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You are here: Home > Homeschool Arts & Music > Holiday Music Month

๐ŸŽต ๐ŸŽ„ ๐ŸŽ… Homeschool Holiday Music Month

Great homeschool teaching ideas and easy educational lessons on aย wonderful assortment of seasonal musical favoritesย โ€” classical and modern, sacred and secular, serious and sillyย โ€” posted every December for the River Houses Homeschool Network. Print your own copy of our River Houses Calendar to follow all of our educational events throughout the year, and add your name to our free River Houses homeschool mailing list to get more posts like these delivered right to your mailbox every week!ย ๐Ÿ˜Š

๐ŸŽต ๐ŸŽญ TWELFTH NIGHT and the End of Holiday Music Month 2022โ€“2023

5 January 2023 by Bob O'Hara

“Long long ago the world begun,ย / With aย hey, ho, the wind and the rain.ย / But that’s all one, our play is done,ย / And we’ll strive to please you every day.” (Shakespeare helps us bring the Christmas Season, and our own Homeschool Holiday Music Month, to a close.)

Filed Under: Holiday Music Month, Homeschool Arts & Music, Homeschool Holidays & History, Homeschool Language & Literature

๐ŸŽต ๐ŸŽ„ HOLIDAY MUSIC MONTH: A Partridge in a ๐Ÿ๐ŸŒณ

5 January 2023 by Bob O'Hara

One of the deepest purposes of a liberal education is to enable people to get jokes. David Chase’s brilliant arrangement of “The Twelve Days of Christmas” illustrates that happy principle for us as we approach the end of our Homeschool Holiday Music Month.

Filed Under: Holiday Music Month, Homeschool Arts & Music

๐ŸŽต ๐ŸŒŸ HOLIDAY MUSIC MONTH: Star in the East

3 January 2023 by Bob O'Hara

For Homeschool Holiday Music Month, introduce your students to the early American shape-note tradition by way of the beautiful carol “Star in the East,” first published in the Southern Harmony collection in 1835.

Filed Under: Holiday Music Month, Homeschool Arts & Music

๐ŸŽต ๐ŸŽ‰ HOLIDAY MUSIC MONTH: The Old Year Now Away is Fled

1 January 2023 by Bob O'Hara

“Let’s merry be this day,ย / And let us now both sport and play,ย / Hang grief, cast care away,ย / God send you aย happy new year!” (An ancient new-year carol sung to the tune “Greensleeves,” by the great countertenor Alfred Deller, for Homeschool Holiday Music Month.)

Filed Under: Holiday Music Month, Homeschool Arts & Music, Homeschool Holidays & History

๐Ÿ–‹ ๐Ÿ”” WONDERFUL WORDS (and Sounds!): Ring Out, Wild Bells!

31 December 2022 by Bob O'Hara

“Ring out the old, ring in the new, / Ring, happy bells, across the snow: / The year is going, let him go; / Ring out the false, ring in the true.” (Join Tennyson and some skillful bell-ringers to ring in the new year.)

Filed Under: Holiday Music Month, Homeschool Arts & Music, Homeschool Holidays & History, Homeschool Language & Literature, Poems-of-the-Week

๐Ÿ–‹ ๐Ÿป WONDERFUL WORDS (and Music!): Auld Lang Syne

30 December 2022 by Bob O'Hara

“We two once ran along the hills and picked the daisies fine; / But we’ve wandered many a weary foot since those days of long ago.” (Our celebratory homeschool poem-of-the-week, from Robert Burns, for auld lang syne.)

Filed Under: Holiday Music Month, Homeschool Arts & Music, Homeschool Holidays & History, Homeschool Language & Literature, Poems-of-the-Week

๐ŸŽต ๐ŸŽ„ HOLIDAY MUSIC MONTH: The Sussex Mummersโ€™ Carol

28 December 2022 by Bob O'Hara

“God bless your house, your children too,ย / Your cattle and your store;ย / The Lord increase you day by dayย / And send you more and more.” (The Sussex Mummersโ€™ Carol, from Percy Grainger and others, for Homeschool Holiday Music Month.)

Filed Under: Holiday Music Month, Homeschool Arts & Music

๐ŸŽต ๐ŸŒน HOLIDAY MUSIC MONTH: Lo, How a Rose Eโ€™er Blooming

26 December 2022 by Bob O'Hara

“It came, a flow’ret bright, / Amid the cold of winter, / When half spent was the night.” (An ancient German carol that has been translated into many languages, for Homeschool Holiday Music Month.)

Filed Under: Holiday Music Month, Homeschool Arts & Music

๐ŸŽต ๐ŸŒŸ ๐Ÿ‘ HOLIDAY MUSIC MONTH: The Shepherdโ€™s Carol

25 December 2022 by Bob O'Hara

“We stood on the hills, Lady, / Our dayโ€™s work done, / Watching the frosted meadows / That winter had won.” (Aย Christmas night carol, from Bob Chilcott and Clive Sansom, for Homeschool Holiday Music Month.)

Filed Under: Holiday Music Month, Homeschool Arts & Music

๐ŸŽต ๐ŸŽ„ HOLIDAY MUSIC MONTH: Hallelujah!

23 December 2022 by Bob O'Hara

Introduce your homescholars (in just ten minutes) to one of the world’s most famous pieces of classical music, from George Frideric Handel, for Homeschool Holiday Music Month.

Filed Under: Holiday Music Month, Homeschool Arts & Music

๐ŸŽต โ„๏ธ HOLIDAY MUSIC MONTH: In the Bleak Midwinter

21 December 2022 by Bob O'Hara

“Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone;ย / Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow,ย / In the bleak midwinter, long ago.” (A frosty carol from Christina Rossetti and Gustav Holst, for Homeschool Holiday Music Month and the winter solstice.)

Filed Under: Holiday Music Month, Homeschool Arts & Music, Homeschool Language & Literature, The Homeschool Year

๐ŸŽต ๐ŸŽ„ HOLIDAY MUSIC MONTH: Iย Wonder as Iย Wander

19 December 2022 by Bob O'Hara

Introduce your homeschool students to an American folk tune that has now become an internationally famous Christmas carol, and invite them to think about how different the same piece of music can sound under aย variety of vocal and instrumental arrangements.

Filed Under: Holiday Music Month, Homeschool Arts & Music

๐ŸŽต ๐ŸŽ„ Aย CHRISTMAS EVE INVITATION: Carols from Kingโ€™s College

18 December 2022 by Bob O'Hara

The beautiful Festival of Lessons and Carols from King’s College at Cambridge University is broadcast every year on Christmas Eve to millions of people around the world. You and your homescholars can join them.

Filed Under: Holiday Music Month, Homeschool Arts & Music, Homeschool Holidays & History

๐ŸŽต ๐ŸŽ„ HOLIDAY MUSIC MONTH: Christmas with William Billings

16 December 2022 by Bob O'Hara

“Methinks I see an heavenly host / Of angels on the wing; / Methinks I hear their cheerful notes, / So merrily they sing.” (Discover what Christmas sounded like at the time of the American Revolution.)

Filed Under: Holiday Music Month, Homeschool Arts & Music

๐ŸŽต ๐ŸŽ„ HOLIDAY MUSIC MONTH: Oย Little Town of Bethlehem

14 December 2022 by Bob O'Hara

Invite your students to listen to a number of different performances of this popular American carol in a variety of different styles this week, and help them think through their preferences. It’s a great way to encourage their intellectual and artistic development.

Filed Under: Holiday Music Month, Homeschool Arts & Music

๐ŸŽต ๐Ÿ“š HOLIDAY MUSIC MONTH: Olden Times and Ancient Rhymes

13 December 2022 by Bob O'Hara

What did Christmas in America sound like a hundred years ago? The National Jukebox at the Library of Congress has the answer for you and your homeschool students.

Filed Under: Holiday Music Month, Homeschool Arts & Music, Homeschool Books & Libraries

๐ŸŽต ๐Ÿš‹ HOLIDAY MUSIC MONTH: Walla Walla, Wash., anโ€™ Kalamazoo!

12 December 2022 by Bob O'Hara

“Antelope cantaloupe, โ€™lope with you!” (A happy homeschool family sing-a-long from Walt Kelly, for Holiday Music Month.)

Filed Under: Holiday Music Month, Homeschool Arts & Music

๐ŸŽต ๐ŸŽ„ HOLIDAY MUSIC MONTH: Introducing Vince Guaraldi

9 December 2022 by Bob O'Hara

The American jazz musician Vince Guaraldi (1928โ€“1976) wrote some of the best-loved Christmas music of our time. Why not introduce your homeschool students to his wonderful work this month.

Filed Under: Holiday Music Month, Homeschool Arts & Music

๐ŸŽต ๐ŸŽ„ HOLIDAY MUSIC MONTH: What Sweeter Music

6 December 2022 by Bob O'Hara

“Dark and dull night, fly hence away, / And give the honor to this day, / That sees December turned to May.” (A modern Christmas masterpiece, with ancient words by Robert Herrick and new music by John Rutter, for Homeschool Holiday Music Month.)

Filed Under: Holiday Music Month, Homeschool Arts & Music, Homeschool Language & Literature

๐ŸŽต ๐ŸŽ„ HOLIDAY MUSIC MONTH: Introducing John Rutter and His Carols

5 December 2022 by Bob O'Hara

“How do you capture the wind on the water?ย / How do you count all the stars in the sky?ย / How can you measure the love of a mother?ย / Or how can you write down a baby’s first cry?” (Introducing the work of the great modern carol-composer John Rutter, for Homeschool Holiday Music Month.)

Filed Under: Holiday Music Month, Homeschool Arts & Music

๐ŸŽต ๐ŸŽ„ HOLIDAY MUSIC MONTH: All Those Christmas Clichรฉs

3 December 2022 by Bob O'Hara

“I want the tree full of toys and tinsel,ย / Iย want the wreath on the red front door,ย / Iย want the elves in the yard and each sentimental cardย / Dripping glitter on the floor.” (The great Nancy LaMott wishes you a Merry Christmas.)

Filed Under: Holiday Music Month, Homeschool Arts & Music

๐ŸŽต ๐Ÿ“ป HOLIDAY MUSIC MONTH: The Holiday Channel from WQXR

2 December 2022 by Bob O'Hara

If you’d like to fill your homeschool with some beautiful background sounds this season, why not tune in to the 24-hour Holiday Channel from WQXR, the famous classical music radio station in New York City. It’s one of the easiest exercises in musical education you can do all year.

Filed Under: Holiday Music Month, Homeschool Arts & Music

๐ŸŽต ๐ŸŽ„ HOLIDAY MUSIC MONTH 2022โ€“2023 is Here! Good Morrow, Masters All!

1 December 2022 by Bob O'Hara

“Past three o’clock,ย / And aย cold frosty morning,ย / Past three o’clock;ย / Good morrow, masters all!” (Welcome to Homeschool Holiday Music Month! Enjoy a sprightly late-night carol, and learn the traditional call of the winter watchmen.)

Filed Under: Holiday Music Month, Homeschool Arts & Music

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