Antonin Dvorak | Homeschool Music Lesson Plans
from the Hey Kid's Meet the Composer Index

Biography
Antonin Dvorak was born on September 8, 1841 in a small village in Bohemia which is now part of the Czech Republic. He was one of seven children. Antonin's parents recognized his talent and began his musical training at the age of six. He studied music in Prague and graduated as an accomplished violin and viola player before he was 20 years old. Read more....

Create a Writing Assignment
Write a few paragraphs on Antonin Dvorak that includes facts about his life and music. Then ask your child to complete the project by watching and describing a recorded performance of Dvorak's New World Symphony - 4th Movement on YouTube.com. The following questions will help to guide their critique.

1) What is the tempo of this piece? a) Allegro b) Andante c) Largo

2) The opening theme shares a two note motive (a 3 to 7 note melodic idea) with a popular theme from a famous movie soundtrack. Listen to the first 22 seconds of the video, and then ask yourself, "Which movie is it?"

(Answers below)

Print a Word Search
Print a Meet the Composer Word Search for Antonin Dvorak. Let your kids know how many words there are to find, and then ask them to complete the word search by identifying and circling the keywords found in the "Hey Kid's , Meet Antonin Dvorak" biography. Completing the exercise in this way will strengthen your child's reading skills as they work to evaluate the main ideas in the text.

Play Dvorak's Music
Give your kids a hands-on music making experience. Ask your child's piano teacher about including the study of one of these pieces in their music lesson.

Largo from the New World Symphony for Intermediate/Level 3 Piano Solo

Answers
1) Allegro
2) Jaws by John Williams. Listen to a recorded performance of John William's score from the Jaws Soundtrack on YouTube.com.

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