4 ‘Must Know’ Ways To Blend Music And Geography Studies For Teens

Are you having difficulty finding time to dedicate for music studies in your homeschool? 

Have you thought of blending two or more subjects together in order to make time? 

Better still have you thought of blending music studies with other subjects?

Never thought of that? Don’t know where to start? 

Let me explain. 

Music studies can be easily blended in with a variety of subjects like literature, history and geography for kids of all ages, whether they are pre-schoolers or teens. 

Yes, you read that right. 

In today’s post, I’m going to focus on teenagers and I am going to show you how you can blend music studies with geography in the homeschool. 

I have even included age appropriate worksheets to help take your teenagers learning to the next level, so don’t forget to download them. 

I like to use a lot of examples when explaining things, so I am going to assume that your teens are learning about the topography and different regions of the Indian subcontinent.

Ready to get started?

Let’s go. 

Language, Cultures And Music

India is the second most populous country in the world and also has one of the oldest civilizations. 

Thus, there are lots of opportunities for music studies when learning about India. 

With over 700 languages being spoken across the sub-continent and thousands of different cultures, can you imagine the diversity of the music in the country? 

Ask your teens as a starting point to pick two or three languages and cultures to research along with the music that is prevalent in those cultures. 

The research can be along the lines of different genres or occasions when music plays a role, how does the musical pieces in the same region compare to one another etc. 

Instruments

Your teens can take the above activity to the next level and study the musical instruments used in each of the musical genres. 

Another variation of this activity would be to select a few musical instruments that are popularly used in a specific genre of Indian music such as the sitar for instance and study it in depth, in terms of its origin, how it is played, famous musicians who played the sitar etc. 

Also your teens can create playlists of sitar music and listen to them. 

Types Of Music

Music plays an important role in rural life in India, and music plays a huge role in rituals such as wedding ceremonies, funerals, religious ceremonies and others. 

Learn about the different types of music used at these ceremonies, the musicians, the instruments, the type of music etc. 

Great Composers

Ask your teens to select three of the greatest Indian classical music composers who lived between the 16th and 17th century, research their life, education, compositions and contribution to music. 

Then create three separate playlists of their songs, listen to each set and compare the music in terms of instruments used, style, harmonies, etc. 

Your teen can now create a presentation either about one composer or a comparison of all the composers and their music. 

The options are endless, don’t you think? 

Once you’ve implemented these ideas, come back and let me know, which one your teen enjoyed the most.