Music in the Schools 2016 -2017 1 Water – One of Our Most Precious Resource
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Minnesota Sinfonia Music in the Schools 2016 -2017 1 Water – One of Our Most Precious Resource Dear Teachers, I am very excited to work with you for this year’s Music in the Schools presentation, Water, One of Our Most Precious Resources This program focuses on science, and how we as musicians use water as a theme for some of the music we perform. Following are teaching materials that I hope you will find helpful when preparing for our visit: • Lesson plans/activities that will relate the music we will play to the science standards and student activities in this curriculum. Listed are state-mandated standards for each grade level of K-8 that can be supported by using our materials. The Sinfonia welcomes new ideas, so please send us any suggestions you think we could include for the next time we use this curriculum. • Master listening CD that includes full renditions of the music the Sinfonia will perform, recordings of songs the students will sing and the music the orchestra students will play. Please use this CD in your classroom daily, and feel free to add other classical recordings, too. • Music for student choirs to sing: Students’ Songs: Down by the Riverside. and It‘s Raining (to be sung in English and Spanish) are songs that your school choir will perform on concert day with the orchestra (for schools without choirs, the children in one or two grades can serve as the choir). For schools with advanced choirs, both songs have optional second voice parts, If you cannot play the accompaniments on a piano, then please use the computer-generated accompaniments at the end of the CD when teaching children the music. Orchestra students will play Summer Day with the Sinfonia. Parts for the songs and for Summer Day are on the Sinfonia’s website. • Teacher surveys can be submitted online on our website. If you prefer a pdf of the survey can also be downloaded Please complete the survey (if possible, we prefer you do it online) after the concert day, and if you do the hard copy versions, please mail them to the Sinfonia office (901 North Third Street, #112, Minneapolis. 55401). Thank you. If at any time you have questions about the curriculum, the music, or how to get started with the activities, please call or e-mail me, and I will be happy to help you. I can be reached through the Sinfonia office (612-871-1701), my home telephone number in Columbus, OH (614-236-0472) or personal email ([email protected]) This program has great music for the children to learn. It is imperative that it is played in class every day. Do be aware that we will play excerpts – not full versions of the works, so we can give the students a broader sampling of quality music. I want to say a very special thank you to Marshall Davis, Program Manager, Science K-12, Saint Paul Public Schools, April Rust from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, and teacher Wendi Storhoff, also from SPPS, who have all been extremely helpful in organizing and editing this curriculum. A special thank you also to Ann Ogg from the Franklin County Library, Columbus, Ohio for her research help, to Kathleen Hardy for her help with editing The Ugly Duckling. Jay Fishman Minnesota Sinfonia Music in the Schools 2016 -2017 2 Water – One of Our Most Precious Resource Concert Day Activities – What to expect: Musician Visits: In the morning, one or two students from each classroom should come to the auditorium/gym to escort a musician back to their classroom for a 10-15 minute visit. Generally, we are able to send 22 musicians to the classrooms. During this time, the students can ask questions and get to know their musician. Please let the musicians and students interact with as little coaxing from you as possible. We have found that after an initial shyness, the kids tend to open up and really enjoy this time. Choir/Orchestra Rehearsal: During the classroom visits, students in the choir should report to the gym/auditorium to rehearse for the concert. Jay will rehearse them with 1 or 2 Sinfonia musicians doing the accompaniment, but during the performance, they will sing with the full orchestra. For schools with a string orchestra program, string students should also report to the performance space during the classroom visits, so they can rehearse with the Sinfonia string players. In this case, just the 8 Sinfonia wind players will do the classroom visits. We will try and schedule Jay for an additional rehearsal with the orchestra students a few days prior to the Sinfonia’s visit to the school. Concerts: After classroom visits, the orchestra will perform two times—once for each half of the student body. If possible, students should be grouped by age, with the younger students in one group and older students in the second. Evaluations: During the concert, please remember to keep notes on the reactions of your students, for the follow-up evaluation. Please get feedback from them after the concert as well. Sinfonia needs for the Concert Day: • 32 straight back (folding chairs) • 1 good quality speaking PA system for Jay to talk to the students • choral risers (optional) for the student choirs • 23 music stands for the Sinfonia’s use (if available) • for morning performances – good strong coffee and treats….. Please call the Sinfonia office and tell us immediately which of the above you do or do not have. Thank you. Music on the CD: To reiterate, all performances on the CD are full renderings of the particular movements, or are complete performances when they are single movement works. As already mentioned, during the Sinfonia performances, excerpts will be the norm. Georg Frederick Handel: The Hornpipe, bourree (marching out music) from The Water Music Ludwig Van Beethoven: Symphony No. 6, Mvt. IV Lightening and Thunder Storm Frédéric Chopin: Prelude in D Flat Major, opus 28 # 15, Rain Drop (played on piano) Antonin Dvorak: The Water Goblin Felix Mendelssohn: Fingal’s Cave William Grant Still: #2 of the Danzas de Panama Mejorana y Socavon Students’ Songs: Down by the Riverside and It’s Raining (in Spanish and English) – both have optional second voices Summer Day – computer generated version Not on CD Jay and Bernard Fishman: The Ugly Duckling Minnesota Sinfonia Music in the Schools 2016 -2017 3 Water – One of Our Most Precious Resource The Curriculum: Water is one of the most important resources in our daily lives - without it we cannot live. In fact, this is true for every form of life on our planet. Water is the basis for all civilizations and cultures, and has been honored in nearly every form of ritual and celebration. Water has also been inspirational in the music world. It has taken center stage for musical numbers in virtually every style and during every age. The Sinfonia's program highlights some of these masterpieces, and integrates the music into the concept of water's importance to life. Following are individual state mandated science benchmarks that can be supported by the enclosed activities, all of which are geared for grades K-6, and the relationships to the music content of this program. Several of the music works also help to support other standards -Dvorak for literature, Handel, Mendelssohn and Still for geography, and science- but to keep this curriculum manageable, those are not included. And finally, there are additional classroom activities listed at the end of this guide that augment the effectiveness of this program. Kindergarten benchmark: 3.3.2.1 Monitor daily and seasonal changes in weather and summarize the changes. Activity: Create a daily calendar, and note different changes in the weather. Is the day sunny, cloudy, hot, cold, wet or dry? When does it rain – when the sun is out and no clouds are in the sky, or when the sky is cloudy and you can’t see the sky? How would the children use music to describe these different variations - ie pretty music for nice sunny days, fast and loud music for storms, etc. Project WET Activity Suggestion: The Thunderstorm (page 196 in WET 1.0 Guide or page 209 in new WET 2.0 Guide) Students simulate the sounds of a thunderstorm through physical activity. Music relationship: Storm scene from Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony. Listen for the loud rolling sounds – thunder; the hard attacks in the strings and percussion – thunder claps; and the quiet and calming sounds of the clarinet at the end, which signifies the aftermath of the storm, and the sun appearing. Grade I benchmark: 1.4.2.1.1 Recognize that animals need space, water, food, shelter and air Activity: Start a discussion of what is living and what is non-living, and their needs for survival. For instance, are rocks alive or not? If alive, what do they need to stay alive, and if they (or what ever is chosen is) are not alive, why not? Then compare to animals – let’s say a duckling… Project WET Activity Suggestion: The Life Box (page 76 in WET 1.0 Guide or page 69 in new WET 2.0 Guide) Students create life boxes that contain the four necessities for living things: water, soil, sunlight, air.) Music relationship: The Ugly Duckling. All of the ducklings started out as eggs – they needed the mother to sit on them and keep a constant temperature so they can hatch. As ducklings, they Minnesota Sinfonia Music in the Schools 2016 -2017 4 Water – One of Our Most Precious Resource needed to learn how to swim to survive.