Fidelio Overture By Ludwig Van Beethoven

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Frederick Austin
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1 Fidelio Overture By Ludwig Van Beethoven Dear Teacher, Thank you for test driving this lesson plan! These lessons are segments of 5 15 minutes, depending on the instrumentation and size of class. I ve included lots of classroom management reminders and I crave your indulgence with this. In the heat of the moment I tend to forget these vital steps and only see their absence after the lesson is a mess. I make it a habit to include them in my plans. I don t mean to insult your intelligence by including them here. My goals for the students are Prepare and/or practice tiri ti Prepare dotted quarter/eighth figure Working with AB form or ABAB or ABA form. Practice loud (f) and soft (p) Improvisation on Orff bar instruments using the G pentatonic scale Learning the opening rhythmic motive to Beethoven s Fidelio Overture Feedback is appreciated, especially the answers to the following questions: 1. Was the sequence helpful? Did I leave any holes? Too many steps? 2. Was the plan readable? How could it be more useful? 3. Any surprise happy moments? 4. Any student or teacher frustration or mental blocks? 5. Any further information you d like to add. Please feel free to answer any of these questions, but don t feel obligated to answer them all. My is sgeorge01610@charter.net. My phone is (cell with bad voice mail) 1

2 Materials: Solomon Grundy poem on chart or white board or chalk board Markers: dry erase, chalk, or wet erase (to add underlines) Unpitched Orff instruments (wood and metal) Orff Xylophone with Cs, and Fs removed (G pent.) Poster of the Coda section Vocabulary: A section accompaniment B section Beethoven coda fermata (freeze) metal instruments pitch register rhythm wood instruments xylophone K 1 Sequence: I. Introducing the Piece a. Fidelio (physical prep): Teacher models sing/speaking the opening theme of the overture, bending her knees on the low notes, and finally sitting down on here. Students practice this until they all sit firmly without throwing themselves down. 2

3 II. b. Try this with the recording. Gradually stand (like a growing flower) on the quiet part. c. Teacher chants the Solomon Grundy rhyme 1, pointing to each line as she does so. d. Teacher repeats the chant, but asks the students to listen for the ending sound of each line. e. Volunteer students underline the dy or day s at the end of each line (except one) Intermediate Step #1: Playing ostinato to the piece. a. Fidelio (practice the physical exercise): Same as above. b. Teacher chants the rhyme, Solomon Grundy, but points to only the first word of each line as she goes through. c. Student volunteer becomes the pointer d. Students locate the first sound of each line and underline it. Solomon Grundy Born on Monday Christened on Tuesday Married on Wednesday Took ill on Thursday Worse on Friday Died on Saturday Buried on Sunday This is the end of 1 I:c-e and II: a-d can be done by the classroom teacher as part of their reading lessons. 3

4 Solomon Grundy e. If the markings underlining the dy or day ending to words were erased, take this time to underline them afresh. f. Have students clap the underlined words. g. Ask which word in the next to last line should be underlined to keep the pattern of clapping. Ans: of h. Practice clapping and saying the rhyme with different pointers III. Intermediate Step #3: Adding instruments a. Fidelio: (refresh physical prep) Do the singing/bending exercise again. b. Introduce children to the Orff instrument (preferably a Xylophone of some sort) and have them practice playing Beethoven rhythm on their laps with the b sound in their right hand and the others in their left. 2 c. Demonstrate on the instrument, beginning in the middle register. d. Take a moment and have students play a note in either the low, middle, or high register of their instruments. Stress the term register. e. Have students rotate and try the rhythm on the lower half, then the lower 2/3 of the instrument. These turns are very short. Students are being observed for their respectful treatment of the instrument and their ability to follow directions. * note that the figure is always played with a higher note followed by two, identical, lower ones. IV. Intermediate Step #4: Adding unpitched instruments to a rhyme a. Fidelio: Physical activity listed above to get to sitting. b. Solomon Grundy: Students chant the rhyme together, keeping the beat on their legs. 2 This can also be reinforced in their reading classes. 4

5 c. Teacher demonstrates softly clapping (two fingers in the palm works well) the underlined rhythms while saying the rhyme. d. Refresh students memory on the correct way to play the wood instrument you chose for the activity. e. Add wood instruments to the underlined Grundy words. f. Practice saying the rhyme with the wood instruments as accompaniment g. Perform the piece as AB with Beethoven sitting chant (no instruments) followed by the chant with wood instrumental accompaniment. Grade 2-4 Sequence V. Introductory Steps: See the K-1 steps above. Abbreviate them as is appropriate for your students VI. Intermediate Steps: The full Fidelio Theme on Orff xylophones with student bodies imitating register. a. Either sitting in a circle or in rows (whichever works best for your rotating of players and instruments), Play the double Beethoven theme from III:d above. b. Have students play the Beethoven figure 3 times with the first low note being D and the others being anything they like. c. Keep the first low note D, but have each Beethoven figure higher than the one before such that the register is low, middle, then high. d. Add the is here bit with the here being either a D or an A. e. Practice doing the sitting exercise with certain students playing the chant/song on the Xylophones. Rotate this so that all/most children have an opportunity to play as their classmates move to the contours of their melodies. f. Refresh the students memory of Solomon Grundy with the chart and clapping. g. Have students chant again from memory. h. Add unpitched instruments (metal) for the underlined bits. VII. Final Steps of Performance a. Fidelio: Class chants as some students play the theme on the xylophones. b. Grundy: When seated, students clap the underlined words and chant the Solomon Grundy rhyme from memory. c. Repeat: the Fidelio exercise this time going straight into the Grundy rhyme after a fermata pause when you sit. Practice this until it is smooth and absolutely together. (see chart below for the sequence of final steps in graphic form.) 5

6 Solomon Grundy Born on Monday Christened on Tuesday Married on Wednesday Took ill on Thursday Worse on Friday Died on Saturday Buried on Sunday This is the end of Solomon Grundy d. Add metal rhythm instruments to the rhyme (the dotted quarter figure) and do the entire piece as a whole. e. Add metalophones and/or glockenspiels. They will play one, long, sustained tone every other line ( ). You may want to underline their strikes in a new color. f. Repeat the full song beginning with the Fidelio rhythm, this time clap the words (rhythm) of the poem instead of doing the underlined words. g. Take away the vocal chanting and do the rhythm just with hands. Add wood instruments to double the clapping. h. When this is smooth, put certain students on metal instruments for the dotted rhythm and others will clap the words. i. Play without chanting with the metals doing the dotted rhythm and the woods doing the words (rhythm) 6

7 Sequence Form Instruments Beginning AB Fidelio=xylophones Grundy=chant and clap the underlined words Fidelio=xylophones Grundy=chant and clap the underlined words Rehearsing for ABAB smoothness Add woods ABAB Fidelio = xylophones Grundy = chant plus wood instruments on underlined words (accompaniment) Take out speaking Rehearsing the B section Performance without the sitting bit, just instruments ABAB BB ABAB Fidelio xylophones Grundy = clapping or unpitched wood instruments to the words Grundy: underlined words = metals Whole rhyme = woods or clapping Fidelio = xylophones Grundy: underlined words = metals Whole rhyme = woods 7

8 VIII. Adding the Coda a. Tell students that coda means tail in Italian. b. Refresh the students knowledge of the 3 registers of the xylophones, high/medium/low. c. Decipher the coda as a class. d. Practice adding the coda section to the rest of the Composition. Coda Grade 5+ See Podcast listening adventure The podcast is designed to have students aurally distinguish the style of Beethoven from that of Mozart. We learn to detect Beethoven s gift for motive from Mozart s gift for melodies. This will perhaps be a good segment for a substitute or means to give you a break during a vocally taxing day. 8

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