TUESDAY, APRIL 30, 2013

QUOTE:
"Music gives us a language that cuts across the disciplines, helps us to see connections and brings a more coherent meaning
  to our world."
AUTHOR: Ernest Boyer

MEANING OF THE QUOTE:
“Music incorporates all the elements of life into one medium.”

COMPOSER

ROSSINI

La Gazza Ladra Overture

(The Thieving Magpie")

Magpies by John Audubon

The Thieving Magpie by Louis Lassalle

GENERAL MUSIC

01. INTRODUCTION TO 16TH NOTES

.......a.  EXPLAINED THE FRACTIONS INVOLVED BY BREAKING DOWN THE QUARTER NOTE IN HALF TO 

            TWO 8THS THEN BREAKING EACH 8TH  INTO TWO 16THS

.......b.  EXPLAINED THE COUNTING USING BODY PERCUSSION 

............1) QUARTER NOTES ARE COMPLETE "PATSCHES" (A DOWN AND UP MOVEMENT OF THE HAND 

                 ON THE KNEE)

............2) 8TH NOTES ARE PERFORMED BY BREAKING THE BEAT (A COMPLETE "PATSCH") IN HALF 

                 BY PLACING THE NON-MOVING HAND (PALM DOWN) SO THAT THE BACK OF THE MOVING 

                 HAND HITS THE PALM OF THE NON-MOVING HAND AS THE HAND MOVES UP ON THE SECOND

                 HALF OF THE BEAT

.............3) 16TH NOTES ARE PERFORMED BY SNAPPING IN BETWEEN THE 8TH NOTE MOTIONS; SPLITTING

                  THE 8TH NOTES IN HALF

.............4)  EXPlAINED THE COUNTING USING SILLY WORDS:  

...................a)  QUARTER NOTES (ONE BEAT) USE THE WORD "ONE" AS THE WORD CONTAINS ONLY 

                        ONE SYLLABLE

...................b)  8TH NOTES IN PAIRS USE THE WORD "JELL-O" (ONE BEAT SPLIT IN TWO)  AS THE WORD 

                        CONTAINS TWO SYLLABLES

...................c)  16TH NOTES IN GROUPS OF FOUR USE THE WORD "HUCK-LE-BER-RY" (ONE BEAT SPLIT 

                         INTO FOUR EQUAL SECTIONS) AS THE WORD HAS FOUR SYLLABLES

.............4)  EXPLAINED THE COUNTING USING MUSICAL MATH

...................a)  EACH QUARTER BEAT GIVEN A NUMBER FROM ITS PLACEMENT IN THE MEASURE (BASED 

                        ON THE METER;  IE:   "1 / 2 / 3 /4 /" (IN 4-4 METER)

...................b) 8TH NOTES (A BEAT SPLIT IN HALF) TAKE THE NUMBER OF THE BEAT FOR THE FIRST 

                        HALF OF THE BEAT AND AN "and" FOR THE SECOND HALF OF THE BEAT; IE: "1 and / 

                        2 and / 3 and / 4 and /")

...................c)  16TH NOTES (A BEAT SPLIT INTO 4 EQUAL SECTIONS) TAKE THE NUMBER OF THE BEAT 

                         FOR THE FIRST 16TH NOTE AND AN "and" FOR THE THIRD 16TH NOTE WITH AN "e" FOR

                         THE SECOND 16TH NOTE AND AN "a" FOR THE LAST 16TH NOTE; IE:  "1 e and a / 2 e and a / 

                         3 e and a / 4 e and a /"

02. INTRODUCTION TO THE STRING FAMILY OF INSTRUMENTS

......a.  BRIEF OVERVIEW ABOUT WHAT A FAMILY OF INSTRUMENTS ARE AND THE VARIOUS SIZES 

           WHICH SOMEWHAT DICTATES THE ROLE EACH INSTRUMENT MUSICALLY TAKES ON IN 

           THE ORCHESTRA

......b.  STARTED A DEMONSTRATION OF ALL THE STRING INSTRUMENTS PLAYED IN THE ORCHESTRA 

           (TO BE CONTINUED TOMORROW)

ADV. STRINGS

[SPRING CONCERT (THURSDAY; MAY 30TH) PREPARATION]

01. ORANGE BLOSSOM SPECIAL

02. PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN

03.  SOMEBODY I USED TO KNOW

BEG. STRINGS

[SPRING CONCERT (THURSDAY; MAY 30TH) PREPARATION]

01.  STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN

02 . SOMEBODY I USED TO KNOW

03.  YOU'VE GOT A FRIEND IN ME

04.  SABOR A MI (WITH SINGERS)

05.  VOLVER VOLVER (WITH SINGERS)

MONDAY, APRIL 29, 2013

QUOTE:
"The history of a people is found in its songs."
AUTHOR: George Jellinek

MEANING OF THE QUOTE:
"Man leaves behind his history through art.”

COMPOSER

ROSSINI

Semiramide Overture

Edgar Degas: Semiramis Building Babylon

Semiramide is an opera in two acts by Gioachino Rossini. The libretto by Gaetano Rossi is based on Voltaire's tragedy Semiramis, which in turn was based on the legend of Semiramis of Babylon.  (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semiramide ) Semiramis (sĕmĭr`əmĭs) was a mythical Assyrian queen, noted for her beauty and wisdom. She was reputed to have conquered many lands and founded the city of Babylon. After a long and prosperous reign she vanished from earth in the shape of a dove and was thereafter worshiped as a deity, acquiring many of the characteristics of the goddess Ishtar. (http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com)

http://www.library.yale.edu/~rcastong/projects/semiramide.htm

http://www.kennedy-center.org/calendar/?fuseaction=composition&composition_id=3743

http://www.orsymphony.org/concerts/1011/programnotes/cl3.aspx

http://www.laphil.com/philpedia/music/semiramide-overture-gioachino-rossini

GENERAL MUSIC
01. KEYBOARDS: PLAYING RIGHT and LEFT HANDS TOGETHER AT THE SAME TIME 

      USING HARMONY and MELODY
........a. REVIEWED THE TERMS HARMONY and MELODY
........b. EXPLAINED THAT BEFORE WE PLAYED SONGS USING BOTH HANDS BUT 

            AT DIFFERENT TIMES NOW WE WILL BE PUTTING BOTH HANDS TOGETHER 

            AT THE SAME TIME REQUIRING MORE HAND and FINGER MUSCLE CO-

            ORDINATION
........c. SONG: ODE TO JOY
..............1) SHOWED A CHART OF THE SONG THAT STUDENTS WILL BE LEARNING
..............2) EXPLAINED WHERE TO PLACE THE FRAME OF EACH HAND (STARTING 

                  NOTES OF EACH FRAME)
..............3) EXPLAINED WHERE NOTES (NUMBERS) FOR THE LEFT and RIGHT HANDS 

                  WERE LOCATED
..............4) CIRCLED WHERE BOTH LEFT and RIGHT HANDS ARE PLACED DOWN AT 

                  THE SAME TIME
..............5) DEMONSTRATED THE SONG TO THE STUDENTS
....................a) PLAYED THE ENTIRE SONG LEFT and RIGHT HAND PARTS
....................b) PLAYED ONLY THE RIGHT HAND PART (MELODY)
....................c) PLAYED ONLY THE LEFT HAND PART (HARMONY)
....................d) REPLAYED BOTH HANDS TOGETHER
....................e) RE-DISCUSSED THE CONCEPT OF HARMONY and MELODY
....................f) SHOWED THE STUDENTS HOW TO FIND THE FRAME OF EACH HAND 

                       ON THE KEYBOARD
...............6) TOLD A SHORT HISTORY OF THE SONG WRITTEN BY BEETHOVEN
(STUDENTS WHO COMPLETED THE LAST THEORY ASSIGNMENT CORRECTLY WENT TO KEYBOARDS 

TO PRACTICE THIS SONG WITH MUSIC GIVEN THEM WHILE THE OTHERS MET WITH THE TEACHER 

TO REDO THE LAST THEORY ASSIGNMENT)

02. THEORY
.......a. REVIEWED CONCEPT OF STEP VERSUS SKIP
.......b. WORKED WITH STUDENTS WHO HAD TROUBLE WITH THE LAST THEORY

            ASSIGNMENT
.............1) WENT OVER THE ENTIRE ASSIGNMENT and RE-DID IT TOGETHER BEFORE 

                  RE- TURNING IT BACK IN FOR GRADING

ADV. STRINGS
[SPRING CONCERT (THURSDAY; MAY 30TH) PREPARATION]
01. STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN
02. WHAT MAKES YOU BEAUTIFUL
03.  MY HEART GOES ON

BEG. STRINGS
[SPRING CONCERT (THURSDAY; MAY 30TH) PREPARATION]
01. MY HEART GOES ON
02 . HOUDINI
03. SOMEBODY I USED TO KNOW
04. WHAT MAKES YOU BEAUTIFUL

FRIDAY, APRIL 26, 2013

QUOTE:
“Every composer knows the anguish and despair occasioned by forgetting ideas which one had no time to write down.”
AUTHOR: Hector Berlioz

MEANING OF THE QUOTE:
“Artistic inspiration is fleeting (passing quickly) and unexpected.”

COMPOSER
IVES

In Flanders' Fields (1919)

GENERAL MUSIC
01. THEORY
.......a.  PASSED BACK LAST PREVIOUS THEORY ASSIGNMENTS and DISCUSSED
02.  MUSICAL: MY FAIR LADY
........a.  SHORT REVIEW
........b.  WATCHED AS TIME ALLOTTED

ADV. STRINGS
[SPRING CONCERT (THURSDAY; MAY 30TH) PREPARATION]
01. SABOR A MI
.......a.  WE PRACTICED IN MR. ROA'S ROOM WITH HIS ACCOMPANIMENT

 BEG. STRINGS
[SPRING CONCERT (THURSDAY; MAY 30TH) PREPARATION]
01. MY HEART GOES ON
02. CABALITO
03. HOUDINI

THURSDAY, APRIL 25, 2013

QUOTE:
“If we were all determined to play the first violin we should never have an ensemble. Therefore, respect every musician in his proper place.”
AUTHOR: Robert Schumann

MEANING OF THE QUOTE:
“No single person becomes successful on their own; it takes the support of others.”

COMPOSER

IVES

String Quartet No. 1 
"From the Salvation Army"

Salvation Army Band 1910
http://tweeddaletributaries.blogspot.com/2007/09/family-of-james-franklin-tweeddale.html

GENERAL MUSIC
01. THEORY
.......a.  REVIEWED THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN NOTES THAT MOVE BY STEP and NOTES THAT MOVE BY SKIP
............1)  NOTES THAT DON'T MOVE BY STEP (and ARE NOT REPEATED NOTES) ARE NOTES THAT MOVE BY 
                  SKIP
............2)  STEPS ARE WHEN YOU MOVE FROM A LINE NOTE TO THE VERY NEXT SPACE or VICE-VERSA
                  EITHER UP or DOWN
............3)  THERE ARE MANY KINDS (SIZES) OF SKIPS DEPENDING ON HOW MANY LINES and SPACES THERE
                  ARE INBETWEEN THE TWO NOTES and THEY ARE IDENTIFIED AS INTERVALS (3RD'S, 4TH'S, 5TH'S, 
                  ETC.) 
............4)  WHEN PLAYING MUSIC THE MUSICIAN DOES NOT THINK THE NAMES OF THE NOTES AS THEY PLAY 
                  THEY VIEW THE STEPS and VARIOUS TYPES OF SKIPS AND KNOW THE PATTERNS OF FINGERING 
                  ASSOCIATED WITH THE DIFFERENT COMBINATIONS THAT IS WHY IDENTIFYING STEPS and SKIPS 
                  IS SO IMPORTANT FOR NOTE READING
.......b.  THEORY WORKSHEET:  IDENTIFYING NOTES THAT MOVE BY SKIP
.............1)  WE DID THIS TOGETHER IN CLASS
.............2)  WE PASSED IT IN (ALONG WITH 2 OTHER PRIOR WORKSHEETS) FOR GRADING
02.  SNARE DRUM TECHNIQUE and QUARTER NOTE RHYTHMS WITH LEFT/RIGHT DIRECTIONS
........a.  CONTINUED FROM EARLIER THIS WEEK
........b.  STUDENTS LEARN TO FOCUS BY SAYING THE MOVEMENT DIRECTIONS OUT LOUD WHILE PLAYING 
             THE RHYTHMS USING SNARE STICKS and DRUM PAD AGAINST A RECORDED BACKGROUND
........c.  PRODUCING THE SILENCE IS THE HARDEST PART BECAUSE EVERYONE IN THE GROUP NEEDS TO 
             STOP PLAYING DURING THE REST AT THE SAME TIME

ADV. STRINGS
[SPRING CONCERT (THURSDAY; MAY 30TH) PREPARATION]
01. SABOR A MI
02. VOLVER VOLVER
03.  CABALITO
04.  LOS MACHETES

 BEG. STRINGS
[SPRING CONCERT (THURSDAY; MAY 30TH) PREPARATION]
01. ORANGE BLOSSOM SPECIAL
02. STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN
03. MY HEART GOES ON

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 24, 2013

QUOTE:
“You may call for peace as loudly as you wish, but where there is no brotherhood there can in the end be no peace.”
AUTHOR: Max Lerner

MEANING OF THE QUOTE:
“Peace will only happen when man learns to accept the differences of others and come
  together as one.” 
  

COMPOSER

IVES

Country Band March

GENERAL MUSIC
01. NET CART COMPUTER PROJECT:  RESEARCHING and MAKING A MUSICAL INSTRUMENT
.......a.  STUDENTS FINISHED RESEARCHING 10 LINKS and PLACED THEM INTO THEIR GOOGLE DOC
            DOCUMENTS
.......b.  FROM THEIR RESEARCH STUDENTS CHOSE AN INSTRUMENT TO MAKE and STARTED TO WRITE THE
            INGREDIENTS and SEQUENTIAL DIRECTIONS DOWN INTO THEIR DOCUMENT
.......c.  ADD IN WHAT THE INSTRUMENT WILL SOUND LIKE, HOW IT IS PLAYED, and WHAT TYPE OF 
             INSTRUMENT IT IS (PERCUSSION, STRING, WIND)
.......d.  IF COMPLETED, SOME STUDENTS STARTED TO FIND PICTURES TO ADD INTO THEIR DOCUMENT
.......e.  STILL TO BE DONE:  EDITING FOR SPELLING, PUNCTUATION, ETC., PLACING THE WORDS IN A
            FORMAT WITH FONTS and COLORS USED TO MAKE THE DOCUMENT EASY TO READ FOR A WEB PAGE
.......f.  E-MAILING THROUGH GOOGLE DOCS THE PROJECT TO THE TEACHER
.......g.  STUDENTS WILL MAKE THEIR INSTRUMENT AT HOME and BRING TO CLASS TO DEMONSTRATE

ADV. STRINGS
[SPRING CONCERT (THURSDAY; MAY 30TH) PREPARATION]
01. ORANGE BLOSSOM SPECIAL
02. SOMEBODY I USED TO KNOW
03.  PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN
04.  STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN

 

BEG. STRINGS
[SPRING CONCERT (THURSDAY; MAY 30TH) PREPARATION]
01. STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN
02. PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN
03. ORANGE BLOSSOM SPECIAL

TUESDAY, APRIL 23, 2013

QUOTE:
“Everything will pass, and the world will perish but the Ninth Symphony will remain.”
AUTHOR: Ludwig Van Beethoven

MEANING OF THE QUOTE:
“Good art will outlast the generations and continue to be popular.”

COMPOSER

IVES

Holidays Symphony I: 
Washington's Birthday

Holidays Symphony II: 
Decoration Day

Holidays Symphony III: 

Fourth of July

Childe Hassam "The Fourth of July"1916

Holidays Symphony IV part 1:

Thanksgiving and Forefathers' Day

"The Landing of the Pilgrims" by Henry A. Bacon (1877)

Holidays Symphony IV part 2:

Thanksgiving and Forefathers' Day

Doris Lee's painting Thanksgiving 1935

“Thanksgiving and Forefathers’ Day” was the first movement sketched of the four separate orchestral movements of “A Symphony: New England Holidays,” and the last to be performed. Its title refers to two American holidays: the national Thanksgiving Day, commemorating the first harvest of the Plymouth Colony, and Forefathers’ Day, commemorating the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth in 1620 and traditionally observed in New England in December. 

The design of “Thanksgiving” can be represented as A-B-A with a very brief introduction and coda. The B section consists of three versions of George Frederick Root's hymn "The Shining Shore." The three variants themselves constitute a small a-b-a, with soft renditions of the hymn enclosing a more jagged and louder one.

The A section returns, builds grandly, and culminates with the choir singing the Thanksgiving hymn "O God, Beneath Thy Guiding Hand" to the tune called "Duke Street," against which horns and trombones proclaim the melody of "Federal Street":

"God! Beneath thy guiding hand, Our exiled fathers crossed the sea, And as they trod the wintry strand, With prayer and praise they worshipped Thee."

The author of the hymn was Leonard Bacon, who had been minister at Center Church from 1825 until 1866. Ives has us imagine "a Puritan band marching out of view and hearing," and then the music, full of bells and chimes, fades into silence. 

--from notes by Michael Steinberg

http://www.peermusicclassical.com/catalog/catalog_detail.cfmcatalog_id=580&composer_

ID=23&ensemble_type_id=&title=&ensemble_ID=548&ensemble_

detail_ID=&Theme_id=&position=58&totalcount=78

http://www.examiner.com/article/forefathers-day-versus-thanksgiving-day

GENERAL MUSIC
01. THEORY:
.......a. PASSED OUT NEW THEORY PACKET: STEPWISE MOTION and NOTE READING
............1. WENT OVER SECOND PAGE IN CLASS
02. SNARE DRUMMING TECHNIQUE and QUARTER and EIGHTH RHYTHMS
............1. REVIEW OF LEFT-RIGHT DIRECTIONS and THE FIRST LESSON REGARDING
                THIS
..................a. TO HELP WITH FOCUS STUDENTS ARE TO SAY LEFT-RIGHT DIRECTIONS
                      AS THEY MOVE TO THEM
............2. RHYTHM CHART WITH QUARTER NOTES and QUARTER NOTE RESTS USING   
                LEFT and RIGHT DIRECTIONS PLAYED AGAINST A RECORDED 
                ACCOMPANIMENT
..................a. PERFORMING THE SILENCE (RESTS)
.......................1) AS A GROUP SILENCE IS THE MOST DIFFICULT TO PERFORM BECAUSE
                            IF ANY PERSON PLAYS DURING THE REST THE GROUP "SILENCE" IS  
                            BROKEN/TAKES A GROUP FOCUS TO DO CORRECTLY
..................b. FOR FOCUS STUDENTS SHOULD SAY THE LEFT/RIGHT DIRECTIONS and  
..................c. STUDENTS NEED TO MOVE THEIR ARMS SLIGHTLY DURING THE  RESTS  
                      OUT LOUD AS THEY PLAY THE RESTS AS RESTS ARE STILL FELT EVEN
                      THOUGH THEY ARE NOT HEARD

ADV. STRINGS
[SPRING CONCERT (THURSDAY; MAY 30TH) PREPARATION]
01. ORANGE BLOSSOM SPECIAL
02. PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN
03. MACHETES

BEG. STRINGS
[SPRING CONCERT (THURSDAY; MAY 30TH) PREPARATION]
01. SOMEBODY I USED TO KNOW
02. MACHETES
03. VOLVER VOLVER

MONDAY, APRIL 22, 2013

QUOTE FROM THE BOARD:
“I have learned throughout my life as a composer chiefly through my mistakes and pursuits of false assumptions, 
not by my exposure to founts of wisdom and knowledge.”
AUTHOR: Igor Stravinsky

MEANING OF THE QUOTE:
“Wisdom and knowledge are developed through lessons learned from making mistakes.”

COMPOSER
IVES

Three Places in New England

GENERAL MUSIC
01. THEORY:
.......a.  PASSED OUT NEW THEORY PACKET: STEPWISE MOTION and NOTE READING
............1.  WENT OVER FIRST PAGE IN CLASS
............2.  DISCUSSED THAT A STEP IN MUSIC NOTATION IS WHEN YOU GO FROM A LINE NOTE TO THE 
                  NEIGHBORING SPACE NOTE EITHER UP or DOWN
02.  WROTE FINAL DRAFT ON PARAGRAPH ABOUT AUDIENCE ETIQUETTE AT DIFFERENT VENUES

ADV. STRINGS
[SPRING CONCERT (THURSDAY; MAY 30TH) PREPARATION]
01. PARADISE

02. HOUDINI
03. YOU'VE GOT A FRIEND IN ME

BEG. STRINGS
[SPRING CONCERT (THURSDAY; MAY 30TH) PREPARATION]
01.  WHAT MAKES YOU BEAUTIFUL (MELODY)

02.  SABOR A MI (HARMONY)
03.  YOU'VE GOT A FRIEND IN ME (MELODY)

PROGRAM NOTES FROM THE SCOTTISH CHAMBER ORCHESTRA:

http://www.sco.org.uk/education/online-resources/programme-notes?page=1

Ives - Three Places in New England

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Charles Ives (1874-1954)
Three Places in New England

The ‘St Gaudens' in Boston Common (Col. Shaw and his Colored Regiment)
Putnam's Camp, Redding, Connecticut
The Housatonic at Stockbridge

Some years ago the news was full of speculation that trees absorb sound as they grew – and with the right apparatus we could tap into this woody archive and listen in to history. It was a silly season tale, butThree Places in New England has something of the quality of what we might have heard: it is a reflection on American history and place through sound.

Ives created the piece in 1913-14, but found it impossible to get a performance. Sixteen years later he was still trying, and even the International Society for Contemporary Music turned it down. So, being a wealthy man, he took matters into his own hands and paid for the premiere himself. Then toured Europe with it – to great acclaim. Each movement has a poem or prose introduction that clearly tells of Ives’ intentions. They are the best keys to the piece.

‘St Gaudens’ fuses celebrated battle songs (Battle Cry of Freedom, Marching through Georgia and Stephen Foster’s Old Black Joe) with spirituals (Jesus Loves Me) to create a musical comment on America’s attitude to race and colour. The preface goes:

Moving-Marching-Faces of Souls!

Marked with generations of pain,
Part-freers of a Destiny,
Slowly, restlessly-swaying us on with you
Towards another Freedom!
The man on horseback, carved from
A native quarry of the world Liberty
And from what your country was made.
You images of a Divine Law
Carve in the shadow of a saddened heart-
Never light abandoned-
Of an age and of a nation.
Above and beyond that compelling mass
Rises the drum-beat of the common-heart
In the silence of a strange and
Sounding afterglow
Moving-Marching-Faces of Souls!
Putnam’s Camp is a play of memories in the mind of a child at a picnic:

Near Redding Center is a small park preserved as a Revolutionary Memorial; for here General Israel Putnam’s soldiers had their winter quarters in 1778-1779. Long rows of stone camp fire-places still remain to stir a child’s imagination. The hardships which the soldiers endured, and the agitation of a few hot-heads to break camp and march to the Hartford Assembly for relief, is a part of Redding history.

Here you hear both the picnic jollity and darker music of war – the child’s mind wanders further and further from the present, ultimately to a vision of the Goddess of Liberty. At the close he returns to the bright brass bands of the picnic. Among the tunes Ives plays with are Arkansas Traveler, Hail! Columbia, Massa’s in de Cold Ground, The Star Spangled Banner, Yankee Doodle and Semper Fidelis.

The Housatonic had its inspiration at one of the happiest times in Ives’ life. Shortly after their honeymoon in 1908, he and his wife Harmony walked along the Housatonic river in Massachusetts: “We walked in the meadows along the river, and heard the distant singing from the church across the river. The mist had not entirely left the river bed, and the colors, the running water, the banks and elm trees were something that one would always remember.”

© Svend Brown

FRIDAY, APRIL 19, 2013

QUOTE:
“An artist is never ahead of his time but most people are far behind theirs.”
AUTHOR: Edgard Varese

MEANING OF THE QUOTE:
“Sometimes artists create art which is not understood by the general public.”

COMPOSER

IVES

Robert Browning Overture

GENERAL MUSIC
01. THEORY:
.......a.  PASSED BACK ALL GRADED WORK
.......b.  ANY PAGES FROM THE PACKET WE DID NOT DO TOGETHER IN CLASS MAY BE TURNED IN TO 
            RECEIVE EXTRA CREDIT POINTS
.......c.  WE ARE STARTING A NEW THEORY PACKET ON MONDAY
02.  MUSICAL THEATER: "MY FAIR LADY"
.......a.  SHORT REVIEW
.......b.  WATCH FILM FROM WHERE WE LEFT OFF
.......c.  DISCUSSION ON ENGLISH SOCIAL CLASS BEHAVIOR

ADV. STRINGS
[SPRING CONCERT (THURSDAY; MAY 30TH) PREPARATION]
01. SABOR A MI

02. VOLVER, VOLVER

BEG. STRINGS
[SPRING CONCERT (THURSDAY; MAY 30TH) PREPARATION]
01. STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN

02. PARADISE

THURSDAY, APRIL 18, 2013

QUOTE:
“When I wished to sing of love, it turned to sorrow. And when I wished to sing of sorrow, it was transformed 
for me into love.”
AUTHOR: Franz Schubert

MEANING OF THE QUOTE:
“Our emotions come out in our music. Many of these emotions are closely related.”

COMPOSER

IVES

Variations on America

Theme and Variations Lesson Plan: 

Music and Architecture

http://www.newhavensymphony.org/uploads/File/2012%20YPC%20Curriculum%20Guide.pdf

Grades: 3-5 (Modifications can be made for older or younger students)

Standards:
• Singing, along and with others, a varied repertoire of music
• Composing and arranging music within specified guidelines
• Understanding relationships between music, the other arts, and disciplines outside the arts
• Listening to, analyzing, and describing music

Performance Indicators: 

Students will compose a variation on an excerpt of “The Star Spangled Banner” after gaining tools and knowledge on variations in music as well as in areas outside of music.

Objectives: 

Students will understand how a variation is created and be able to create a variation on their own. Students will use their own creativity to create an original piece of music.

Listening Repertoire: Ives: "Variations on America"

Procedures:
1) Sing through the original version of “America (My Country ‘Tis of Thee)” as a class.

2) Show the class a picture of a house (you can use the picture provided, or use your own house, or the house of one of your students). You might also want them to all bring in a picture of their own houses so you can have a visual representation of all the different variations.

3) Have the students come up with a list of ways that their houses are different from the one in the picture, and a list of ways that their houses are the same (all have a roof, windows, etc).

4) Talk about how even though the houses may have different variations in the way they are put together and organized, they all have some things in common, and ultimately are all still houses where people live.

5) Discuss how a piece of music can have variations as well. Ask if they can think of any songs that have multiple variations. (Perhaps a remix on the radio, or “The Star Spangled Banner” sung at various sporting events…)

6) Using the list provided, talk about the different ways that a variation can use the original theme and then change it. See if you and the class can add to the list provided.

7) Listen to the excerpts from Ives’ “Variations on America” and have the students circle the different types of variations as they hear them.

8) Using at least 2 of the types of variations from the list, have the students come up with a variation for “The Star Spangled Banner.”

Young People’s Concert

NHSO

GENERAL MUSIC
01. KEYBOARD RECITALS
........a. THIRD DAY OF STUDENT RECITALS
........b. EACH STUDENT SIGNED UP FOR A DAY THIS WEEK TO PERFORM A SONG
            FOR THE CLASS
............1) STUDENTS LEARNED HOW TO CONDUCT THEMSELVES IN A PERFORMANCE
                SITUATION
............2) STUDENTS EXPERIENCED THE NERVES (STAGE FRIGHT) THAT CAN OCCUR
                 IN PERFORMING
............3) STUDENTS SHOWED THE KNOWLEDGE THAT THEY HAD LEARNED PLAYING
                 THE KEYBOARD
............4) STUDENTS DEMONSTRATED PROPER CLASSICAL AUDIENCE ETIQUETTE
........a. THIRD DAY OF STUDENT RECITALS
........b. EACH STUDENT SIGNED UP FOR A DAY THIS WEEK TO PERFORM A SONG
            FOR THE CLASS
............1) STUDENTS LEARNED HOW TO CONDUCT THEMSELVES IN A PERFORMANCE
                SITUATION
............2) STUDENTS EXPERIENCED THE NERVES (STAGE FRIGHT) THAT CAN OCCUR
                IN PERFORMING
............3) STUDENTS SHOWED THE KNOWLEDGE THAT THEY HAD LEARNED PLAYING
                THE KEYBOARD
............4) STUDENTS DEMONSTRATED PROPER CLASSICAL AUDIENCE ETIQUETTE

ADV. STRINGS
[SPRING CONCERT (THURSDAY; MAY 30TH) PREPARATION]
01. CABALITO
02. LOS MACHETES

BEG. STRINGS
[SPRING CONCERT (THURSDAY; MAY 30TH) PREPARATION]
01. MY HEART GOES ON
02. YOU'VE GOT A FRIEND IN ME
03. SOMEBODY I USED TO KNOW