Midweek Concerts TEACHERS GUIDES AROUND THE GLOBE

Transcription

1 Midweek Concerts TEACHERS GUIDES AROUND THE GLOBE

2 Table of Contents Welcome Letter, Teachers Guide Information... 1 Around the Globe: Concert Program.. 3 Around the Globe: Snapshot for Teachers and Students Journey One: Multicultural Movement.. 7 Creating, Performing, Responding, Connecting, Music, Dance, Drama, Social Studies Journey Two: Which Instrument Are You? Creating, Performing, Responding, Connecting, Music, Dance, Visual Arts, Drama, English Language Arts, Social Studies Journey Three: Composing Pentatonic Music Creating, Performing, Connecting, Music Journey Four: The Itsy-Bitsy Spider Sung in Different Languages Creating, Responding, Connecting, Music, Social Studies, World Languages Journey Five: Fun with Tones: Tonal Language, Music, and Poems Creating, Performing, Responding, Connecting, Music, Drama, English Language Arts, Mathematics, Social Studies, World Languages Special Thanks

3 Welcome to the BSO Midweeks! On behalf of the Associate Conductor for Education, Nicholas Hersh, the members of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, and the BSO Education Department, we are delighted to welcome you to our Midweek Concert Series. With the BSO s Midweek Concert series as the longest running education initiative at the BSO (running since February 16, 1924), and the first regular educational concert series of any orchestra in the country, we are thrilled to have you join us here at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall. We are pleased to announce that the Midweek concert series has been realigned to serve all students in grades Pre-K to Grade 12 inclusively. This Midweek Concert Season, we present two concert themes for older students (Baltimore Voices and A Christmas Carol) and two for younger students (Around the Globe and Ballet to Flamenco). Each concert incorporates an Arts-Integrated, STEAM-Activated approach to create a relevant, interactive, and interdisciplinary experience. About This Guide On the next pages you will find the Teachers Guide for Around the Globe, written by a highly skilled group of Maryland educators with specialism in Music, Drama, Science, English/Language Arts, and Visual Arts, led by award-winning curriculum writer and editor, Richard McCready. At the start of the guide is a Snapshot of your concert experience. This will give you a sense of what to expect in the concert, along with some thoughts about the various curricular connections, and music we suggest you experience in the classroom before the performance. Beyond the Snapshot pages you will find a variety of activities, called Journeys, to signify the various directions that you can explore in order to prepare for this concert. Each Journey may be used in any order you wish. We have also highlighted the various cross-curricular links that align with each Journey so that you may jump to areas that are of particular interest to you and your students. We hope that your students try at least one activity prior to coming to the concert so they can make the most of their live experience at the Meyerhoff. Each activity is written to encourage students natural sense of creativity and exploration. They can read the activity pages, or you can read the activities with them. Some of the activities are scientific, some are movement games, some employ and encourage art skills, and some involve storytelling and role-play. You know your students, their capabilities, and their interests the best. Please encourage students to try the activities that you feel are most appropriate for them and for your classroom. Encourage other teachers in your building to try some of the activities as well. These guides are designed and intended as a mere starting point for exploration, with the essential piece being the work that is created by the student and for the student. Our ultimate goal is to facilitate a strong connection between the music performed by the BSO and the everyday lives of your students, so that they may continue to take music with them wherever they go. Please feel free to share your students work with us at the BSO we love to see where the ideas from these activities might take your students and all the inspired, arts-integrated work they will produce in the classroom. If you wish to share any materials with us at the BSO, please send them to education@bsomusic.org. 1

4 We hope you enjoy this guide, your explorations that are yet to come, the concert experience, and sharing your creative work with us. Warmly, Carole Wysocki Director of Education & Community Engagement Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Katie Brill Education Programs Coordinator Baltimore Symphony Orchestra 2

5 Around the Globe: Concert Program Below is the list of pieces that will be performed on the Around the Globe Midweek Concerts. Please take a moment to listen to these pieces in advance of the concert on Youtube, Spotify, or itunes. GERSHWIN: Promenade ( Walking the Dog ) BORODIN: Selection from In the Steppes of Central Asia HE ZHANHAO and CHEN GANG: Selection from The Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto GINASTERA: Danza final (Malambo) from Estancia, op. 8a ARTURO MÁRQUEZ: Conga del Fuego Nuevo 3

6 World Music Tour Around the Globe: Snapshot for Teachers and Students Below is an image showing our journey around the world during this Midweek Concert: Image Source: We begin with the familiar music of George Gershwin, a 20 th -century American composer. Gershwin s Promenade (also known as Walking the Dog ) was originally featured in the 1937 film Shall We Dance starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. In the film, the piece was used during a scene when a character is literally walking a dog aboard a luxury ship. 4

7 Next, we step into the world of Russian composer Alexander Borodin. Borodin was not a full-time composer but rather a chemistry professor who composed in his spare time, particularly when he was sick in bed. Written in 1880, Borodin s In the Steppes of Central Asia was dedicated to composer Franz Liszt, who played a significant role in Borodin s music being performed in Western Europe. The piece was one of 12 pieces that were intended to accompany a set of tableaux vivants an art form in which costumed actors pose motionless as if they are part of a painting showing the first 25 years of the reign of Alexander II. In the Steppes of Central Asia uses three distinct musical lines depicting an Asian caravan, the Russian troops protecting the caravan, and the entire group traveling across the grasslands of the Caucasus. We then move farther east to sample the music of China. The Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto was written by two composers studying at the Shanghai Conservatory in the 1950s. Based on a famous story of two lovers dating back to the Tang Dynasty (9 th -10 th century CE), the piece premiered in 1959 but was banned for a decade, beginning in 1966, during Chairman Mao Zedong s Cultural Revolution. The music illustrates the story of the two lovers, borrowing themes from traditional Shaoxing opera, and the violin solo imitates the traditional two-string Chinese instrument called the èrhú. You can find more information, including a full description of the storyline of The Butterfly Lovers at the two sites below: Lovers.pdf Jumping back to the Western Hemisphere, we take a look at the music of Argentine composer Alberto Ginastera (pronounced gee-nah-stare-ah). Ginastera received a commission in 1941 to write a ballet for the American Ballet Caravan with an Argentine setting. The resulting piece was Estancia, a ballet based on Argentine country life. The ballet was not performed until 1952, but four dances were extracted for a concert performance in 1943 in Buenos Aires, including the malambo you will hear in this concert. The title Malambo refers to an energetic, fast dance performed by Argentine cowboys, called gauchos. We conclude our journey with Mexican composer Arturo Márquez s Conga del Fuego Nuevo, translated as Conga of the New Fire. This piece is inspired by Afro-Cuban conga, a style with memorable tunes and exciting dance rhythms. Márquez is a living composer currently residing with his family in Mexico City. Music as Language, Music in Language Music and language are two key expressions of a country s culture. Music in itself is often used as a form of communication in which stylistic elements, musical imitations of realistic people, places, or things, and the instrumentation reflect the culture. You can even go so far as to imagine an entire scene unfolding within the music because the music translates into ideas so effectively. When you go to the concert, see if you can find good examples, and think about how you would use music to reflect the culture of where you live. 5

8 Languages are also a form of communication that can reflect the culture of a country. Many world languages require the correct pronunciation and tone in order to communicate meaning, taking on a musical characteristic (see the Fifth Journey in this guide for a full description of tonal languages). Some of the most common tonal languages include Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai, and Punjabi. So what does this mean for us, that we can use music and language as a tool for communication? If we understand the music and language of another country s culture, we can gain a greater understanding of the perspective of people from another country. The next time you meet someone from a country different from yours, ask that person about music from that country, and, if you feel ambitious, try to learn a language spoken in that country. Feel free to share your own experiences as well. Then see what happens when the two of you make music together! 6

9 Journey One: Multicultural Movement The pieces you hear at the Around the Globe concert will inspire you to move in many ways! As you listen to the different selections, try responding by creating movements to match the music. Be mindful of the time, space, and energy it takes to express various tempo or expression markings. Listening to the music and creating movements will help you know what to expect when you visit the Meyerhoff. Activity Ideas You will need to listen to the music that is featured in the concert. Here is a YouTube playlist for you to use with these following activities: GERSHWIN: Promenade ( Walking the Dog ) This piece highlights the jazzy sounds of the clarinet. Listen closely to this piece and try to create movements that follow the outline of this story: 1. Getting ready for a walk 2. Walking down the street 3. Looking both ways to cross the street 4. Letting the dog off the chain to move freely around the park 5. Finishing the walk and getting home. BORODIN: Selection from In the Steppes of Central Asia There are three main themes heard within the music, which include the theme of the Russians, the traveling theme, and the Eastern theme. Collaborate with some friends to create a way to show the themes using movement as you hear them in the music. Can you add props or costumes to enhance your performance? 7

10 Image source: HE ZHANHAO and CHEN GANG: Selection from The Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto Ribbons and scarves can be used to show the lengths of phrases in music. Listen carefully to the music and feel the length of musical thoughts expressed in the phrases (musical sentences/thoughts). Where does the first section of the music come back again? Can you remember the moves you created and duplicate them again? What props could you use to represent the Butterfly Lovers? Perhaps you could draw pictures of the two butterflies and use them as you move! GINASTERA: Danza Final (Malambo) from Estancia, op. 8a Gauchos (Argentine cowboys) use the Malambo dance to demonstrate their strength and skill by dancing to such a quick beat! Imagine you are challenged to a dance-off with a friend. What movements would you create to show strength and power in a piece that has such a fast tempo? Suggested YouTube clip and video: Che Malambo (Video Clip) - Pulse: A Stomp Odyssey (Trailer) - ymk5 8

11 ARTURO MÁRQUEZ: Conga del Fuego Nuevo Get on your feet! This music will make your whole body move and groove. Let s isolate the movements you can create by using your body. What would it look like if only your shoulders can dance? How can you create a head dance? What can you do with those crazy knees? Work together as a class to explore ways to celebrate movement and work together to create a festive community dance! Suggested Resource: Hart, A. & Mantell, P. (1993). Kids Make Music! Nashville, TN: Williamson Books. Pages (Chapter - A Musical Multicultural Party Dances from around the world.) Key Terms Malambo: a native Argentine dance typically performed by men with instrumental accompaniment. The music has no words and is based entirely on rhythm. Ternary form (Also known as ABA form): three large sections of music in which the first and third sections are the same but the second section sounds different. Concerto: a piece of music generally divided into 3 movements that features a solo instrument accompanied by an orchestra. 9

12 Curriculum Connections Fine Arts Standards Creating o 1: Generate and conceptualize artistic ideas and work. o 2: Organize and develop artistic ideas and work. Performing o 5: Develop and refine artistic work for presentation. Responding o 7: Perceive and analyze artistic work. o 8: Interpret intent and meaning in artistic work. Connecting o 11: Relate artistic ideas and works with societal, cultural, and historical context to deepen understanding. Social Studies Practices SS2: Applying disciplinary tools and concepts in civics, economics, geography, and history. 10

13 Journey Two: Which Instrument are You? At the BSO concert, you will hear music with many different instruments: some you already know and some that are brand new to you. Sometimes instruments remind us of people when they make sound. Activity Ideas Watch this video introducing some instruments you might already know. What kinds of personalities do the instruments have? tzi0cv9uxoz-&index=1 Use the resources below and discover a new instrument that has a sound that you love. Fill out the profile below: saboutinstruments fhjpc&hl=en_us&ll= %2c &z=2 The basics: What is the name of the instrument? What country does it come from? Draw a picture of the instrument. What parts of the body are required to play the instrument? How is the instrument played? What is the musician doing to make the instrument speak? 11

14 Bring it to life! Pick three words that describe the instrument s sound. If the instrument could speak, what would it be saying? What is it not saying? If the instrument s sound was a flavor, what would it taste like? If the instrument was an animal, what animal would it be? What job would the instrument do? Why do you like this instrument? Now, pick a short story you know (Three Little Pigs, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, etc.). Rewrite the story as if your new favorite instrument was now in the story. How would this change the story? If you don t think it could be added to this story, why not? Next, choose one of the following: 1. Create a song that the instrument would sing in the story 2. Draw a picture from the story with the instrument in it 3. Make a comic strip of your new version of the story 4. Write a skit depicting a part of the instrument s part in the story 5. Do a dance showing how the instrument character moves in the story. 12

15 Curriculum Connections Fine Arts Standards Creating o 1: Generate and conceptualize artistic ideas and work. o 2: Organize and develop artistic ideas and work. o 3: Refine and complete artistic work. Performing o 4: Analyze, interpret, and select artistic work for presentation. o 5: Develop and refine artistic work for presentation. o 6: Convey meaning through the presentation of artistic work. Responding o 8: Interpret intent and meaning in artistic work. Connecting o 10: Synthesize and relate knowledge and personal experiences to make art. o 11: Relate artistic ideas and works with societal, cultural, and historical context to deepen understanding. ELA Practices E1: They demonstrate independence. E2: They build strong content knowledge. E3: They respond to the varying demands of audience, task, purpose, and discipline. E4: They comprehend as well as critique. E5: They value evidence. E7: They come to understanding other perspectives and cultures. Social Studies Practices SS1: Developing questions and planning inquiry. SS2: Applying disciplinary tools and concepts in civics, economics, geography, and history. SS3: Gathering and evaluating evidence. 13

16 Journey Three: Composing Pentatonic Music The following activities will be a journey through melody and form. Students will create a ternary (ABA) form piece of music with pentatonic scales and unpitched percussion. Activity Ideas A pentatonic scale is a scale that uses five notes per octave on the keyboard. A scale using the notes C, D, E, G, A is the easiest, most accessible version. You can also use just the black keys on the keyboard to play a pentatonic scale: F#, G#, A#, C#, D#. In solfége it would be Do, Re, Mi, Sol, La. The wonderful part of using this scale is that in any combination, the harmonies created by these notes sounding together always sound great. Divide your class into groups of 5 or 6. Each group will create a piece of music in ternary (ABA) form. Each group will need at least 3 xylophones, or 2 keyboards, and some unpitched percussion instruments. Each student using the xylophones or keyboards will create their own short melody, and then as a group, they will decide how to put them together. They can layer them in, repeating each until all the melodies are playing at once; they can start all together and play their melodies several times; or they can play each individually. They should be creative in how they want to conclude this section (A) to lead to the next. The next section (B) will be a total contrast to the A section because the students will play the unpitched percussion instruments. In this section, the students will combine rhythms and sounds to create another short section of music that they feel can connect to the first, but still be completely different. The students can choose to use regular classroom instruments (pitched and/or unpitched) or body percussion. One person must be the beat keeper. They also need to find a way to transition into and out of the B section. 14

17 After students are comfortable with their ABA piece they should perform it for the class. Record the performance and play it back for them so they can hear how wonderful all the parts are when put together. Students can then evaluate their performance. The pentatonic scale is frequently the basis for the music of Asia. It is found in both In the Steppes of Central Asia and The Butterfly Lovers Concerto. Curriculum Connections Fine Arts Standards Creating o 1: Generate and conceptualize artistic ideas and work. o 2: Organize and develop artistic ideas and work. o 3: Refine and complete artistic work. Performing o 5: Develop and refine artistic work for presentation. Responding o 9: Apply criteria to evaluate artistic work. 15

18 Journey Four: The Itsy-Bitsy Spider sung in different languages The Itsy Bitsy Spider is a well-known American children s song that has been translated into many different languages. Let us go on a journey to these countries! Activity Ideas 1. Sing The Itsy-Bitsy Spider in English. Some people call this The Eency Weency Spider. Other small differences may appear in different versions of this song. Traditional songs have these changes because of how they are typically taught: by word of mouth. Now, have students try singing it in Spanish, Chinese, or Russian (music is provided on the following pages), or in other languages they may know. Have fun with it! Students may discover that the translations in other languages have phrasing that may differ slightly from these versions. Discuss why this may be so. 2. Ask the children to share songs and song stories that are traditional to their country or culture. Who taught you the song (school or family)? Where is the country located (find it on a globe or map)? Allow students time to share information about traditional cultural costumes and clothing, food, dances, and other music. 3. Take a song or nursery rhyme from another culture and translate it to your most proficient language. Did it translate the same as the original? (No, as grammar differs by language.) Try singing it in the translated language or make up a language and sing it! 16

19 Curriculum Connections Fine Arts Standards Creating o 1: Generate and conceptualize artistic ideas and work. Responding o 7: Perceive and analyze artistic work. Connecting o 11: Relate artistic ideas and works with societal, cultural, and historical context to deepen understanding. Social Studies Practices SS3: Gathering and evaluating evidence. 17

20 Spanish 18

21 Chinese 19

22 Russian 20

23 Journey Five: Fun with Tones: Tonal Language, Music, and Poems In this activity, you will learn about how tones work in tonal languages and get a chance to practice the tones used in Mandarin Chinese. You will also explore how the tone of instruments helps tell a story or sets the mood in symphonic music. Finally, you will have a chance to write your own version of a Chinese animal poem and present it using the tone of your voice or other instruments to make your performance as interesting as possible. Activity Ideas When you learn to read out loud, you see a word on the page and then you know how to say it. When you learn to read music, you see the note on the staff and know how to make that sound with your instrument or voice. But you can also see whether that sound is a high sound or a low sound. We call the highness or lowness of sounds the pitch. But did you know that there are some languages where what you read on the page not only tells you WHAT to say but HOW high or low you should speak the word, just as if each word was a musical note? And did you know that the meaning of the word changes in these languages depending on how you say it? Cool, right? A. Tonal Language We call these kinds of languages tonal languages. Tonal languages are like a combination of music and words in that the way you change the pitch of your voice communicates the meaning of the word. Read below to find out a little bit about the tonal language (Mandarin Chinese) of the story behind The Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto, which you will hear at the concert. 21

24 The Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto by He Zhanhao and Chen Gang is a famous piece of Chinese orchestral music that tells the tale of an ancient Chinese legend, the Butterfly Lovers. You can read the story here: The original story was told in Mandarin Chinese, a tonal language. In Mandarin, there are four basic tones you can speak. Each syllable in each word has one of these tones. You can tell which tone to give a syllable by the marks above the vowel in pinyin. (Pinyin is a way of spelling out Chinese syllables with letters from the English alphabet, and it helps readers learn how to pronounce the Chinese characters). Learning how to pronounce Chinese tones can be a fun part of studying the language. Try it out! First look at this chart that shows you a little bit about the sounds for each tone. Look how some of the lines slide up and down. It can help you to think of the lines like notes on a musical staff that teach you how to move your voice or keep it the same for each tone. For instance, in the word ma. 1. Tone One (high tone) means you would say the sound with a flat high tone. It is represented by a long flat line over the vowel like this: This pronunciation means mother. 22

25 2. Tone Two (rising tone) rises up quickly (raise your eyebrows while saying it to help yourself!). It is represented by this symbol: This pronunciation means linen or material 3. Tone Three (falling-rising tone) falls in pitch and then goes up again (drop your chin onto your neck and raise it again). It is represented by this symbol: This pronunciation means horse. 4. Tone Four (falling tone) falls in pitch from a high to a low level (stomp your foot gently). It is represented by this symbol: This pronunciation means to scold. Now you try! Say the word Ma using each one of the tones. Don t forget to think of the tones like notes on a musical staff and slide your voice from one note to another in tones two, three, and four. Try this game to help you learn the tones, listen to other people pronounce the tones, and see if you can hear them for yourself! B. Tone Poems The Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto by He Zhanhao and Chen Gang that you will hear tells the tale of an ancient Chinese legend, The Butterfly Lovers, through music. While it's not hard to tell a musical story using music AND singing (both operas and musicals do that), the violin concerto tells a story using only instruments. 23

26 The name for this special kind of musical story telling is a tone poem. Musicians also use the term symphonic poem to mean the same thing. Sometimes you ll also hear this kind of music called program music, which means instrumental music with a written program describing the music's story, mood or idea. In a tone poem, the sound of the instruments guides us to the meaning of the story. Here s another famous example of symphonic program music: The Carnival of the Animals by Camille Saint-Saëns. It has 14 movements, each of which is named after an animal: Do you think the music in each movement sounds like its animal name? What s your favorite animal? What kind of music would you use to sound like your favorite animal? What kind of instruments would you use? C. From Tone to Tang: Chinese Animal Poems In the 9 th Century in China, a particular kind of poem was very popular. It was four lines long. Sometimes each line had five syllables, or sometimes each line had seven syllables. Often each pair of lines (a couplet) rhymed, but that wasn t always required. Many of these ancient poems, called Gǔshī, were about animals. Here are a few examples: An Ode to the Goose (Traditional) Source: 24

27 An Ode to the Goose is a short poem from the Tang Dynasty, and is often the first poem that Chinese children are taught. It was written by a seven-year-old boy who would go on to become one of the most famous poets of the Tang Dynasty, and later served as a secretary of the government of Chang an. While the original Chinese poem rhymed, the English translation does not: Goose, goose, goose, You bend your neck towards the sky and sing. Your white feathers float on the emerald water, Your red feet push the clear waves. Hedgehog by Chu Chen Po, 9 th Century (translated by Kenneth Rexroth) Source: freevector.com He ambles along like a walking pin cushion, Stops and curls up like a chestnut burr. He's not worried because he's so little. Nobody is going to slap him around. Now try writing your own Gǔshī. Here s a list of some animals that live in China, just like the butterfly in the Violin Concerto, to get you started: Giant Panda Camel (the Bactrian, or two-humped kind) Orangutan Asian Elephant Tiger Snow Leopard Cricket Bear 25

28 Or research some other animals that live in China (do you know what a Pangolin is?) and write a four line Gǔshī poem about one of them. Some things to try in your poem: Make the couplets or pairs of lines in your poems rhyme with each other. Make each line have only five syllables or only seven syllables. Write a Gǔshī poem about o your pet o your favorite animal o a make-believe or fantasy animal D. Presenting your Poem with Tones Try these different ways to share your poem with others. Draw a picture to go along with your poem. Have someone dance or act out your poem as you read it. Recite your poem using interesting tones in your voice that sound like the animal in your poem. Add music that sounds like your animal behind the poem. Speak or sing your poem as a group. Can you think of more? Have fun with all the different ways you can perform your poems for one another! Terms: Staff, Pitch, Tone, Tonal Language, Chinese Mandarin, pin yin, tone poem, movement, couplet, Gǔshī, pangolin, syllable 26

29 Curriculum Connections Fine Arts Standards Creating o 1: Generate and conceptualize artistic ideas and work. o 2: Organize and develop artistic ideas and work. o 3: Refine and complete artistic work. Performing o 4: Analyze, interpret, and select artistic work for presentation. o 5: Develop and refine artistic work for presentation. o 6: Convey meaning through the presentation of artistic work. Responding o 7: Perceive and analyze artistic work. o 8: Interpret intent and meaning in artistic work. o 9: Apply criteria to evaluate artistic work. Connecting o 10: Synthesize and relate knowledge and personal experiences to make art. o 11: Relate artistic ideas and works with societal, cultural, and historical context to deepen understanding. ELA Practices E3: They respond to the varying demands of audience, task, purpose, and discipline. E6: They use technology and digital media strategically and capably. E7: They come to understanding other perspectives and cultures. Mathematics Practices M6: Attend to precision. Social Studies Practices SS3: Gathering and evaluating evidence. 27

30 SPECIAL THANKS The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra acknowledges with gratitude the work of the following individuals who contributed to the development of these materials: Richard McCready, Lesson Plan Writing Workshop Facilitator; Lead Writer, Editor River Hill High School, Howard County Gina Braden, Writer The Park School of Baltimore, Baltimore County Nellie Hill, Writer Retired, Howard County The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra is proud to acknowledge support for its Midweek Education Series from the following funders: Official Education Partner: Supporting Sponsors: Theresa Iacarino, Writer Joppa View Elementary School, Baltimore County Rebecca Ludwig, Writer Roland Park Elementary/Middle School, Baltimore City Catina Ramis, Writer Veterans Elementary School, Howard County Carole Wysocki, Director of Education & Community Engagement Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Katie Brill, Education Programs Coordinator Baltimore Symphony Orchestra These concerts are supported, in part, through the generosity of the Zanvyl and Isabelle Krieger Endowed Fund for Education and the Patricia and Mark K. Joseph Music Education Fund for City Schools students. 28