Mason's Music and Drill
I was a Music Major and always felt Mason's curriculum was lacking a bit in thoroughness based on the information available to me over the past 10 years, but this past year I have been doing hours of research into the PNEU Programmes and have come out of that experience very impressed!! I am quite convinced that Mason's Curriculum was actually very thorough, and I believe if I worked through her scope and sequence today (even after 4 years of Majoring in Music), I would come away with a better, more complete music education than the one I got in college. It really is that good, and that living!
When we look at Charlotte Mason's Timetable, we see that in every Form (Forms 1-6, which would be our 1st-12th Grades), Mason included Drill and Singing (Folk Songs and Sol-fa/Ear Training) midway through the morning lessons. I believe that this time period was to be a sort of "recess" time where they got up from their seats and moved, played, and sang to refresh their bodies and minds before completing their day's work. But instead of just playing, like most recesses are these days, she chose activities that could be both invigorating and educational for the children.
It seems that Piano Instruction/Music Theory and Composer Study/Music History were also always in the programs and addressed in the exam questions, but piano lessons were done in the afternoons at home with a mother or a hired teacher. It is not clear to me yet if Music Appreciation (Composer Study) was done in the morning lesson times or if it was to be done at home in the afternoons or weekends. I am still looking into this. It was probably done in the afternoons, but my family does it in the morning because the lessons are short and if we didn't do at least part of it in the mornings, we wouldn't do it. Composer Study is a subject I have always done with our CM Community (Co-op) for accountability as well.
I am excited to share that I found a more detailed Time-Table in the Digital archives. The Pamphlet "A Liberal Education for All," in the CMDC includes programs, exams, and timetables for 1928 and 1933. Both are after Mason's death, but they helped me to see more clearly how the 30 minute time slot was used specifically! They don't vary much from the 1908-09 one we have available on Ambleside Online.
When we look at Charlotte Mason's Timetable, we see that in every Form (Forms 1-6, which would be our 1st-12th Grades), Mason included Drill and Singing (Folk Songs and Sol-fa/Ear Training) midway through the morning lessons. I believe that this time period was to be a sort of "recess" time where they got up from their seats and moved, played, and sang to refresh their bodies and minds before completing their day's work. But instead of just playing, like most recesses are these days, she chose activities that could be both invigorating and educational for the children.
It seems that Piano Instruction/Music Theory and Composer Study/Music History were also always in the programs and addressed in the exam questions, but piano lessons were done in the afternoons at home with a mother or a hired teacher. It is not clear to me yet if Music Appreciation (Composer Study) was done in the morning lesson times or if it was to be done at home in the afternoons or weekends. I am still looking into this. It was probably done in the afternoons, but my family does it in the morning because the lessons are short and if we didn't do at least part of it in the mornings, we wouldn't do it. Composer Study is a subject I have always done with our CM Community (Co-op) for accountability as well.
- Here is a new quote I found recently about Music Appreciation ( or what is often called Composer Study) regarding its placement in the school week: " Musical Appreciation lessons should be held every week for half-an-hour. Ten minutes of this might be given to ear-training (Possibly more Sol-fa??). Saturday morning often proved a good time and several families could join for this class. To have Musical Appreciation three times a term was little good, and to play through the programme once a term was no good at all—this merely became a school concert. The children must not be given too much at a time; they would listen to a certain amount and then they would not want to hear any more that day. No piece must be left before the children were able to recognise it and really know it. The month before the opening of each term, an article on the composer to be studied appeared in the "Reviews." Names of books on the subject were given and a programme of music to be performed for the children to listen to, with suggestions as to easier pieces which children might play themselves. Notes on each of the pieces in the programme were given—more particularly on things which were not to be found in books. Music should be fitted into the scheme of history-study, and not left isolated—for instance, Frederick the Great and Bach, Joseph II and Mozart, Beethoven and Napoleon would naturally be linked together, and use should be made of the history charts.” Parent’s Review Vol. 33 “Mrs. Glover on Musical Appreciation” (Mrs. Glover is the woman who wrote the Music Appreciation Lesson Plans for Mason for many years. When she passed away her son Cedric Howard Glover took her place. Mason also refers to this family in her Volumes. Cedric was the musical baby that she talks about and because of his interest in music as a young child Mason decided to include Music Appreciation in the Programmes)
I am excited to share that I found a more detailed Time-Table in the Digital archives. The Pamphlet "A Liberal Education for All," in the CMDC includes programs, exams, and timetables for 1928 and 1933. Both are after Mason's death, but they helped me to see more clearly how the 30 minute time slot was used specifically! They don't vary much from the 1908-09 one we have available on Ambleside Online.
Go here to learn more about Sol-fa and Singing Folk songs! (On the Morning Timetables)
Go here to learn more about Drill! (On Morning Timetables. It seems that after Form 1, Dancing was to be done in the afternoons. Dancing, Sports Teams and Swedish Drill Classes were offered for PNEU Students in the Afternoons through the Parent's Review Magazine that went out monthly, so I think that the main things that students did during Drill time were short Swedish Drill lessons which also included, Marching, Skipping Rope, and Games and some of this, but probably not all was also done to Music. See This Blog post for more info on Drill - Coming soon! )
Go here to learn more about Music Appreciation (Composer Study)! (Probably Afternoon Occupations or Weekends in PNEU - our family does this in the morning)
Go here to learn more about Instrumental/Piano Music Instruction! (Afternoon time, not on Timetables)
All of these subjects are included in the PNEU programmes each term, and all have suggested Exam questions or things to be done by the parents to assess progress and then entered on exams to be returned to PNEU.
Here's an up close look at the time frames for Drill and Singing in each form since we do know these two subjects were included in the morning lesson times. I have also given my recommendations on how you could schedule these into your morning lessons based on a 5 day school week and not lose time for the content.
Form 1 ( 1st - 3rd Grade) 10:20-10:50
Monday: Drill or Dancing (30 minutes)
Tuesday: Sol-fa (15 minutes, Sight Singing lessons) and Play ( 15 minutes. I am guessing that "Play" here was just free play, but I am not certain yet. It may have also included things like skipping rope or musical games that she includes in her programs)
Wednesday: Drill or Dancing (30 minutes)
Thursday: French Folk Song (15 minutes) and Play (15 Minutes)
Friday: Drill or Dancing (30 minutes)
Saturday: Sol-fa (15 minutes) and Play (15 Minutes)
Since we don't usually do Saturday school in the U.S. I recommend that during this "recess"/active learning time, you do a slightly modified scheduled such as this. It still allows you to do Drill 3 times per week and Singing 3 times per week. It just shortens one Drill time and removes a 15 minute play time:
Monday: Drill or Dancing (30 minutes)
Tuesday: Sol-fa (15 minutes) and Play ( 15 minutes)
Wednesday: Drill or Dancing (15 minutes) and French Folk Song (15 minutes)
Thursday: Sol-fa (15 minutes) and Play (15 Minutes)
Friday: Drill or Dancing (30 minutes)
Form 2 (4th-6th grade) and 3 (7th-8th Grade) 10:20-10:50
Monday: Drill (20 minutes) and Play (10 minutes)
Tuesday: German Folk song (20 minutes) and Play (10 minutes)
Wednesday: Drill (20 minutes) and Play (10 minutes)
Thursday: French Folk Song (20 minutes) and Play (10 Minutes)
Friday: Drill (20 minutes) and Play (10 minutes)
Saturday: Sol-fa ( 20 minutes) and Play (10 Minutes)
Once again, a little tweaking might be needed for us here in the U.S. with a 5 day school week. I have met very few families here in the U.S. that use do CM education, who are doing two foreign Languages, my family included. So here are two suggestions - one includes the two foreign languages and one does not.
Monday: Drill (30 minutes)
Tuesday: German Folk song (20 minutes) and Play or Drill (10 minutes)
Wednesday: Sol-fa ( 20 minutes) and Play (10 Minutes)
Thursday: French Folk Song (20 minutes) and Play or Drill (10 Minutes)
Friday: Drill (30 minutes)
OR
Monday: Drill (20 minutes) and Play (10 minutes)
Tuesday: Sol-fa ( 20 minutes) and Play (10 Minutes)
Wednesday: Drill (20 minutes) and Play (10 minutes)
Thursday: French (We do Spanish) Folk Song (20 minutes) and Play (10 Minutes)
Friday: Drill (20 minutes) and Play (10 minutes)
Form 4 (9th Grade) 10:20-10:50 (30 minutes total) and Form 5-6 (11th and 12th Grade) 10:25-10:50 (25 minutes total)
Monday-Saturday: Drill and Dancing everyday during the time period allotted. My guess is that the time was divided evenly. Sol-fa lessons were mostly completed by high school. At this level, they were mostly singing English and Foreign (French, German and sometimes also Italian) Folksongs, so they probably sang through them daily. ( Form 4 differed a bit in 1908 from 1928, but generally speaking it's the same idea. We do see in the programmes that Form 4 students were still doing Sol-fa Lessons, so they probably did that during Singing time even though it didn't say it on the 1908 timetable)
These forms are of course easier to adjust for our 5 days of school. Just sing and do drill every day for 25-30 minutes and do it for fun when you can on Saturdays!
Form 1 ( 1st - 3rd Grade) 10:20-10:50
Monday: Drill or Dancing (30 minutes)
Tuesday: Sol-fa (15 minutes, Sight Singing lessons) and Play ( 15 minutes. I am guessing that "Play" here was just free play, but I am not certain yet. It may have also included things like skipping rope or musical games that she includes in her programs)
Wednesday: Drill or Dancing (30 minutes)
Thursday: French Folk Song (15 minutes) and Play (15 Minutes)
Friday: Drill or Dancing (30 minutes)
Saturday: Sol-fa (15 minutes) and Play (15 Minutes)
Since we don't usually do Saturday school in the U.S. I recommend that during this "recess"/active learning time, you do a slightly modified scheduled such as this. It still allows you to do Drill 3 times per week and Singing 3 times per week. It just shortens one Drill time and removes a 15 minute play time:
Monday: Drill or Dancing (30 minutes)
Tuesday: Sol-fa (15 minutes) and Play ( 15 minutes)
Wednesday: Drill or Dancing (15 minutes) and French Folk Song (15 minutes)
Thursday: Sol-fa (15 minutes) and Play (15 Minutes)
Friday: Drill or Dancing (30 minutes)
Form 2 (4th-6th grade) and 3 (7th-8th Grade) 10:20-10:50
Monday: Drill (20 minutes) and Play (10 minutes)
Tuesday: German Folk song (20 minutes) and Play (10 minutes)
Wednesday: Drill (20 minutes) and Play (10 minutes)
Thursday: French Folk Song (20 minutes) and Play (10 Minutes)
Friday: Drill (20 minutes) and Play (10 minutes)
Saturday: Sol-fa ( 20 minutes) and Play (10 Minutes)
Once again, a little tweaking might be needed for us here in the U.S. with a 5 day school week. I have met very few families here in the U.S. that use do CM education, who are doing two foreign Languages, my family included. So here are two suggestions - one includes the two foreign languages and one does not.
Monday: Drill (30 minutes)
Tuesday: German Folk song (20 minutes) and Play or Drill (10 minutes)
Wednesday: Sol-fa ( 20 minutes) and Play (10 Minutes)
Thursday: French Folk Song (20 minutes) and Play or Drill (10 Minutes)
Friday: Drill (30 minutes)
OR
Monday: Drill (20 minutes) and Play (10 minutes)
Tuesday: Sol-fa ( 20 minutes) and Play (10 Minutes)
Wednesday: Drill (20 minutes) and Play (10 minutes)
Thursday: French (We do Spanish) Folk Song (20 minutes) and Play (10 Minutes)
Friday: Drill (20 minutes) and Play (10 minutes)
Form 4 (9th Grade) 10:20-10:50 (30 minutes total) and Form 5-6 (11th and 12th Grade) 10:25-10:50 (25 minutes total)
Monday-Saturday: Drill and Dancing everyday during the time period allotted. My guess is that the time was divided evenly. Sol-fa lessons were mostly completed by high school. At this level, they were mostly singing English and Foreign (French, German and sometimes also Italian) Folksongs, so they probably sang through them daily. ( Form 4 differed a bit in 1908 from 1928, but generally speaking it's the same idea. We do see in the programmes that Form 4 students were still doing Sol-fa Lessons, so they probably did that during Singing time even though it didn't say it on the 1908 timetable)
These forms are of course easier to adjust for our 5 days of school. Just sing and do drill every day for 25-30 minutes and do it for fun when you can on Saturdays!
