from “Hendecasyllable“

Minuet in G – Mozart
Minuet in G – Beethoven
Minuet in G – JS Bach

Mount Vesuvius – from “Mounting Interest“

Funiculi Funicular – Luigi Denza
Aus Italien – Richard Strauss
Neapolitan Song – Rimsky-Korsakov

Music to Soothe – from “Music to Soothe“

Mass in D minor, motet – Anton Bruchner
Sheep May Safely Graze – JS Bach
Simple Gifts – Joseph Brackett

Negro Spirituals – from “Heavenly“

Down by the Riverside – traditional
Wade in the Water – traditional
Swing Low, Sweet Chariot – traditional

Nocturnes – from “Zootique“

Nocturne No. 2 – Chopin
Nocturne No. 3 – Liszt
Harlem Nocturne – Earl Hagen

The Oboe – from “Music Mechanics“

Arrival of the Queen of Sheba – Handel
Swan Lake, final scene – Tchaikovsky
Le Tombeau de Couperin – Ravel

Overtures – from “Takes a Lickin’ and Keeps on Tickin‘”

Overture from H.M.S. Pinafore – Gilbert and Sullivan
Overture from Midsummer Night’s Dream – Mendelssohn
Overture from The Marriage of Figaro – Mozart

Paris Tribute – from “A Ghost by any other Name“

The Swan – Saint-Saens
Carillon – Bizet
La Vie en Rose – Edith Piaf

Pizzicato! – from “The Price is Wrong“

Divertissement: Pizzicati – Leo Delibes
Symphony 4 in F minor – Tchaikovsky
Anitra’s Dance – Edvard Grieg

The Presidents’ Music – from “The Liberace Instigation“

classical pieces composed during each administration

The Recorder – from “Well Played“

Sopranino Recorder Concerto in C major – Vivaldi
Ode to Joy – Beethoven
Greensleeves – traditional

The Sad Song Scale – from “Two Different Worlds“

Symphony No. 3 in F major – Brahms
What’ll I Do? – Irving Berlin
Serenade – Schubert

Saint Patrick’s Day – from “The Business of March“

Toora Loora Looral – James Royce Shannon
The Irish Washerwoman – traditional/Leroy Anderson
Danny Boy – Frederic Weatherly

Shrill Thrills! (the piccolo) – from “Jams and Jellyfish“

Chinese Dance (Nutcracker) – Tchaikovsky
Triton Fountain in the Morning – Respighi
Stars and Stripes Forever – Sousa

Strauss Family, the splendidly gifted – from “780 Pairs of Saddle Shoes“

Radetzky March – Johann Strauss, senior
Feuerfest Polka – Joseph Strauss
Thunder and Lightning Polka – Johann Strauss, junior

String Quartets – from “We the People“

String Quartet in B-flat major (La Chasse) – Haydn
String Quartet No. 2 in D major – Borodin
Cantina Band (performed as a string quartet) – John Williams

Summertime – from “Barely Scraping By“

Summer – Vivaldi
Fireflies – Amy Beach
Summertime – George and Ira Gershwin
In the Summertime – Mungo Jerry

Sunday Night Music – from “How We Write“

How Great Thou Art – Carl Gustav Boberg
Turn! Turn! Turn! – Pete Seeger/Book of Ecclesiastes
Let us Cheer the Weary Traveler – Nathaniel Dett

Surprise Endings – from “Bringing Handwriting up to Scratch“

The Wild Bears – Sir Edward Elgar
The Moldau – Bedrich Smetana
The Imperial March – John Williams

Tambourines! – from “Peace, Love, and Tambourines“

Mr. Tambourine Man – Bob Dylan
Tarantella – Rossini/Respighi
Russian Dance (Nutcracker) – Tchaikovsky

Tea Time – from “Textbooks – if we ruled the world“

Tea for Two – Youmans and Caesar
Tea for Two (Tahiti Trot) – Shostakovich
Tea for Two – Art Tatum

Things in the Sky – from “Snakes and Pirates“

Fireflies – Amy Beach
Clair de Lune – Debussy
Mercury – Gustav Holst

The Timpani – from “One Thing Leads to Another“

Dance of the Seven Veils – Richard Strauss
Thus Spoke Zarathustra – Richard Strauss
Pirates of the Caribbean Suite – Klaus Badelt

Trains – from “Posting about Posters“

The Little Train of Caipira – Heitor Villa-Lobos
The Steam Engine – Patrick Doyle
Take the A Train – Duke Ellington

Tribute: music for a beloved grandfather – from “Imagine That“

Fight for California – McCoy/Fitch
The Army Song – Sousa/Arberg
Ashokan Farewell – Jay Ungar

The Vatican, background music for – from “Holy Zucchetto“

Gregorian Chants – traditional
Gloria in Excelsis Deo – Vivaldi
Locus Iste – Bruchner

Virtuoso Night: Stanley Drucker – from “Affordable Housing Forever“

Clarinet Sonata No. 1 in F minor – Brahms
Appalachian Spring – Aaron Copland
Rhapsody in Blue – George Gershwin

Virtuoso Night: Sir James Galway – from “Thousands and Thousands“

Concerto for Flute and Harp – Mozart
I Saw Three Ships – traditional
Flight of the Bumblebee – Rimsky-Korsakov

Virtuoso Night: Wynton Marsalis – from “Novel Ideas“

Concerto in E-flat major for Trumpet – Haydn
Moto Perpetuo – Paganini
The Prince of Denmark March (Trumpet Voluntary) – Jeremiah Clark

Virtuoso Night: Itzhak Perlman – from “Insert Clever Title Here“

Humoresque – Dvorak
Out of Africa, title music – John Barry
Violin Concerto in E minor – Mendelssohn

Waltzing with Tchaikovsky – from “Case in Point: Ibn Battuta“

Serenade for Strings – Tchaikovsky
Swan Lake Waltz, Act II – Tchaikovsky
Eugene Onegin, Polonaise – Tchaikovsky

Wistfulness – from “Finish the Poem“

Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture, love theme – Tchaikovsky
Ashokan Farewell – Jay Ungar
What’ll I Do – Irving Berlin

Worker Bees, a soundtrack for – from “Bee Plus!”

Moto Perpetuo – Paganini
The Pizzicato – Leo Delibes
Flight of the Bumblebee – Rimsky-Korsakov

Welcome to the best part of my night!
– Jane BH
(answer 1: 91+ hours)
(answer 2: 1,095 pieces of music)

Miners and Minors

Homonyms, homographs, and homophones: the craziness of the English language! Miners and Minors. Wail, Wale, and Whale. Watch (look) and Watch (timepiece). Bark (dog talk) and Bark (on the tree). Homonyms are the life of the party at our language arts gatherings. My son and I had a great time going through a long list of these words last night, and it all started with “miners”.

The 49ers were miners: a few nights ago we completed our second book about the California Gold Rush of 1849. We are still thinking about –

how would we have traveled to California from the east coast; all choices were dreadful. Would we have taken a ship around the tip of South America (hideous seasickness/horrible food)? Would we have taken a ship, disembarked (vocab) in Panama, hiked the 60 miles through the jungle (bugs and disease) and hoped we were able to find a ship to take us the rest of the way? Would we have traveled over land in a covered wagon (we learned that the most dangerous part of covered wagon travel was the CROSSING OF RIVERS. We would not have guessed that.)?
PAY DIRT – this is what happy prospector’s called finding gold dust in their pan of dirt.
those who profited the most for the gold rush: the store owners who sold supplies to the miners, Levi Strauss and his jeans, the Wells and Fargo mail delivery service, and women who cooked, washed, and mended the miners’ clothing.

Hangtown Fry on the menu at Le Fictitious Local Diner (story problem): One of the diner’s cook’s kids was studying about the California Gold Rush, so the cook put a traditional 49er feast on the menu: Hangtown Fry, which he decided to serve with a side of sourdough bread. Hangtown Fry is an omelette (vocab) made of eggs, oysters, and bacon. The meal has been so popular that the chef has had to bake 10 loaves of sourdough every day. If one loaf provides 12 slices of bread, and each Hangtown Fry order comes with 2 slices of bread, how many orders does the diner sell in a week? (answer at bottom of post)

Rounding out our homonym theme, in music: After learning about the gold rush MINERS, we listened to three classical compositions in MINOR keys (in this case, each in the key of B minor). We talked about the difference in sound between a major and minor key, we talked about why each of the chosen pieces needed to be written in a minor key, and then we sat back and enjoyed:

The Hebrides Overture, composed by Felix Mendelssohn in 1830 – the minor key essential for evoking the mystery and might of nature. Wonderfully conducted by the etherial Nathalie Stutzman in this video:

In the Hall of the Mountain King, from the incidental music Edvard Grieg composed in 1876 for Henrik Ibsen’s play, Peer Gynt. Furtive (vocab), stealthy (vocab), secretive and aggressive – brought to us only by the minor key:

Ride of the Valkyries, from Richard Wagner’s opera, The Valkyrie, which premiered in 1870. The minor key brands the women warriors as fierce and relentless in their duties:

Welcome to the best part of my day!
Jane BH
(story problem answer: 420 orders)

Working for Peanuts

We begin our botany unit: “George Washington Carver – Ingenious Inventor”, another “Graphic Library” book, this one by Olson/Tucke. (These books are pretty fun, formatted comic-book style, including a surprising amount of interesting information. Not bad, not bad at all). Anyway, George Washington Carver, FATHER OF THE PEANUT INDUSTRY, has won our hearts: he was focused, deep thinking, moral (vocab), inventive, industrious, and profoundly generous. But back to the botany angle: Carver ended up with three patents for peanut oil utilization (hardly representative of his many many many inventions and contributions). We spent a few minutes wondering what Carver’s scientific response would have been to the present day widespread peanut allergy crisis. We also decided that we wanted to know more about other botanists (vocab), so books on Gregor Mendel and Luther Burbank have been ordered.

Story problem time – the SUMMERTIME SWEETHEART SODA SPECIAL at Le Fictitious Local Diner: Hoping to entice the after-movie date crowd, the diner has run a midnight ice-cream soda special (a large-sized soda with two straws and a side of fries) every Friday and Saturday, since June 1st. Well! This has been so popular that the diner went through two boxes of straws (1000 straws to the box) in June alone! If the special is priced at $5.00, how much did the diner gross on the special in June? If the cost per serving works out to $2.00, how much did the diner net from this special in June? Extraneous question: if a box of 1,000 straws costs $17, what is the price per straw (round up)? (answers at bottom of post)

New fiction reading: We are intrigued by “Gabby Duran and the Unsittables” by Elise Allen and Daryle Conners. This book is original and refreshing, with new concepts and vocabulary all over the place. The introductory adventure involves a movie production (so new words: set, line, soundstage, props); subsequent adventures involve INTERGALACTICS. Adding to this, protagonist Gabby Duran, is a high schooler intent on being an orchestra soloist with her French Horn (and consider us admonished via the internet; we’ve learned that this instrument is properly referred to as the HORN, not the French Horn). So, do you expect us to let it go at that? Our choice for classical music listening last night focused upon compositions that showcased the HORN. We wanted to appreciate the deep, comfortable, warm echo-y sound of Gabby’s horn.

Our inspiration for classical music listening last night – Gabby Duran’s French Horn:

– George Frederick Handel’s Water Music, Movement 2, from Water Music Suite No. 2, composed in 1717 to humor King George I, who desired music for a concert on the River Thames. My son and I love this jaunty full-of-energy fanfare:

– Gustav Holst’s Venus, from The Planets, composed in 1916. “Venus, the Bringer of Peace”, begins with a horn solo, and the horn provides the backbone for this L O N G dreamy movement (just a teeny touch boring compared to the rest of the planets in the suite) (but very restful, if you need to fall asleep) (and sort of sad, too) (OK! Not our favorite, but still a good “front and center” for the horn):

– Maurice Ravel’s Pavane for a Dead Princess, first written for piano in 1899, then orchestrated by Ravel in 1910. This is a slow processional dance, with the horn taking center stage for the introduction. An excellent choice for anyone seeking background music for a good hard cry:

Welcome to the best part of my day!
– Jane BH
(story problem answers: $5,000, $3,000, 2 cents per straw)

Sunday School

The Good Book – Last week my son and I read through Graphic Library’s “Johann Gutenberg and the Printing Press”. Excellent! Just enough information about Bibles and print reproduction methods of the 1400s. My son was engaged with every single comic-book-style page, so I am looking at other topics covered by Graphic Library.

New information for us:
– we learned that before 1455 (pre-Gutenberg’s printing press), monks who worked on Bibles had to use sunlight to illuminate their work stations; candles were not used in the manuscript shop because of the fire threat
– we learned that the path from the idea of movable type to the actual printing of a Bible was a LONG path: more than 25 years of continual work – the letters, the ink, the press, the relentless search for financial backing
– we learned that Gutenberg stored his metal letters in cases. The capital letters in the “UPPER CASE” and the smaller letters in the “LOWER CASE”. Thus, the terms!
– 200 Gutenberg Bibles were printed and 48 remain (we talked about the current $$$ value, oh my gosh)

Also studying – “Popular Patents – America’s first Inventions from the Airplane to the Zipper” by Travis Brown. This book is so well researched and so interesting, including patent number details (we sort of skip all of that), and chronological order of “what came before what” in regards to each patented invention. So far we have read about barbed wire and the bottle cap, and we are coming to realize that: 1) the type of person that invents, does so over and over and over – the inventors we’ve read about hold MANY patents, and 2), as we learned this from our study of Thomas Edison, successful inventors protect their ideas with a patent. Poor Gutenberg, how he could have used patent protection.

Story Problems for Sun Days – It is so hot this summer at Farmer Brown’s:

Farmer Brown’s cool farm hands: Farmer Brown knows that a cool farm hand is a productive farm hand, so he is installing 6 new fans in the farm hands’ bunkhouse. He is planning to purchase 4 traditional type large fans for $48 each and 2 state-of-the-art Dyson pedestal fans for $450 each. Farmer Brown’s accountant says this is certainly a business expense and needs to know the total spent. Without calculating on paper or with calculator, what is most likely the total of the 6 fans?
A: $4,800 B: $948 C: $1,092 D: $2,000 (answer at bottom of post)

Farmer Brown’s corn maze: Farmer Brown decided to join the corn maze craze. His angle: the state’s smallest maze (for those that freak out at the thought of becoming lost amid the acreage of a typical corn maze)! Farmer Brown’s maze is going to be 15 feet by 15 feet. At the end of the maze, Farmer Brown will serve up complimentary corn on the cob. The attraction will be open July and August. If an entrance fee of $3 is charged, and on an average 200 people go through the maze each month, and Farmer Brown spends 50 cents for each ear of corn/butter/salt and pepper, how much money will Farmer Brown net by the end of August? (answer at bottom of post)

Music for a Sunday night – Sunday nights are church-type music nights for us, so what better than the sound of a harp to put us in mind of angels? The three ultra-soothing pieces we listened to last Sunday night were all composed in the 1700s.

First, George Frederick Handel’s “Harp Concerto in B flat Major”, movement 1, written in 1736. This movement is beautifully presented by an orchestra in Istanbul, Turkey (sorry, I couldn’t decipher any more information, it was effort enough to figure out the city) (harpists’ ruffled dresses = adorable):

Second, “Harp Concerto in A Major”, movement 3, composed in the late 1700s (best we could do in terms of a date) by (here comes awesome name of the month): Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf. Such a FUN name to say. Every single time. This particular video features a VERY young and most talented harpist:

Finally, Mozart’s “Concerto for Flute and Harp”, movement 2, composed in 1778. This is such a gorgeous yearning melody, presented by a most accomplished student orchestra in Russia and featuring another very young harpist:

Welcome to the best part of my day!
Jane BH
(story problem answer – Farmer Brown’s cool farm hands – C: $1,092)
(story problem answer – Farmer Brown’s corn maze – $1,000)

Jane’s Cool School

My adult son has autism. He is non-verbal. This blog is about our learning-at-home program.

Alternative Learning

Quandary

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26 Candles!

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Club Gustav

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Le Menu du Jour

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Talking in Circles

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The Larger Picture

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A Little Night Music

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Miners and Minors

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Working for Peanuts

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Sunday School

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