Fall 2016 Teacher’s Guide Knoxville Civic Auditorium: October 26, 27, 28, 2016 Niswonger Performing Arts Center, Greeneville, TN: November 3, 2016 Aram Demirjian, Music Director James Fellenbaum, Resident Conductor KSO Kids’ Guide to the Orchestra America (My Country ‘Tis of Thee) Traditional Table of Contents Variations on America Program Notes: Our Composers and their Music 2, 5-7 Charles Ives Music: America (My Country ‘Tis of Thee) 3 Introduction The Knoxville Symphony Orchestra/Meet the Music Director 8 Theme Variation I: (woodwinds) The Woodwinds 10 Variation IV: (trombone, tuba, castanets) The Strings 12 The Brass 14 Young Person’s Guide to the The Percussion 16 Orchestra Lessons & Activities 18 Benjamin Britten Exploring Theme & Variations 19 Theme: Allegro maestoso e largamente e Listening to Theme & Variations 20-21 tutti Moving to Theme & Variations 22 Variation A: Presto (piccolo and flutes) Exploring Meter 23 Variation B: Lento (oboes) Variation C: Moderato (clarinets) Be a Conductor! 24 Variation D: Allegro alla marcia (bassoons) The British Connection 25 Variation E: Brillante: alle polacca (violins) Additional Activities/Resources and Core Standards 26 Variation F: Meno mosso (violas) Listening Map (Percussion Variation) 27 Variation G: Lusingando (cellos) Student Program Template 29 Variation H: Cominciando lento ma poco a poco accel. al Allegro (double basses) What is a Conductor?/Maestro James Fellenbaum 31 Variation I: Maestoso (harp) My Concert Review/Audience Job Description 32 Variation J: L’istesso tempo (horns) Concert Behavior/Acknowledgements 33 Variation K: Vivace (trumpets) Variation L: Allegro pomposo This ear symbol will give students something to listen for in select pieces. (trombones and bass tuba) Watch for the map to give you Variation M: Moderato (percussion) interesting facts or vocabulary words. Fugue: Allegro molto What is a Composer? A composer is a person who writes music. He or she can write music for groups as large as a Bugler’s Dream symphony orchestra, or as small as a single instrument. Many times in orchestral works the composer Leo Arnaud tells a story. All of the different instruments of the orchestra are the actors in Olympic Fanfare and Theme the story. A composer can write music based on many different things, such as a The following John Williams dream, a place, a person, or a poem. Sometimes composers even create music by mixing program notes many different pieces. A composer has the ability to hear a tune in his head and write were written for the students. it down as notes for instruments. America (My Country, ‘’Tis of Thee) Lyrics by Samuel Francis Smith (1801-1895) Please prepare your students to sing along with the KSO at the very beginning of the concert! ‘My Country, ‘Tis of Thee, also known as America is an American patriotic song. It is known as the first American National Anthem before the adoption of the Star Spangled Banner in 1931 and today is America’s Movement AcƟvity: National Hymn. The lyrics were written by Reverend Samuel Francis Emphasize 3/4 meter with the following bean bag acƟvity. Smith, when he was twenty-four years old, attending Andover Theological Seminary in Andover, Massachusetts, to become a minister. By Susan Ramsay His friend Lowell Mason asked him to translate or write new lyrics (words) for music from a German school music book. (At that time in the A To practice 3/4 meter, pass bean bags in a circle using the United States there were no music teachers in public schools.) Samuel words “grab, touch, pass.” Grab the bean bag with one hand on beat 1, touch to the right knee on beat 2, and place in front of the Francis Smith was struck by one tune, and not knowing that it was the person to the right on beat 3. same melody as the British national anthem, God Save the Queen, he wrote new lyrics in 30 minutes on a rainy day. Like many popular songs B Working alone, touch the bag to the floor, toss and catch in one from that time, America took music from another song. (When hand, and then the other. “Touch, catch, catch.” writing our Melody—The main theme or tune of a piece of music. The melody is the part of the music that is easy to remember and sing along with. national anthem, Francis Scott Key used the melody from a theme song of the Anacreontic Society of London.) This practice of “borrowing songs” to become other songs was very common at this time and in fact the same music was used for the former anthems of Russia, Switzerland and Germany and is still used in Britten, Liechtenstien, and Norway. America was first performed on July 4, 1831 at the Park Street Church in Boston Smith wrote over 150 other hymns and was sung by children in Lowell Mason’s children’s choir. that were compiled into a Baptist hymnal, The Psalmist. Lowell Mason was one of this country’s first great champions of music education for children. He founded a children’s choir and started the first singing school for children in Boston. His choir sang for lectures given by a man very influential in education, William C. Woodbridge, and this helped to pave the way for public school music programs. Aretha Franklin sang America on January 20, 2009 at the inauguration of President Barack Obama and Kelly Clarkson sang the song at the second inauguration on January 21, 2013. 2 MUSIC: AMERICA (MY COUNTRY ‘TIS OF THEE) Please have your students learn America. They will have an opportunity to sing along with this piece at the concert. Tell them that this tune will be the theme for Variations on America written by Charles Ives, an American composer. KSO Kids’ Guide to the Orchestra, Track No. 1 3 7 Variations on America Charles Ives (1874 –1954) Charles Ives was born in Danbury, Connecticut, in Variations on America was originally composed for organ when 1874. His father played flute, violin, piano and Ives was only 17 years old. He prepared it for a Fourth of cornet and became the youngest band leader in the July celebration in 1892 at the Methodist church where he Union Army during the Civil War. Charles was a was organist in Brewster, New York. pianist, organist and composer. He also played drums Variations on America was orchestrated in 1962 by William in his father’s band and much of his inspiration for Schuman and premiered by the New York Philharmonic in composing music probably came from listening to his 1964. father’s bands, orchestras and choirs. Ives’ first Premiere– the first time that a new piece of music is played or piece that was performed in public was his Holiday presented. Quickstep which was played when Ives was only 13 At the concert, you will hear an introduction, that years old. At 14, Ives was hired as the youngest starts with “My Country ‘Tis of Thee,” in the brass, church organist in Connecticut. Growing up he was but the melody is changed a bit from the song. captain of his high-school baseball and football Then you will hear America in its traditional version. teams, he attended Yale University and played on Listen for two more variations, one played by the woodwinds the Yale football team. with the theme that you will recognize in the strings and one that has a Ives did not work as a composer full-time. He owned an insurance company little bit of a Spanish sound played by the trombones, tuba and where he worked for 30 years and composed music in his spare time. Ives castanets? What gives this variation its Spanish sound? worked on several different pieces at the same time and often “borrowed” music from himself and from other composers to put in his pieces. Theme—A theme is the main melody of a piece of music. It can be One day in 1927, Ives told his wife, Harmony, that he could not compose thought of as the subject of a piece of music. anymore because “nothing sounds right.” After that he did not Variations—The theme of a piece of music is repeated so that it can write any new music, but worked on pieces he had already written still be recognized, but is changed in some important way. to make them better. After years of health problems, Ives was eventually diagnosed with Ives wrote other patriotic pieces including Washington’s Birthday and The Fourth of July. diabetes and was one of the first patients to receive insulin treatments. 5 Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra Theme Benjamin Britten (1913 - 1976) Benjamin Britten was born in a fishing Britten was very interested in teaching young people about classical town in England beside the North Sea. music. His Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra was written in 1946 He was the youngest of four children as part of the score to a documentary film for children. in his family—two boys and two girls. Score—A special print of music that shows how all the instruments of the orchestra play His father was a dentist and his at the same time. A complete copy of a musical work. Scores contain music for each mother encouraged him in music instrument that is playing in the piece. Scores are generally large enough for the conductor to read as they are conducting. because she was a singer. When he For his theme, Britten borrowed a theme from the Baroque English was three months old, Britten composer Henry Purcell written for a play in 1695. The piece uses contracted pneumonia and almost died.