Composer Corner: Bach

• Kate Hagen
• Posted 8/26/22
• 0 comments

Introducing students to composers is a staple activity in many general music classrooms.  Pinterest boards, Facebook Forums, and Instagram posts are full of ideas on teaching composers to students.   

Instead of sending you searching – here are some ideas on actively engaging your students with the works and life of Johann Sebastian Bach.  Many of these resources are free – let your imagination soar as you incorporate these ideas into your composer corner. 

Making Music Fun: Hey Kids, Meet Bach 

Find a biographical sketch of Bach and some of his famous works.    There is a free printable download for students and a video of Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D Minor for organ. 

J.S.Bach – Air 

Check out this YouTube channel!  Rousseau makes piano covers of classical and pop songs with a reactive visualizer – students can watch the piano light-up as each key is depressed on the piano. 

Classics for Kids 

This site offers teachers lesson ideas on how to teach all grade levels about J.S. Bach.  There are downloadable teaching files and lesson examples. 

Celebrating Johann Sebastian Bach 

Google Doodle created an interactive experience encouraging players to compose a two-measure melody of their choice.  Then with the click of a button – the Doodle harmonizes your custom melody into Bach’s signature music style. 

Assisted Melody

Like the Google Doodle – this Arts Experiment lets students compose a melody line, and the program harmonizes their melody into a  chorale cantata.  This experiment offers some additional choices on instrumentation. Bonus – students can share their compositions!

Bach to the Rescue!!!: How a Rich Dude Who Couldn’t Sleep Inspired the Greatest Music Ever 

by Tom Angleberger

This humorous illustrated children’s book tells the tale of how Bach created the Goldberg Variations. 

To Bach and Beyond Classical Works Creatively Arranged for Marimba or Orff Ensemble  

by Doug Edwards

Teach your student’s an arrangement of Bach’s Minuet using classroom instruments.  These Orff arrangements will challenge your older students while teaching them about the stylings of classical composers. 

This article was originally published by Music ConstructED on February 25, 2021.

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Resources

“Celebrating Johann Sebastian Bach.” Google, Google, 21 Mar. 2019, www.google.com/doodles/celebrating-johann-sebastian-bach.

“Composers: Johann Sebastian Bach.” Classics For Kids, Charles H. Dater Foundation, www.classicsforkids.com/composers/composer_profile.php?id=4.

“Hey Kids, Meet Johann Sebastian Bach: Composer Biography.” Hey Kids, Meet Johann Sebastian Bach | Composer Biography, Making Music Fun!, 2008, makingmusicfun.net/htm/f_mmf_music_library/hey-kids-meet-johann-sebastian-bach.php.

Performance by Rousseau, J.S. Bach – Air, YouTube, 27 May 2019, www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDWG9SrB4io.