Welcome to Beethoven's Mansion! This is a fictional hangout place for the ghosts of great musical composers. Usually, they can come and go as they please, but the mansion has been mysteriously cursed and the ghosts are trapped inside! Only living people are able to complete the puzzles, so each week our goal is to explore the house, collect clues from the different composers we meet, and use the clues to help them escape! We'll listen to some of the most famous and memorable works of classical music, learn interesting facts about the composers’ lives, and expand our general musical knowledge along the way. 

Here’s an example of how this might work: We find a spiral staircase leading up to the Astronomy tower. As we near the top, we hear grand, majestic music seeping through the door. When we enter, we find the ghost of Gustav Holst conducting an enchanted model of the solar system in performing his composition "Jupiter" from "The Planets." He turns around and introduces himself, excitedly thanks us for finding him, and shows us the puzzle that will set him free. 

Other composers that could make an appearance include Bach, Handel, Vivaldi, Rossini, Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, Clara Schumann, Grieg, Mendelssohn, Tchaikovsky, Brahms, Schubert, Rimsky-Korsokov, Saint-Seans, Florence Price, Shostakovich, Stravinsky, Mussourgski, and more!

Due to the elements of discovery and surprise, I haven’t included which composers we’ll discuss each week. If your student really wants to be there for a specific composer or if you’re curious, feel free to send me a message. The general plan will look like this:

Week of 6/21: What’s that Smell?
Week of 6/28: A Mysterious Object
Week of 7/5: Look Out Below!
Week of 7/19: The Hidden Passage

No prior musical knowledge or experience is necessary, but if students do have musical experience, there will still be plenty for them to learn! The puzzles and clues won’t incorporate any information we learned in previous classes, and won’t require musical knowledge to solve. We’ll work as a team, so it won’t be too stressful!