Listen to and read a brief kids’ version of Saint George and the Dragon here.
Click here for a companion story to St. George and the Dragon.
Historic Boyhoods by Rupert S. Holland
Most boys grow up to be honest, maybe even good, men, but do not stand out from the crowd. Occasionally, along comes a boy who is destined, either by character or circumstance, to make his mark on the world. In this work are included 21 biographical sketches of boys who became famous in the arts, affairs of state or exploration and discovery. Historical fact is blended with surmise and imagination to bring these boyhoods alive. – Summary by Lynne Thompson for Librivox
Whole book (zip file)Download
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Run time: 6:57
Christopher Columbus The Boy of Genoa: 1446(?)-1506
Michael Angelo The Boy of the Medici Gardens: 1475-1564
Walter Raleigh The Boy of Devon: 1552-1618
Peter the Great The Boy of the Kremlin: 1672-1725
Frederick the Great The Boy of Potsdam: 1712-1788
George Washington The Boy of the Old Dominion: 1732-1799
Daniel Boone The Boy of the Frontier: 1735-1820
John Paul Jones The Boy of the Atlantic: 1747-1792
Mozart The Boy of Salzburg: 1756-1791
Lafayette The Boy of Versailles: 1757-1834
Horatio Nelson The Boy of the Channel Fleet: 1758-1805
Robert Fulton The Boy of the Conestoga: 1765-1815
Andrew Jackson The Boy of the Carolinas: 1767-1845
Napoleon Bonaparte The Boy of Brienne: 1769-1821
Walter Scott The Boy of the Canongate: 1771-1832
James Fenimore Cooper The Boy of Otsego Hall: 1789-1851
John Ericsson The Boy of the G?ta Canal: 1803-1889
Garibaldi The Boy of the Mediterranean: 1807-1882
Abraham Lincoln The Boy of the American Wilderness: 1809-1865
Richard Wagner: The Story of the Boy Who Wrote Little Plays by Thomas Tapper
Read this book online to see the illustrations OR Follow along on your Kindle
Richard Wagner: The Story of the Boy Who Wrote Little Plays (left click to play or right click ?save as? to download)
This story is an excerpt from the book Stories of Great Composers for Children by Thomas Tapper.?Download the entire book as a zipped file?OR?Subscribe to the entire book in iTunes
Run time: 14 minutes
Verdi: The Story of the Little Boy Who Loved the Hand Organ by Thomas Tapper
Read this book and see the illustrations online OR Follow along on your Kindle
Verdi: The Story of the Little Boy Who Loved the Hand Organ (left click to play or right click ?save as? to download)
This story is an excerpt from the book Stories of Great Composers for Children by Thomas Tapper.?Download the entire book as a zipped file?OR?Subscribe to the entire book in iTunes
Frederic Francois Chopin: The Story of a Boy Who Made Beautiful Melodies by Thomas Tapper
Read this book and see the illustrations online or Follow along on your Kindle
Frederic Francois Chopin: The Story of a Boy Who Made Beautiful Melodies (left click to play or right click ?save as? to download)
This story is an excerpt from the book Stories of Great Composers for Children by Thomas Tapper.?Download the entire book as a zipped file?OR?Subscribe to the entire book in iTunes
Knights of Art: Stories of the Italian Painters by Amy Steedman
A children’s version of the Lives of Artists by Vassari with many Illustrations. Of course we won’t be able to show the paintings but the descriptions and the anecdotes are interesting and may lead a child to further interest. – Summary by Susan Morin
Whole book (zip file)Download
Subscribe byiTunes
Run time: 6:30
Grandma Moses
Anna Mary Robertson Moses (otherwise known as “Grandma Moses”) was a famous American folk artist. ? She began her career late in life and became an American cultural icon. ?You can learn more about her in this edition of Biography in Sound.
Franz Schubert: The Story of the Boy who wrote Beautiful Songs
Read this book and see the illustrations online OR Follow along on your Kindle
Franz Schubert: The Story of the Boy Who Wrote Beautiful Songs (left click to play or right click “save as” to download)
This story is an excerpt from the book Stories of Great Composers for Children by Thomas Tapper. Download the entire book as a zipped file OR Subscribe to the entire book in iTunes
Franz Joseph Haydn: The Story of the Choir Boy who became a Great Composer
Read this book and see the illustrations online OR Follow along on your Kindle
Franz Joseph Haydn: The Story of the Choir Boy who became a Great Composer (left click to play or right click “save as” to download)
This story is an excerpt from the book Stories of Great Composers for Children by Thomas Tapper. Download the entire book as a zipped file OR Subscribe to the entire book in iTunes
Mozart: The Story of a Little Boy and his Sister Who Gave Concerts by Thomas Tapper
Read this book and see the illustrations online OR Follow along on your Kindle
Mozart: The Story of a Little Boy and his Sister who gave Concerts (left click to play or right click “save as” to download)
This story is an excerpt from the book Stories of Great Composers for Children by Thomas Tapper. Download the entire book as a zipped file OR Subscribe to the entire book in iTunes
Listen to Mozart’s music
The following several selections are recorded by Jon Sayles on classical guitar.? For more of his beautiful recordings of both classical and early/renaissance music,? visit his website.
Handel: The Story of a Little Boy who practiced in an Attic by Thomas Tapper
Read this book and see the illustrations online OR Follow along on your Kindle
Handel: The Little Boy who practiced in an Attic (left click to play or right click “save as” to download)
This story is an excerpt from the book Stories of Great Composers for Children by Thomas Tapper. Download the entire book as a zipped file OR Subscribe to the entire book in iTunes
Johann Sebastian Bach: The Story of the Boy who Sang in the Streets by Thomas Tapper
Read this book and view the illustrations online, OR Follow along on your Kindle
Johann Sebastian Bach: The Story of the Boy who Sang in the Streets (left click to listen or Right Click “save as” to download)
This story is from the book “Stories of Great Composers for Children” by Thomas Tapper. Subscribe to the whole book in iTunes or Download the entire book as a zipped file.
Listen to Bach’s music:
The following several selections are recorded by Jon Sayles on classical guitar.? For more of his beautiful recordings of both classical and early/renaissance music, including several more Bach selections, visit his website.
Break Forth, O Beauteous Heavenly Light (from the Christmas Oratorio)
Now Let us to the Bagpipe’s Sound from the Peasant’s Cantata
Goldberg Variations, Number 2,? Number 10, Number 18
Listen to the Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 on Classics for Kids
More resources for studying Bach:
For more stories about Bach, including the podcasts “About Johann Sebastian Bach”, “The Sons of Johann Sebastian Bach”, “What’s a Concerto” and “More about the Brandenburg Concertos”, visit Classics for Kids.
Classics for Kids activity sheet about Bach and the Brandenburg Concertos
CurrClick has many resources for the study of Bach and classical music.
Rusty in Orchestraville
This album at Kiddie Records Weekly introduces young children to the instruments of the orchestra. The unusual effect of instruments “talking” is achieved with the use of a sonovox.
Click here to go to Kiddie Records Weekly 2005, page down the left sidebar to March, Week 10 and click on the album title. Look under the album cover for the links to launch the audio stream.
Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci for young people
The Young People’s Opera House presents Pagliacci for the juvenile audience. This program can be streamed from Kiddie Records Weekly. Page down to February week 9, then click the link. Page below the album cover to see the links for launching the audio stream.
Here is a description of this opera from Kiddie Records Weekly:
This seldom seen label introduces an opera classic to the kids. Composed by Ruggero Leoncavallo (1858-1919), it is the story of a sad clown who, betrayed by his wife, must make his audience laugh while he weeps behind a painted smile. Driven to madness, his jealous rage brings about a tragic finale.
Opera on Kiddie Records Weekly
The album Capitol Music Appreciation Singles features 4 classical music programs for children.
Titles in this program are:
Themes from Peer Gynt Suites
Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake
The Three-Cornered Hat
Tchaikovsky’s Waltz of the Flowers
To listen to any of the above programs, click here. Page down to July week 27 and click the link. Look below the album cover for links to each of these albums.
Click here for the album The Barber of Seville. Page down to January week 4. There are 3 other albums presented during the same week. To hear The Barber of Seville, launch the audio stream in Windows Media player and click album 3.
Tyl and His Merry Pranks (album 4 at this same link) is also part of the series Stories of the Ballet.
Kiddie Records Weekly 2009 has another album from the series Stories of the Ballet. Page down to week 25 and click Pineapple Poll. Launch the audio stream in Windows Media player and click album 3.
George Gershwin
This program contains music of George Gershwin, interspersed with biographical information, from the Old Time radio show Cavalcade of America.
Peter and the Wolf by Prokofiev
Click here to listen to Peter and the Wolf on Kiddie Records Weekly. Look in the left sidebar for January week 1 and click the link for Peter and the Wolf.Look below the album cover and click the link under Audio Stream where it says “click here to listen”.
The Book of Art for Young People by Conway
To see a selection of downloadable curriculum resources from CurrClick which could be used in a study of the Renaissance, click here. This link will take you away from My Audio School.
To view all of the 16 beautiful full-color illustrations that accompany this text on one page, click here. They are also included in this post.
To listen to this book, you can click play in the box below, or click on the individual chapter titles.
Running time: 4 hours, 12 minutes
02 The Thirteenth Century in Europe
08 The Renaissance in the North
13 Reynolds and the Eighteenth Century
Modern Kids, Vincent van Gogh. Portrait of Joseph Roulin. Arles, early 1889
courtesy of Museum of Modern Art
Click here to see a CurrClick Lapbook project pack on Great Artists of the World. This link will take you away from My Audio School.
Modern Kids: Nicholas Nixon, The Brown Sisters. 1975-2005.
The Museum of Modern Art did not include this work of art with the podcast, perhaps for copyright reasons. I’ve posted a link below the podcast where you can see the images.
courtesy of Museum of Modern Art
This link takes you to a gallery online where you can see 32 Brown Sisters images. You’ll see one picture with an orange dot beside it. Hovering over the dot will reveal more of the photos, and you can click on the one you want to enlarge
Note: Clicking the link for the Fraenkel Gallery will take you away from My Audio School. Kids, please get permission before leaving My Audio School.