Composer biography project rd

from the MMF Music Library

Learn about famous composers with a biography for kids highlighting the composer's composer's life, music and culture. Then check out our related resources for music students, private lesson teachers, elementary music classroom teachers and homeschooling teachers.

Famous Composer Biographies for Students, Music Teachers and Homeschool Teachers

Baroque Era Composers (1600-1750)

Hey Kids, Meet Johann Sebastian Bach | Biography
Hey Kids, Meet George Frideric Handel | Biography
Hey Kids, Meet Johann Pachelbel | Biography
Hey Kids, Meet Barbara Strozzi | Biography
Hey Kids, Meet Antonio Vivaldi | Biography

Classic Era Composers (1750-1820)

Hey Kids, Meet Ludwig van Beethoven | Biography
Hey Kids, Meet Franz Joseph Haydn | Biography
Hey Kids, Meet Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart | Biography

Romantic Era Composers (1820-1910)

Hey Kids, Meet Johannes Brahms | Biography
Hey Kids, Meet Cécile Chaminade | Biography
Hey Kids, Meet Frederic Chopin | Biography
Hey Kids, Me

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Meet the Composer!

The great composers we know and love are not too different from all of us today!

Discover what sparked their love of music, who supported them along the way, and fun facts about the people behind the great music.

Listen to the episodes below and use the activity sheet to deepen your understanding.

Meet the Composer!

As you learn about the composer, take notes on their life and music with the given questions in mind. With your notes, write a biography of the composer. Unlike other biographies, include your personal thoughts on their life and music!

Teachers/Parents:
The goal of this exercise is to inform the student about the lives of composers and what their music is like, and for them to realize great music was written by everyday people following their passions. After a critical listen to each episode and taking guided notes, students will use the gathered information to creatively write a biography, thinking about what stood out the most to them about the composer.
 

• The short yet musically prolific life of Franz Schubert

  Episo

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  The MusicEdMagic Music Composer Database is intended to be a starting point for students, teachers, and music lovers in general to research and learn about their favorite historical and current composers.  The Music Composer Database does not provide all of the information necessary to complete a homework assignment, but it does provide graphical, interactive information in a variety of formats that can help you visualize the relationships between the dozens of famous composers from medieval times to the current composers of today. 

  The database is made possible through software developed by students and faculty at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology named Exhibit and Timeline .  Special thanks should be extended to Mason Tang of MIT for showing me the way through some tough technical challenges on this project.

   
   

  
  If this is your first time using the database please read on for further instructions.

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  Using the Music Composer Database:  Timeline View

  When you first open the database your computer will load the Exhibit software and d