Carnival of the Animals

Transcription

1 The Carolina Philharmonic presents Encore! Kids Carnival of the Animals Created by David Michael Wolff and the Carolina Philharmonic Student Workbook N a m e _

2 Encore! Kids I m the Conductor of the Carolina Philharmonic, and I invite you to discover the magic of the symphony orchestra. This coming May, we ll all gather in Robert E. Lee Auditorium at Pinecrest High School Auditorium a symphony orchestra of over 50 musicians and over 1,250 students to make music together. The orchestra will also tell the curious stories of the Carnival of the Animals. It will be awesome! As you prepare to sing, clap, and even dance with the orchestra, you ll realize how much the sounds of the symphony orchestra already form a key part of how you experience music and art, as well as movies like Star Wars. Along the way, one of the instrumentalists from the orchestra will come to visit your class and see how you re progressing. This is an adventure and a challenge for all of us, and I look forward to meeting you at the finish line! David Michael Wolff, Carolina Philharmonic Concert Program Overview Do, Re, Mi from The Sound of Music * (Children sing, seated) Nella Fantasia * (based on Gabriel s Oboe, from The Mission ) (Children sing, seated) Theme from Star Wars (Children listen, seated) Twilight Encore! Kids Theme Song * (Children sing) Carnival of the Animals by Camille SaintSaens (Children watch/listen) Into the Woods Rhythm Game (the audience is divided into sections and imitates their rhythm leader) Happy from Despicable Me 2 (Children invited to stand to sing/dance/clap ad lib.) Encore! The encore will be a surprise! * These three songs require preparation in Music Class.

3 Hey Kids meet Camille SaintSaëns, composer of Carnival o f the Animals. At our concert in May, not only will we make music together, but the orchestra will tell you a story Carnival of the Animals. This famous musical tale was composed by SaintSaëns. Camille SaintSaëns was born almost 200 years ago in Paris, France, in His father was a government clerk who died three months after his birth. Camille's greataunt Charlotte then moved in, and she was the first to introduce him to the piano. After beginning lessons at the age of two, he became one of the most stunning child prodigies of all time. Already at three he was composing music! And his talent was not limited to music he also learned to read by age three and mastered Latin by age seven. In addition to music, he distinguished himself in the study of French literature, Latin and Greek, divinity, and mathematics. Young Camille s enthusiasms included philosophy, archaeology and astronomy, of which, particularly the last, he remained passionate about in later life. He had the most important gift any of us could curiosity. And although he looks a bit serious in the picture above, he was an occasional jokester in 1886, Camille premiered one of his most loved works The Carnival of the Animals (Le Carnaval des Animaux in the original French). Shortly after its premiere however, he requested that the complete collection of pieces not be performed, except for The Swan, (Le Cygne). You see, The Carnival of the Animals was written as a musical joke all fun and games and Camille believed it would harm his reputation as a serious composer. Instead, this masterwork has been studied and enjoyed by audiences of all ages ever since. We can t wait to share excerpts from it with you live!

4 "Do, Re, Mi" from "The Sound of Music" Main part & note: on repeat, half sing top part and half the bottom part 2 4 œ œ j œ œ j œ œ œ œ j œ œ œ œ Doe: a deer, a fe male deer, Ray: a drop of golden sun, 2nd part (on repeat) & 2 4 Do! Re! Main part 9 & œ œ j œ œ j œ œ œ œ j œ œ œ œ Me: a name I call my self, Far: a long,long way to run. 2nd part & Mi! Fa! Main part 17 & œ œ j œ œ œ œ œ Sew: a needle pulling thread, La: a note to follow sew, œ j œ # œ œ œ Main part 25 & œ œ j # œ # œ œ œ œ œ bœ œ œ œ œ Tea: a drink with jam and bread That will bring us back to Main part & œ œ œ œ 2. œ j œ œ œ œ œ œ œ J Œ Do, oh, oh, oh, do! Do re mi fa so la ti do!

5 Hey Kids What does Music have to do with Math? The magical mathematics of music [excerpts] by Jeffrey Rosenthal The astronomer Galileo Galilei observed in 1623 that the entire universe "is written in the language of mathematics", and indeed it is remarkable the extent to which science and society are governed by mathematical ideas. It is perhaps even more surprising that music, with all its passion and emotion, is also based upon mathematical relationships. Such musical notions as octaves, chords, scales, and keys can all be demystified and understood logically using simple mathematics. Pitch: Wave frequencies Music appears to be transmitted by magic, escaping from your expensive stereo or a loudly passing car radio, or a guitarstrumming maestro and accosting your eardrums in one fell swoop. In fact, sound progresses as a wave through the air, and sound cannot be produced without an atmosphere. A sound wave creates minute pockets of higher and lower air pressure, and all the sounds we hear are caused by these pressure changes. With music, the frequency at which these pockets strike your ear controls the pitch that you hear. For example, consider the note called "Middle C" (usually the first note learned in piano lessons). This note has a frequency of about 262 Hertz. That means that when Middle C is played, 262 pockets of higher air pressure pound against your ear each second. Equivalently, the pockets of air arrive so quickly that one pocket strikes your ear every seconds.

6 Kids Nella Fantasia based on "Gabriel's Oboe" from "The Mission" About this song: Nella Fantasia (translated from the Italian as "In My Fantasy") has abstract, poetic lyrics about a dream of "souls that are free." The dream seems to be about peace, about a world free of war, free of slavery, free of discrimination, where all of humanity lives in harmony and mutual respect. It may be sung in English or Italian. &b b b b In the concert with the Philharmonic, you will listen to the first section of the song (about two minutes), and then ** begin singing on cue from the Conductor. ** 42 Ó Œ œ j œ œ œ œ œ œ j œ œ œ œ œ œœœ œ œ j œ œ 45 & bb b b 49 &b b b b ev nu er vo I Io free like le che dream of a world where spirits will be al ways free; They will be so gno d'ani me che sono sem pre li be re, Co me le œ œ œ œ œ j float vo ing la clouds, no œ œ œ œ œ œ œ full of huma man i pien' d'u ni rit. U w œ œ j œ œ œ œ j w Œ ty ta in in wondrous har mo fon do al la ni ny. ma.

7 Hey Kids Is there a connection? What do Science and Music have in common? More than you might think. In music, you can find reallife examples of concepts you might have learned in science class. And musicians can perform better thanks to the discoveries and understandings of science. So let s take a scientific and fun look at music. Sound and Sound Waves What is sound, anyway? Thanks to science, we know sound happens when an object vibrates (moves back and forth quickly). For example, when your finger plucks a string, the string vibrates and disturbs the air around it, making an invisible sound wave. You hear the sound when the wave travels through the air to your ear. Different sounds have different wavelengths. A wavelength is the distance between the high point of one wave to the high point of the next wave. The number of high points per second is called the frequency. If many sound waves pass in one second, the frequency is high. If only a few sound waves pass in the same second, the frequency is low. In music, we hear what happens at different frequencies. The pitch of a note how high or low it sounds depends on the frequency of the sound waves. The higher the frequency, the higher the pitch; the lower the frequency, the lower the pitch. Try It! Which of the following sound wave frequencies during the same moment in time has the higher pitch? The answer is below. Answer: The white one.

8 Slow, freely 4 2 p Twilight Encore! Kids Theme Song composed by David Michael Wolff Once Idreamedof mu sic Once I dreamed a song, At 7 Twi light it soared down from heav'n a bove and if I list ten to the stars, 12 Getting Faster Fast Rock I know Icanbe a ny thing if I strive and 18 dream. We will soar, we will thrive, Lis ten to us fly a way in 24 pp breathe! song! Ah, 34 p Slow ly at first and then you feel the 40 mu sic beat ing fast er as it draws us up be yond the stars a 42 f 1. bove! One! Two! Three! Four!

9 45 2. Sing! One! Two! Three! Four! I can be an y thing if I strive anddream We will soar, we will thrive, Lis ten to us fly a way 'cause 55 hold until conductor cuts off 2. way in song!

10 Hey Kids Did you know? Playing with Instruments Materials and Construction What musical instruments are made of and how they are put together affects the sounds they make. String instruments like the violin and the cello are usually constructed of wood, with strings made of synthetic (manmade) materials and metal. The strings vibrate when they are plucked or when the musician draws a bow across a string. The bows are usually made of wood and horsehair. Old bows were often decorated with ivory. A vibrating string does not produce much sound. The instrument s hollow body creates a resonating chamber that amplifies (enlarges) the sound waves of the vibrating strings. Try It! Test your own resonating chamber. Take a rubber band and a small plastic water bottle with a cap. First, fill the bottle with water and close the cap. Stretch the band around the bottle and pluck the band with your finger. Then, remove the cap, empty the water, and reattach the cap. Pluck the band again. Is the sound different? If so, how? What does your experiment tell you about resonating chambers? The answer is below. Answer: Resonating (hollow) chambers create a deeper and stronger sound. [source: The Kennedy Center s Arts Edge]

11 Brass instruments like the trumpet and trombone are normally made from you guessed it brass, a yellowish metal. Sound is made much differently on these instruments. First of all, players must blow air through the instrument. Second, players must do this a specific way by buzzing their lips against the instrument s mouthpiece. Listen to the trumpet: Greener Instruments Efforts to protect endangered, or threatened species, affect musicians. Take for example, the materials used to make bows. First, the tips of some older bows feature ivory, a material banned to protect endangered African elephants. Surprisingly, one common and legal substitute for ivory is tusks from an extinct, elephantlike animal called a mastodon. These fossils can be found in Russia and Alaska. Second, the preferred wood for bows, pernambuco (pernuhmbookoh) is scarcer because of deforestation (the widespread clearing of trees). Some bow makers have substituted carbon fiber, a synthetic material (thank you, chemistry!) twice as strong as steel. And some instrument makers discovered carbon fiber makes great instruments, too. Physical Fitness and Playing Music It s not just the instruments that make music, but also the people who play them. Musicians need to understand how their bodies work to perform better. Speed Racer Musicians must teach their muscles to hold and play their instruments. And just like a runner training for a race, musicians must practice hard to train their arms, hands, and fingers and even their lips and tongues to play better and faster. Imagine playing an instrument at 150 beats per minute. According to Guinness World Records, the world s fastest fiddle player is David Garrett, who performed Flight of the Bumblebee, composed by Nikolai Rimsky Korsakov (NICKoleye RIMskeeKORsuhkoff), at that astonishing speed in [source: The Kennedy Center s Arts Edge]

12 E n c o r e! K i d s : Carnival of the Animals Hey Kids So what does the Maestro do? If you've ever seen an orchestra perform music, you've probably seen the conductor the Maestro in front, waving a stick yet saying nothing. What exactly is she doing? What purpose does he serve? Could you become a maestro? The conductor's mostobvious role is to lead the orchestra to direct them when to start, when to stop, how fast to go, when to play louder, when to play softer, and so on. The conductor does this not by verbal instructions but rather by the movement of his hands and arms. Even though the musicians have their music in front of them and know how to play their notes, an orchestra might have as many as 100 musicians, and therefore having a leader in front makes it all come together. Another role of the conductor is to shape the overall sound of the music being performed. A standard orchestra generally has four sections: woodwinds, brass, percussion and strings. The conductor needs to listen to each group as the orchestra as a whole plays together, and make sure that the different sections have a balance in the overall sound. The conductor also needs to interpret the music and guide the orchestra accordingly there may be a section of a musical composition that calls for the strings to play the melody and therefore the conductor will need to guide the muchlouder brass section to play at a level that allows the strings to be heard. Anyone who loves music and loves learning can become a maestro. See you at the concert!