Can You Hear It - Monday Music Book Review

Today’s book - Can You Hear It? by William Lach from the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

This is an excellent book for homeschoolers, students learning a musical instrument, or just to have in your personal library.

In the beginning of the book, two pages with notes and ideas to parents and teachers on how to use this book at home. Then several pages of descriptions of the different orchestral instruments along with a picture of that instrument found in the museum. Then 13 different paintings, all found at the Met, each paired with a piece of classical music.

How to use this book? Have the child study the painting, telling you what they see? Then ask them to find the clue using the questions provided? Once they have tried to answer the questions just by looking at the painting, play the song (CD is included). Ask the questions and find the clues using BOTH the piece of art and the classical song.

This is a great book for elementary students to become familiar with the artwork and the music. It is also usable with older students. The end of the book has paragraphs on the composers and the painters. Older students could read about the artists while listening to the music. You could do one piece of art/music a week and you could create 3 month fine arts class!

Watch this video below where I describe the book and give an example of how I used it with my own children.

We found this book in our local library, but you can also purchase it from Amazon.