2018 CLASSIC KIDS SERIES

Teachers’ Guide K-6

EXPLORE mso.com.au/education CONTENTS

3 HOW TO USE THESE RESOURCES

4 ARTISTS

6 SET LIST (REPERTOIRE)

7 INTERVIEW: ELISE MCCANN

9 LESSON PLAN SUGGESTIONS

12 FURTHER INFORMATION

2 HOW TO USE THE RESOURCES

USING THESE RESOURCES We are excited to make available to you this set of online pre-concert resources for the first of MSO’s 2018 Classic Kids Series concerts, Dahlesque. We can’t wait to welcome you to the Malthouse Theatre!

WHY PROVIDE PRE-CONCERT RESOURCES? The MSO aims to provide exciting, engaging and meaningful experiences that extend well beyond the concert hall. That’s why we’ve designed this special resource pack for you and your students to discover in the lead up to the concerts, as well as to use to reflect on your experience in the post-concert period. While developing this resource pack, we focussed on the creation of content that is adaptable, inspiring, and linked to curriculum. The MSO’s Education concerts and pre-concert resources are intended as a method of supercharging curriculum, using learning to inspire a love of and deep-seated passion for music.

WHAT’S ON OFFER? 1. Teachers’ Guide (K-6) with information about artists, repertoire, and lesson plan suggestions (including links to a variety of concert-related digital resources) 2. General digital resource videos published online that you can use to introduce your students to the concept of the orchestra

HOW CAN I USE THE RESOURCE PACK? We suggest you use this document in conjunction with the video resources to design and execute a pre-/post-concert learning sequence crafted to suit you students and their particular interests and needs. How much time you spend working with and discussing each resource is up to you – you are the expert!

3 ARTISTS AND PRESENTERS

MELBOURNE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

Established in 1906, the Melbourne Symphony audiences of all ages through its Education Orchestra (MSO) is an arts leader and Australia’s and Outreach initiatives. oldest professional orchestra. Chief Conductor Sir Andrew Davis has been at the helm of Sir Andrew Davis gave his inaugural concerts MSO since 2013. Engaging more than 3 million as the MSO’s Chief Conductor in 2013, having people each year, the MSO reaches a variety of made his debut with the Orchestra in 2009. audiences through live performances, recordings, The MSO also works with Associate Conductor TV and radio broadcasts and live streaming. Benjamin Northey and Assistant Conductor Its international audiences include China, where Tianyi Lu, as well as with such eminent recent MSO has performed in 2012, 2016 and again in guest conductors as Tan Dun, John Adams, 2018, Europe (2014) and Indonesia, where in 2017 Jakub Hrůša and Jukka-Pekka Saraste. It has it performed at the UNESCO World Heritage Site, also collaborated with non-classical musicians Prambanan Temple. including Elton John, Nick Cave and Flight Facilities. The MSO performs a variety of concerts ranging from symphonic performances at its The MSO reaches a wider audience through home, Hamer Hall at Arts Centre Melbourne, regular radio broadcasts, recordings and to its annual free concerts at Melbourne’s CD releases, including the February 2018 largest outdoor venue, the Sidney Myer Music release of a collaboration with Chinese Bowl. The MSO also delivers innovative violin virtuoso Lu Siqing. and engaging programs and digital tools to

4 ELISE McCANN FEATURED ARTIST

Elise is most well-known for originating the role of Miss Honey in the Australian production of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s adaptation of ’s for which she won the 2016 Helpmann Award and the 2015 Sydney Theatre Award, and was nominated for the 2016 Green Room Award for her portrayal of Miss Honey. After over 650 shows and two years in the role, Elise left Matilda in Perth with her final performance on Sunday March 19th 2017. She is also featured in the Channel Seven miniseries – Not The Boy Next Door, playing Peter’s sister Lynne Woolnough. Not The Boy Next Door won 7 AACTA’s at the 2015 AACTA Awards including Best Miniseries, was nominated for Best Drama at the 2016 Logie Awards and was nominated for Best Television Drama at the 2016 Monte Carlo Television and Film Festival. In June 2017 Elise appeared in the World Premiere Dahlesque – a concert featuring music from adaptations of Roald Dahl’s classic stories, premiering at the 2017 Adelaide Cabaret Festival. Following which her debut album of the same name featuring arrangements with an incredible 12 piece orchestra, was released by ABC Music/ Universal Music. A graduate of NIDA, Elise’s theatrical credits includes Lucille Ball in the critically acclaimed one woman show Everybody Loves Lucy (Luckiest Productions) for which she was nominated for Best Cabaret Performance in the 2015 Sydney Theatre Awards. Ali in the 10th Anniversary Australian Tour of MAMMA MIA! (Littlestar) and The World Premier/ Australian Tour of (Gordon Frost Organisation).

5 REPERTOIRE

Get to know the music featured in the show using our handy set list! When you come along to visit us, you’ll hear all-new versions of these songs performed by our featured artist, Elise McCann. You may like to create a playlist using these songs, or use them as transition music in your classroom in the lead-up to your excursion. The choice is yours.

1. IT MUST BE BELIEVED TO BE SEEN From Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: The Musical (Marc Shaiman & Scott Wittman)

2. FLOATIN’ ALONG From James and The Giant Peach: The Musical (Pasek & Paul)

3. LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD & THE WOLF (NEW) Lyrics: Roald Dahl, Music: Stephen Amos

4. OOMPA LOOMPA From Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory (film) (Leslie Bricusse & Anthony Newley)

5. I WANT IT NOW From Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory (film) (Leslie Bricusse & Anthony Newley)

6. THE SMELL OF REBELLION From Matilda: The Musical ()

7. MIDDLE OF A MOMENT From James and The Giant Peach: The Musical (Pasek & Paul)

8. THREE LITTLE PIGS (NEW) Lyrics: Roald Dahl, Revolting Rhymes Music: Stephen Amos

9. PURE IMAGINATION From Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory (film) (Leslie Bricusse & Anthony Newley)

10. NAUGHTY From Matilda: The Musical (Tim Minchin)

6 INTERVIEW ELISE MCCANN

When you were in primary school, what did you want to be when you grew up? I always wanted to be a journalist or a lawyer!

So why did you become a performer? I love telling stories. I also love helping an audience empathise by encouraging them to understand another person’s point of view by looking out for a character’s inner-most personal thoughts and feelings.

Do you get nervous when performing? Absolutely! I think it’s a good thing to get a little bit nervous because it means you care about putting on a great show. I try to focus on my breathing and remind myself that it’s only a play. The worst case scenario is only if I forget everything: nothing truly bad will happen. I’ll be ok!

Did you read Roald Dahl’s books when you were young? I did! I read Matilda, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Witches, and The BFG. The Witches was always my favourite, mainly because it terrified me! For that reason, it also made me feel the most grown up. I was also obsessed with the idea that real witches looked like ordinary women!

What gave you the idea for creating Dahlesque? “I thought to myself: When I was performing in Matilda: The Musical someone should make I started coming across a treasure trove of songs created from adaptations of Dahl’s stories. a show using all these I discovered that Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was being made into a new, original wonderful songs” musical, I uncovered James and the Giant Peach: The Musical, and I heard about a song from a new, American adaptation of Dahl’s book, Boy. One day, after these ideas kept popping into my head, I thought to myself: someone should make a show using all these wonderful songs. That was followed almost immediately by a second thought: why wait for someone else? I should do it!

7 INTERVIEW ELISE MCCANN

Tell us about the songwriting process. How did How would you suggest students and teachers you turn your favourite books into songs? best prepare for the performance? As we now know, most of the songs in the show Dahlesque tells you a lot about Roald Dahl and his were already in existence. Still, we also wanted to life, and it connects the experiences he had as a add our own new and special songs to the show. person to his characters and stories. Reading and One day, my musical director and arranger, Stephen familiarising yourself with Roald Dahl’s books is a Amos came to me and asked if he should have a go great way to prepare because it will help you learn at turning Revolting Rhymes – one of our favourites about exactly that: who he is, and from where he – into song. I was so excited! A few days later, he got his ideas and creativity. came to me with Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf. I was blown away. We had to get permission What are your top three things to look for when from the Dahl Estate to have it registered as a new attending a performance of Dahlesque? song, and they agreed to let us work on the show: 1. L ook and listen for something that you recognise Dahlesque. and love about Roald Dahl and/or his characters In Dahlesque, there are two new and original and books compositions: Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf 2. Look and listen for something that you didn’t and The Three Little Pigs. Both songs use the lyrics know about Roald Dahl and/or his characters and of Roald Dahl’s poems paired with all-new music books composed by Stephen. I can’t wait to perform them for you! 3. Look and listen for something that makes you squirm, and for something that makes you laugh! What advice could you share with primary school students wanting to write and perform their own songs at school? Don’t try to make it perfect! Give yourself “Dahlesque tells you a lot permission to be terrible at first. I would start by about Roald Dahl and his taking some time to write down your idea. Next, try reading it out to people you trust and like. life, and it connects the Get some feedback from your friends, and try to improve your creation, bit-by-bit. Above all, be experiences he had as a patient and brave and just keep trying! It’s amazing what you can do and what your imagination can person to his characters come up with if you give it the freedom to be – and do – anything. Remind yourself to have fun. and stories.”

8 LESSON PLAN SUGGESTIONS

Each lesson plan indicates suggested links both within and across learning areas of the Victorian Curriculum. These links are listed in hierarchical order (learning area, strand, sub-strand etc.) and in the interest of level-related flexibility do not include specific content descriptions. As each lesson plan includes options for extension, the plans are designed to be adapted in order to differentiate content according to the level at which students are working (K-6).

Lesson Getting to know the MSO

LINKS TO VICTORIAN CURRICULUM 1. Remind students they’ll soon be attending a • Critical and Creative Thinking (capability) performance of Dahlesque by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra • Personal and Social (capability) • Music (learning area) 2. Introduce the learning intention – Respond and Interpret 3. Watch one video from the MSO’s online Resource Library – you might choose to watch a full schools LEARNING INTENTION concert, an interview with some of our musicians, To meet the musicians of the Melbourne or an excerpt from a full-length evening performance Symphony Orchestra. (available under the ‘Explore’ heading at this link) 4. Have a discussion with the students using varying MATERIALS types of comprehension questions such as: • Whiteboard markers a. What did you see in the video? • Interactive whiteboard (with visuals and sound) b. What was your favourite instrument? Do you • Scrap paper remember what it looked like? • Grey lead pencils c. How do you think [MUSICIAN’S NAME] would feel when preparing for a performance? • Coloured pencils and markers d. What was the most awesome thing you just saw? Why? e. If you had to choose where to sit in the concert hall, where would you sit and why? f. What do you imagine the backstage area might look like? What would musicians need in the backstage area? 5. Ask students to draw a picture of themselves at the concert focusing on how they think they’ll feel when they arrive at the performance (you might like to ask them to visualise this with eyes closed) 6. While students draw, play some of the music from our Dahlesque set list on the interactive whiteboard (without visuals) – you can find YouTube links in section 3 of this guide 7. Have a show-and-tell session at the end of the lesson

EXTENSION IDEAS • Revisit the drawings when you arrive back form the performance – how did the music make them feel? Is it the same or different to how we first imagined we’d feel? • If you don’t have time during a single lesson, why not play our full schools concert during a wet day timetable or as a special treat at the end of a long week?

9 LESSON PLAN SUGGESTIONS

Lesson Creating Characters

LINKS TO VICTORIAN CURRICULUM CONTENT • Critical and Creative Thinking (capability) 1. Remind students they’ll soon be attending a • Personal and Social (capability) performance of Dahlesque by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra • Music (learning area) – Explore and Express Ideas 2. Introduce the learning intention • English (learning area) 3. Before playing the clip, tell students they’re about to – Reading and Viewing meet some really interesting characters from one of • Language Roald Dahl’s stories: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – • Expressing and developing Ideas the character is called an Oompa Loompa: what do they think an Oompa Loompa might look like? • Literature • Examining Literature 4. Play the clip 5. Have students make up a funny name for a new character they’d like to create and write it on a LEARNING INTENTION post-it note (e.g. a ‘choobarooba’ or ‘blurry-eyed To create an interesting character we could beaconbeetle’) – these can be as silly as they like use in a story. 6. Collect the post-it notes on the whiteboard and read-out some examples for students who may be struggling to MATERIALS think of/share an example • Whiteboard markers 7. Have students work on their own or in small groups to • Interactive whiteboard (visuals and sound) draw the character they created • This Oompa Loompa clip from the original Willy 8. While students draw, play some of the music from Wonka and the Chocolate Factory film our Dahlesque set list on the interactive whiteboard • Student workbooks or scrap paper (without visuals) – you can find YouTube links in section • Grey lead pencils 3 of this guide • Coloured pencils and markers 9. Have a show-and-tell session at the end of the lesson • Post-it notes (or small squares of scrap paper) EXTENSION IDEAS • Students can add labels to their picture/diagram – where is the character’s head? What does this part of its body do? Why does it have feathers on its chin? • Students could write a story with their newly minted character as the protagonist

10 LESSON PLAN SUGGESTIONS

Lesson Let’s Write a Song!

LINKS TO VICTORIAN CURRICULUM CONTENT • Critical and Creative Thinking (capability) 1. Remind students they’ll soon be attending a • Music (learning area) performance of Dahlesque by the Melbourne Symphony – Explore and Express Ideas Orchestra • English (learning area) 2. Read aloud the questions and answers numbered 4-6 – Reading and Viewing in section 4 of this guide (Interview: Elise McCann) • Language (extension: choose students to read aloud to the class) – Expressing and developing Ideas 3. Introduce the learning intention – Literature 4. Read aloud a passage/chapter from your chosen Roald • Examining Literature Dahl book (extension: choose students to read aloud to the class) LEARNING INTENTION 5. Use the interactive whiteboard to brainstorm words, To write our own song inspired by Dahlesque, ideas and phrases that students remember from the a book by Roald Dahl. passage/chapter

MATERIALS 6. Play the backing track/accompaniment you’ve selected, and ask students to think of some phrases that could • Whiteboard markers fit with the music (extension: how do we make sure the • A hard copy of this Dahlesque Teachers’ Guide phrases ‘fit’ with the music? Can we count the number of • One chapter or shorter passage from a Roald Dahl beats in the Twinkle Twinkle lyrics we know, and ‘match’ book of your choice (need ideas? Check out the them with our new lyrics?) official Roald Dahl website) 7. Finalise different lines/verses of the song and document • A backing track or accompaniment (no lyrics) the class’ work to Twinkle Twinkle, Little Star (try YouTube, or perhaps you – or a colleague – have guitar skills!) EXTENSION IDEAS • Interactive whiteboard (no visuals required) or sound system • Continue working on the song over the course of several lessons, or write only as much as you can manage • Student workbooks or scrap paper • Grey lead pencils • Have students work in small groups to complete different parts of the song • Perform the song at an assembly • Film a performance of your song and share it with the musicians of the MSO! Email it through to our Education Manager: [email protected] • Perform a song with the MSO from the comfort of our classroom – teach and learn Eric Avery’s fun, interactive piece Yananha using our learning resource, then perform it ‘live’ with the MSO by watching our full schools concert (practice from 33:40 onwards, or performance from 38:47 onwards)

11 FURTHER RESOURCES

MSO’S 2018 SCHOOLS’ SEASON There’s plenty more where this came from. Check out our full range of exciting, engaging, curriculum-linked products at mso.com.au/education/ schools-and-teachers

Resource library Engage with the MSO from the comfort of your classroom. Explore our full range of online resources today!

Got questions about your booking? Contact the MSO Box Office.

PARTNERS

This program is supported by the Robert Salzer Foundation, Perpetual and the Victorian Government through Creative Victoria.

MAJOR EDUCATION SUPPORTERS Anonymous, Kaye and David Birks, Ken & Asle Chilton Trust – managed by Perpetual, Crown Resorts Foundation and Packer Family Foundation, The Collier Charitable Trust, Erica Foundation Pty Ltd, Ivor Ronald Evans Foundation – managed by Equity Trustees Ltd, The Marian and E.H. Flack Trust, Freemasons Foundation Victoria, Gandel Philanthropy, Hilary Hall – in memory of Wilma Collie, Hume City Council, James and Rosemary Jacoby, Linnell/Hughes Trust – managed by Perpetual, The Scobie and Claire Mackinnon Trust, Lesley McMullin Foundation, Mrs Margaret Ross AM and Dr Ian Ross, Rae Rothfield, Robert Salzer Foundation, Schapper Family Foundation, Glenn Sedgwick, Telematics Trust, The Alan (AGL) Shaw Endowment – managed by Perpetual, Ullmer Family Foundation, Jason Yeap OAM.

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