Lesson Plan for Theme and select Variations from A Young Person s Guide to the Orchestra

Transcription

1 Benjamin Britten Lesson Plan for Theme and select Variations from A Young Person s Guide to the Orchestra Developed by Stephanie Jones, Vocal/General Music State Road School - Webster Standards Addressed: Standard 1 - Creating, Performing and Participating in the Arts Standard 3 - Responding to and Analyzing Works of Art Performance Indicators: 1b. Students sing songs and play instruments, maintaining tone quality, pitch, rhythm, tempo, and dynamics; perform the music expressively; and sing or play simple repeated patterns with familiar songs, rounds, partner songs, and harmonizing parts. 3b. Students describe the music in terms related to basic elements; especially melody, harmony, dynamics, timbre, & form Objectives: Students will learn about Theme & Variations Students will move with varying amounts of weight to characterize the different families of instruments performing the theme Students will identify Major and Minor triads Students will identify Major and Minor triads in the theme of the Introduction Materials: (see attachments) melodic notation of the theme (for teacher only) Major/Minor triads (for teacher only) cue cards for movements Theme & Variations poster (doors of Rochester Instrument family posters or PowerPoint or Smartboard Vocabulary cards Vocabulary: Theme & Variations, Major/Minor, Strings, Woodwind, Brass and Percussion families, Orchestra, Texture, Line, Color, movement words (heavy, light, bounce, push, float, press, glide, etc.) Listening Repertoire: Recording of Young Person s Guide to the Orchestra by Benjamin Britten

2 Procedures: 1. Major/Minor triad singing & movement game (8-12 min) Teacher sings some Major & Minor triads using solfege. Students sing in echo. Teacher explains/reviews that when it is in Major the triad pattern is based on DO & when it is in Minor the triad pattern is based on LA. Teacher asks students echo sing the Major & Minor patterns and do movement: -Sit & echo sing when they hear a Minor triad -Stand & echo sing when they hear a Major triad -Jump 3 times & are silent if they hear any other group of 3 notes that is not Major or Minor If the teacher sings 2 of the same triads following one another, students remain sitting or standing. Teacher sings a variety of triads & students respond by singing or being quiet and either sitting, standing, jumping 3 times or staying still. Points are kept track of by the teacher on the board. If MOST students do the correct movement & sing appropriately, the class gets a point, if not, the teacher gets a point. Play until the students win by a slight margin, maybe patterns. If students are more advanced, try the game without singing the solfege names, only singing pitches on a neutral syllable. 2. Listening for Major & Minor triads in Purcell s theme (2 min) Have students listen to the theme as teacher plays the melody on the piano & sings the triads with solfege syllables. Students raise their hand for Major triads, & put their hand down for minor on other notes they pat the beat. 3. Definition and discussion of Theme & Variations (5-8 min) Explain to the class that this piece is in the form of Theme & Variations based on the original theme by Henry Purcell that they just heard. Britten composed this piece as a way of introducing young people to the families of instruments in the orchestra. Tell them that in a few moments, they will listen to the first section, Introduction. Show the Theme & Variations poster to the students & ask them to brainstorm some ways that the doors are different (Variations on the theme of doors!). Give them the words Texture, Line & Color then create a quick list under each word. 4. Introduction/review of Families of Instruments in the Orchestra and seating of instruments in the RPO (5 min) Briefly review the String, Woodwind, Brass and Percussion sections using instrument family posters or puzzle piece pictures in PowerPoint or Smartboard. Show the sections of the orchestra mixed up using puzzle pieces on the overhead, in PowerPoint or using a Smartboard. Have some students come up & put the pieces together to create the correct seating for the RPO on stage.

3 5. Movement/weight words (5 min) Explain that as you play the recording, students will be asked to think of words which describe the different families of the orchestra and the music that they play. Ask them to think about the differences in the doors in the poster. Guide them to relate the concepts of Texture, Line & Color to music. Texture = heavy/light & simple/detailed, line=curved/straight, (color=different instruments & families) etc. If necessary, give students some examples from the words on the vocabulary cards provided in this lesson or make cards with the students suggestions. Play the music and ask each student to be ready to give one word for at least one of the instrument families. 6. Movement activity (15-20 min) Divide the class into 4 groups to represent the 4 families of the orchestra (teacher chooses groupings prior to this lesson to ensure cooperative learning). Explain that each group will invent movements for their family of instruments based on the movement/weight words and will perform their choreography for the rest of the class. Play the recording again. As the class listens, sitting in their groups, ask students to discuss in their groups how they could show, with their bodies, some of these words that they made up. Give each group a few minutes to practice and perfect their ideas without music. Next, play the recording again and have all groups work simultaneously to practice moving with the recording. Give a little more time to discuss and explore. Suggest different formations (circle, line, 2 lines, etc.). After approximately 5-10 minutes, have each group perform their movement for the rest of the class. The group performing stands and gets into position while the other 2 or 3 groups stay seated. Self assessment - ask the class what they liked about each group s choreography (be specific - what movements do they remember best to go with the different instrument families? Lesson Extensions * Play a fun online game for Young Person s Guide to the Orchestra at: * Watch a video of the introduction to Young Person s Guide on You Tube with special narration by Simon Rattle: * Buy the CD along with a book with great instrument pictures at:

4 Purcell Theme Purcell # 5 7 # # 9 # Ó Ó b 15 # 17 Ó Ó

5 Score Purcell Patterns Purcell

6 Benjamin Britten Born: Died: On November 22, 1913 in Lowestoff, Suffolk December 4, 1976 at the Red House Education: Entered Royal College of Music in London at age 16. Marriage: Occupation: Selected Compositions: Noted for: Music to be heard at the concert: Never married Composer Peter Grimes, Paul Bunyan, Suite on English Folk Tunes Variations on a Theme by Purcell