Krell Music, LLC

There are various options for studying music history and theory outside of repertoire. Books such as Music Theory and History Workbook and Basic Music Theory and History for Strings provide a curriculum to follow with a student. There are also strictly music theory books tailored to individual instruments such as the All For Strings series and Alfred’s Basic Piano Library. Another option is encouraging kids to read children’s books about specific composers such as Mozart: The Boy Who Changed the World With His Music (National Geographic World History Biographies), and Who Was Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart? Understanding the rules within which a work was created, as well as the background of its composer, serves to enhance the student’s musical performance. 

I like to incorporate a collaborative piece in the repertoire of the kids I work with each semester, giving them an opportunity to play a duet with another student or myself. For the younger students, duets with the teacher happen more frequently as their lesson pieces often have accompaniments. These experiences promote the development of listening skills involved in ensemble playing. 

In introducing world music to students, I tend to gravitate toward that of Eastern Europe and Russia as it has tonal patterns kids recognize, mixed with the unfamiliar. I believe this is a gateway for kids to explore other genres that are less familiar to them. One of my favorite go-to composers for this is Béla Bartók as he was known to be a collector of folk music, and composed music at a variety of levels. Kids listen to his music, thinking they know where it is going, and then are startled when it takes an unexpected, dissonant turn.