Welcome to Music Comes Alive, the new literature-based, open-and-go music appreciation curriculum! In this post, meet the founder of Music Comes Alive, Dr. Emma James.
Music has been a source of joy and inspiration for me since I was a child. I remember listening to many styles of music--jazz, bluegrass, classical, and Christian contemporary music (CCM), to name a few--in my house growing up. I also have great memories of going to classical concerts with my dad. My mom loves music and taught herself to play the guitar and, more recently, the piano. My dad played the violin through high school, and during my childhood he would occasionally pull it out and play a flashy fiddle tune while I danced in my Laura Ingalls Wilder costume. When I was about eight years old, my parents decided I should take piano lessons after they found me picking out tunes like "Mary Had a Little Lamb" on a toy keyboard. Those lessons opened up the world of music to me, sparking a love for music that has been part of my life ever since. In middle school, I joined the school band on French horn and the jazz band on keyboard. As early as ninth grade, I knew that I wanted to pursue music as a career. My family, all of whom were athletic, joked that piano was my "sport."
As much as I love music, I also have a wide range of other interests. So I decided to pursue a liberal arts degree with a focus in performance, hoping to become a collaborative pianist (i.e. an accompanist). I went to Houghton University (then Houghton College) for a Bachelor of Music in Applied Piano with Elective Studies in Mathematics and Philosophy. (If that mouthful of a degree doesn't reflect my interest in a wide range of subjects, I don't know what does!)
After Houghton, I went to the Eastman School of Music (part of the University of Rochester and a top-ranked music school) for a MA and PhD in Music Theory. This degree program brought together my love for music and my love for math and philosophy, as well as a new-found love of teaching. I had never wanted to go into music education, but teaching at the college level changed my mind about that. Helping students understand music has become one of the most rewarding experiences of my life.
Now, I am a wife and a homeschooling mother of two girls. I no longer teach at the college level, but I do teach piano and music theory lessons, and I help lead a homeschool co-op and teach music classes for elementary ages there. As a homeschool parent, bringing music into my children's lives has been an essential part of our homeschool. My children take instrument lessons, of course. But music appreciation is more than playing an instrument. Reading books and listening to great music has been an effective and exciting way for me to bring music history and musical concepts to life for my own children.
I founded Music Comes Alive because I am passionate about bringing music to life for children and adults alike. While teaching at our co-op for the last few years, I have found that parents feel inadequate to teach music appreciation to their children. But just as we can teach English, Language Arts, History, Math, and Science with a good guide, we can also teach music appreciation with a good guide! This belief led me to create Music Comes Alive. Each course is designed to be an opportunity to learn alongside your child. Each curriculum guide is open-and-go, with a schedule and fully written-out lesson plans, and requiring no prior expertise. We use great books, curated listening lists, and engaging activity sheets alongside these lessons to bring music to life for you and your child.
I am so grateful for the gift of music in my life, a gift that points to the goodness, beauty, and truth of our Creator. Let us help you give the gift of music to your family with Music Comes Alive!
Bring the joy of music to your homeschool!
