There are so many classical famous composers out there. It can be hard to know which composers to teach and even harder to teach them in a way that interests your students.
This post will highlight several classical famous composers from different eras and genres and give you some fun suggestions on how to present them to your students.
Want resources for a huge number of famous composers? The Famous Composers Biography Growing Bundle gives you access to biographies and more for an ever growing variety of composers.
Why Teach About Classical Famous Composers?
With so many other things to cram into the curriculum, teaching about composers may slip our minds. But learning about the people who created the music and the world they lived in helps create a fuller picture of the music.
When you learn about a composer you learn about the history, culture and human elements that make their art relevant.
Learning facts about composers can help students make connections with the music. And the lessons we connect with are the ones we remember.
How To Teach About Famous Composers
Often when we teach composers we just read some facts about them and move on to the piece. But how much of those facts do you think your students actually retain?
Using activities that allow students to discuss, interact and create can make a lot more impact and are worth the extra time they take to teach.
Group work & Fill in the Blank
Have students divide into groups and number off. Each student within the group is responsible for learning a different fact from the biography of the composer. Then they regroup and work as a team to fill in facts about the composer.
Write Two Interesting Facts with Movie
Sometimes you can find great informational videos about classical famous composers. Try having your students write down two interesting facts they learned during the video. It’s so interesting to see what facts students pick up on.
After the video, have students share their facts with a partner and/or share with the class.
Flipbook
A flipbook can be a fun way to learn about a composer. And best of all – students have an artifact that they can take with them at the end of the lesson. Flipbooks can have facts printed on each each page, or even have interactive features that students can write in. It’s basically a take-home composer biography.
Composer Write the Room
I am so into Write the Room activities these days. I think you could make a pretty cool Write the Room activity with facts from composers. You could even have one “fact” that isn’t true and have students figure out which one is the lie.
Explore Their Music
And of course, another important way to get to know a composer is to listen to their music. Learning about a composer and learning about their music go hand in hand.
We learn facts about the composer and maybe some backstory to set the context of the song. Then we listen (and usually move or play) to a song. For some composers we listen to multiple songs! It can be a great chance to compare and contrast two of their songs.
Bonus: Review With Quiz & Swap
When you are all done with a composer and want to review the facts that you learned, a quiz and swap activity is a great way to go. Students pair up and quiz each other with quiz cards. Then they swap cards and go find another partner. Students get to see lots of friends from their class while reviewing lots of composer facts. It’s a win-win!
If you are looking for a resource to quickly find biographies and learning activities for a variety of composers, my Famous Composers Biography Growing Bundle is the way to go!
This bundle has a lot of great resources, and it is adding new composers all the time!
Click here to grab this bundle now and watch it grow.
Which Famous Classical Composers to Teach
There is no right answer when choosing which composers to teach. You can pick whoever you want. I recommend picking composers from a variety of genres, backgrounds and eras.
I am continuing to diversify the composers in my Composer Biography Growing Bundle every year, so this can be a great place to find the resources you need.
Here are some suggested composers you might cover from different times periods. This is by no means a comprehensive list, but it does contain some of my personal favorites that I have taught in my own music classroom.
Famous Composers From the Baroque Period
Antonio Vivald
JS Bach
George Fredric Handel
Famous Composers of Classical Music
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Joseph Haydn
Gioachino Rossini
Famous Romantic Composers
Peter Tchaikovksy
Ludwig van Beethoven
Famous Composers of the 20th Century
Sergei Prokofiev
Leroy Anderson
Famous Modern Day Composers
John Williams
Lin Manuel Miranda
Famous Jazz Composers
Louis Armstrong
Duke Ellington
John Coltrane
Famous Woman Composers
Clara Schumann
Florence Price
Hildegard Van Bingen
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