The Composer's Process
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LEVEL The Composer’s Process 2 LEVEL Because students need to learn to write as well as to read, the classroom has become an ideal place for the investigation of the process of a writer. In ways that are quite analogous, the Philharmonic’s work in classrooms focuses on the process of a composer, especially in Level 2 (usually the fourth grade year). Just as a writer needs to find the “seed” of an idea, the inspiration, so must a composer. Just as a writer must decide on a theme to develop, so must a composer. And just as a writer needs to find the appropriate form for expression, a composer must decide on what type of musical form best fits an original musical theme and its development. The Level 2 curriculum gives students the opportunity to explore a composer’s process from inception to performance. PHOTO CREDIT:TK PHOTO DiVito Michael PHOTO: 224 25 LEVEL LEVEL UNIT 1 Musical Inspiration As a class, create your own definition of the word ActiVITY 3: inspiration. Have your students write the definition in Composing River Journeys 2 their Journals. 2 · Show your students a map of New York State and ask Read the poem once more and when you finish, have your them to identify the mouth of the Hudson River where it Focal Work students individually journal their own sources of personal empties into the lower Bay, just south of Staten Island inspiration. Finally, create a word web, a poem, or your own and Brooklyn. Now have them trace it upstream as Vltava (The Moldau) from Má Vlast list of where “Inspiration Resides” in your own classroom. far as they can. Searching from the top to the bottom of by Bedrˇich Smetana the river, select several places on, in, or along the Hudson ActiVITY 2: that are most interesting to your class. Some examples Drawing Inspiration from Rivers could include the Tappan Zee Bridge, Bear Mountain, the Palisades, the Statue of Liberty, etc. (see Example 11). Like most creative activities, composing usually · One of the inspirations Bruce Adolphe includes in his begins with an inspiration, whether it’s a picture, poem is a river. Ask your students how a river could be a · Split your class into small groups and assign each group a person, or a melodic theme. In this lesson, your source of inspiration for a composer. one of the places from your Hudson River list. Have each · List some qualities that all rivers share. From that list, pick group research their assigned area and come up with students will investigate how Czech composer a few words that could be easily represented with music three key descriptive words. Using those three key words Bedrˇich Smetana turned inspiration from nature or sound. With recorders, percussion instruments, or as their inspiration, have each compose a short recorder percussive body sounds, create either a short melody or melody to represent their place. into a musical masterpiece. a musical soundscape to represent those river qualities. EXAMPLE 11 Catskill State Park Lower Hudson Valley and New York City Kingston Hyde Park Mohonk Mountain House Lower Poughkeepsie In this unit, your students will: and an author. Before reading, remind your students that a Del Hudson aw a Valley H composer is someone who writes music, in the same way re u · define and explore the meaning of inspiration R d iver s that an author is someone who writes books. o n through poetry and music CONNECTICUT R i v · compose pieces inspired by their own e r Where does inspiration reside? Cold Spring geographical source of inspiration Storm King State Park PENNSYLVANIA learn to play the main theme from Bedrˇich · A composer may be inspired by mathematical equations, Hudson Highlands State Park Smetana’s Vltava moonlight, a stranger’s glance, money, traffic patterns, · explore Bedrˇich Smetana’s inspiration of a birdsong, a death, an historical fact, a formula for Bear Mountain State Park Phillipsburg Manor musical journey down a river gambling, chaos, chocolate cake, an ancient song, a river, a garden, a story, a piece of music, a card trick, a NEW YORK Kykuit joke, or the wind. Materials: PHOTO: Courtesy of New York Philharmonic Archives Philharmonic York New of Courtesy PHOTO: Level 2 CD Nyack · The quality of inspiration resides in the composer. d oun Tappan Zee Bridge d S · recorders lan Is The Palisades ng · percussion instruments Bruce Adolphe, What to Listen for in the World (1996) Lo NEW JERSEY · My Musical Journal Discuss these thoughts with your students. What is the · a topographical map of New York State George Washington Bridge author telling us about his ideas of musical inspiration? ActiVITY 1: Why do you think there are so many different sources of inspiration listed? Ask your students to take the last Defining Inspiration New York City line, “The quality of the inspiration resides in the composer” and put it into their own words. Statue of Liberty Read these thoughts on musical inspiration, by Bruce N Adolphe, to your class. Bruce Adolphe is both a composer 26 27 LEVEL LEVEL EXAMPLE 12 2 Theme from Vltava 2 Smetana ( ( ( ( 6 � 8 B E F G A B B B C C B B A A A G A G G F F E · Have your students share their compositions with one on whose rocks the foaming waves are dashed in spray. another. Now go back and review the original river Again, the stream broadens towards Prague, where it is melody or soundscape you created as a class. What are welcomed by the old and venerable Vyšehrad. some ways you could musically connect the stops along your journey using your river music? Create one long Note: The Vyšehrad (pronounced Vee-sheh-hrad, with a classroom composition by tying together the original river lightly rolled r), is a castle in Prague that served as the seat music with the various stops down the Hudson. of Bohemia’s rulers and kings. ActiVITY 4: Questions to help focus students’ listening: Playing the Vltava Theme · What do you hear that makes the Vltava River come to life in Smetana’s music? On your own, or together with your Teaching Artist, teach · How many times do you hear the melody come back? your students to play or sing this melody from Bedrˇich Is it exactly the same, or does it change in any ways? Smetana’s Vltava (The Moldau). · How does the music change to show the different stops on his musical river journey? Note: This piece is more widely known as The Moldau, the An illustration of the Vyšehrad on a hill overlooking the Vltava River translated title used by the original German publishers of As you listen, use this guide to help deepen your Listening Extensions: Smetana’s piece. In recent years, orchestras and scholars conversation: Here are some other pieces of music that are inspired by rivers. have begun to use Smetana’s original Czech title. The Ives’s work is inspired by a calm, peaceful river in Connecticut Vltava is a tributary of the Elbe River — one of the major rivers Track 1 The two springs at the Vltava’s source: where he and his wife, Harmony, enjoyed strolling on the in Central Europe. represented by flutes and clarinet. The place where the riverbanks. strings begin to play the melody we learned represents The Hudson River Project works were commissioned in 2009 for This memorable melody repeats many times throughout the place where the two springs merge to form the Vltava. the quadricentennial celebration of Henry Hudson’s exploration the piece and will serve as a listening landmark as you of the Hudson River. O’Connor’s string quartet is inspired prepare to listen to the whole piece. Try repeating it two Track 2 A hunt in the forest surrounding the river: listen for by Appalachian musical traditions and the relationship his Dutch times in a row without stopping. the “hunting horn calls” of the French horns. and Mohawk ancestors had with the Hudson. Byron’s jazzy suite focuses on the Industrial Revolution’s impact on the Hudson ActiVITY 5: Track 3 A country wedding: listen for a simple folkdance River, as well as specific places in the Hudson River Valley that have personal meaning to him. Roumain’s piece is a science- Listening to Vltava tune. fiction fantasy about a town that dreams of a submerged alien craft that rises out of the Hudson to attack; but the people of the Now your students are ready to listen to Vltava by Bedrˇich Track 4 Moonlight with nymphs gathering: listen for a town realize they are no longer dreaming … Smetana. Read to your class Smetana’s description, mysterious-sounding return of some of the opening themes below, of the journey down the Vltava that his tone poem in the flutes and woodwinds. Charles Ives: The Housatonic at Stockbridge from Three Places in New England represents. Just as the Hudson flows by New York City, the Vltava was a river that flowed near Smetana’s home Track 5 St. John’s Rapids: this part is exciting, fast, The Hudson River Project: in the current day Czech Republic. and loud! Mark O’Connor: String Quartet No. 3, Old Time Don Byron: Tide The Vltava River springs from two sources, splashing Track 6 Vltava streams broadly beyond the rapids: the Daniel Bernard Roumain: Soundtrack to a Shared Dream gaily over the rocks and glistening in the sunshine. music becomes more melodic and joyful. As it broadens, the banks re-echo with the sound of the hunting-horns and country dances — moonlight — the Track 7 The Vyšehrad: listen for the trumpets.