Music History & Appreciation

History of American Pop Music, featured on PBS. 2 30-min. DVDs and PDF teacher's guide.

Trace the history and development of Jazz in 2 30-minute videos with PDF teacher's guide.

Watch guided listening concerts on DVDs, with insightful narration. Project or print PDF listening guides to immerse yourself in the music. 

An Introduction to 100 Years of American Popular Music by Daniel Glass.

Music Makers introduces all the instruments and families with interactive activities and includes online access.

Conductor Andrew Davis narrates, enlightens, and entertains in a narrative introduction to the instruments.

Boston Youth Symphony players are taken completely out of their comfort zones.

Andrew Litton and the Dallas Symphony bring a new generation to the wonderful world of classical music, in this video demonstrating the expressive powers of music. Kids also get a chance to conduct.

Andrew Litton and the Dallas Symphony bring a new generation to the wonderful world of classical music, in this concert demonstrating the power of music to invoke pictures in the mind and on canvas.

Andrew Litton and the Dallas Symphony bring a new generation to the wonderful world of classical music, in this one introducing instrument families and demonstrating the emotions they can evoke.

Andrew Litton and the Dallas Symphony bring a new generation to the wonderful world of classical music, in this concert introducing jazz styles, improvisation, and audience syncopated hand-clapping.

Andrew Litton and the Dallas Symphon.y bring a new generation to the wonderful world of classical music

Meet the families of instruments with a live orchestra of both students and professionals. 

Costumed musicians perform music of the medieval and renaissance eras on period instruments before live student audiences.

The history of music from European Ars Antiqua through American Rock.  Each DVD has two 30-min live performances before student audiences. 

Peter Ustinov reads The Orchestra, the award-winning book and CD by Mark Rubin, illustrated by Alan Daniel, introducing the music and instruments of the classical orchestra to children ages 5 - 12

Wynton Marsalis teaches the fundamentals with down-to earth humor, vivid examples (syncopation taught by dribbling a basketball), and a contagious love of music.

Discover the life and times of famous artists—Cassatt, Monet, Rembrandt, Degas, Goya, Homer— in these fictionalized episodes based on actual events.

Explore the phenomena of sound. Why are some sounds musical and others only noise?

Discover the life and times of famous artists and composers in these fictionalized episodes, overflowing with examples of their art and music.