MEET THE ORCHESTRA CARNIVAL OF DANGEROUS CREATURES

Teaching and Learning Guide (Levels 7–12)

mso.com.au/education DISCOVER MEET THE ORCHESTRA: CARNIVAL OF DANGEROUS CREATURES CONTENTS

1. REPERTOIRE 3 2. ARTIST INFORMATION 4 3. A WORD FROM OUR ARTISTS 6 4. BEFORE THE REHEARSAL 8 5. SAMPLE LESSON PLANS LESSON PLAN 1: MSO MUSICIANS AND THEIR INSTRUMENTS 9 LESSON PLAN 2: INTRODUCING THE COMPOSERS! 10 LESSON PLAN 3: COMPOSITION CHALLENGE 11 LESSON PLAN 4: ANALYSING THEA ROSSEN’S SOUNDS OF THE REEF 13 LESSON PLAN 5: POST-CONCERT REFLECTION 15

6. APPENDICES 16 7. LEARN MORE 18

Front page: Johannes Moser, cello

MEET THE ORCHESTRA: CARNIVAL OF DANGEROUS CREATURES MSO 2019 TEACHING AND LEARNING GUIDE – 2 SECTION 1 REPERTOIRE

The repertoire featured in this concert is: Note: Hindson’s Dangerous Creatures work, composed in 2008, has never been recorded! While a transposition of the orchestral score can be viewed here courtesy of the HINDSON Dangerous Creatures (excerpts: Snakepit, Australian Music Centre, we very much look forward to Spiders, Rhinoceros Tango, Army Ants, Big Black introducing you to the work in-concert. Bear, Scorpions, Humans) Likewise, Thea Rossen’s work, Sounds of the Reef, was ROSSEN Sounds of the Reef developed during Rossen’s final year at the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM). MSO has made SAINT-SAËNS The Carnival of the Animals available a video recording of the work which can be accessed in Section 4 of this guide. (excerpts: Introduction and Royal March of the Lion, The Swan, Aviary, Fossils, Aquarium, Kangaroos) A topical contemporary work particularly appropriate for analysis tasks, Rossen addresses and assesses issues Note: MSO reserves the right to tweak repertoire at any of climate change and humans’ impact on the natural time prior to the commencement of the concert. In this environment. We’ve included a handy lesson plan in case, MSO will contact ticket holders immediately to advise Section 5 of this guide that you can use and adapt to of the extent of the change. introduce this rich work to your students.

SECTION 1 CONTENT

CONCEPT: INTERACTIVE COMPONENT: Carnival of Dangerous Creatures is a new concert, developed The concert includes a key opportunity for interactive for premiere in 2019 by Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. engagement. That is: Built upon a highly engaging narrative in which presenter, Creating a simple piece of music based on an animal Thea Rossen journeys across the Australian landscape to (Lesson Plan 3) – guided by our lesson plan suggestion, encounter a variety of weird and wonderful creatures, the you have the opportunity to email students’ compositions concert combines classical cornerstones from Saint-Saëns’ in to MSO and the orchestra. The orchestra will play a Carnival of the Animals with new, contemporary favourites selection of these in the concert! from Matthew Hindson’s Dangerous Creatures and a special, new work by Rossen, Sounds of the Reef, which examines the Please note: Lesson Plan 3, which guides you through this interactive impact of climate change on animals of all walks of life. component, is designed to be led by teachers of all levels of experience in teaching music, generalist and specialist alike. In fact, no music The concert content and resources incorporate four essential teaching experience is necessary in order to undertake classroom questions differentiated for each concert, as appropriate preparation for this interactive element of the concert. See Lesson (primary/secondary): Plan 3 for your guiding instructions. 1. What is an orchestra (sections/families)? CURRICULUM LINKS: 2. What can we do with an orchestra (represent characters/ animals/tell a story/represent data)? The resources for this concert link directly to key elements 3. What does an orchestra do to us (create experiences/ of both the Victorian Curriculum (Levels 7–12 including feelings/encourage us to use our imagination) key knowledge and skills drawn from Music Performance, Music Style and Composition and Music Investigation) 4. How does it do it? (Mechanics of orchestration/dynamics/ as well as syllabus components of the International instruments/texture etc.) Baccalaureate (IB).

MEET THE ORCHESTRA: CARNIVAL OF DANGEROUS CREATURES MSO 2019 TEACHING AND LEARNING GUIDE – 3 SECTION 2 ARTIST INFORMATION

MELBOURNE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

Established in 1906, the Melbourne Symphony Sir Andrew Davis gave his inaugural concerts as Orchestra (MSO) is an arts leader and Australia’s the MSO’s Chief Conductor in 2013, having made oldest professional orchestra. Chief Conductor his debut with the Orchestra in 2009. The MSO Sir Andrew Davis has been at the helm of the also works with Associate Conductor Benjamin MSO since 2013. Engaging more than 4 million Northey and Assistant Conductor Tianyi Lu, as well people each year, the MSO reaches diverse as with such eminent recent guest conductors as audiences through live performances, recordings, Tan Dun, John Adams, Jakub Hrůša and Jukka- TV and radio broadcasts and live streaming. Its Pekka Saraste. It has also collaborated with non- international audiences include China, where MSO classical musicians including Elton John, Nick Cave, has performed in 2012, 2016 and most recently in and Flight Facilities. May 2018, Europe (2014) and Indonesia, where in The MSO reaches a wider audience through 2017 it performed at the UNESCO World Heritage regular radio broadcasts, recordings and CD Site, Prambanan Temple. releases, including the February 2018 release The MSO performs a variety of concerts ranging of a collaboration with Chinese violin virtuoso from symphonic performances at its home, Lu Siqing. Hamer Hall at Arts Centre Melbourne, to its annual free concerts at Melbourne’s largest outdoor venue, the Sidney Myer Music Bowl. The MSO also delivers innovative and engaging programs and digital tools to audiences of all ages through its Education and Outreach initiatives.

MEET THE ORCHESTRA: CARNIVAL OF DANGEROUS CREATURES MSO 2019 TEACHING AND LEARNING GUIDE – 4 SECTION 2 ARTIST INFORMATION

BENJAMIN NORTHEY THEA ROSSEN CONDUCTOR PRESENTER

Benjamin Northey is Chief Conductor of the Thea Rossen is a percussionist, creator and Christchurch Symphony Orchestra and Associate educator based in Melbourne. She is director Conductor of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. of the Ad Lib Collective, an ensemble focused on concert curation, commissioning new Australian Benjamin appears regularly as guest conductor works and community engagement. Her work with with all major Australian symphony orchestras, the group has recently taken her to a residency at Opera Australia (Turandot, L’elisir d’amore, Don the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity in Canada Giovanni, Così fan tutte, Carmen), New Zealand where she developed a program of works dealing Opera (Sweeney Todd) and State Opera South with the issues surrounding climate change. Australia (La sonnambula, Les contes d’Hoffmann). His international appearances include concerts with As a soloist and chamber musician, Thea has London Philharmonic Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic performed with a range of international artists Orchestra and Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg. including So Percussion, Speak Percussion, Lisa Moore and Simone Young. Thea has performed With a progressive and diverse approach to with the Melbourne and West Australian Symphony repertoire, he has collaborated with a broad range Orchestras, Orchestra Victoria and presented of artists including Maxim Vengerov and Slava works at the Perth and Melbourne International Grigoryan, as well as popular artists Tim Minchin Arts Festivals, White Night Festival and Bendigo and James Morrison. International Festival for Exploratory Music. An Honorary Fellow at the During her time at the Australian National Conservatorium of Music, his awards include the Academy of Music with teacher Peter Neville, prestigious 2010 Melbourne Prize Outstanding Thea was awarded prizes for all of her solo recitals Musician’s Award as well as multiple awards for including Most Outstanding Performance, Best his numerous recordings with ABC Classics. Program and Paul and Brett Deal Prize for the Most Outstanding Performance of an Australian Work. Thea received her Bachelor of Music Degree with honours at the University of Western Australia studying with Dr Louise Devenish and Tim White.

MEET THE ORCHESTRA: CARNIVAL OF DANGEROUS CREATURES MSO 2019 TEACHING AND LEARNING GUIDE – 5 SECTION 3 A WORD FROM OUR ARTISTS

SARAH MORSE CELLO, MSO

Q: The Swan is perhaps one of the most recognisable movements from Saint-Saens’ Carnival of the Animals. What are your memories of the piece? A: My very first memory of this beautiful piece is hearing my mother practicing it! A few years after, it was my turn to learn it. It describes the beautiful movement that a swan has as it glides across the water; its elegant neck reaching down into the reeds and its majestic wings as it takes off in flight. Saint-Saëns has perfectly captures this noble creature in his music.

ROB COSSOM PERCUSSION, MSO

Q: Fossils offers a wonderful showcase of the percussion section. Tell us about the part, and what’s needed to play it effectively. A: Fossils is a really lovely little xylophone solo –a beautifully evocative of a heap of dry bones clattering and dancing across the room. It is lots of fun to play but is not without danger! The notes on a xylophone are small targets and easily missed. This can be very embarrassing and leave me looking for a deep hole to hide in...

MATTHEW HINDSON COMPOSER, DANGEROUS CREATURES

Q: What inspired you to write Dangerous Creatures? A: In Dangerous Creatures I portray some of the less friendly animals, in music. The orchestra is a collection of animals. The different instruments have their different characteristics, just like different animal families. The challenge is to make them all work together to create something that is original, creative and fun!

MEET THE ORCHESTRA: CARNIVAL OF DANGEROUS CREATURES MSO 2019 TEACHING AND LEARNING GUIDE – 6 SECTION 3 A WORD FROM OUR ARTISTS

THEA ROSSEN, PRESENTER, CARNIVAL OF DANGEROUS CREATURES: COMPOSER, SOUNDS OF THE REEF

Q: What are you most looking forward to about this concert? A: I particularly enjoy the way that the instruments in an orchestra have their own individual sounds that are clear and distinct (like the mellow timbre of the clarinet, or the soaring, high notes on a violin). When they are combined, they create a whole new sound that is full of different colours and textures, and that can be so evocative of different images, emotions and experiences. The composers in this concert have used the different characters of the instruments to depict all sorts of animals. I love listening as the instrument sounds blend together to paint the pictures of snakes, bears, swans and more! Q: What inspired you to write and present Sounds of the Reef? A: In this piece I have translated data from a temperature graph on the Bureau of Meteorology’s website into a set of pitches which represent each year of ocean surface temperatures since 1900. Throughout the piece, the set of pitches undergo a number of musical treatments including timbral and dynamic shifts, and harmonisation with sections of improvisation. The idea is that the audience will be able to hear the ocean’s rising temperature in the cello part, and notice that the fish song track (which was rich and full at the start) becomes distant and fades as the oceans get hotter. The piece ends with a very high section of glissandi on the cello and musical saw. This represents what will happen in the future to the temperature of our oceans (and the effect of this on marine life) if we do not act now to change things. I hope you enjoy this piece and its links with the other repertoire in this concert which is also inspired by the natural environment. You have the opportunity to further explore Sounds of the Reef using Lesson Plan 4 in this guide.

MEET THE ORCHESTRA: CARNIVAL OF DANGEROUS CREATURES MSO 2019 TEACHING AND LEARNING GUIDE – 7 SECTION 4 BEFORE THE REHEARSAL

WATCH A complete performance Interviews with Matthew Hindson of Carnival of the Animals: • Matthew Hindson on Composing by • Małgorzata Sapiecha (conductor), The Stanisław Australia Moniuszko Music School in Wałbrzych, Poland • On Composition (Matthew Hindson) by Halcyon A performance of Thea Rossen’s work Sounds of Presentations by Matthew Hindson the Reef: • About Music Lecture Series: Matthew Hindson • Thea Rossen (percussion, saw) and Nick Bochner on ‘Diverse Approaches of the Contemporary (cello) Composer’ by The A recording of underwater fish sounds, used by Rossen in her work Sounds of the Reef (credit: Aaron Wyatt and Associate Professor Robert McCauley, Curtin University WA)

BEFORE THE CONCERT Carnival of Dangerous Creatures

READ Biographical entries: • Saint-Saëns: Facts, Pronunciation, Works and More by Classic FM LISTEN • Podcasts: Saint-Saëns: A Biography by All Music • WCRI Classical Kids Hour – Carnival of the Animals • Matthew Hindson: Biography • Vermont Public Radio – A Camille Saint-Saens Timeline by Faber Music • The Music Show, ABC Radio National • Professor Matthew Hindson: – Matthew Hindson Biography by the University of Sydney Recordings of Carnival of the Animals available on Spotify: • Württemberg Chamber Orchestra • Antonio Pappano, Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia

MEET THE ORCHESTRA: CARNIVAL OF DANGEROUS CREATURES MSO 2019 TEACHING AND LEARNING GUIDE – 8 SECTION 5 LINKS TO CURRICULUM: SAMPLE LESSON PLANS VICTORIAN CURRICULUM 7–10: • Critical and Creative Thinking (capability) • Personal and Social (capability) LESSON PLAN 1: MSO MUSICIANS AND • Music (learning area) THEIR INSTRUMENTS o Respond and Interpret

SUGGESTED FOR: KEY KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS Pre-concert engagement (VCE MUSIC SUBJECTS) • Music Performance (Units 1/2 and 3/4) LEARNING INTENTION: o Musicianship skills To get to know the musicians and instruments of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra o Strategies used to optimise performance outcomes MATERIALS: o Effective instrumental practice ❑ Interactive whiteboard (with visuals and sound) routines ❑ Student workbooks and access to pens, pencils etc., or o Improving personal performance ❑ Laptop/desktop computers ability • Music Style and Composition (Units 1/2 and 3/4) CONTENT o Use of appropriate music terminology 1. Remind students they’ll soon be attending an MSO Mornings concert and language featuring the stated repertoire o Using musical examples to support 2. Introduce the learning intention discussion 3. Choose one of our general video resources to watch with students o Forming and presenting a critical – you may also like to split students into groups according to their response instrument families, and have them watch the correlating video: • Music Investigation (Units 3/4) a. Tianyi’s Guide to the Orchestra o Music terminology and language b. Interview with Prudence Davis, Flute o Technical and expressive mastery c. Interview with Shane Hooton, Trumpet o Performance practices and d. Interview with Brent Miller, Percussion conventions e. Interview with Freya Franzen, Violin IB SYLLABUS COMPONENTS: f. * How do musicians prepare for a concert? • Music perception *It is suggested that option ‘f’ will be a useful resource for older students • Solo performing 4. Ask students to write a personal reflection on the video using prompts such as: a. What were your main observations? b. What in this video did you already know? c. What did you learn? EXTENSION IDEAS • Check out this lesson’s curriculum links d. What new knowledge (gained from this video) could you in more depth: why not ask students incorporate into your personal practice routine? to undertake an analysis task using our e. If you met [MUSICIAN’S NAME] in person, what questions would suite of on-demand MSO concerts, you ask them? (Consider sending these questions on to the MSO listed by repertoire – simply head Education team – [email protected]) to this page and check out what’s available under the ‘extend’ heading 5. While students prepare their reflections, you may like to play some music from the concert – use any of the options in Section 4 of this guide 6. Have a class discussion regarding students’ reflections focusing on linking students’ experiences with the experiences of MSO musicians as elicited in the video resources

MEET THE ORCHESTRA: CARNIVAL OF DANGEROUS CREATURES MSO 2019 TEACHING AND LEARNING GUIDE – 9 SECTION 5 LINKS TO CURRICULUM: SAMPLE LESSON PLANS VICTORIAN CURRICULUM 7–10: • Critical and Creative Thinking (capability) • Personal and Social (capability) LESSON PLAN 2: INTRODUCING THE • Music (learning area) COMPOSERS! o Respond and Interpret

NOTE: This lesson can be adapted to focus on any or all of the composers o Music Practices featured in this program KEY KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS SUGGESTED FOR: (VCE MUSIC SUBJECTS) Pre-concert engagement (could be split across 2–3 lessons if you • Music Performance (Units 1/2 and 3/4) wish to increase the time students have to work on their posters) o Approaches to critical listening and analysis of live and recorded LEARNING INTENTION: performances Understanding the role and work of a composer o The structure of the works and how the composer/arranger/performer MATERIALS: has used elements of music and ❑ Interactive whiteboard (with visuals and sound) compositional devices ❑ A3 coloured paper, textas, markers etc. (poster creation tools) o Musicianship skills ❑ Student workbooks and access to pens, pencils etc., or • Music Style and Composition (Units 1/2 ❑ Laptop/desktop computers and 3/4) o Use of appropriate music terminology and language o Using musical examples to support CONTENT discussion 1. Remind students they’ll soon be attending a performance given by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra which will o Forming and presenting a critical include pieces of music called: response • Dangerous Creatures by Matthew Hindson (excerpts: • Music Investigation (Units 3/4) Snakepit, Spiders, Rhinoceros Tango, Army Ants, Big o Music terminology and language Black Bear, Scorpions, Humans) o Technical and expressive mastery • Sounds of the Reef by Thea Rossen o Performance practices and • The Carnival of the Animals by Camille Saint-Saëns conventions (excerpts: Introduction and Royal March of the Lion, The Swan, Aviary, Fossils, Aquarium, Kangaroos) IB SYLLABUS COMPONENTS: 2. Introduce the learning intention (be sure here to note • Music perception whether or not you’ll focus on a single composer for this • Solo performing lesson, or all three composers) 3. Have a whole-class discussion

a. Back to basics: what does ‘composer’ actually mean? 6. Students can create a group poster based on their research; while students prepare their posters, you may b. What ‘classical’ composers do we know? (emphasise like to play the concert repertoire as background music that contemporary songwriters are also composers, – use any of the options in Section 4 of this guide, or use but that we’ll be focussing on composers of classical, our Spotify playlist on the event page orchestral repertoire for this concert) 7. Hold a group show-and-tell session and create a display 4. Introduce the composers of the works to be featured in wall in your classroom the MSO concert (see Section 1 of this guide) and list their full names on the whiteboard – have students read/repeat Alternatively: For older students, you may like to ask them to their names out loud as you go prepare a PowerPoint, PowerPoint, Google Slides or Prezi presentation instead of a poster 5. Split students into three small groups and allocate each group one of the program’s three composers (Saint- VARIATION Saëns, Rossen, Hindson): you can direct students to • A possible variation on this lesson is to plan and deliver undertake their own research using any of the resources a unit of lessons with each focused on one of either the listed in Section 4 of this guide (useful for older conductor, soloist, and composer for this program students), or watch/engage with a selection as a whole class (useful for younger or less experienced students) • Alternatively, one lesson could be delivered in which each small group focusses on either the conductor, soloist or composer for their research

MEET THE ORCHESTRA: CARNIVAL OF DANGEROUS CREATURES MSO 2019 TEACHING AND LEARNING GUIDE – 10 SECTION 5 LINKS TO CURRICULUM: SAMPLE LESSON PLANS VICTORIAN CURRICULUM 7–10: • Critical and Creative Thinking (capability) • Personal and Social (capability) LESSON PLAN 3: COMPOSITION CHALLENGE • Music (learning area) o Present and Perform NOTE: This lesson plan covers preparation for the interactive component of this concert experience. Not to be missed! o Respond and Interpret o Music Practices Note: You may wish to split this lesson into two e.g. Lesson 1: listening exercises (detailed in Part A of the below lesson plan); Lesson 2: composition element KEY KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS (detailed in Part B of the below lesson plan) (VCE MUSIC SUBJECTS) • Music Performance (Units 1/2 and 3/4) SUGGESTED FOR: Pre-concert engagement (this lesson plan relates to the interactive o Approaches to critical listening component of this concert) and analysis of live and recorded performances LEARNING INTENTION: o The structure of the works and how To compose a piece of music for the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra the composer/arranger/performer has used elements of music and MATERIALS: compositional devices ❑ Interactive whiteboard (with visuals and sound) o Musicianship skills ❑ Student workbooks • Music Style and Composition (Units 1/2 and 3/4) ❑ Grey lead and coloured pencils o Use of appropriate music terminology ❑ Copies of the handout in the Appendix 1 section of this guide and language (one copy per student) o Using musical examples to support ❑ 1x A3 copy of the worksheet (or a digital copy projected on the discussion smartboard) for you to model the activity o Forming and presenting a critical response CONTENT • Music Investigation (Units 3/4) Part A: Understanding a composer’s intention o Music terminology and language 1. Remind students they’ll soon be attending a performance given by o Technical and expressive mastery the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra which will include pieces of music called: o Performance practices and conventions • Dangerous Creatures by Matthew Hindson (excerpts: Snakepit, Spiders, Rhinoceros Tango, Army Ants, Big Black Bear, Scorpions, Humans) IB SYLLABUS COMPONENTS: • Creating • Sounds of the Reef by Thea Rossen • Music perception • The Carnival of the Animals by Camille Saint-Saëns (excerpts: Introduction and Royal March of the Lion, The Swan, Aviary, • Solo performing Fossils, Aquarium, Kangaroos) 2. Introduce the learning intention 3. Have a whole-class discussion a. What does it mean to ‘compose’ music? b. A composer often chooses particular instruments create a composition for an orchestra: what are some of the instruments and instrument families that you know (hint: woodwind, brass, percussion, strings = instrument families in an orchestra)? c. What are some other ways we can create music? (hint: using our bodies, our voices etc.)

MEET THE ORCHESTRA: CARNIVAL OF DANGEROUS CREATURES MSO 2019 TEACHING AND LEARNING GUIDE – 11 SECTION 5 SAMPLE LESSON PLANS

LESSON PLAN 3: COMPOSITION CHALLENGE CONTINUED

4. Introduce the composers of the works to be featured in ii. For older students or students familiar with the MSO concert (see Section 1 of this guide) and list the musical notation, you may like to ask students to full names of the composers on the whiteboard – have create a short (e.g. up to 8 bars in length), notated students read/repeat their names out loud as you go; say composition for their chosen instrument to students: Notes: Depending on the age group, you might like to choose one In this concert, the composers have chosen very specific animal and instrument for the whole class and workshop lots of instruments in order to describe the animals about which different ideas together on the board, or the students may be able they’ve written the music. We’re going to listen to some to choose their own animal/instrument to represent in small group examples of the music. What you’re going to do is fill out this worksheet and let me know three words you think describe the music (adjectives), what kind of animal you think the composer is describing, and why! Make sure IMPORTANT: you really link into the elements of music (if students 10. Choose the most inventive, creative, and are familiar with these) in your descriptions. Let’s do a clearly expressed versions to submit to the practice together. MSO Composition Challenge for your chance 5. Choose one movement/excerpt from The Carnival of the to have your student’s/students’ compositions Animals (use the recordings listed in Section 4 of this featured in the concert! Scan and email your guide) and play it to the students – use your A3 copy of entries through to [email protected] the handout to model the exercise, guiding students in contributing to your answers EXAMPLE 6. Ask students to sit at their tables and ensure each The following is an example of the type of Composition student has their own copy of the handout; choose Challenge composition we might be looking for: and play three further movements/excerpts from The The student in this example has chosen a cello to Carnival of the Animals and ask students to complete illustrate a cat. They would know that a violin is good their handouts at bowing notes and plucking notes, and that it can 7. Bring students together for a brief show-and-tell session go from very low in the range to very high. They regarding their answers to the questions, and end by might like to draw pictures as well. revealing to them the names of the animals about which Using the template in Appendix 2 of this resource, the composer wrote each excerpt the entry would consist of:

Part B: Composing music for the MSO 1. The picture the student drew of the cat 8. Engage in a class composition exercise; say to students: 2. The set of written instructions for the musicians, e.g.: Well done; we now know a lot about how composers This is a picture of a cat. I would like a cello to play describe particular animals using music. The MSO have the cat! I want the cello to play long, low notes on invited us to compose a piece of music for them! If ours to show the cat prowling around at night. Then, the gets chosen, it will be performed in the concert that we’re notes get higher as the cat climbs a tree. Then, the going to see. notes go way down low as the cat hops out of the tree and goes home to bed. 9. Students have a multitude of options when it comes to creating this piece of music, which you can engage in as an individual task, or as a whole-class activity:

a. Ask students to choose their favourite animal and EXTENSION IDEAS draw a picture of it • For more advanced students familiar b. Then, ask students to select an instrument they’d like with musical notation, encourage them the MSO to use to illustrate that animal using music to explore this exercise in more detail by learning about the range and particular c. Ask students to create a set of instructions for that techniques associated with each instrument instrument (e.g. ‘Play long, smooth notes that go up – you may like to have them experiment in pitch before a really loud ‘bang’ at the end!’), which with a combination of notation, graphic will illustrate what students want the musician to do to scores and written instructions, then emulate the ‘sound’ of that animal send in to us the most coherent, clearly i. For younger students or students not familiar expressed entries with musical notation, you may like to use our template for this exercise, located in Section 6 of this guide (Appendix 2)

MEET THE ORCHESTRA: CARNIVAL OF DANGEROUS CREATURES MSO 2019 TEACHING AND LEARNING GUIDE – 12 SECTION 5 LINKS TO CURRICULUM: SAMPLE LESSON PLANS VICTORIAN CURRICULUM 7–10: • Learning about Sustainability (cross- curriculum priority) • Critical and Creative Thinking LESSON PLAN 4: ANALYSING THEA (capability) ROSSEN’S SOUNDS OF THE REEF • Ethical (capability) • Music (learning area) SUGGESTED FOR: o Respond and Interpret Pre-concert engagement o Music Practices LEARNING INTENTION: • Geography (learning area) Learning about climate change using music o Geographical concepts and skills MATERIALS: – Data and information ❑ Interactive whiteboard (with visuals and sound) o Geographical knowledge ❑ Student workbooks and access to pens, pencils etc., or – Place and liveability ❑ Laptop/desktop computers • Science (learning area) o Science understanding CONTENT – Science as a human endeavour 1. Remind students that they’ll soon be attending a performance by – Earth and space sciences the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra; say: – Biological sciences At the concert, we’re going to hear repertoire that represents the natural environment, and contemporary issues we face in preserving it. This will KEY KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS include Saint-Saens’ The Carnival of the Animals, Dangerous Creatures (VCE MUSIC SUBJECTS)* by Australian composer Matthew Hindson, and Thea Rossen’s Sounds of the Reef. Thea is also the presenter of the concert, so two of the three • Music Performance (Units 1/2 and 3/4) pieces we’ll hear (the Hindson and the Rossen) are by composers who o Approaches to critical listening are still alive! and analysis of live and recorded Thea’s piece is really interesting. Here’s what she says about it: performances “In this piece I’ve translated data from a temperature graph on o The structure of the works and how the Bureau of Meteorology’s website into a set of pitches; or, in the composer/arranger/performer other words, into a piece of music. The different pitches (or notes) has used elements of music and represent each year of ocean surface temperatures since 1900. compositional devices The piece is for cello, vibraphone, and saw! o Musicianship skills The idea is that you will be able to hear the ocean’s rising • Music Style and Composition (Units 1/2 temperature in the cello part (as the notes rise too), and notice and 3/4) that the fish song backing track (which was rich and full at the start) becomes distant and fades as the oceans get hotter. o Use of appropriate music terminology and language At the very start of my piece you will hear something that sounds like white noise. It’s scratchy and strange, but it’s definitely o Using musical examples to support meant to be there. This is a real sound, recorded in nature. It’s discussion the sound that fish make underwater, of tiny shrimp rubbing their o Forming and presenting a critical legs together and the pulsing and clicking of all the different fish response species. Just like birds, fish have songs too, though they sound a little strange to our ears. • Music Investigation (Units 3/4) These tracks were recorded by scientists on an island off the o Music terminology and language Great Barrier Reef as an important research tool for tracking the o Technical and expressive mastery health of the reef system. I was inspired by these tracks to write the remainder of the piece.” o Performance practices and conventions 2. Listen to the fish song track as a class, pre-empting it by asking *If desired, broader cross-curricular links may also be students to consider how many different types of fish they think drawn with VCE History and Geography learning areas they can hear For younger students: progress to Step 3 IB SYLLABUS COMPONENTS: • Music perception For older students: progress to Step 4 • Solo performing • Creating

MEET THE ORCHESTRA: CARNIVAL OF DANGEROUS CREATURES MSO 2019 TEACHING AND LEARNING GUIDE – 13 SECTION 5 SAMPLE LESSON PLANS

LESSON PLAN 4: ANALYSING THEA ROSSEN’S SOUNDS OF THE REEF CONTINUED

3. Ask students to get into small groups (you may like to give each group a fish/ocean-related name) and experiment with making their own fish song using recycled and junk items around the class room – present these at the end of the class a. Alternatively, you could ask students to imagine the classroom is a reef teeming with fish and other marine animals – ask them to get into pairs and come up with a sound that makes their pair’s species distinct from the other species in the class (this can be a fun break break too!) EXTENSION IDEAS b. You could also try asking students to communicate • Why not engage your students in broader their sounds across the room using call and response discussions of climate change and the (just like birds do in the trees) place of the arts to represent those ideas 4. Now, listen to the Sounds of the Reef recording while and messages to the wider public? Take following along on the graph that it is based on from a look at some Art+Climate=Change the Bureau of Meteorology; ask students to look at festival programming for inspiration other climate change related graphs and data on that website (there are many) and explore ways to represent it themselves using music; discuss how this type of work may positively contribute to the discussions surrounding climate change in our community 5. Have a class discussion: what are some ways that music like this (Sounds of the Reef) can help to raise an awareness of climate change’s impact on the ocean?

MEET THE ORCHESTRA: CARNIVAL OF DANGEROUS CREATURES MSO 2019 TEACHING AND LEARNING GUIDE – 14 SECTION 5 LINKS TO CURRICULUM: SAMPLE LESSON PLANS VICTORIAN CURRICULUM 7–10: • Learning about Sustainability (cross- curriculum priority) • Critical and Creative Thinking LESSON PLAN 4: POST-CONCERT REFLECTION (capability) • Ethical (capability) SUGGESTED FOR: • Music (learning area) Post-concert engagement o Respond and Interpret LEARNING INTENTION: o Music Practices Reflecting on our experience at the MSO concert • Geography (learning area) MATERIALS: o Geographical concepts and skills ❑ Interactive whiteboard (with visuals and sound) – Data and information ❑ Student workbooks and access to pens, pencils etc., or o Geographical knowledge ❑ Laptop/desktop computers – Place and liveability • Science (learning area) CONTENT o Science understanding 1. Pre-select some repertoire that was featured in the concert to play – Science as a human endeavour while students write their responses to part three of this lesson (use any of the recordings listed in Section 4 of this resource, or others – Earth and space sciences that you may prefer) – Biological sciences 2. Remind students that they have recently attended the MSO concert Carnival of Dangerous Creatures KEY KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS (VCE MUSIC SUBJECTS)* 3. Students can sit individually at their tables to answer the following questions in their workbooks: • Music Performance (Units 1/2 and 3/4) a. What is the most interesting thing you saw at the concert? o Approaches to critical listening and analysis of live and recorded b. What did you learn by going to see the MSO play? performances c. Think broadly: what did you learn about your instrument/ o The structure of the works and how instrument family that you can incorporate into your personal the composer/arranger/performer practice routine? (for instrumental students) has used elements of music and d. What more do you want to know about the MSO/orchestras/the compositional devices composers/the music we heard? o Musicianship skills 4. Have a group reflection at the conclusion of the lesson • Music Style and Composition (Units 1/2 5. Collate the students’ remaining questions (from part 3c of and 3/4) this lesson plan) and consider sending them through to us at o Use of appropriate music terminology [email protected] – we’ll do our best to get you some and language answers! o Using musical examples to support discussion o Forming and presenting a critical response • Music Investigation (Units 3/4) o Music terminology and language o Technical and expressive mastery o Performance practices and conventions

*If desired, broader cross-curricular links may also be drawn with VCE History and Geography learning areas

IB SYLLABUS COMPONENTS: • Music perception • Solo performing • Creating

MEET THE ORCHESTRA: CARNIVAL OF DANGEROUS CREATURES MSO 2019 TEACHING AND LEARNING GUIDE – 15 SECTION 6 LESSON PLAN 3: HANDOUT APPENDIX 1

COMPOSITION CHALLENGE WORKSHEET

My name is:

Listen to the music: • Choose three describing words (adjectives) that describe the music • Choose an animal that you think the music might be describing • Give a reason: why do you think the music describes this animal?

EXCERPT ANSWER Describe the music using three describing words (adjectives):

I think this music is about a:

(animal) 1 …because (refer to the elements of music e.g. rhythm, pitch, dynamics, music styles etc.):

Describe the music using three describing words (adjectives):

I think this music is about a:

(animal) 2 …because (refer to the elements of music e.g. rhythm, pitch, dynamics, music styles etc.):

Describe the music using three describing words (adjectives):

I think this music is about a:

(animal) 3 …because (refer to the elements of music e.g. rhythm, pitch, dynamics, music styles etc.):

MEET THE ORCHESTRA: CARNIVAL OF DANGEROUS CREATURES MSO 2019 TEACHING AND LEARNING GUIDE – 16 SECTION 6 APPENDIX 2

TEMPLATE: ANIMAL COMPOSITION INTERACTIVE CONCERT COMPONENT (to complete as a class activity and send into MSO ([email protected]) for your students’ chance at having their composition performed by MSO!)

My name is:

The animal I’ve drawn is a:

My instructions to the MSO musicians:

The orchestral instrument family (or individual instrument) I want to represent this animal is:

My instructions to the MSO musicians (how I want them to play their instrument) are:

MEET THE ORCHESTRA: CARNIVAL OF DANGEROUS CREATURES MSO 2019 TEACHING AND LEARNING GUIDE – 17 SECTION 7 LEARN MORE

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PARTNERS

MAJOR EDUCATION & COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT SUPPORTERS Anonymous(2), Crown Resorts Foundation and Packer Family Foundation, The Collier Charitable Trust, Wendy Dimmick, The Marian and E.H. Flack Trust, Freemasons Foundation Victoria, Jennifer Gorog, Hilary Hall in memory of Wilma Collie, Hume City Council, Margaret Jackson AC, James and Rosemary Jacoby, The Scobie and Claire McKinnon Trust, Lesley McMullin Foundation, Mrs Margaret Ross AM and Dr Ian Ross, Robert Salzer Foundation, Telemetics Trust, Ullmer Family Foundation