Listening and Responding Learning Objectives: Listen with concentration and use imagination Respond to and become familiar with the music to be performed at the concert Begin to develop an awareness of music within historical timeline Resources: Audio File for The Gnome and The Great Gate of Kiev by Mussorgsky Reference to the class musical timeline & related Mussorgsky cards Large paper, variety of art materials Mussorgsky PowerPoint Remember to add Mussorgsky to the musical timeline. Mussorgsky wrote his Pictures at an Exhibition after seeing an art exhibition. Although the original architect s drawing of the Great Gate of Kiev remains there is no evidence of the picture of the Gnome. 1. The Gnome Imagine The Gnome! As you listen to Mussorgsky s music for the Gnome consider the five senses and think about the following: o What might it look like? o How might it feel? o What might it smell like? o How might it move? o What might it eat? o Where might it live? Make a representation of your imagined gnome inspired by Mussorgsky s music. Further Creative Development The music begins in a grotesque and angular way followed by a more mysterious middle section with a fast and dramatic ending. Creative Development Ideas: Write a description of your gnome. Write a poem about your gnome. Read Jack Prelutsky s poem The Witch, for further inspiration. (The words for this year s song.) Create masks Create a dance to Mussorgsky s music Make sculptures
2. The Great Gate of Kiev Design a Grand Entrance for an important city of place In the past, many towns and cities would have had gateways. Look at the architect s drawing for The Great Gate of Kiev by Victor Hartmann (See PowerPoint) Mussorgsky interpreted this small drawing through his music, imagining what the gate might have looked like had it ever been built (which it never was). The great gate of Kiev was to have been made of stone and the archway was to have rested on huge granite pillars, decorated with the Russian eagle. It was even supposed to contain a small church! Ask the class to imagine they are architects, and have been asked to design a grand gateway or entrance to an important city or place. Listen to Mussorgsky s music as you work. Think about: o Where your grand entrance might be? e.g. for a city, local town or important place, football club, your class/school etc. o What might it look like e.g. size, shape, colour? o What materials will it be made from? o How it will be decorated? (Hartmann s drawing used the Russian eagle in his design so, for example, if you were designing a gateway for Liverpool you might want to use the Liver Birds.) o Make sure the design is grand enough to do justice to Mussorgsky s music! Further Development turn your designs into a giant painting or sculpture. You could do one each or create a huge one together. You could even create a grand entrance for your classroom!
Music & Creative Development Compose a Musical Procession travelling to the Great Gate Learning Objectives: Compose a short rhythm and melody which can be repeated over a steady pulse Use crescendo and diminuendo with control Select and combine sounds to create certain moods and effects Rehearse, appraise and refine ideas Work and perform with others Resources: Tuned and un-tuned percussion Instruments the children are learning Notation worksheet (for each pair/ group) Key Vocabulary: Compose Melody Pulse and rhythm Structure Repetition Dynamics: crescendo, diminuendo Before you start the group activity you might wish to: Play louder/quieter games Explore getting gradually louder/quieter using instruments Physically move nearer and further from a sound source Investigate how the same instruments can be played louder/quieter you need to control the sound carefully! Work in pairs or small groups Imagine there is a big procession making its way towards the great gate/entrance to the city. Task 1: Set a pulse Footsteps. This will be Section A What speed will the music need to be? If people are processing do they move quickly or slowly. Explore walking at different speeds to find the best tempo (speed) Andante, the Italian term used in music, literally means at a walking pace. The steady pulse and tempo (speed) needs to be maintained throughout the piece a good procession does not speed up and slow down! Notate your musical footsteps. (Use the resource sheet or make up your own way.) Task 2: Compose a short rhythm for your procession theme lasting 8 beats (see example). This will be Section B Explore different rhythm patterns (see examples) Keep it simple and use crotchets and quavers Notate your rhythm. (Use the resource sheet or make up your own way.) Rehearse your rhythm until you can play it confidently and accurately
Task 3: Add a melody to your rhythm Limit the choice of pitches to 2 or 3 different notes; those with more experience could use notes from the pentatonic scale (e.g. FGACD) Remind the children they need to be able to repeat their melody keeping in time to a steady beat. Simple is more effective! Notate your melody. (Use the resource sheet or make up your own way.) Rehearse your rhythms and melody until you can play them confidently and accurately. (If the children are struggling, simplify it!) Task 4: Dynamics How will the music start if it is far away in the distance? (very quietly) The melody/theme will be repeated gradually getting louder as the procession gets nearer. How can you make the sound get louder? (e.g. by playing louder and gradually crescendo and/or by adding more sounds to make the musical texture thicker /louder. Explore creating a gradual crescendo (getting louder) with the children it s harder than you think! As the procession arrives at the gate decide if it is going to stop at the gate fortissimo (very loud) or carry on beyond the gate into the city and off into the distance? (If so, as the procession passes the gate it will be at its loudest then as it goes through the gate then the sound will gradually diminuendo, ie get quieter and quieter again.) Task 5: Performance Get ready to perform the piece to the rest of the class: Decide how many times you are going to repeat your sections A & B. For example: o A B A B A starting very quietly and getting gradually louder each time Decide on the instruments you will use may be a hand drum for the footsteps. Will you add more instruments on each repetition? Rehearse. As the procession travels through the great gate you could perhaps add bells (as in Mussorgsky s music (on the audio track at approx. 03:45) and even cheers from the crowds! Each group performs their finished piece to the class who can then appraise the performances. Questions for the audience could include: Who might be in the procession? Where might it be going? What is it for? How many people are in it? Does each group create a good walking paced theme? Are they able to repeat it accurately? Do the footsteps match the theme? Does the music get gradually louder? How does the piece end? Fortissimo (very loud) or does it diminuendo (gradually get quieter) and fade away to pianissimo (very quiet)?
Additional Information Mussorgsky was born in Russia in 1839. Although Mussorgsky showed musical talents at an early age he was sent to join the army and later became a civil servant. He always continued with his music and after 1858 he began to compose seriously. Mussorgsky gained musical inspiration from the folk music and folk tales he heard in his childhood. He wanted to produce music that would illuminate the lives of many people and he had a very vivid imagination. Mussorgsky was a member of a group of Russian composers known as The 5 or Mighty Handful, who all had a strong feeling of patriotism. His greatest works include the opera Boris Godunov, the orchestral piece A Night on the Bare Mountain and Pictures at an Exhibition. Mussorgsky died in 1881 aged 42. Pictures at an Exhibition: Gnome & Great Gate of Kiev composed in 1874 Mussorgsky wrote his Pictures at an Exhibition in honour of a friend - a painter called Victor Hartmann who had died at the peak of his career, aged just 39. By way of a tribute to the painter Hartmann, a memorial exhibition of his work was arranged. Inspired by the show, Mussorgsky decided to compose a set of piano pieces, Pictures at an Exhibition. Mussorgsky wrote to a friend. 'Ideas, melodies come to me of their own accord, like a banquet of music - I gorge and gorge and overeat myself. I can hardly manage to put them down on paper fast enough.' The pieces in Pictures at an Exhibition mostly try to capture in music the sketches, watercolours and architectural designs that were shown publicly at the Hartmann exhibition. Mussorgsky links his sketches together with a musical Promenade in which he depicts himself moving from one picture to the next. Mussorgsky was not known to get too excited over his own creations but he took special pleasure in this one. Mussorgsky s original piano version of Pictures at an Exhibition is still heard today but it is the different arrangements of his music for full orchestra (by other composers) that are more frequently performed. 1839-1881