JOSEP CABALLÉ-DOMENECH MUSIC DIRECTOR PHILHARMONIC KIDS
Welcome to Philharmonic Kids! PREPARE Browse this guide to learn more about the music and musicians you will hear at the concert. Listen to some recordings of each piece before your visit to the concert hall - familiarity with the music will make the live experience much more exciting! ONCE YOU RE HERE Please wait until your party is fully seated to rearrange student seat assignments, or to address bathroom needs. If you need to leave the theatre during the concert, please wait for a break between pieces to exit and re-enter. GETTING HERE Upon arriving at the Pikes Peak Center, teachers and parents should check in at the Philharmonic booth in the front lobby to receive seat assignments. Ushers will direct you to your seats. Come prepared and arrive early. Allow for travel time, and plan to be in your seats at least 5 minutes before the performance begins. Be aware and remain quiet. The theater is a live space you can hear the performers easily, and they can hear you, too! Concentrate to help the musicians. Focus on the musicians to support and help them perform their best. Show appreciation by applauding. Applause is the best way to show your enthusiasm and appreciation.
What You ll See and Hear Meet the Performers Peter and the Wolf Thomas Wilson conductor Wednesday, October, 08 at 9:0 and :00 am Thursday, November, 08 at 9:0 and :00 am Pikes Peak Center for the Performing Arts Composers and musicians use music to tell stories. Through music, they depict characters, places, or actions. One of music s greatest strengths is how effectively it can show emotion, helping to intensify the mood or express a certain feeling when mere words are not enough. Because the palette of possible sounds and human emotion is nearly infinite, music is used to tell all kinds of stories: fairy tales, biographies, comedies, stories about history or the natural world. All are told with greater drama, passion, and excitement through music. There s a reason that all hollywood movies - since the dawn of cinema - have included music. When you join us, you will hear flying acrobats as an ancient people call for rain; conversations between some classic fairy tale characters; and of course, Prokofiev s classic, Peter and the Wolf. WHAT YOU LL HEAR WHAT TO LISTEN FOR Orchestration Which instrument plays which part of the music? Repetition What melodies/patterns do you hear over and over? Dynamics Is the music soft or loud? Does it change gradually or suddenly? Tempo How fast or slow does the music move? WHAT TO IMAGINE Characters What sort of characters are the instruments and music portraying? Colorado Springs Philharmonic orchestra The Colorado Springs Philharmonic began 90 years ago as the Colorado Springs Symphony Ensemble, in 97. Today, the orchestra includes approximately 75 musicians, and they perform over 0 concerts each year, including 8 Philharmonic Kids concerts exclusively for kids. The Philharmonic performs a variety of concerts ranging from classical to popular music at the Pikes Peak Center. You can even hear their performances on the radio! Though our musicians live in Colorado, they come from all over the world, including Venezuela, Spain, China, Bulgaria, and Russia. Thomas Wilson conductor Maestro Wilson is the Associate Conductor of the Colorado Springs Philharmonic, and also serves as Music Director of the Chamber Orchestra of Colorado Springs. He is also a teacher, both at Colorado College and the Colorado Springs Conservatory. Gomez Los Voladores Thomas began studying piano at age, and has also studied trumpet, percussion, string bass, voice, Ravel Mother Goose Suite composition, and conducting wow, that s a lot of IV. Conversations of the Beauty and the Beast Feeling musical skills! When he isn t conducting, Thomas How do you think the plays in the trumpet section of the Colorado Springs Prokofiev Peter and the Wolf characters feel? How does Philharmonic. Thomas also likes reading, chess, and the music make YOU feel? playing with his dog. 5
Meet Peter and His Pals Hear David Bowie introduce Peter and his pals! Visit csphilharmonic.org/peter-and-the-wolf/materials to find the video. As you listen, color in the characters and name each instrument you hear. The Bird The Bird is played by the. The Wolf The Wolf is played by the. The Duck Peter The Duck is played by the. Peter is played by the. The Cat The Cat is played by the. The Grandfather The Hunters The Grandfather is played by the. The Hunters are played by the. 6 7
Instruments of the Orchestra The orchestra features a wide variety of instruments, but they all belong to just four families of instruments: strings, woodwinds, brass, and percussion. Each instrument belongs to their family because of what the instrument is made of, and how it produces its sound. Can you place all of the instruments in their correct family? Most orchestras today will arrange their instruments and musicians on stage in the same way, with a few slight variations. Below is a diagram showing how the musicians are seated at the Colorado Springs Philharmonic. Try to memorize where each instrument family is seated so that you can look for your favorite instruments at the concert! trumpets trombones tuba french horns piano clarinets flutes bassoons oboes cellos timpani harp second violins double basses percussion first violins violas conductor STRING FAMILY WOODWIND FAMILY BRASS FAMILY PERCUSSION FAMILY 8 9
Activities What s That Sound? Activities Musical Character Expressions PREPARATION PROCEDURE Goals: Aurally identify musical instruments and features Practice forming a narrative story structure (can be as formal as necessary for your grade level) Grade Level: Students Grade K 5 You Will Need: Recording of Ravel s Mother Goose Suite (visit csphilharmonic.org/peter-and-the-wolf/materials) Writing or drawing paper Announce to your students that they are going to hear a story in class today. Without naming the piece, play and have students listen to Conversations of the Beauty and the Beast (or another movement) from Ravel s Mother Goose Suite. Ask students about what instruments and musical features they heard. What types of character(s) or story elements are they portraying? Students should practice using musical and grade-level vocabulary to describe what they re hearing. Play the piece a second and third time if necessary. Students may draw characters that they see as they re listening, or you may ask them to write descriptive sentences or paragraphs between listenings. Have students share their interpretations with the class. Lead the class to a consensus on their favorite interpretations for each instrument and/or section of the music. Record these responses on the blackboard, creating a loose outline. Using the class outline, students can explore a variety of activities, individually or in groups: write their own short stories to accompany the music, draw characters or comic strips of the story, make puppets of their characters and create a puppet show... the sky s the limit! 0 PREPARATION PROCEDURE Goals: Engage students in collaborative discussions to identify character traits and describe how ideas are communicated through music Compose/arrange musical phrases using rhythm and/or pitch Grade Level: Students Grade K 5 You Will Need: Grade-appropriate short story, fiction or non-fiction (use something relevant to another unit you are teaching!) Whiteboard or Easel Pad Variety of instruments (may be body percussion or found objects that produce sound) Music staff paper for each student/group (optional) Read your short story to the class, or have students read on their own, in groups, or at home for homework. As a class, ask students to identify different characters or story elements from the story and write these on the board as headings. Under each character/ element heading, ask students to expand those ideas with more adjectives to describe those characters. 5 6 Form students into groups. Each group should use similar-sounding instruments, and there should be enough instruments for each student to have one to play. Assign or have each group choose a character/element they would like to compose music for. Optional: give each group a sheet of music staff paper if you would like for students to notate their composition. Prompt students to compose a short theme on their instruments for their character. What attributes does their character have, and how would those be expressed musically? Would they sound high/low, fast/slow, short/long, smooth/bouncy? Allow students enough time to develop and briefly rehearse their composed themes. *For young students, this can be accomplished instead as a teacher-led class activity, rather than an independent group activity. As a class, read through the story again with students performing their character themes throughout. Students should listen and be ready to play each time their character or story element appears in a scene. Afterward, have students explain why their themes sound the way they do. How do the sounds of their compositions relate to their character/story element? How does their music help tell the story?
Activities Improvised Story Sounds Activities Changing Perspective PREPARATION Goals: Describe the overall structure of a story Improvise musical phrases using rhythm and/or pitch Grade Level: Students Grade 5 You Will Need: Short fable(s) (incorporate fables from many different cultures!) Variety of instruments (or found objects that produce sound) Story Map Worksheet (visit csphilharmonic.org/peter-and-the-wolf/ materials) PREPARATION Goals: Consider details of a story from a differing viewpoint Describe perspective and story differences through music Grade Level: Students Grade 5 You Will Need: Students should already be familiar with the Peter and the Wolf story and Prokofiev s score Character Web Worksheet (visit csphilharmonic.org/peter-and-thewolf/materials) PROCEDURE 5 In this exercise, students will get to improvise their own movie score for a fable. This can be done in groups of any size, or with a whole class. Have students select and read a short fable (this can be done in class or as homework). After reading, have students complete a Story Map Worksheet. You may adapt this sheet to best fit your classroom. This will guide them as they conceptualize their movie score. When complete, guide students through their Music Map Worksheet (pg of the Story Map Worksheet). Help them to think about what the musical elements should sound like, relative to each part of the story. What instruments make those sounds? Also encourage students to write down specific rhythm or pitch patterns that you are working on in class. Using their completed worksheets, have students rehearse their improvised scores. Students may practice reading parts of their fable to each other and improvise appropriate music for each part as they detailed on their worksheets. Students should be actively listening to the story, listening to each other, and making appropriate sounds on their instruments to help tell the story. If your students are unsure of what to play, remind them that there are no wrong notes and guide them again through the story and musical characteristics that they identified for their score. Rehearsal will sound cacophonous, but it is easy to check in on groups and assess their musical interpretations. Following rehearsal, it s time to perform their score! You may narrate the story for each group or select other students to read while each group performs their improvised score, helping to shape and tell their story. PROCEDURE 5 6 Begin by asking students, Whose story is Peter and the Wolf? Though it is narrated in the third person, it is told from Peter s perspective. Using Peter s Character Web, have your students qualify Peter s relationships with the other characters in the story. How does he relate to or feel about his grandfather? The bird? The wolf? Students may do this alone or in groups. Bring the class together to discuss their thinking about Peter s relationships. In each case, ask them to describe how Prokofiev s music illustrates those relationships (e.g. Peter finds the wolf scary and threatening, so the music sounds slow, minor, dark, scary, menacing, etc.). As a class, identify the major plot points of the Peter and the Wolf tale and write these on the board. Ask students to choose an alternate character and consider the story from their viewpoint. Remind them that the plot details those that you wrote on the board will not change, but each character s attitudes might. Using a blank Character Web, have students again qualify how their chosen character might relate to or feel about the other characters in the story. Again, students may do this alone or in groups. Using their new character sheets for reference, have students describe what the music for each character would sound like with this new perspective. For example, the wolf might not think of himself as scary, so how would the music sound instead? Would certain characters be portrayed by different instruments? You can take this further by assigning students to find new pieces of music to portray the characters in their revised stories.
What Does Your Story Sound Like? Colorado Education Standards My favorite story is. Some of the main characters in the story are,, and. In the boxes below, draw a picture of three characters in your favorite story. In the boxes below, describe what instruments, dynamics, and tempo would portray each character. Instrument: Dynamics: Tempo: Instrument: Dynamics: Tempo: Instrument: Dynamics: p P F f p P F f p P F f What s That Sound? (activity on page 0) Comprehend, identify, and analyze instrumental tone colors, dynamics, and tempo MU09-GR.K-S. / MU09-GR.-S. / MU09-GR.-S. / MU09-GR.-S. / MU09-GR.-S. / MU09-GR.5-S. Articulate meaning in music applying appropriate music vocabulary MU09-GR.K-S. / MU09-GR.-S. / MU09-GR.-S. / MU09-GR.-S. / MU09-GR.-S. / MU09-GR.-S. MU09-GR.-S. / MU09-GR.5-S. / MU09-GR.5-S. / RWC0-GR.K-S. / RWC0-GR.K-S. / RWC0-GR.-S. RWC0-GR.-S. / RWC0-GR.-S. / RWC0-GR.-S. / RWC0-GR.-S. Collaboratively discuss elements of the music and story MU09-GR.-S. / MU09-GR.-S. / MU09-GR.-S. / RWC0-GR.K-S. Musical Character Expressions (activity on page ) Compose and perform simple musical phrases and compositions MU09-GR.K-S. / MU09-GR.-S. / MU09-GR.-S. / MU09-GR.-S. / MU09-GR.-S. / MU09-GR.-S. MU09-GR.-S. / MU09-GR.-S. / MU09-GR.-S. / MU09-GR.5-S. / RWC0-GR.-S. / RWC0-GR.-S. RWC0-GR.5-S. Comprehend and identify musical patterns and other musical features MU09-GR.K-S. / MU09-GR.-S. / MU09-GR.-S. / MU09-GR.-S. / MU09-GR.-S. / RWC0-GR.5-S. Articulate meaning in music applying appropriate music vocabulary MU09-GR.K-S. / MU09-GR.-S. / MU09-GR.-S. / MU09-GR.-S. / MU09-GR.-S. / MU09-GR.-S. MU09-GR.-S. / MU09-GR.-S. / MU09-GR.5-S. / MU09-GR.5-S. / RWC0-GR.K-S. / RWC0-GR.-S. RWC0-GR.-S. / RWC0-GR.-S. / RWC0-GR.5-S. Work collaboratively on reading comprehension and communication MU09-GR.-S. / MU09-GR.-S. / RWC0-GR.K-S. / RWC0-GR.K-S. / RWC0-GR.-S. / RWC0-GR.-S. RWC0-GR.-S. / RWC0-GR.-S. / RWC0-GR.-S. / RWC0-GR.-S. / RWC0-GR.5-S. Improvised Story Sounds (activity on page ) Improvise musical patterns and phrases to convey written ideas MU09-GR.-S. / MU09-GR.-S. / MU09-GR.-S. / MU09-GR.5-S. / RWC0-GR.-S. / RWC0-GR.-S. RWC0-GR.-S. / RWC0-GR.5-S. Articulate literary and music concepts using appropriate vocabulary MU09-GR.-S. / MU09-GR.-S. / MU09-GR.-S. / MU09-GR.-S. / MU09-GR.-S. / MU09-GR.-S. MU09-GR.5-S. / MU09-GR.5-S. / RWC0-GR.-S. / RWC0-GR.-S. / RWC0-GR.5-S. Collaboration enhances understanding, understanding enhances reading fluency MU09-GR.-S. / RWC0-GR.-S. / RWC0-GR.-S. / RWC0-GR.-S. / RWC0-GR.-S. / RWC0-GR.5-S. RWC0-GR.5-S. Changing Perspective (activity on page ) Analyzing, understanding, and evaluating different viewpoints RWC0-GR.-S. / RWC0-GR.-S. / RWC0-GR.-S. / RWC0-GR.-S. / RWC0-GR.5-S. / RWC0-GR.5-S. Articulate meaning in music according to elements and aesthetics MU09-GR.-S. / MU09-GR.-S. / MU09-GR.-S. / MU09-GR.-S. / MU09-GR.5-S. / RWC0-GR.-S. Identify and analyze tone colors and musical elements MU09-GR.-S. / MU09-GR.-S. / MU09-GR.5-S. / RWC0-GR.5-S. Tempo: To reference standards addressed by reference number, or for more information on Colorado State Education Standards, visit www.cde.state.co.us/standardsandinstruction. 5
DON T MISS THE NEXT PHILHARMONIC KIDS CONCERT! Coming February, 09 Link Up: The Orchestra Moves Wednesday, February 0, 09 at 9:0 and :00 am Thursday, February, 09 at 9:0 and :00 am This interactive, multi-media concert and curriculum explores how music can move us, inside and out. Participate in this yearlong preparatory curriculum absolutely free. To register, visit our website at csphilharmonic.org/community/educators. Early bird registrants receive tickets for just $.50! Questions about Philharmonic Kids? Contact Bernie Brink at bernie@csphilharmonic.org Philharmonic Kids is generously supported by: McCauley Fund of the Pikes Peak Community Foundation The Moniker Foundation Rotary Club of Colorado Springs Kinder Morgan Foundation American Family Insurance Dreams Foundation The Marson Foundation Employees Charity Organization of Northrop Grumman Ralph and Kathi Braden The Joseph Henry Edmondson Foundation Ent Credit Union Hester E. and Edwin W. Giddings Foundation Richard and Sandra Hilt Lt. Col. (ret) Eugene S. Harsh in loving memory of his wife Lois E. Harsh Phil and Carolyn Erdle Gloria D. Haughton Becky Dunlap Gary F. Dailey Ben and Karol Finch Miriam Giese Mary Kurth