Education Concert Series 2019/2020
Beethoven’s New Groove
Teacher’s Guide
Wednesday, February 19, 2020 9:30am & 11:00am Thursday, February 20, 2020 9:30am & 11:00am
slso.org/education
Table of Contents
Letter from the Education Team……………………………………………...... 3 Contact Information…………….….…………………………………………………………………………………….. 4 Subsidized Tickets & Transportation……………………………………………………………………………….. 4 Planning Your Visit………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 4 Additional Resources………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 4 Picture the Music……………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 4 Concert Overview………………………………….…………………..…………………………………………………… 5 Discovering Meter…………………………..……………………………………………………………………………… 7 A New Groove………..………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 14 Spotlight on the Composers……………………………………………………………………..…………………….. 21 For Parents: Family Concerts…………………………………………………………………………………………… 24
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Letter from the Education Team
Dear Educators:
Welcome to the SLSO’s 140th season! This season we welcome Music Director, Stéphane Denève, to our SLSO family, and we have an exciting Education Concert Series planned for you. For our youngest audience, don’t miss the brand new SLSO Tiny Tunes Concert featuring The Tortoise and the Hare. We present the classic tale of Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf this Fall and Beethoven’s New Groove this Spring for our elementary and younger middle school audience. Beethoven’s New Groove shows us how meter and rhythm work together to create different styles of music. And lastly, for our middle and high school friends, don’t miss the Education Team’s Top Picks, including Tchaikovsky’s Sleeping Beauty Suite, Ravel’s Bolero and music from living composers Aaron Jay Kernis, Guillaume Connesson, and John Adams. For a full list of SLSO Education Programs please visit slso.org/education.
Thank you for all you do to make music an important part of your students’ development and lives. Many musicians in the SLSO credit the influence and mentorship of their school music educators with sparking their passion and dedication to music. The SLSO is devoted to supporting your work through educator-informed resources designed to help inspire your students to get involved and stay involved in music. From introducing students to their SLSO by attending education concerts at Powell Hall to joining us for music educator networking events that encourage idea sharing, we hope you will take advantage of many SLSO education resources in the coming year.
Sincerely,
- Your appreciative friends at the SLSO
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Contact Information The SLSO Education Team is available to answer questions or provide additional suggestions for learning activities. • For questions related to concert content contact Jessica Ingraham, Director of Education at [email protected] or 314-286-4407. • For questions about education concert ticketing, invoices, or concert day logistics please contact the SLSO Box Office at 314-534-1700.
Subsidized Tickets & Transportation Limited financial assistance is available to offset the cost of education concert tickets and buses for underserved schools.* Financial assistance is awarded on a first-come, first-serve basis. The financial assistance request is located within the online ticket order form.
*Underserved is defined as having a student population of 50% or more on free and reduced lunch.
Planning Your Visit Information for planning your field trip to Powell Hall is available for download at slso.org/educationvisits. To ensure a successful trip for everyone, it is important that all bus drivers follow the bus unloading and loading procedures. Please make sure to clearly communicate the expectations laid out in the Information for the Bus Company & Bus Driver handout.
Additional Resources • Visit slso.org/educationvisits for information on Powell Hall, the SLSO, and the instrument families of the orchestra. • For more ideas visit our SLSO Education Concerts 2019/20 Pinterest Board. • For additional recordings visit our Spotify Playlist. Picture the Music Continue the exploration with Picture the Music (grades K-6), a free art competition where students create artwork inspired by Khacaturian’s Waltz from Masquerade Suite. Visit slso.org/picture for more information.
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Concert Overview
Beethoven’s New Groove Deconstructed Beethoven’s New Groove presents familiar “classical” music with a new groove. The concert begins with an interactive demonstration of the grouping of beats (strong and weak) to create meters in 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. During the concert, students will listen to and engage with the following pieces of music:
Meter Composer Piece/Excerpt YouTube Style Beethoven Excerpt from 2nd movement of bit.ly/1MyNY8C Symphony No. 9 Excerpt: bit.ly/1NaG2vZ 2/4 Rossini William Tell Overture bit.ly/33Gihba March 3/4 Khachaturian Waltz from Masquerade Suite bit.ly/32AZhtv Waltz 4/4 Mozart Excerpt from 1st movement of bit.ly/1PL5vhE Eine kleine Nachtmusik Excerpt: bit.ly/1TbeHKW 5/4 Tchaikovsky Excerpt from 2nd movement of bit.ly/1I7wcdP Symphony No. 6 Excerpt: bit.ly/1lG0yuc
Sometimes strong beats (rhythmic accents) do not follow the standard metric patterns common in “classical” music. When strong beats appear in unexpected places, the style of the music changes. For example, In the Hall of the Mountain King becomes In the Hall of the Mountain Swing. The iconic theme from the first movement of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 morphs into Rock, Hip-Hop and Latin styles. And the concert concludes with a Latin arrangement of Bach’s classic Toccata and Fugue.
Composer Piece/Excerpt YouTube Style Grieg Excerpt from In the Hall of the Mountain bit.ly/1IclE7W King Grieg In the Hall of the Mountain Swing Swing Arr. Hyken Beethoven Excerpt from 1st Movement from bit.ly/1NMmlXD Symphony No. 5 Beethoven Symphony No. 5 Remixed Rock/Hip-Hop/Latin Arr. Hyken Bach Toccata and Fugue in D minor Latin Arr. Hyken
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Concert Overview Continued Concert Objectives Students will: 1. Experience a live orchestra performance. 2. Identify strong and weak beats in various meters. 3. Compare and contrast the meter and rhythm of music in various styles.
Standards Missouri Music Grade Level Expectations • MU:Pr6A.3b-8b – Convey meaning through the presentation of artistic work • MU:Re7A.1a-8a – Perceive and analyze artistic work • MU:Re9A.1a-8a – Apply criteria to evaluate artistic work
Illinois Arts Learning Standards – Music Standards • MU:Pr6.1.4b-8b – Convey meaning through the presentation of artistic work • MU:Re7.1.1b-8b – Perceive and analyze artistic work • MU:Re9.1.1-8 – Apply criteria to evaluate artistic work
Essential Questions 1. How does meter effect the way the music makes me feel? 2. How does rhythm effect the way the music makes me feel? 3. How do meter and rhythm work together to create different styles of music? 4. How does the context in which a piece of music is presented influence my response?
Vocabulary Beat Measure Swing Strong beat (rhythmic accent) Rhythm Rock Weak beat Waltz Hip-Hop Meter March Latin
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Discovering Meter
Not all beats are created equal! In a piece of music, some beats are stronger, and others are weaker. When strong and weak beats are grouped together in a consistent pattern it is called meter. Meter indicates the number of beats in a group or measure.
The learning activities in this section introduce the grouping of strong and weak beats in music to create meter.
During the concert, students will be introduced to the following meters:
2/4 Duple Meter Strong – Weak 3/4 Triple Meter Strong – Weak – Weak 4/4 Quadruple Meter Strong – Weak – Strong – Weak 5/4 Quintuple Meter Strong – Weak – Strong – Weak – Weak
Standards Missouri Music Grade Level Expectations • MU:Cr1A.1b-5b • MU:Cr2A.1b-5b • MU:Pr4B.1a-8a
Illinois Arts Learning Standards – Music Standards • MU:Cr2.1.1b-4b • MU:Pr4.1.1b-5b
Learning Activities
Learning Activity No. 1 – Internalizing Steady Beat/Pulse Students need to understand and internalize the beat before they begin exploring meter. Play the second movement from Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 or any piece of music with a steady pulse. Have students pat the beat or go for a walk to the beat. Explain to students that most music is based on a steady beat or pulse. Relate this idea to the music you have been listening to or performing in your classroom.
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Activity No. 2 – Exploring Strong & Weak Beats Just like music, the way we speak has elements of meter and rhythm. Students will explore strong and weak syllables to create their own rhythmic patterns in meters of three and four.
Example 1: Let’s go Cardinals
Let’s go Car - di nals
The phrases “Let’s go Cardinals” could be in 4/4, with strong syllables on beats one and three in each measure. Speak along with the beat to Mozart’s Eine kleine Nachtmusik and have students feel for themselves how they naturally fit together. You could also try having them stress go and nals and they should feel how the strong beat feels misplaced.
Example 2: Cardinals
Car di nals
The word “Cardinals” could be in 3/4 with one strong syllable followed by two weaker syllables in each measure. Speak or sing the word along with Khachaturian’s Waltz from Masquerade Suite and have students feel for themselves how they fit together. The same can be done as before by “incorrectly” adding emphasis to di or nals.
Next, have students create their own phrases in 4/4 and 3/4 meters by filling in the squares (4/4) or triangles (3/4) on page 11 with one syllable each, putting the strong syllables in the larger shapes. Have the students perform their phrases for the class, remembering to keep a steady beat and emphasizing the strong syllables.
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Activity No. 2 – Meter Tag Using the following musical selections from Beethoven’s New Groove, have students stomp on the strong beats and clap on the weak beats.
2/4 – ROSSINI William Tell Overture 3/4 – KHACHATURIAN Waltz from Masquerade Suite 4/4 – MOZART 1st movement from Eine kleine Nachtmusik 5/4 – TCHAIKOVSKY 2nd movement from Symphony No. 6
Spread students out around the room. Instruct each student to select a pose that they will freeze in, like a statue, during the game. At the base of each student statue place a non-pitched percussion instrument. Select one or two students to be “it”. The students who are “it” will not have instruments. Instead, these students will move around the room when they hear one of the musical selections played, stomping on the strong beats (locomotor movement) and clapping on the weak beats (non-locomotor movement). When a student who is “it” comes close to a statute, the student should tag the statue, bringing it life. When a student is tagged, they will pick up their non-pitched percussion instrument and play along on the strong beats in the music while staying in their spot. The game should be played until all students are playing instruments, except the students who were “it”.
Activity No. 3 – Dictation Bags Create a dictation bag for each student to use throughout the school year. Each bag should include at least ten hearts (page 12), four short pieces of string and five Popsicle sticks.
Students should listen to one of the musical examples in Activity No.2, identify the meter, and then represent it with the provided manipulatives. For each meter have students use the hearts as the beats, the Popsicle sticks as the bar lines, and the string to make accents under the strong beats. Once students have created a visual representation of the meter, have them count the beats out loud (emphasizing the strong beats) as they tap their hands across the heart beats to the music.
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Activity No. 4 – Conducting the Beat Explore the role of the conductor in an orchestra. Teach the conducting patterns for each meter (page 13). Have students conduct along with the musical examples listed in Activity No. 2. Next, select a familiar song the students can already sing or play. Give each student the opportunity to come up and conduct the class using a baton. For younger students, incorporate the musical phrases they created in Activity No. 1 while learning the conducting patterns.
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Activity No. 1 – Speech and Meter
Meter in 4
Meter in 3
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Activity No. 3 – Dictation Bags
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Activity No. 4 – Conducting the Beat
2 3 4 4
4 5 4 4
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A NEW GROOVE The learning activities in this section introduce students to the concept of taking familiar music and giving it a “new groove”!
Standards Missouri Music Grade Level Expectations • MU:Cr1A.1b-5b • MU:Cr2A.1b-5b • MU:Cr3B.1a-5a • MU:Pr4B.1a-8a • MU:Re7B.1a-7a
Illinois Arts Learning Standards – Music Standards • MU:Cr2.1.1b-5b • MU:Cr3.1.1b-5b • MU:Pr4.1.1b-5b • MU:Re7.1.1b-8b
Learning Activities
Activity No. 1 – Forbidden Motive Familiarize students with Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5, first movement. Ask students to clap, play or sing the following motive from Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 after you.
Tell students the motive is now “forbidden.” When they hear it, they should remain silent. Lead students through a series of 4-beat echo patterns reminding them to echo
Check out Beethoven’s Wig by Richard Perlmutter. This funny tale was meant to be sung! It is an excellent way to familiarize students with the main theme from Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5.
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back all patterns except the forbidden motive. If they echo back the forbidden motive they are out.
Activity No. 2 – What’s My Style? As a class, listen to the first movement of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5. Lead students in a discussion about what they heard.
• What is the style of the music? • What is the meter? Which beats are strong and which are weak? • What could the composer have been trying to convey with this music? • What did you notice about the rhythm? • What did you notice about the melody? Next, listen to examples of the first movement from Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 that have been given “a new groove.” Have students compare the examples. Ask students to share their observations on the beat, rhythm, meter, instrumentation and any of the other elements of music. Students can use a Venn diagram to record their observations (page 16). In the Venn diagram, use the original Beethoven piece on one side and select one of the following examples to compare and contrast. bit.ly/1QcpqVq – Dubstep bit.ly/1XEYgqN – Latin/Salsa bit.ly/XDm6LO – ProjectTrio https://bit.ly/2QbvOnh – Hip Hop bit.ly/1ODQ8ol – Boomwackers bit.ly/1LMg5NY – PDQ Bach
Activity No. 3 – Create Your Own!
Select a familiar melody, preferably from a song your students have been singing in class. In small groups, have students work to create their own groove for the melody.
Invite students to create rhythmic ostinatos on unpitched percussion instruments to accompany the selected melody. These ostinatos should be performed while the rest of the class sings the melody. Afterwards, engage students in a discussion about how different rhythmic patterns and beats made the music feel different. Pages 17-20 provide outlines and 2-beat building blocks to help younger students create their own ostinatos in meters of 3 and 4. Some of the provided rhythms are more complicated than others. Depending on the level of the students, the teacher might need to play the more syncopated rhythms while the students sing the melody.
Incorporating technology into the classroom: If your students have iPads, put the melody in Garage Band for the students. Then, have the students experiment with and
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select their own sampled beats to give the melody “a new groove.” Students should share their compositions with the class. As a class, discuss how the different meters and rhythms make the same melody feel different.
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Compose YourOwn Compose Groove
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ComposeYour Own Groove
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SPOTLIGHT ON THE COMPOSERS
At the concert, the SLSO will perform music by five different composers. A composer is someone who writes music. Composers have been writing music for orchestras for hundreds of years. And many women and men today continue to write music for orchestras to perform at concerts, musicals, for movies, and video games.
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) Symphony No. 5 and Symphony No. 9
German composer Ludwig van Beethoven is one of the most influential composers in music history. He began music lessons with his father and became obsessed with learning, eventually moving to Vienna to study musical counterpoint (a fancy term for how different melodies can move in relation to each other). In 1796, Beethoven began to experience a severe form of tinnitus, a ringing in his ears that led to his eventual deafness. In total Beethoven wrote nine symphonies. You will hear movements from two of them (his fifth and ninth symphonies) played by the SLSO at the concert. Beethoven died at the age of 56 and his funeral procession was attended by nearly 20,000 people.
Gioachino Antonio Rossini (1792-1868) William Tell Overture
Gioachino Rossini was an Italian composer best known for his operas (dramatic plays performed by singers and orchestras). The SLSO will be performing Rossini’s William Tell Overture, a piece that was composed as the opening to the opera William Tell. An overture is an orchestral piece at the beginning of an opera or musical. At age 37, William Tell would be the last opera Rossini would ever compose, as he decided to retire shortly after. The overture has four parts – Prelude: Dawn, Storm, Ranz des vaches (or “Call to the Cows”) and Finale: March of the Swiss Soldiers. The Finale is the most recognizable and the most played section. To many, the Finale is associated with galloping horses.
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Aram Ilich Khachaturian (1903-1978) Waltz from Masquerade Suite
Aram Ilich Khachaturian was a Soviet composer, born in Georgia to Armenian parents (Georgia and Armenia were both countries in the former Soviet Union.) Khachaturian’s music was heavily influenced by his Armenian heritage, rich with that country’s folk music traditions. Masquerade Suite is comprised of incidental music (music written to accompany a film or play) for a played titled Masquerade. Often composers will take some of their favorite music from a play, film, or ballet and put it together in what is called a suite (an ordered set of instrumental pieces that are somehow linked.) The SLSO will be performing one of the pieces from Khachaturian’s Masquerade Suite titled Waltz.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) Eine kleine Nachtmusik
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, born in Salzburg, Austria, was one of the greatest child stars to ever exist. He composed his first pieces for piano by age five and his first opera by age twelve! As a child, Mozart and his sister Nannerl traveled all over Europe performing for royalty. Mozart rose to fame quickly. Despite his fame and success, he was unsuccessful at managing his money and lived a life of luxury that he could not afford. He died, poor and young, at the age of 35, having composed over 600 works, one of those being a piece you will hear the SLSO play: Eine kleine Nachtmusik (A Little Serenade).
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Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) Symphony No. 6
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was born in a small town in Russia. He began playing the piano at age five. He showed musical promise, but his parents did not want him to become a musician. Eventually, throwing caution to the wind, he enrolled in the first music class at the newly formed St. Petersburg Conservatory (a conservatory is a music school). Early in his career, Tchaikovsky endured through many failures, making him very sensitive to critics who wrote about his music. He composed some of the most beloved works in the orchestral repertoire, such as his ballet The Nutcracker (1892). Tchaikovsky had a knack for melodic writing; you may find yourself humming his melodies long after you leave the concert hall! He died in 1893 of cholera, just weeks after his final symphony had its premiere.
Edvard Grieg (1843-1907) In the Hall of the Mountain King from Peer Gynt
Edvard Grieg was a Norwegian composer. His mother started giving him piano lessons at age six and he showed considerable talent. His parents were reluctant to send him to the Leipzig Conservatory, but after some convincing he enrolled there at the age of 15. One of his most famous pieces is the incidental music for Peer Gynt, which includes In the Hall of the Mountain King: the piece you will hear the SLSO play. Plagued by a lifetime of health issues, Grieg died of heart failure in his hometown of Bergen in 1907.
Sam Hyken In the Hall of the Mountain Swing Symphony No. 5 Remixed Toccata and Fugue in D minor
Sam Hyken is a trumpet player and a composer. Many orchestras have commissioned him to write pieces for them to perform. A commission is when someone asks a composer to write a certain piece of music in exchange for payment. He also started his own music ensemble called Nu Deco Ensemble. Sam currently lives in Miami, Florida.
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For Parents – SLSO Family Concerts On Sunday afternoons at Powell Hall, our 3-concert Family Series offers a mix of fun thematic orchestra music to engage and entertain children ages 5-12 and their families. Each concert is 45 minutes in length showcasing a one-of-a-kind live musical experience to share and create magical memories together. Be sure to visit the Instrument Playground in the Wightman Grand Foyer prior to each concert to learn about and play the different orchestral instruments.
Tickets start at just $8! Visit slso.org/family or call 314-534-1700 for more information.
Peter and the Wolf Sunday, February 23, 2020 3:00pm
Join Peter and his animal friends on a symphonic adventure in Prokofiev’s beloved work Peter and the Wolf. Introducing generations to orchestral music, each character in this musical fairy tale is represented by a different instrument of the orchestra.
World of Water Sunday, April 19, 2020 3:00pm
From vast ocean landscapes to small babbling brooks, the enchanting world of water has been inspiring composers for centuries. In partnership with the St. Louis Aquarium at Union Station, join your SLSO as we dive into musical works for the entire family, inspired by water.
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