Teachers Guide (Field Trip Concert for Students) sponsored by: 1 Overture to Candide Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990) Overture to The Impresario Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) Symphony No. 7, II. Allegretto Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) Laideronnette, Empress of the Pagodas Maurice Ravel from Mother Goose Suite (1875-1937) Tunnels Mason Bates from Music from Underground Spaces (1977- ) Flight to Neverland John Williams from Hook (1932 - ) 2 The Garden of your Mind Music and Imagination “Did you ever grow anything in the Garden of your Mind? You can grow ideas in the garden of your mind. It's good to be curious about many things. You can think about things and make believe. All you have to do is think, and they'll grow.” ~Fred “Mr.”Rogers In the planning stages of this year’s Kidz Konzerts and Music in the Middle Elgin Symphony Orchestra performances, the ESO Education Committee held a brainstorming session. We perceived a curriculum highlighting the ideas of great composers in addition to drawing connections in music with science, technology engineering and math. Each student is unique in their approach to learning and music study can access areas of the brain that are difficult to unlock. There is evidence that music inspired great minds in other disciplines. Albert Einstein, Benjamin Franklin, Neil Armstrong, Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Edison were all accomplished musicians. Oliver Sacks, British neurologist and naturalist said, “What is beyond dispute is the effect of intensive musical training on the young, plastic brain. Although a teaspoon of Mozart may or may not make a child a better mathematician, there is little doubt that regular exposure to music and especially regular, active participation in music, may stimulate development of many areas of the brain.” Within this guide we have background on the composers, lessons on music structure and elements, and STEM activities. Music study can aid, enhance and even be an ally when pursuing all disciplines. May this concert be a planted seed. Imagination is everything. It is a preview of life’s coming attractions.” ~Albert Einstein 3 Overture to Candide By Leonard Bernstein b. August 25, 1918 d. October 14, 1990 “The gift of the imagination is by no means an exclusive property of an artist; it is a gift we all share; to some degree or other all of us, all of you, are endowed with the powers of fantasy. The dullest of dullards among us has the gift of dreams at night—visions and yearnings and hopes. Everyone can also think; it is the quality of thought that makes the difference—not just the quality of logical thinking, but of imaginative thinking.” ~Leonard Bernstein, Commencement Speech at Johns Hopkins University, May 30, 1980 Leonard Bernstein, whose parents were Jewish immigrants, was born in Lawrence, Massachusetts. He fell in love with music when his cousin gave him his beat-up piano. His parents were not supportive of his interest in music so he had to find a way to pay for his own piano lessons. After his later success as a student at Harvard and then at the Curtis Institute of Music, his parents finally appreciated his gift and supported his career. In 1958 he became the music director of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, a position he held until 1969. During his tenure he championed the Young People’s Concerts, televised programs which introduced an entire generation to classical music. Bernstein was a great performer, conductor, educator and composer. His contributions to American music are unsurpassed. Bernstein’s idea: write an operetta based on a novella by Voltaire from 1759. Start with an overture highlighting the musical themes that will serve as a preview to the music coming later in the operetta. Overture to Candide, an orchestral piece that opens the operetta Candide, was premiered by the New York Philharmonic in 1957 with Bernstein himself conducting. It was a great success, which would have been very gratifying to Bernstein after a disappointing Broadway run of the full operetta production in 1956. In fact, today this piece is considered his most popular orchestral work. The overture opens with a fanfare by the brass that sets the energetic mood of the piece. A driving melody in the strings and woodwinds gives one the feeling of a galloping race horse, or perhaps a skier charging down the slopes. A sweet and lyrical middle section is followed by an exciting close, 4 returning to the brass fanfare and opening themes. Bernstein uses lots of percussion throughout the piece, especially the cymbal. He also uses syncopation to give the piece a lively, energetic feel. In this example, syncopation is used. You can see that the strong beat is at the end of the bar in the Bass Clarinet and Bassoons. This gives the piece a “jazzy” feel and plays with our expectation of where the beat should occur. Vocabulary Operetta: a short opera, usually on a light or humorous theme and typically having spoken dialogue. Overture: an orchestral piece at the beginning of an opera, suite, play, oratorio, or other extended composition. Syncopation: musical rhythm in which stress is given to the weak beats instead of the strong beats. Activities 1. With this exercise, students will be able to recognize the feeling of syncopated rhythms. Divide students into two groups. Have one group clap a steady beat in 4/4 time, one clap on each beat. Based on the rhythm in the example above, ask the second group to stomp and clap simultaneously on the fourth beat. Start slow and increase the tempo gradually until you are feeling the rhythm at a very fast tempo. Have group one stop clapping on the second and fourth beat, clapping on the first and third beat only. Group two continues to stomp and clap on the fourth beat. Do you feel the syncopation? 2. Here is a link to a website called “The Yellow Brick Road: Fun education resources for serious music literacy”. This page has some excellent syncopation games: http://www.yellowbrickroadblog.com/2015/05/teaching-syncopation-part-one.html 3. As your students listen to the Bernstein piece, ask them to raise their hands when they hear examples of syncopation in the music. “Let us cultivate our garden.” ~ Voltaire, Candide 5 Music and Math “May not music be described as the mathematics of the sense, mathematics as music of the reason? The musician feels mathematics, the mathematician thinks music: music the dream, mathematics the working life.” ~James Sylvester (1814-1897) Rhythm, patterns, symbols and time signatures: all of these and more are properties of music that are connected to mathematics. In ancient Greek times, music was seen as a mathematical art. Based upon mathematical relationships, music elements including octaves, chords, scales, and keys can all be understood logically using simple mathematics. Lesson Objective This activity will demonstrate a connection between music and simple fractions as they relate to a measure of music. Plan 1. Review musical notes and their values with the students. Have students listen to the value of each note as it is clapped for them. Students should be encouraged to remember that notes represent specific values. Have them think of a whole note as equaling one measure. 2. Choose a volunteer from the class to clap a whole note while another volunteer, or the teacher, claps half, quarter, eighth, sixteenth, and even thirty-second note values. 3. Distribute worksheet [Music and Math fraction worksheet] Music and Science “I often think in music, I live my daydreams in music.” ~Albert Einstein (1879-1955) Albert Einstein, in addition to being a scientist, was an accomplished violinist. He was fascinated by Mozart and felt a connection with him, feeling that their creative process was similar. When struggling with the extremely complicated mathematics that led to his great scientific discovery, the theory of relativity, he would pick up his violin and play for himself. He was inspired by the simple beauty of Mozart’s violin sonatas. "Whenever he felt that he had come to the end of the road or into a difficult situation in his work, he would take refuge in music," recalled his older son, Hans Albert. "That would usually resolve all his difficulties." What do music and science have in common? From sound waves and acoustics to psychology and emotions, the variety of scientific research involving music is vast. 6 The Scientific Method The scientific method is a way to ask and answer scientific questions by making observations and doing experiments. It consists of the following steps: Observe something and ask questions. Make your hypothesis (an explanation made on the basis of limited evidence as a starting point for further investigation). Make predictions about logical consequences of the hypothesis. Test your predictions by an experiment or an observation. Create your conclusion on the basis of data or information gathered in your experiment. Lesson Objective Students will conduct an experiment using the scientific method. Based on the provided information about the music and the recordings of the music to be performed on the “Garden of your Mind” concert, students will predict which piece will be the most popular with the audience. Based on data gathered at the concert, students will reach a conclusion about which piece on the program was the most popular with the audience. Plan 1. Study information about the composers and listen to all of the pieces on the program prior to attending the concert. Ask students to take notes as they listen to the music. What do they like about each piece? 2. Poll the students before they attend the concert. Identify which piece was their favorite.