Your 6-Week Classical Music Listening Challenge
- Kayla Collingwood
- 4 days ago
- 8 min read
So you want to explore classical music, but you're not sure where to begin? Maybe you've heard a few pieces you loved and want to discover more. Or perhaps classical music feels like this vast, intimidating world that you haven't quite found your way into yet.
This is totally normal. The classical music landscape is huge – spanning centuries, continents, and countless musical languages. But you don't need to know everything - you just need to start listening.
This challenge is your friendly guide through different composers, eras, and styles. You'll hear familiar names alongside composers who deserve far more recognition than they've received. Some pieces will grab you immediately. Others might need a second listen. And that's completely okay – this is about discovering what speaks to you. Once you find something you like, you can explore further works by that composer/from that era/in that style/etc!
I've created three paths: one for children, one for teens, and one for adults. But feel free to explore all three. Music doesn't care about age!
About Me
Who am I? Hi! I'm Kayla Collingwood, founder of Sound Garden and a passionate classical singer, educator, and creator. I've performed internationally in all sorts of contexts, and I've seen firsthand how magical the classical music experience can be – especially for newcomers and returners alike.
Why trust me? Because I've spent over a decade helping people of all ages discover the joy of music, whether through singing lessons, workshops, or creative projects. I've taught five-year-olds and seventy-five-year-olds, and I've witnessed countless "aha" moments when someone realises classical music isn't as exclusive as they thought. My mission is simple: to show you that music is for everyone, at any age or level of experience. Including you.
Take a look around the rest of the site when you're done here – I'm so glad you found your way to Sound Garden!
How the challenge works
Choose your path – Children, Teens, or Adults (or try them all!)
Listen to 1–2 pieces each week – Most are available on Spotify, Apple Music, or YouTube. Just search the last name of the composer (add the first name where necessary) and the title of the work! For larger works which are in several smaller "movements", you may need to access an album or playlist in order to find the correct movement.
Keep notes – Jot down what you felt, what surprised you, or composers you want to explore more
Follow the "Explore further" suggestions – These are your springboards into deeper listening
No pressure. No tests. Just listening!
For Children 🌱
A joyful introduction to the sounds and stories of classical music
Week 1 – Meet the Orchestra
🎵 Benjamin Britten – The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra (1945)
🎵 Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges – Symphony No. 1 in G major (c. 1780s)
Explore further: Camille Saint-Saëns – Carnival of the Animals (1886)
Listen for: How Britten introduces each instrument family. Can you hear the strings, woodwinds, brass, and percussion? Saint-Georges was a champion fencer and brilliant composer in 18th-century Paris – notice how elegant and balanced his symphony sounds.
Week 2 – Music That Moves
🎵 Johann Strauss II – The Blue Danube Waltz (1866)
🎵 Florence Price – Juba Dance from Symphony No. 1 (1932)
Explore further: Try different dance styles – a minuet by Mozart, a tango by Piazzolla, or a polka by Strauss
Listen for: The 1-2-3 rhythm of the waltz. Price's Juba Dance uses African American folk dance traditions – can you hear the syncopated rhythms and playful energy?
Week 3 – Nature and Seasons
🎵 Antonio Vivaldi – The Four Seasons: Spring (1720s)
🎵 Valerie Coleman – Red Clay & Mississippi Delta (2009)
Explore further: Frederick Delius – On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring (1912)
Listen for: Vivaldi paints pictures with music – birds singing, storms, flowing streams. Coleman evokes the landscape of the American South with rich harmonies and fluid melodies.
Week 4 – Music and Imagination
🎵 Camille Saint-Saëns – Danse macabre (1874)
🎵 Lili Boulanger – D'un matin de printemps (1917–18)
Explore further: Claude Debussy – Children's Corner (1906–08)
Listen for: Saint-Saëns tells the story of skeletons dancing at midnight. Lili Boulanger was only 24 when she died, but her music is full of colour and light – this piece means "of a spring morning".
Week 5 – Voices and Songs
🎵 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Der Vogelfänger bin ich ja from The Magic Flute (1791)
🎵 Benjamin Britten – Old Abram Brown from Friday Afternoons (1933–35)
Explore further: Aaron Copland – Ching-a-Ring Chaw from Old American Songs (1950–52)
Listen for: Mozart's bird-catcher Papageno is funny and loveable. Britten wrote these songs for schoolchildren to sing – notice how simple but beautiful they are.
Week 6 – Pictures in Sound
🎵 Modest Mussorgsky – Pictures at an Exhibition (1874)
🎵 Gabriela Lena Frank – Leyendas: An Andean Walkabout (2001)
Explore further: Draw or paint what you imagine whilst listening
Listen for: Mussorgsky wrote this after visiting an art exhibition – each movement represents a different painting. Frank's music reflects her Peruvian-Chinese-Jewish heritage and the sounds of the Andes mountains.
For Teens 🔥
Classical music isn't polite background noise - it's bold, emotional, and often rebellious
Week 1 – Drama Before Film Existed
🎵 Modest Mussorgsky – Night on Bald Mountain (1867)
🎵 Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky – Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture (1869, rev. 1880)
Explore further: Hector Berlioz – Symphonie fantastique, 5th movement "Dream of a Witches' Sabbath" (1830)
Context: Before cinema, composers created drama through orchestral storytelling. Mussorgsky depicts a witches' sabbath on St. John's Eve, whilst Tchaikovsky captures the passion and tragedy of Shakespeare's lovers. Notice how the orchestra can suggest characters, emotions, and entire scenes.
Week 2 – Voices That Tell Stories
🎵 Franz Schubert – Erlkönig (1815)
🎵 Caroline Shaw – and the swallow (2014)
Explore further: Clara Schumann – Liebst du um Schönheit (1841)
Context: Erlkönig tells a terrifying story: a father rides through the night with his sick child, who sees the Erl-King (a supernatural being). One singer performs all the characters. Shaw sets text in a completely different way – intimate and ethereal. Both show how the human voice can transport us.
Week 3 – Rhythm and Revolution
🎵 Igor Stravinsky – The Rite of Spring, Introduction & "Dance of the Adolescents" (1913)
🎵 Sergei Prokofiev – Romeo and Juliet: "Dance of the Knights" (1935–36)
Explore further: Leonard Bernstein – Mambo! from West Side Story (1957)
Context: When The Rite of Spring premiered in Paris, the audience rioted. Its brutal rhythms and dissonant harmonies shocked people. Prokofiev's "Dance of the Knights" (also called "Montagues and Capulets") is instantly recognisable – powerful, menacing, and irresistibly rhythmic. These works redefined what orchestral music could do.
Week 4 – Power and Expression
🎵 Ludwig van Beethoven – Symphony No. 5 in C minor, 1st movement (1808)
🎵 Florence Price – Symphony No. 1 in E minor, 3rd movement (1932)
Explore further: Antonín Dvořák – Symphony No. 9 "From the New World", 4th movement (1893)
Context: Four notes that changed music history. Beethoven's Fifth is a testament to struggle and triumph – he was going deaf when he wrote it. Florence Price was the first Black woman to have a symphony performed by a major American orchestra. Her music fuses European symphonic tradition with African American spirituals and dance. Both composers broke barriers.
Week 5 – Emotion and Romance
🎵 Frédéric Chopin – Nocturne in E-flat major, Op. 9 No. 2 (1832)
🎵 Amy Beach – Gaelic Symphony, 2nd movement (1894–96)
Explore further: Sergei Rachmaninoff – Piano Concerto No. 2, 2nd movement (1900–01)
Context: The Romantic era (roughly 1820–1900) was all about personal expression and emotion. Chopin's nocturnes are intimate, lyrical piano pieces that sound almost improvised. Beach was the first successful American woman composer of large-scale art music – her symphony uses Irish melodies, connecting her to her heritage.
Week 6 – Modern Soundscapes
🎵 John Williams – Hedwig's Theme from Harry Potter (2001)
🎵 Hildur Guðnadóttir – Chernobyl Suite (2019)
Explore further: Austin Wintory – Journey (video game soundtrack, 2012)
Context: Classical music didn't stop in the 20th century – it evolved. As well as continuing to compose works in traditional classical music forms, they also began composing for media such as films and games. Williams draws on Romantic-era techniques and leitmotifs (recurring musical themes). Guðnadóttir, who won an Emmy and a Grammy, uses electronic sounds alongside traditional instruments to create atmosphere. Classical music is alive and everywhere.
For Adults 🎵
A journey through history and sound
Week 1 – Elegance and Innovation (Classical Era, 1750–1820)
🎵 Joseph Haydn – Symphony No. 94 "Surprise", 2nd movement (1791)
🎵 Florence Price – Ethiopia's Shadow in America (1932)
Explore further: Felix Mendelssohn – Hebrides Overture (1830, rev. 1832)
Historical context: Haydn, the "father of the symphony", perfected the Classical style with its elegant balance and witty surprises. Price, writing 140 years later, bridges Romantic orchestration with African American musical traditions. Notice how both composers create sophisticated narratives within purely instrumental music.
Week 2 – The Human Voice (Baroque to 20th Century)
🎵 Claudio Monteverdi – Zefiro torna (1632)
🎵 Margaret Bonds – Credo (1967)
Explore further: Samuel Barber – Knoxville: Summer of 1915 (1947)
Historical context: Monteverdi helped create opera and transformed how we think about text and music. His duet "Zefiro torna" uses repetitive patterns to create ecstasy. Bonds, a student of Florence Price, sets the powerful "Credo" prayer for choir and orchestra, drawing on the Black church tradition. The voice remains central to Western art music across centuries.
Week 3 – Nature, Place, and Memory (Romantic Era to Contemporary)
🎵 Jean Sibelius – Finlandia (1899, rev. 1900)
🎵 Tan Dun – Water Concerto (1998)
Explore further: John Luther Adams – Become Ocean (2013)
Historical context: Nationalistic composers like Sibelius evoked their homeland's landscape and spirit – Finlandia became a symbol of Finnish identity. Tan Dun, who won the Oscar for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, uses water as both instrument and metaphor, blending Eastern and Western traditions. Music has always been tied to place.
Week 4 – Movement and Pattern (20th-Century Minimalism)
🎵 Maurice Ravel – Boléro (1928)
🎵 Anna Clyne – Night Ferry (2012)
Explore further: Steve Reich – Music for 18 Musicians (1974–76)
Historical context: Ravel's Boléro is a 15-minute crescendo – the same melody repeats whilst the orchestration grows. It's hypnotic and relentless. Clyne, a British composer based in the US, creates shimmering textures that evolve gradually. Both works use repetition and pattern to create powerful emotional experiences – a technique minimalist composers like Reich expanded upon.
Week 5 – Stillness and Reflection (Sacred Music Across Time)
🎵 Johann Sebastian Bach – Mass in B minor: Agnus Dei (1749)
🎵 Kaija Saariaho – Ciel d'hiver (2013)
Explore further: Arvo Pärt – Spiegel im Spiegel (1978)
Historical context: Bach's B minor Mass represents the pinnacle of Baroque sacred music – intellectual, devotional, and deeply moving. Saariaho, one of the most performed living composers, creates meditative soundscapes with subtle electronic elements. Sacred music transcends specific religious contexts to explore the spiritual and contemplative.
Week 6 – Contemporary Voices (Late 20th–21st Century)
🎵 Philip Glass – Metamorphosis Two (1988)
🎵 Missy Mazzoli – Sinfonia (for Orbiting Spheres) (2013)
Explore further: Caroline Shaw – Entr'acte (2011)
Historical context: Glass helped define minimalism – simple materials repeated and transformed. His music appears in films, operas, and concert halls. Mazzoli represents a generation blending classical training with other musical influences. Classical music continues to evolve, absorbing new technologies and cultural influences.
Final Thoughts
There's no right way to listen. Some pieces will move you to tears. Some will energise you. Some might leave you confused, and that's fine too. Classical music holds a portion of the history of humanity through the soundscapes and contexts of the composers and works, and you're now part of it.
If you complete this challenge, I'd love to hear which works you enjoyed the most. Share your discoveries, your surprises, your favourites. Music is meant to be shared.
Happy listening!
– Kayla
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