6 ‘Unbelievably’ Simple Ways To Teach Your Kids Music Analysis

If you’ve been a regular reader of this blog, then you know how important it is to incorporate music into your daily homeschool routine. And, if you have already made music a part of the daily routine, then you may also know that I tell you to take every possible opportunity to have your kids analyze music. 

One question that I have heard over and over again, from many of my regular readers is, ‘how do I teach them music analysis, when I don’t know the first thing about music?’

So, in this blog post, I thought I should share six ways in which, you can easily have them analyze music. 

When you are done reading this post, you are going to say how ‘unbelievably’ simple they are and wonder, why you didn’t think of them yourself. 

Ready to get started?

Then let’s go. 

Listening To Dynamics

This is one of the easiest ways in which, to teach your kids to analyze and appreciate music. 

So what are dynamics? They are the volume, pitch, tempo and beat of the music. 

Is the song starting soft and becoming louder, or vice versa? How does that affect the song? Does the song end by fading or coming to a crescendo? 

How about the pitch (high, low sounds), how does that affect the emotions in the song? What about the tempo (pace, fast, slow)?

Isn’t dynamics one of the easiest ways to start off analyzing?

Reflect

This can be done as a stand alone activity or as a part of the previous activity. 

Listen to the song and the dynamics and reflect on how it feels. Ask your kids, ‘does it make you happy, sad, excited, etc?’

This same activity can also be done without first listening to the dynamics. 

Thus, reflecting on the emotions the song portrays, and then listening to the dynamics to see how they contribute to making the song feel the way it does. 

Compare And Contrast

Yes, just that. 

Compare two songs. They can be songs from the same genre of music (rock, pop, jazz) or songs by the same group, singer or composer, or songs from the same era (medieval, classical etc). 

You can also do cross comparisons by choosing songs of two different groups, singers, composers, genres, eras etc. 

So what do you compare? Things like volume, pitch, tempo, beat, instruments used, how it makes your child etc. 

See how each activity can include elements of other activities?

What I Like And Dislike?

Simple, isn’t it?

Again this can be done as a stand alone activity or as part of one of the previous activities.

Just ask the kids to list out what they like and dislike about the piece, that they are listening to? For extra points, ask them to explain why they feel that way?

That’s it. 

On to the next simple music analysis activity. 

How Will I Change The Music/Melody/Dynamics, Etc, If I Could?

This is an activity best done for a song where at least one of the previous activities listed here have been completed. 

Once your child has completed at least one of the activities, he will then be ready to discuss how and what he would change in the composition if he could. 

It would be something as simple as use a different instrument, or make a specific part of the melody faster. 

There are no right or wrong answers here, because it is all the matter of opinion in the end. 

Why Or Why Not?

Here’s the last activity, it is an expansion of the previous activity. 

Also this is an activity that requires even more thought, as here, you should have your child explaining why he will make changes, or thinks that changes are unnecessary. 

Simply saying that he doesn’t think that changes are unnecessary because the piece is perfect, isn’t good enough. 

Therefore, as you can see, this activity does require more thought and rigour and hence, had to be classified as a separate activity rather than be combined with the previous activity. 

So what do you think? Are these ‘Unbelievably’ Simple Ways To Teach Your Kids Music Analysis or not?

Want some age specific printables to guide your kids through the music analysis process? Then don’t forget to download them from below.