5 Ways To Use A Music Playlist To Learn Music Appreciation

If you’ve been listening to me in the past, then you no doubt will have put that Amazon, Apple Music, or Spotify subscription to good use by creating a playlist.

Don’t worry if you haven’t, you can read my post here on how to do just that, 9 ‘Shockingly Simple’ Ways To Use Your Amazon Prime/Spotify Music To Add More Musical Joy To Your Home.

However, for the purposes of this post, I’m going to assume that you’ve already done what I have suggested in the past, and have created a playlist or several playlists. 

So now, I am going to tell you exactly how to take it up a notch and have your kids appreciating music like never before. 

You can use any playlists that you’ve created to implement the strategies that I and going to suggest below.

Let’s start with something easy, first.

Teach Volume, Tempo, Pitch and Beat

Use the pieces in playlist to teach your child, dynamics such as the volume of the pieces, that is how loud or how soft a piece is. 

Next, you can talk about pitch, how high or how low parts of the melody are. 

With tempo you can discuss how fast or slow the pieces are. 

And then finally move on to talk about the beat of the pieces. 

Use this age appropriate listening guide to teach your kids about volume, tempo, pitch and beat printable.

Compare and Contrast

With this strategy you can have your kids comparing and contrasting the individual pieces in the playlist by volume, tempo and beat. 

They can reflect on the differences and similarities and how those differences affect the song. 

Ask the children to talk about how each song makes them feel and how the volume, pitch, tempo and beat affect their emotions. 

You can take it further and even discuss what they like about the individual pieces, what they don’t and why that is. 

Here’s a printable that your kids can use as a listening guide when comparing and contrasting pieces in a playlist.

Discuss The Elements In Depth

You can consider this as an extension of the previous strategy or simply use this as a stand alone strategy. 

Either way, take the time to discuss how each and every element, such as Volume, Pitch, Beat, and Tempo adds depth to the pieces. 

Compare Genres

If you have created playlists from different genres of music, then use the knowledge gained above to compare and contrast one genre against the other. 

Have kids reflect on each, and discuss how they differ, what they like about each genre and what they don’t. 

Want a general age appropriate printable to guide your children through comparing different genres of music, then don’t forget to download the printable I’ve included. 

Research Composers And Instruments

Pick one composer or instrument that is featured in the playlist, preferably a favourite composer or instrument and have your kids research all about that composer or the instrument on their own. 

Want to learn more about how to include instrument and composer studies in your homeschool? Then read these two amazing posts and get started today, 6 ‘Innovative’ Ways To Incorporate Instrument Studies Into Your Homeschool and 4 ‘Unimaginably’ Easy Ways To Incorporate Composer Studies Into Your Homeschool Curriculum.