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Bach's Big Adventure

History: Johann Sebastian Bach
There is a brief biography before the story starts.  Either read this aloud or summarize it for your student.  
Bach Notebooking Pages

Social Studies - Geography:  Germany
Germany is located on the continent of Europe.  It is bordered by The Netherlands, Belgium, France, Switzerland, Austria, Czech Republic and Poland.  Berlin is the capital city of Germany.

The German flag has three horizontal stripes.  Black is at the top, followed by red and gold.

Germans you may have heard of:
Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528), painter
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827), composer
Richard Wagner (1813–1883), composer
Brothers Grimm, famous collectors of fairy tales
Adolf Hitler (1889–1945), leader of the Nazi regime
Albert Einstein (1879–1955), physicist
Levi Strauss (1829–1902), jeans
Martin Luther (1483–1546), of the Protestant Reformation
Albert Schweitzer (1875–1965), musician, physician, pastor, philosopher and theologian
Johann Gutenberg (c. 1390s – 1468), printer

Locate Germany on a map.  Locate the cities in the story using this printable map.

Eisenach - place of birth
Ohrdruf - Sebastian lives here with his brother, Christoph.
Luneburg - this is where St. Michael’s is located, Sebastian’s school.
Hamburg – Sebastian travels to Hamburg to hear Reincken play.
Leipzig – Sebastian lives here as an adult.

Use a green pencil to connect the cities in the order listed above.

German Foods:
A typical breakfast in Germany might have eggs, bread and cheese.  Traditionall the main meal of the day would be lunch.  Germans typically eat a lot of meat with pork being the most common.  Dinner is would have been a lighter meal, similar to breakfast.

For a typical dessert, you can try the following recipe:

Streuselkuchen (crumb cake)

Topping
¼ cup sugar
¼ cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 cup flour
½ cup butter

Cake
2 ¼ cup flour
¼ cup sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
1 package dry yeast
¾ cup milk
½ cup butter
1 egg
fruit if desired

To make topping:
Mix sugars, cinnamon and flour. Cut in butter until mixture is crumbly.

To make cake:
Mix 1 cup flour with sugar, salt and yeast in a large bowl. Place milk and butter in a saucepan and heat until very warm (120°F). Gradually add to dry ingredients; beat 2 minutes. Beat in egg and 1 cup flour. Beat on high speed for 2 minutes. Stir in enough flour to make a soft but stiff batter. Spread batter into a well-greased 9-inch square cake pan. Sprinkle with topping. Let rise in a warm place until double in bulk, about 1 ½ hours. Bake at 350°F about 45 minutes or until done. If you like, add your favorite fruits beneath the topping before baking to make a fruit cake.

For this and other recipes visit this site.

Character: Humility
Define humility. (A modest opinion of one's own importance)  Was Bach humble?  Throughout the story Sebastian yells, "I am Bach!"  Does he ever learn humility?

It is true that Bach was very talented.  God gives gifts and talents to each of us.  It is important, however, to remember that these gifts come from God to be used for His glory, not our own.  When we have a spirit of pride, we are trying to take the glory that belongs to God for ourselves. 

I have talked to my kids about two different kinds of pride.  Moms and dads are going to be proud of their children, and that is okay.  Let's just remember to thank God for our special gifts and not to take credit for the gifts we have but to use them for His glory.

Compound Words
Compound words are two words put together to make one word.  Can your student think of examples on his own?  Take a look at these compound words found in the story–

Choirmaster
Birdsong
Birdcalls
Secondhand
Farmhouse
Hillsides

Punctuation: Hyphens
When two adjectives are put together to make one word they are hyphenated..  Look on the page that begins with, “And walk he did.”  There are examples of hyphenated words on this two page spread.  Have your younger student point out the hyphens.

salt-traders’
wind-whipped
half-timbered

Fine Art

Music Theory

You can discuss basic notes and rhythm in the 4/4 scale.

A whole note holds for four beats.

A half note holds for two beats.

A quarter note holds for one beat.

An eighth note holds for half a beat.

There are printable note cards for your student to use and rearrange in order to make up different beats.  Practice counting and clapping different beat patterns.

Classical Music – Baroque
Different periods of time bring about different styles of music.  On the classical music timeline, the Baroque Period (1600-1750) comes after the Renaissance period and before the Classical period.   The Baroque era gave birth to the beginning of the orchestra.   Composers would place musicians all over the church-- in the balconies, by the altar, etc.  The audience was surrounded with the sounds of the music creating an amazing experience!

Baroque music is characterized as tuneful and organized with decorated and elaborate melodies.   Movements within the music contain conflict, contrast, and drama (you may hear a fast movement, then a slow movement, then another fast movement).  These same elements were also prevalent in the artwork and architecture of the time. 

Bach is known for bringing the Baroque period to its height.  Other composers in this style were Monteverde, Vivaldi and Handel. 

Math

Fractions
Does your student notice anything about these words whole / half / and quarter notes?  They sound a lot like fractions.  Each bar in a sheet of music is a whole and the notes tell you how many sections in which it is divided.

You may want to take a look at the Rhythm/Fraction page for an illustration.

Practice counting and clapping different beat patterns.

Measurement- Speed
Sebastian walked 30 miles from Luneburg to Hamburg.  If he walked at the rate of 5 miles an hour, how long would it take?  3 miles an hour?  2 miles an hour?

Science

Anatomy- Ears
Music is enjoyable because we can hear it!  Sound is collected by your outer ear (pinna or auricle).  Once the sounds is collected it moves into the ear canal and from there to the ear drum.  The ear drum vibrates and cause three tiny bones to also vibrate (hammer, anvil and stirrup).  From there, the vibration is transferred to the cochlea.  The cochlea has tiny hairs which signal the nerves to send sound messages to the brain.  Ear Print-out

Try this: cup your hands around your ear to collect even more sound.  Does it work?

Try this: wrap plastic wrap tighly over a bowl.  Sprinkle some dry rice on top.  Now, hit a metal pan with a spoon right next to the bowl.  What happens to the rice?  This is similar to the way your ear drum works.

More ear experiments

Kids article on the ear

 Just for Fun

Radio show with excerpts of music

Real Heroes for Today's Kids: Bach

Enchanted Learning Bach Biography

Enchanted Learning Music Theory Pages

Additional Resources:
Sebastian Bach: The Boy from Thuringia by Opal Wheeler
Baby Needs Baroque (CD)