Welcome to your Classical Encounters Membership!
Experience the wonder, beauty and creativity of classical music as a family with curated lesson plans delivered monthly.
Download your welcome packet below, then peruse your curriculum’s materials on the rest of the page! If you are joining mid-year and want to start at the beginning to move chronologically through music history, click the “Previous Months” panel in your Account.
Current Month: The 19th Century Parlor Piano
In the 19th century, the piano was the heart of the home. Composers of the era—Schumann, Chopin, Liszt, and Mendelssohn—crafted piano pieces that fit perfectly within the parlor, each one a miniature world of storytelling, emotion, and expression. Our March curriculum package takes you inside that world, exploring how these composers used the piano to capture everything from quiet reflections to dazzling virtuosity. We begin in the literary world of Robert Schumann and Felix Mendelssohn who created vivid character pieces that required a fully engaged listener ready to unriddle its hidden meaning. From there, we travel to the dazzling salons of Paris, where Liszt redefined what it meant to be a performer, and Chopin poured his Polish heart into creating a new poetic language on the piano.
