Teaching Art & Music a la LarrySanger

Hey all, if you haven’t seen this yet, I highly encourage checking it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjrRO_QrWtY&list=UUO1wYfKnzdZ57ytz3C9zLlw&index=14&feature=plcp. It’s a fantastic compilation of art and music that Larry put together and a great base for teaching the classics to your child.

Larry, I do have a few questions.

  • How did you do the video and have it zoom in on certain parts? Normally, I would PM this to you, but I’m thinking others may want to know, if they’re trying to put a video together themselves. I, for one, am interested in creating “Bones of the Body”, “Organs of the Body”, “Muscles of the Body”, etc videos and think this is a great way to do it, but am not quite sure how, yet.
  • Do you have a list of the art and music pieces already compiled? Ideally, I’d like something that I can cut, paste, and edit, since I want to make an LR file for this, broken down slightly differently.
  • In your reply to my comment on youtube, you mentioned you were doing it in themes, now. Do you already have those themes set up? If so, could you share?

Of course, if anyone is already doing a program for their kids, I would love for you to comment too, as anything constructive is beneficial. Thanks! :slight_smile:

OK, my answers:

  1. I used Camtasia Studio with a still image, as high quality as I could make it. I had to fiddle with settings because if the image is too large, then the program starts giving jerky results, if I recall correctly. Anyway, Camtasia is very good at zooming in and out, callouts, highlights, and so forth. You’re absolutely right that it could be used to teach bones, organs, muscles, countries on a map, and any other info that requires special attention to particular parts of an image.

This was a major project. It took me a month of full-time work.

  1. Here are the pairings. The paintings are generally my top choices, but the music is not. We bought the rights to the music from, I think it’s called, the Apollo Symphony Orchestra. I’m not sure if the guy who runs/directs the operation is still in business.

Awakening, nature
Albert Bierstadt, Among the Sierra Nevada Mountains Beethoven, Symphony No.6 1st movement
Monet, Water Lilies and Japanese Bridge Debussy, L’apres midi d’un faune
Constable, The Hay Wain Grieg, Peer Gynt - morning
Botticelli, Primavera

Childlike, playful
Cassatt, The Child’s Bath Ponchielli, La Gioconda - dance of the hours
Velásquez, Las Meninas Boccherini, Minuet
Renoir, A Girl with a Watering Can Minute waltz opus 64 No.1
Manet, The Fifer Mozart, Overture - magic flute
Watteau, Gilles Delibes, Pizzicato from Sylvia

Women, beauty, courtship
Degas, The Star Tchaikovsky, Waltz - Sleeping Beauty
Fragonard, The Reader Beethoven, Fur Elise
Vermeer, The Kitchen Maid Chopin, Grande valse brillante opus 18 (a bit strange matchup)
Vermeer, Girl with a Pearl Earring Mozart, Piano concerto no. 21 2nd movement (“Elvira Madigan”)
Da Vinci, Mona Lisa Delibes, Flower duet from Lakme
Goya, The Clothed Maja Puccini, La Boheme - Musetta’s waltz
Renoir, The Luncheon of the Boating Party Bizet, Overture Carmen
Renoir, Le Moulin de la Gallette Strauss J (II), Blue Danube waltz; two different themes possible to use
Veronese, The Wedding at Cana Bach, Brandenburg 4 allegro
Van Eyck, The Arnolfini Portrait Mendelssohn, Wedding march from Midsummer night’s dream

Family, Material success
Gainsborough, Mr. and Mrs. Andrews Mendelssohn, Italian Symphony 1st movement
Seurat, A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte Tschaikovsky, Serenade for strings
Boucher, Madame de Pompadour Handel, Air 1 from the Water music
Van Dyck, Charles I, King of England at the Hunt Handel, Hornpipe No. 2 from Water Music
David, The Coronation of Napoleon Mouret, Rondo
Lorrain, Seaport with the Embarkation of the Queen of Sheba Grieg, Prelude from Holberg suite
Avercamp, Winter Landscape with Skaters Bach, Badinerie
Vermeer, View of Delft Beethoven, Symphony No.6 5th movement (very first theme)

Foreboding
Caillebotte, Paris Street; Rainy Day Rossini, Overture - Barber of Seville
Holbein, The Ambassadors Rossini, Largo al factotum - Figaro
Rembrandt, The Night Watch Mozart, Symphony No.40 1st movement
Bruegel, The Tower of Babel Grieg, Piano concerto No.1 1st movement
Turner, Rain, Steam and Speed Rimsky-Korsakoff, Flight of the bumble bee (a bit strange matchup)
El Greco, View of Toledo Dukas, Sorcerer’s apprentice
Rousseau, The Snake Charmer Brahms, Hungarian dance No.5
Rousseau, The Sleeping Gypsy Tschaikovsky, Sugar Plum fairy - nutcracker
Bruegel, Landscape with the Fall of Icarus Chopin, Ballade No.1 in g minor

War and mortality
Raphael, Saint George and the Dragon Tchaikovsky, 1812 overture - main theme (build-up)
David, Napoleon Crossing the Alps Tschaikovsky, 1812 overture - main theme (fast famous part)
Jacques-Louis David, The Oath of the Horatii Verdi, Anvil chorus - il Trovatore
Emanuel Leutze, Washington Crossing the Delaware Rossini, Overture - William Tell (trumpet entry)
Altdorfer, The Battle of Alexander at Issus Holst, Mars from the planet suite
Poussin, Et in Arcadia Ego Faure, Pavane
Dürer, Self-Portrait Pachelbel, Canon in D
Whistler, Arrangement in Grey and Black: The Artist’s Mother Bach, Air on a g-string
Rembrandt, Self-Portrait at the Age of 63 Rimsky-Korsakoff, The young prince and princess (a bit strange matchup)

Religion, wisdom, and mystery
Caravaggio, The Conversion of Saint Paul Handel, Messiah - Halleluliah!
Michelangelo, The Creation of Adam Mozart, Eine kleine nachtmusik 1st movement
Da Vinci, The Virgin of the Rocks Schubert, Ave Maria German mass - gloria
Da Vinci, The Last Supper Beethoven, Moonlight sonata 1st movement opus 27 No.2
Michelangelo, Pietà Beethoven, Symphony No.7 2nd movement
Georges de la Tour, The Penitent Magdalen Tschaikovsky, Scene - Swan Lake
Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Ecstasy of St. Theresa Mendelssohn, Fingal’s Cave
Church, Niagara Chopin, Revolutionary study opus 10 No.12
Friedrich, Wanderer above the Sea of Fog Beethoven, Symphony No.5 1st movement
Rodin, The Thinker Beethoven, Egmont overture
Raphael, The School of Athens Bach, Double concerto
Van Gogh, Café Terrace at Night Chopin, Fantasie impromptue opus 66 (two parts)
Van Gogh, The Starry Night Saint Saens, Aquarium

  1. Themes? Well, see above. That’s what I must have meant. See the six parts for the individual section “themes.” They’re also clearly labelled in the above-embedded long video.

thanks so much for your answer, larry! i think by themes i was thinking more by artist/composer/time period/geography. how did you pick your themes?