Beethoven - Need more resources!

[tammyw]

We received Beethoven Lives Upstairs cd from amazon this weekend and fell madly in love with it! I'm definitely going to order some of the other cds in the Classical Kids series. We're now all so interested in learning more about Beethoven, but not sure what to look for. Any recommendations?

[Callimom]

There's a picture book and an HBO tv special of Beethoven Lives Upstairs.

My kids have also enjoyed
Ann Rachlin's Happy Birthday Mr Beethoven (biography) and Mandy and the Magic Butterfly (story set to his music - not about Beethoven though)

The 39 Apartments of Ludwig Von Beethoven by Jonah Winter
The Heroic Symphony by Anna Harwell Celenza,
Ludwig Van Beethoven by Mike Venezia,

Surf the Net with Kids links selection
hth
Karen

[elizawill]

tammy, i think a lapbook would be great. here's a couple of links. the first one is a sample an 8 year old did:
http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/...48422827KRWAce

http://www.squidoo.com/musiclapbook

you can google beethoven's name and a billion things pop up too.

and just for fun, you can rent "immortal beloved" to watch! it's not a movie for little kids....but you'll enjoy it!! it's with gary oldman playing beethoven & it's awesome! as is he

[HikeYosemite]

I second the recommendation for the Mike Venezia book, as well as Mike's other books. Also, there is a companion picture book to Beethoven Lives Upstairs--can't recall the author.

In addition, I just happened to catch part of this radio broadcast (link below) this weekend on NPR. It involves an investigation about what Beethoven's life might have been like--his loss of hearing, how it affected his music, what might have caused his death. I haven't read the entire website or listened to the entire broadcast yet, but it seemed very interesting:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...oryId=18618519

I've also heard that some studies of Beethoven's hair (they supposedly found actual hair from his head) revealed he suffered from lead poisoning.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...toryId=5041495

[KaraBoo]

Listen to his music, for starters. All of it.

Also, we just watched a wonderful BBC series on Beethoven. It was really interesting to see his music and life from a musician's point of view. I need to find out the title but I'll come back and post a link. Here it is. It's called The Genius of Beethoven.

There are many fictionalized accounts of his life and one we like is Immortal Beloved (even though my husband, a deeply involved fan, disagrees on who IB was).

ETA: Just found this, which looks interesting.

[MSings]

Famous Composers written by Darren Henley and read by Marin Alsop is a great CD with biography and music. Beehtoven is one of six composers featured. Much but not all of the info is also in the CD set Story of Classical Music if your library has that but not Famous Composers.

[Pinky Tuscadero]

Don't forget the Beethoven's Wig series of music CDs. Not just about Beethoven, but still, very fun ways to learn about composers and their music.

[tankgirl73]

Hi! I use these books with my piano students -- they're aimed at music students but they'll work just fine for any kid.

Stories of the Great Composers

Good for younger kids, each composer unit has a short fictional story about the composer and a few important facts, includes a simple piece by the composer (non-musicians can listen to the CD).

Meet the Great Composers

Good for older kids (recommended grade 4 and up), has a longer 'story' -- not a fictional account but real facts, as well as a related issue for each composer (such as musical eras, various instruments, etc), and a quiz or puzzle for each composer.

The link is for the version with CD and worksheets, there's also a just-the-book version here if you're able to listen to suggested pieces from other sources.

There's a book 2 for this one as well, it's not a higher level, it's just a different set of composers.