My Many Colored Days

Transcription

1 My Many Colored Days Young People s Concerts March 15, :00pm, March 16 & 17, :00am and 11:35am Adventures in Music for Families March 20, :00pm and 4:00pm Table of Contents Section 1 Introduction Concert Program Performers Interview with Ryan Howell Section 2 Section 3 Camille Saint Saëns Carnival of the Animals Richard Einhorn Theodor Seuss Geisel My Many Colored Days

2 My Many Colored Days THE MINNESOTA ORCHESTRA Daniel Alfred Wachs, conductor Andrew Staupe, Sora Oh, pianists Ryan Howell, narrator Young People s Concerts March 15, :00pm, March 16 & 17, :00am and 11:35am Adventures in Music for Families March 20, :00pm and 4:00pm Program Camille Saint-Saëns Carnival of the Animals (Grand Zoological Fantasy) Richard Einhorn 1. Introduction and Royal March of the Lion 2. Hens and Roosters Wild Introduction Asses and Royal March of the Lion Tortoises Hens and Roosters The Wild Elephant Asses Kangaroos Tortoises Aquarium The Elephant Persons Kangaroos with long ears Aquarium The Cuckoo in the Depths of the Woods Persons Aviary with long ears The Pianists Cuckoo in the Depths of the Woods Fossils Aviary The Pianists Swan Finale Fossils 13. The Swan Dr. Seuss s My Many Colored Days

3 14 Dr. Seuss s My Many Colored Days WHO WROTE THE MUSIC? Richard Einhorn was born in 1952, and began composing music when he was 15. His music has been described as hauntingly beautiful, sensational, and overwhelming in its emotional power. He graduated summa cum laude in music from Columbia University in Before turning his attention exclusively to composition, Einhorn worked as a record producer for such artists as Meredith Monk and The New York Philharmonic. His production of the Bach Cello Suites with Yo-Yo Ma won a Grammy for Best Instrumental Performance. Einhorn has written chamber music, songs, ballets, and film and theater scores. His VOICES OF LIGHT, released on CD by Sony Classical, in October, 1995, was a bestseller in the U.S. and Europe and has won international critical acclaim. VOICES OF LIGHT has been performed more than 30 times in major concert halls across the country. Einhorn lives in New York City with his wife Amy Singer and their daughter Miranda (for whom My Many Colored Days is dedicated.) Visit Richard Einhorn s website, where you can find samples of two sections from My Many Colored Days: The music for My Many Colored Days was commissioned by the Minnesota Orchestra in 1999 for a video project. The video and DVD features the Minnesota Orchestra and former Music Director Eiji Oue, as well as animations. Actress Holly Hunter is the narrator. At our March, 2005 concerts, we will project the animations from this video, and replace the filmed orchestra with live shots of the Minnesota Orchestra. Our narrator will be St. Paul 5 th grader Ryan Howell. The following is the Amazon.com review of the Minnesota Orchestra s My Many Colored Days video: The third in the Notes Alive series with the Minnesota Orchestra is another fine introduction for kids to the arts. This computer-animated version of the Dr. Seuss story about the mood of colors (narrated by Holly Hunter) is combined with footage of a concert symphony. We follow a boy and his dog juggling his various moods, something soaring like a bird ("a blue day") or moping around the house ("a gray day"). The music is outstanding; Richard Einhorn created a new composition, which focuses on the individuality of instruments in the 30-minute piece. A percussive, hand-clapping sequence is quite fun. The animation doesn't seem as fresh in this day and age of A Bug's Life--it's quite bulky. Yet the film is brisk enough to entertain the youngsters and they will undoubtedly ask questions about the various instruments shown. There's also a 15-minute short on the making of the film. It includes interviews with the animators, the composer, and, most notably, with Theodore Geisel's (Dr. Seuss) wife, who talks about her husband's influences and gives a tour of their house. (Other Notes Alive titles are On the Day You Were Born and Nutcracker: The Untold Story.) --Doug Thomas

4 15 WHO WROTE THE BOOK? My Many Colored Days is one of the popular children s books by Theodor Seuss Geisel, ( Dr. Seuss) born March 2, At the time of his death on September 24, 1991, 200 million copies of his books, in 15 languages, had been sold. My Many Colored Days was written in 1973, but the text was not discovered until after Dr. Seuss death, at which time it was published. For more information on Dr. Seuss and his books, as well as many on-line activities, visit WHAT IS THE MUSIC ABOUT? My Many Colored Days explores various moods that we all have on various days. In Dr. Seuss book, each mood is described by a different color. Richard Einhorn composed music that further describes each mood. Find some good information online: Listening to the music: My Many Colored Days is in 12 sections: an introduction, a finale, and ten sections each presenting a different color and mood. General teaching ideas for My Many Colored Days: The best concert preparation, of course, is to watch the My Many Colored Days video and teach the Dr. Seuss book. As you read the story, discuss times when students have felt like the moods of the story. Predict what the music might sound like in each section. Creating artworks is a good activity with this story and music. Make a gallery for each color. Strategies for the individual pieces in My Many Colored Days Part 1: Introduction You d be surprised how many ways I change on Different Colored Days. Part 2: Bright Red Days How good it feels to be a horse, and click up my heels. Listen for: Bright Red Days features the string section. Review the instruments of the string family: violin, viola (vee-oh-la), cello (CHELL-o), string bass. Discuss that with musical instruments, larger means lower.

5 16 For excellent online descriptions of strings (and other instruments), see the New York Philharmonic s education site, or the Dallas Symphony s education site, The opening rhythm of Bright Red Days is in 7/8 meter. Notes are grouped Teach HOT-dog HOT-dog HAM-bur-ger. Part 3: Bright Blue Days I flap my wings. Listen for: The Harp is one of the featured instruments in this piece. This piece also features high instruments. Introduce the harp if it is a new instrument new for your students. Explain that the harp is a member of the string family, since sound is produced as the strings are plucked. The animations for this piece involve smooth, floating flight, with dreamy clouds. High sounds are prominent. Review high instruments. Part 4: Sort of Brown Days I feel slow and low, low down. Listen for: The mood described is slow and low, and the music is the same. Part 5: A Yellow Day Introduce the low instruments of the orchestra: Bassoon, horns, trombones, tuba, cello and bass. Teach that the bigger the instrument, the lower its sound. Have students tap or walk to the beat of this music. Ask if the combination of slow beats and low range make them feel brown. Whee! I m a busy, buzzy bee. Listen for: the marimba is prominent in this piece. Contrast the marimba sound in this music with the xylophone sound in the fossil section from Carnival of the Animals. Show pictures of each. If you play both pieces for students, discuss how the sound of each instrument is different. Ask students which instruments are making the buzzy sounds. (Harps, woodwinds.)

6 17 Part 6: A Gray Day I watch, but nothing moves today. Listen for: This piece is all very quiet. Use this piece as a starting point for discussion dynamics (loud and soft). Present the range of dynamcs from piano (soft) to forte (loud). Discuss the dynamics of the other pieces, and discuss how they affect the mood of each piece. String players use mutes in this piece. Mutes are small, round pieces of rubber that fit over the middle of the bridge on the instrument. They reduce some of the vibrations of the instrument, resulting in a softer sound. If you are in contact with string players, ask for a demonstration. Part 7: My Orange Days Then all of a sudden, I m a circus seal! Listen for: This music features the entire orchestra. Especially prominent are the brass and snare drum. Part 8: Green Days Listen for the many short snare drum rolls, each with a crescendo (getting louder) and each ending with an sforzando (accent). Trumpets and trombones also contribute in these spots. Develop a gesture (standing up with arms up) to do each time this is heard. Listen for accents in other instruments. Cool and quiet fish. That s me. Listen for: the smooth, rippling quality of this music can be compared with the Aquarium section of Carnival of the Animals. It features the celeste. Introduce students to the celeste, a piano- like instrument with metal bars inside instead of strings. Many people think the celeste was invented for the Dance of the Sugarplum Fairy from Tchaikovsky s Nutcracker, in which it is featured. The celeste got its name from its celestial or heavenly sound. Compare Richard Einhorn s fish music with the Aquarium music by Saint-Saëns. Discuss what sounds similar and what sounds different. Listen for the solo violin sections. At the concert, these will be performed by the first chair violinist, also known as the concertmaster.

7 18 Part 9: On Purple Days I m sad, I groan Listen for: This music is very soft and sad. Use a discovery listening approach with this music. Ask students what kind of mood they think this music is depicting. Ask for a story or event that might be appropriate for this music. Ask, What in the music makes you say that. In this activity, all answers are acceptable. Simply keep a list of ideas from students. Part 10: Happy Pink Days It s great to jump and just not think. Listen for: This music is in direct contrast to the previous section, and features an extended clapping and foot stamping section for the orchestra. Use a discovery listening approach to this music, as described in the Purple Days section. Compare lists of what students heard in the music of each section. Prepare students for the extended rhythmic clapping and stomping section in this piece. Clap the rhythms of familiar songs, or do call and response clapping activities. Part 11: My Black Days Mad and loud. Listen for: This is the only section that features a single instrument, in this case the tympani. Before listening to the music, tell students that only one instrument will play in this mad and loud section. Ask students which instrument they would choose if they were writing mad and loud music. Introduce the tympani, also known as the kettle drum. Use one of the websites suggested above if you need more information. Part 12: Mixed up days/finale Wham! I don t know who or what I am! Listen for: Like the Finale from Carnival of the Animals, this music will recap some of the music heard in previous sections.