{Classical Music Lessons for Kids} Worthy is the Lamb from “The Messiah” // Handel

Want to incorporate classical music appreciation as a weekly component in your homeschool schedule? Come check out my kid-friendly, easy-on-the-parents Music Curriculum. You can try a free sample lesson HERE.

The April Playlist is rolling along! Previous lessons:

• Thunder and Lightning Polka // Strauss
• Sinfonia from the Easter Oratorio // Bach
• Flight of the Bumblebee // Rimsky-Korsakov

ON TO TODAY’S PIECE…

Handel’s Messiah is some of the most famous classical music ever.

Interestingly, people often don’t realize the Messiah is actually a collection of 53 unique pieces of music. George wrote the whole thing in a 24 day musical frenzy, in which he hardly ate and barely slept.

And it has lasted 275+ years.

Here’s some perspective: picture your favorite artist or band writing more than five albums worth of music in 3 ½ weeks — and those five albums still remaining popular in the year 2293.

That’s how miraculous Handel’s Messiah really is – a musical miracle.

The Hallelujah Chorus is what everyone knows, but it is only the finale of Act II, which — even though the Hallelujah Chorus is completely associated with Christmas — isn’t even the Christmas section (that’s Act I). It’s complicated.

Let’s break it down. The Messiah has three parts:

• Christmas
• Easter
• Jesus Comin’ Back (that’s an exact quote from Handel’s score) #notreally 

The Hallelujah Chorus ends the Easter section, and today’s piece is the finale of the Jesus Comin’ Back section.

Here it is:

I’m going to level with you: this piece isn’t the easiest sell for children. (Head back to Flight of the Bumblebee for that.) This piece is 7+ minutes long and the words are hard to understand. But the great thing is, kids don’t have to understand – or even buy into – what’s happening. The great power of the brain + music is that it does it’s magic work in the background.

Play this piece while you are working on other things, simply highlighting a bit of the back story – especially the 24-days-almost-no-food piece of the narrative.

And then try asking this thought provoking question: have you ever been so wrapped up in what you were doing you forgot to eat?

That just might be enough to get your child interested. I mean, if it was worth George skipping most of his meals for almost a month? Might be worth 7 minutes.

Enjoy friends!

Kristi