2016-2017 Teachers Guide sponsored by:

1

Compose Yourself! By James Stephenson

This concert presentation will: 1. Introduce students to a real live composer, James Stephenson; someone who makes his living creating music for performances by orchestras, small groups or musicians, and soloists. A composer’s work can mark a special occasion, showcase the talents of a performer, celebrate the sounds of specific instruments, bring a mood or thought to life, provide the background for a movie or video game…or just exist for the beauty or creative fun of it! Mr. Stephenson will also serve as narrator for the concerts. 2. Introduce students to the different families of instruments in the orchestra, the sounds they make and how those sounds are created. 3. Introduce students to the contents of a composer’s tool kit: a. The scale of possible notes and sounds b. Melody c. Harmony and Dissonance d. Rhythm 4. Demonstrate in an interactive way how these elements can combine to create a unique piece of music. Resources: The enclosed materials include illustrated worksheets you may reproduce for your students to help them prepare for the Compose Yourself! Experience. Some is very basic preparatory information, and it is certainly possible that your students are more advanced in their knowledge and understanding of the elements of musical composition. In preparing this packet, we hoped that many of these activities and exercises could be used as follow up activities after attending the concert in addition to pre-concert preparation. The composer who has created this program brings it all beautifully to life for the live student audience, and makes it accessible and relevant for children of varying musical backgrounds. This includes children who already study and play a musical instrument, as well as those who are completely new to music.

2

What is a Composer? A composer creates a piece of music using a tool kit of sounds and rhythms. To write music, a composer must know: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Names of music symbols and their meanings Tones, or pitches, and their location on the music staff Names of rhythm symbols and their duration value How to draw music symbols A lot of different styles of music and understand and be able to explain they are different from each other 6. How different instruments sound together to create a mood or feeling 7. How to use details such as speed (tempo), volume (dynamics) and expressive sound details (articulations) 8. How to present musical ideas for a particular audience, celebration or instrument 9. How to use music software to write down or partially create music parts for different instruments 10.How to put all of these skills together into meaningful expression on a music staff for everyone to enjoy playing, reading, listening, studying and re-arranging 11.Your idea here___________________________________________________

For class discussion:  Which ideas from the above list do you think might be the hardest to do?  Which ones do you enjoy learning about in music class?  Select an instrument or a music group that you might enjoy composing for and share your idea with the class  Do all musicians know how to compose music? Why or why not?

3

Some composers create such wonderful music, people enjoy listening to it for many, many years. Do you know the music of these composers?

Antonio Vivaldi wrote a Lute Concerto in the 1700s. You may have heard it as the spring flower music on Sesame Street. Vivaldi Spring Flower video from Sesame Street Born in 1678, Vivaldi was an Italian composer who was a virtuoso violinist. His bestknown music is “The Four Seasons”, a series of violin concertos.

Sergei Prokofiev wrote Peter and the Wolf in 1936 Click here to watch Peter and the Wolf on You Tube Prokofiev was born in Russia in 1891. He started composing when he was six wrote his first opera at the age of nine.

Tim Rice and Elton John wrote the music and words to the songs in The Lion King in 1994.

John Williams wrote the Harry Potter theme music in 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2007 and 2009.

James Stephenson is a living composer who has written music that is performed by orchestras, bands, and choirs and soloists all over the world. He wrote a piece to teach young students about the instruments of the orchestra, and how to compose music! You are going to hear a performance of this piece and it is called:

Compose Yourself!

4

The Composer’s Tool Kit: The Elements of Music All instruments can play the notes of a musical scale. At the bottom of the scale are low notes, which make deep sounds. At the top are high notes.

Each instrument makes the notes of the scale sound a little different. This is because of the different shapes of each instrument, the materials they are make from, and how the musician uses an instrument to make sounds. When a composer hears the 4 families of instruments in an orchestra make their different sounds, he or she likes to think about how each is different. Once a composer knows how the instruments sound and the kinds of tonal images they can make, it is time to think about creating a melody. A melody is the tune you think of, or hum, when you hear the name of a song you know. Do you know the melody of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star? This song was a piano exercise written by a composer named Mozart. He liked the melody so much he decided to make lots of different Twinkle, Twinkle Little Stars. He put 12 versions of his melody into one piece of music! To make each version of the melody different, he changed the harmony, tempo and rhythm. These are important tools in the composer’s tool kit. You Tube: Mozart’s “Twelve Variations on ‘Ah! Vous dirai-je, Maman’” Ways to Change a Musical Composition        

Change the tempo and use extreme dynamic changes Change the rhythms of select phrases Change the words Use instruments in the background to create additional texture such as an ostinato Perform as a speech instead of a song Substitute original melody notes with new notes interspersed throughout Use augmentation or diminution Change the melody from Major to Minor

5

This guide contains lessons and activities for a wide range of ages. Links for Primary grades are in red, links for Intermediate/Middle School grades are in blue. Links for all ages are in green. There are several recorded accompaniments to use with the exercises. Links to access these recordings are in purple and will take you to a page on the ESO website.

Link #1: Draw Your Own Variations of a Star! Students can try their own variation to Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, by varying the text. Replace the original words with your ideas to change the song!

Link #2: Text Variation to Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star Music Link #1: Play Along Accompaniment for Text Variation to Twinkle

Tool #1: Tone Color/Timbre Tone Color, also known as Timbre, is the quality of the sound or tone that distinguishes it from others. In other words, it is what makes one instrument sound different from another even when the instruments are playing the same note simultaneously. Listen to the tone colors in the following excerpts. How many families of the orchestra can you hear? Which instruments do you hear predominantly in each excerpt? You Tube: Kodaly-Hary Janos Suite: Viennese Musical Clock You Tube: Beethoven-Minuet in G

6

Link #3: Name the Woodwind Family Link #4: Brass: Fact or Fiction? Link #5: Name the Percussion Instruments Link #6: Label the Parts of the Violin

7

Composers combine tone colors of instruments to put into large and small groups for their compositions. See if you can list some common ensembles for which composers write.

Link #7: The Tone Colors of Music Ensembles Worksheet Link # 8: What’s in a Composer’s toolbox? Worksheet Link #9: Game of Concentration: Another Word for Song

Tool #2: Melody and Harmony When you play or sing more than one note at the same time, you are creating harmony if the result is pleasant. If the result is unpleasant, you have created dissonance. Listen to this example of a beautiful melody: You Tube: Scheherazade by Rimsky-Korsakov movement 3 Which of these sound combinations creates a pleasant collection of tones (harmony) and which create an unpleasant collection of tones (dissonance?) 1. Screeching bird and car horn 2. Soprano and Baritone singers from a high school choir performing music together 3. A class of students singing “happy birthday” all starting on a different note. 4. Professional string players practicing a Haydn quartet. 5. A clarinet and a flute student trying to play the same music part. 6. Two brand new band students blowing into their saxophones at the same time. 7. A cello player and a viola player playing the same piece, but in a different key. 8. Singing ‘Freres Jacques’ as a canon in class. 9. Playing an Orff arrangement taught by your music teacher. 10. Three recorder players starting to play two different songs by accident. 11. A vocal solo of America, the Beautiful accompanied by piano. 12. A crying baby and a dog yowling.

8

When you play in a band, orchestra, mariachi band, choir or Orff ensemble, you often hear harmony being performed.

Link #10: Directions: Play a simple Orff Arrangement-Let me Share My Song Link #11: Sheet Music: Let me Share My Song Link #12: Directions: Play Along Accompaniments to Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star Music Link #2: Play along accompaniment to Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star

Tool #3: Rhythm There are many different types of rhythms and rhythm patterns heard all over the world. Rhythms are a big part of defining a particular musical style. To create a rhythm, a composer tells the musicians how long to play and hold each note before playing the next one. A composer uses rhythm symbols to communicate this. Each note has a duration of sound. Examples of long sounds are whole notes and short sounds are 16th notes. A composer is skilled at combining rhythms to create a style, help communicate a mood, or help present a setting in a movie soundtrack. Listen to the exciting and complicated rhythms in the following piece: You Tube: Bernstein’s Symphonic Dances from West Side Story

Link #13: Composer’s Toolbox Coloring Page Link #14: Compose! Compose! Directions Music Link #3: Compose! Compose! Link #15: Change the Rhythm Twinkle Music Link #4: Play along Change the Rhythm to Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star

9

Tool #4: Expressive Elements (tempo, dynamics, articulations and form) Once a composer has chosen tone colors, melodies, harmonies and rhythm for the music, the expressive elements can then be added. A composer will make these decisions based on the mood of the piece. A composer will also rewrite different sections of the music until what they wants fits just right in their head. Sometimes composers take years to compose a selection, while at other times they only take a few edits here and there and the music is done. Listen to the dynamic changes, articulations, rhythm and tempo changes in the following piece. Can you guess the form of the piece? You Tube: Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4 movement 3

Lesson Activity: Which expressive elements might you choose if musical compositions are about the following subjects? Fast or Slow

Loud or Soft

A celebration A funeral A runaway horse A circus clown Standing at a grave The end of a race

Link #16: Form Worksheet-Sandwich Parts Link #17: Listen to the Tempo Change game Link #18: Classify the Elements of Music Link #19: Part Studies: Locate and Label

Short or Long Notes

10

Tool #5: Edit or forget it! Once composers have completed a composition it’s not really finished! They have to go back and look the parts over, listen to it and re-do certain measures. They may decide to make a certain part of the music longer, shorter or change up the tone colors. They may borrow a few melodic phrases from another composer, or completely start over! Composers need to listen and reflect on their work before they are truly finished and ready to send it to their musicians to learn.

Link #20: Round and Round: Keep or Toss? Link #21: Make a Song Selfie! Link #22: Sample Rhythms for Song Selfies Music Link #5: Song Selfie Rap Accompaniment

Online Resources for Composing: http://www.blanksheetmusic.net/ : Free Blank Staff Paper that you can customize http://www.finalemusic.com/products/finale-notepad/ : Finale Notepad, free music writing software

Online Composing Games: http://www.classicsforkids.com/games/compose/compose.html : Enter in and play back short songs http://www.sfkids.org : Go to the music lab, very fun music activities

Free Music Composing Apps: search the name of the app below in the app’s store* For Google Play/Android devices: Music Composition: Free app to write music Prelude Composer: Free app to write single line music For IOS Devices (Ipad/Iphone/IPod touch):

11

iWriteMusic Free: Free app to write music Music Drawing Notation: Free app to write single line music *If you can’t find these apps, try just searching “Music Notation” in your app store.

Illinois Arts Learning Standards for Music This program and materials fulfills: Anchor Standard 1: Generate and conceptualize artistic ideas and work. Anchor Standard 2: Organize and develop artistic ideas and work. Anchor Standard 3: Revise, refine and complete artistic work. Anchor Standard 4: Construct meaningful interpretations of artistic work. Anchor Standard 10: Synthesize and relate knowledge and personal experiences to make art. Please refer to the new Illinois Arts Learning Standards for Music for a specific grade-appropriate guide to creating, responding and analyzing music.

Many thanks to Susan Carlson for her contributions to this teacher guide. Susan Carlson, a native of the Chicago area, resides in Palatine, IL with her husband Craig, and their 2 boys, Nathaniel and Cameron. Susan has been a comprehensive music teacher in Palatine Community Consolidated School District 15 for 25 years, teaching in several of the 19 buildings throughout her career. Currently she is full-time at Willow Bend Elementary School in Rolling Meadows, IL. She has a Bachelor’s degree from Belmont University, Nashville, Tennessee and a Master’s degree from VanderCook College of Music, Chicago, IL. She has received certification in 3 Orff levels yet enjoys the process teaching of other music pedagogies as well. Her passion for students to compose music began with her love of composing for fun, pedagogical songs, and music program material. Susan has written extensive lesson content for teaching Garageband™ to elementary students and has experimented with MIDI sequencing software for many years. Lately, she has become fond of the commonly known Garageband™ app for iPads®. Her hobbies include playing the flute/piccolo, reading, running, church activities, crafting, and enjoying time with her 3 boys.

12

James Stephenson, Composer and Narrator Leading American orchestras, instrumentalists, and wind ensembles around the world have performed the music of Chicago based composer James M. Stephenson, both to critical acclaim and the delight of audiences. The Boston Herald raved about “straightforward, unabashedly beautiful sounds,” suggesting “Stephenson deserves to be heard again and again!” A formal sense of melody and tonality characterize his music, each embedded in a contemporary soundscape. These qualities, coupled with the composer’s keen ability to write to each occasion, have led to a steady stream of commissions and ongoing projects. Most recently, Charles Vernon, Chicago Symphony bass trombonist, asked Stephenson to write a new concerto, a work to be premiered in their 2018/2019 season under the direction of Riccardo Muti. A second bass trombone concerto will receive its orchestral premiere with the St. Louis Symphony and soloist Gerry Pagano, in 2017-18. “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band commissioned a symphony (the composer’s second in this genre) and will give the work its premiere in 2016 at the prestigious Midwest Clinic. Additionally, Compose Yourself!, Stephenson’s landmark young-audience work has now been performed over 300 times since its creation in 2002, engaging children in New Zealand and Canada and across the U.S. Stephen Squires, Conductor Mr. Squires received his musical training at the Preparatory School of the Eastman School of Music and the Crane School of Music, in his home state of New York. He earned his Master’s degree in Instrumental Conducting/Trumpet Performance at California State University, Northridge. Further conducting studies were with Helmuth Rilling, Maurice Abravanel, Daniel Lewis, Tsung Yeh, and at the Aspen Music Festival. Mr. Squires has conducted recordings for the Delos, Spring Hill (a division of EMI), MEDR, Editions de la Rue Margot, Albany, MSR Classics and Centaur labels. Stephen Squires is Professor of Conducting in the Music Conservatory of the Chicago College of Performing Arts, Roosevelt University. Prior to this appointment he served on the artist faculty of the Northern Illinois School of Music for nineteen years, where he received the prestigious “Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award.” Mr. Squires’ current professional appointments include Resident Conductor of the Elgin Symphony Orchestra, Music Director of the Mendelssohn Chamber Orchestra (Rockford, IL), Music Director of the Millar Brass (Evanston, IL) and Music Director of the Illinois Brass Band (Arlington Heights, IL). He is the former Music Director of the Illinois Chamber Symphony. Mr. Squires has guest conducted the Chicago Symphony, the Syracuse Symphony, the Green Bay Symphony, the Columbus (OH) Symphony and the Chicago Composers Orchestra. In addition, he is an accomplished recital accompanist, freelance trumpeter, and frequent guest conductor at educational festivals throughout the country

Draw your own variations of a star!

Text Variation to “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” Directions: Create a variation of the simple text, “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” Replace the words with new synonyms, give opposite words, change the word form, etc. Original Text: Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, how I wonder what you are Up above the world so high, like a diamond in the sky Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, how I wonder what you are

My text variation:

___________________, __________________, _______________ star

How I _________________________________what you are

Up above the ___________________ so high, like a ______________ in the sky

___________________, _________________, ________________star

How I __________________________________ what you are

Match the Name to the Instrument

Word Bank Bassoon

Saxophone

Flute

Oboe

Piccolo

Bass Clarinet

Contrabassoon

English Horn

Clarinet

Brass Instruments: Fact or Fiction? Directions for the teacher: Read each sentence aloud ahd have students decide whether the sentence is fact or fiction. 1. A brass instrument cannot make music without vibrating air. Fact or Fiction? FACT: A vibrating column of air must start the sound production. The lips vibrate and blow air through the mouthpiece forcing the tube to resonate. 2. Brass instruments have always been make of a metal material called ‘brass’ which produces a loud, mellow sound that can be heard from far away. Fact or Fiction? FICTION: Many former brass instruments were made from wood, animal horns, and conch shells. 3. If you stretch out a trumpet, the smallest member of the brass family, the tube would be 10.5 feet long! Fact or Fiction? FICTION: It would only be about 4 and ½ feet long. 4. The French Horn, when uncoiled, is actually 12 feet long. Fact or Fiction? FACT: The French Horn was originally designed in the 1600’s as a monotone instrument. Later, in the 1700’s crooks (or movable slides) were designed to be able to change pitches on the instrument. They were first used in opera music. 5. French Horn players can also be called, ‘Hornists’. Fact or Fiction? FACT: True, though an uncommon term, horn players can also be called ‘hornists’. 6. In an orchestra, there are 8 trombone players. Fact or Fiction? FICTION: Typically, an orchestra uses 3 trombone players.

7. Ludwig Van Beethoven was the first composer to use the trombone in his Symphony No. 5 in C Minor. Fact or Fiction? FACT: When the symphony was written, between 1804 and 1808, Beethoven employed the trombone in the last movement, called the Finale. 8. The tuba was first called Sophecles, named after the celebrated playwright from Athens, Greece from 408 B.C. Fact or Fiction? FICTION: The first tuba was called an ophecleide, a keyed bugle of the Renaissance age, and had no name relation to Sophecles. 9. Brass is actually a metal that is a combination of both copper and zinc. Fact or Fiction? FACT: True, brass is a metal alloy of copper and zinc. 10. The Flugelhorn, known to be played mostly in jazz orchestras, was actually a military instrument in its earliest days. Fact or Fiction? FACT: The flugelmeister was the one to play the instrument to organize and cue the ‘hunt’, much like a French horn and was associated as a military bugle after the 7 year war (1756-1763) in Europe.

Name the Percussion Instruments

Word Bank Bass Drum

Bongo drums

Gong

Snare Drum

Tambourine

Cymbals

Xylophone

Timpani, or

Conga drum

Kettledrums

Directions: Label the parts of the violin

Word Bank Bridge

Neck

Bow

Frog

Chinrest

Pegs

F-holes

Tailpiece

Scroll

Strings

Tone Colors of Music Ensembles

Name the 4 instrument families of the orchestra 1_________________________________________ 2_________________________________________ 3_________________________________________ 4__________________________________________

List 4 instruments that are popular in a marching band: Name 4 pitched Orff instruments 1___________________________________________ 2___________________________________________ 3___________________________________________ 4___________________________________________ List 4 instruments that belong in a Rock Band 1___________________________________________ 2___________________________________________ 3___________________________________________ 4___________________________________________

List the 4 vocal register names:

1______________________________ 2_______________________________ 3_______________________________ 4_______________________________

1_____________________________________________ 2_____________________________________________ 3_____________________________________________ 4______________________________________________

List 4 instruments that you think would sound silly together! 1__________________________________________________ 2__________________________________________________ 3__________________________________________________ 4___________________________________________________

 

Circle the half notes with red Circle the whole notes with blue Circle the quarter notes with yellow Circle the quarter rests with green Circle the half rest with purple Color the rest with crayons of your choosing!

Another Word for Song: A Game of Concentration  





My friend’s dad is in a band and they play lots of cool SONGS. My cousin is in college and he is studying music. He told me that he has to practice a lot of different SONGS. My sister was upset yesterday because she wrote a SONG on the piano but lost her paper where she put down all of her notes. I’ve got that SONG stuck in my head!

Composers write music. They write for a specific group of instruments, singers, soloists or bands. They don’t just write SONGS, they write a lot of different musical works. Here are some words we can use to refer to as works of a composer besides the word Aria

Cantata

Chorale

Concerto

Duet

Etude

Fantasia

Gigue

Hymn

Movement

Musical

Opera

Overture

Partita

Soundtrack

Theme

Variations

Symphonic Poem

Waltz

Polonaise Rhapsody

Can you think of more words? Play a game of ‘Concentration’ Begin the clap/snap pattern….1,2,3,4,1,2,3,4 “Concentration now in session. Say a different word instead of ‘song’ Person One: Etude Person Two: Concerto Person Three: sound track Etc. A student is OUT if they cannot say a word in their 4 beat turn Start Over with a different person, or row, etc.

Let Me Share My Song Orff Arrangement Set up in C Pentatonic: C D E G A ( take off the B’s and the F’s- or as you may call them ‘burgers and fries’ or ‘Black Forest’ or ‘Butter Finger’)

1) Teach Orff parts using available orff instruments in your school. 2) The percussion part is best played on a large hand drum, tambourine or woodblock. 3) Echo sing shorter phrases of the pentatonic melody until secure with students. 4) Add improvised solos can be divided into beats or measures per solo part. 5) It might be wise to select only one kind of pitched instrument part to play the solo improvisations so they stand out from the rest of the arrangement. 6) The recorder parts are to be used in case you are in the middle of a recorder unit. 7) Recorders can also perform improvised solos in C pentatonic if they are advanced players. (Beginner plays can focus on improvising on E,G and A.)

Let Me Share My Song Susan Carlson and YOU Voice

& 44











Recorder

4 &4











Mallets 1

& 44





Ó

Mallets 2

4 &4





Mallets 3

4 &4

œœ œœ Œ J J

Percussion

÷ 44

&



&



œ

œœœ Œ

œ



œœœ Œ

œ œ œ œ I

have mus - ic

œ œ œ &œ œ œ Œ

Ó

œ Œ œ

Mal. 2

&

œœœœœ Œ

œœ œœ Œ J J

Mal. 3

&œ œœœ Œ

Œ œ œœœ x

Rec.

Mal. 1

Perc.

÷





Œ

Œ

x

œ

in

œ

my

œ

‰ œj œ œ œ

Ó

œœ œœ Œ J J

œœœ Œ

œ

∑ œ œœ

is growing in



œ Œ œ

œœ œ Œ ∑

˙

side

˙



-

Œ

œ œ

œ œ œ œ œ œ Œ

œœœœœ Œ

œœ œ œ J J

Œ

œœœœœ Œ

œ

œœœ Œ

œ œ œ œ

Œ

Œ œ œœœ

x

x

x

x

x

Ó

Œ

œ Œ œ

song

œ Œ œ

œœœœœ Œ



head. A



Ó

œœœ Œ

œ



œ Œ œ

Œ

Ó

Œ

Œ

Œ Œ

x

2

& œ

Let Me Share My Song

Notes and

Rec.

œ œ

œ

&



rhythm

œ œ œ œ

œœ œ Œ

œ

instruments



too

Let

me share my



song with

you!



Mal. 1

& Ó

Ó

Mal. 2

œœ œœ Œ & J J

œ

œœœœ Œ

œœ œœ Œ J J

œ œ œœœ Œ

œœ œœ Œ J J

Mal. 3

&

œœœ Œ

œœœ Œ

œœœ Œ

œœœ Œ

Perc.

÷

œ x

Œ

Œ

œ

x

Œ

x

Œ

œ

x

Œ Œ

x

x

œ x

œ œ

Œ

œ Œ œ

œœœ Œ

œ œ



œ

œ Œ œ

Ó

œ Œ œ

œ œ œ

Improvised solos for 8 ∑ measures...

Œ

œ œ Œ

Œ



œ

x

Œ Œ

x

x

&













Rec.

&













Mal. 1

&













Mal. 2

&

œœœœœ Œ

œœ œœ Œ J J

œœœœœ Œ

œœ œœ Œ J J

œœœœœ Œ

œœ œœ Œ J J

Mal. 3

& œ œœœ Œ

Œ œ œœœ

Œ œ œœœ

Œ œ œœœ

Œ œ œœœ

Œ œ œœœ

x

x

x

x

x

Perc.

÷

x

Œ Œ

x

Œ Œ

x

Œ Œ

x

Œ Œ

x

Œ Œ

x

Œ Œ

x



3

Let Me Share My Song





j œ ‰œ

&

End of solo

Rec.

&



Mal. 1

&







Mal. 2

&

œœœœœ Œ

œœ œœ Œ J J

œœœœœ Œ

œœ œœ Œ J J

œœœœœ Œ

Mal. 3

&

œœœ Œ

œœœ Œ

œœœ Œ

œœœ Œ

œœœ Œ

Perc.

÷

œ x

Œ

I

˙

Œ

˙

œ

x

Œ

x

& œ œ œ œ œ song is

œ œ

grow - ing in

Œ

œœ

x

œ x

œœ

Œ

have

˙

wœ œ

Œ

œ

x

x

Œ

Œ

œ

x

œœ œœ ˙ Ó

˙







œ Ó

Notes and

rhy - thm

Œ

x

œœ œ Œ

side

head.



œ

˙

my



œ œ œ œ

˙

œ

in

mu - sic

˙

˙Ó

œ

œ œ

instruments too.

A

Ó

Œ

x

œ œ œ œ

Let me share my

& ˙

˙

Mal. 1

&



Mal. 2

œœ œœ & J J

Œ

œœœœœ Œ

œœ œœ Œ J J

œ

œœœœ Œ

œœ œœ Œ J J

Mal. 3

& œ œœœ

Œ

Œ œ œœœ

Œ œ œœœ

œ

œœœ Œ

Œ œ œœœ

x

x

x

x

x

Rec.

Perc.

÷

x

Œ Œ

Œ Œ

x

˙

Œ Œ

˙



x

Œ Œ

˙ ∑

x

Œ Œ

x

4

Let Me Share My Song

& œ

song

Rec.

& œœ

Mal. 1

&

Mal. 2

&

Mal. 3

&

Perc.

œ

÷

œ

œ

with

you!

œœ

˙Ó

∑ œ œ x

œ

Œ

ww ∑

œ

œ

œ

Œ

œ

œ

œ

Œ

Œ

x

Œ



œ J œ x

œ

œ J œ x

œ

œ œ x

Œ Œ Œ

Play Along Accompaniments to Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star  Change the Rhythm  Change the Lyrics  Change the Melody from Major to C Pentatonic *******************************************************************************************************************

   

Each play along accompaniment is set up with a 2 or 4 ms. introduction, 12 bars of play along, ( melody) 2 or 4 ms. interlude, repeat of the 12 measure play along ( melody)

*******************************************************************************************************************

To make this activity work for you, please make adaptations that are natural for your current lesson layout, curriculum focus, or size of class. Decide what will work for your classroom. For clarification:  



All of the accompaniments can start out as activities for improvisation, and then with further repetition, could move to written compositions, if only a for few phrases. As students practice along with the accompaniment, they may become familiar enough with a portion of their changes that they can write down some phrases. Have 4/4 rhythm dictation paper ready, or your personal favorite type of manuscript paper handy for students to start writing. Have students make folders and keep their work, partner work, inside their folders so they can return to work quickly during next music day.



You might start out with dividing up the work in pairs:

     

Person 1= “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” Person 2= “How I wonder what you are” Person 1= Up above the world so high Person 2= Like a diamond in the sky Person 1= Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star Person 2= How I wonder what you are.

Change The Rhythm    

The strong consistent “quarter note” background accompaniment should make the focus on the NEW rhythms easier to write and play. In the beginning, have students try to change only 2 measures from quarter notes to 8th notes. Add in 4 quarter rests but then adjust the rest of the melody to accommodate… Can students actually improvise and play much more complicated rhythms than they can write? Allow them to just improvise ‘as fancy as possible’ for some mental relief but musical fun. Students are motivated to improve musically when they can ‘show off’ once in a while before returning back to work.

Change the Lyrics 

The rock and roll background should make the lyric changes fun to sing. Put the music playback on repeat so that several students can sing their versions in a row for each other. Use the fill in the blank sheets that were part of the ‘tool box’ activity lessons to complete this activity.Again, have the students work in groups of 2 or 4 if they are going to sing for each other. They may feel safer singing in a group rather than alone.



Take the time to give feedback to each other for the following:

* The lyrics were fun, different, and made sense! * We could hear all of the people singing. * Pitch matching accuracy * Your own expectations here

Definitely Definitely Definitely

Somewhat Somewhat Somewhat

Not really Not really Not really

Change the Melody from Major to Pentatonic 

The C major pentatonic is the most familiar (Orff Level One ) scale to use for introducing students to improvisation. The 5 tone whole step scale is whole -class –friendly music making. (In addition to Orff instruments, use Boomwhackers, tone chimes, and band orchestra instruments in concert C pitch.)



The play along can work for improvisation fun or the teacher can take the time to individually record each student using an iPad or small digital recorder. After each student has been recorded, advanced students could possibly take dictation of their recording and write it down as their personal variation to Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.



Individual recordings could also be set up as an assessment, if the teacher provided students beforehand with either a self- assessment rubric or a teacher- designed rubric.



In this particular recording, the play along happens twice with the first play through easier then the 2nd as the 2nd run through gives almost a canonic feel to the accompaniment so the ‘duet’ performance sounds sophisticated. Or not. 

A composer toolbox- what should go inside? Directions: Decorate the box with rhythm symbols, pictures of instruments, a music staff, and music words you know.

Compose! Compose! Composing with Question and Answer Phrasesa simple start to both improvising and composing The “ Question and Answer” activity below is a performance/practice song for students and teachers. Just as you teach question and answer phrases for recorders, pentatonic Orff improvisations, or rhythm instrument activities, this song ‘Compose, Compose’ is to be used in class as an accompaniment track nested inside the song. Accompaniment drum breaks are 16 beats long, allowing for students and teachers to perform either 2 -4 beat Question and Answer phrases, or 1 -8 beat Question and Answer phrase. The song layout makes the empty portions of the music to be filled with short student performances. The interludes can be used as transition time to either change soloists, instruments or little ‘dance breaks.’

----10----Compose! Compose! What is your question?! Compose! Compose! What is your answer?! -----4---Compose! Compose! What is your question?! Compose! Compose! What is your answer?! Compose! Instrumental Break for Solos --------4------Interlude (time to pass over instruments, etc. or…) -----4-----Instrumental Break for Solos -----4----Interlude (An improvised dance break, or….) ----4----Instrumental Break for Solos

----4---Interlude (Choose an new Question leader, or…) ----4----Instrumental Break for Solos ----4---Return back to text… Compose! Compose! What is the question?! Compose! Compose! What is the answer?! Compose!

 Try having young students simply practicing 4 solo beat claps passed around a circle to demonstrate the need for an IMMEDIATE start on beat ONE of each measure. Add the accompaniment track the 2nd time.  Have a ‘strongly proficient’ student actually begin clapping several improvised or pre-created 4 beat Questions and the Teacher demonstrates clapping a variety of 4 beat Answers, at first. Many students will learn by example, without too much lecture. They should notice that: o the 2 phrases need to complement each other with similarities of rhythm, o be the same length; begin and end precisely on time.  This song is in e minor for C instrument playing.  Give each student a written question phrase have them write an answer phrase. Use as a short assessment.  Use this performing opportunity to have students analyze performances and have students provide critique for each other.

Band/Orchestra:  Explore the C Minor scale and discover a simple set of phrases that are 7 to 8 beats long to play in a “Question and Answer “ format.  Teacher writes down a 7 beat phrase using notes from the C minor scale- This is the Question phrase.  Teacher writes down another 7 beat phrase again from the C minor scale- this is the Answer phrase.  Consider this a sight reading activity while playing with the music accompaniment.  There are 4 sets of ‘empty music measures’ that students will use to fill in with 2- 8 measure phrases.  This can also become a simple composing activity during a group lesson.  Students can improvise patterns working in pairs.  Reinforce the musical understanding that each phrase relates to the other with some kind of connection: rhythmic or melodic.

Distinguish the musical form presented by each of the sandwich parts.

ANSWERS: Theme and Variations

ABA

ABC

ABCA

Listen to the Tempo Change Game Directions: Have students stand in groups of 4 in a straight line. Each student in line will be required to say out loud and clap out loud the rhythm of the words: “Listen to the tempo change” “1 and 2 and 3 and 4” “Ti Ti Ti Ti Ti Ti Ta”  After the first person has spoken, he/she must go to the end of the line and stand beside person 4. Person 2 says their sentence a bit faster, then moves to the end of the line to stand by person 1, who just became person 4.  Person 3 says their sentence a bit faster still, then moves to the end of the line.  Person 4 says the sentence faster yet, and moves to the end of the line.  Once all 4 have spoken the sentence, they must start over until the last to speak cannot make it to the end before the next speaker starts speaking: the tempo is too fast to get to the end! Be sure to have the group of 4 move over to the left or right, otherwise each team will run out of room to run or stand! Variation: Clap a rhythm pattern including new rhythms being introduced or practice in class without adding text to the pattern. Winning groups are graded for fun: 6 sentences= Good 8 sentences= Better 10 sentences= Allegro Kings and Queens!

Activity: Classify the Elements of Music

Directions: Print out the following pages and have students classify each phrase according to the element: Melody, Harmony, Rhythm, Form, Expressive Elements, Texture, Timbre. You may want to laminate and cut out each set of pages to put into separate envelopes. Divide students into groups to sort the cards into the appropriate element of music title.

Melody The part of the song that we

This is a really

usually hum or sing or learn to play on an

_____________

difficult to play on my oboe.

instrument

When a composer wants to create a mood in the music, he starts with a particular tempo and also a unique _______________

“Ok, you are

A composer

going to sing the

Many people think that the

____________,

_____________

____________

And I am going to sing the

to the Star

In their head

Spangled Banner is pretty difficult to sing!

before they start writing a new piece of music.

harmony.”

usually hears a

Harmony This adds some other notes to the music that make the song sound better. My grandma likes to sing different notes of a hymn at church. She likes to sing the _________ part.

Many talented choirs in

When you play a duet or trio elementary you have differschool sing music ent parts. Each with 2 or 3 part creates _______parts. ___________.

Guitar chords Back up vocals Piano accompaniment

Soprano Alto Tenor Bass All four sing different ___________ parts.

Rhythm Short and long sounds that make up patterns

Simple or complicated, this is part of the song but not the melody

Within a time signature there are measures of music. Each measure shows both the melody and the _______ to play or sing

Duration of sounds.

Percussionists get to play a variety of different instruments. In their collection of instruments they play many different _______________ Giving note values of sound that can be measured with beats. How long does this note sound? We are talking about ____________

Form The organization Rondo ABA of a song Verse and Chorus

Theme and

Another way to learn music is to label the different sections of the song.

Variations Reapeat signs When someone in band is lost in the music, you can tell them where to start playing.

My friend gets to play a guitar solo in the last part of the song.

Giving alphabet letters to different sections of the music.

Expressive Elements In order for this to sound peaceful, the dynamics of the string part must be mezzo

Musical details that help share the intended mood of a song.

I don’t think that the tambourine part is playing at the correct tempo.

piano

Our conductor had a big smile on his face when we finally performed the music with the correct staccato sound.

When the soloist sang a very long fermata, my little sister started giggling.

That flute player was really getting into the music. It was like she was dancing with her flute. She looked and sounded very dramatic.

Texture Various rhythms This music only uses 2 flutes can notes can create interesting and 2 oboes. combinations of sound.

Some instruments can make the music sound complicated or fancy

These notes make the music sound very scary or mysterious…

Unusual use of the violins and the trumpets. It

Thin or thick. Overwhelming or barely noticeable

created a weird ____________.

Timbre How to tell different instrument sounds apart from each other.

Adele’s voice sounds very different from Ariana Grande’s. We are comparing different ____________.

This word can be replaced with the words,

‘Tone Color’

I like to play the French horn because it sounds very mello and calm.

What describing words would you use to describe this instrument from another?

When you are finding a way to explain how different voices sound unique from one another, you are describing the __________ of a voice.

Make a Song Selfie! What is a song selfie?    

A short and catchy rhythm, melody and rhyme about 2 to 8 measures long A trademark melody that belongs to you The words or music describe something about you Think of it as a commercial jingle about you-or a song ‘hook’

Ideas:  Use lined paper, staff paper, a recorder app. Or a video clip of your song selfie creation to keep for permanent record.  If applicable, save in Google Docs and share with others  Add a few selfie photos to an iMovie, record your song selfie music in an app that exports music. Import into iMovie as a selfie soundtrack.  You may play your song selfie during the ‘breaks’, along with the accompaniment track if you selfie is in d minor  To start, draw 2 or 4 simple rhythm patterns in 4/4 time and either add rhyming text or notation and practice, change notes or rhythms a little at a time until it sounds right to you. Remember, you are writing a short musical snapshot, not a masterpiece.  You might want to start with a rhyming text and then add notes on your instrument.

Email song selfies to the ESO and we will feature them on our Ainsworth Concerts for Youth Webpage!

Here are some silly samples for short to longer rhyming text ideas: My name is Josephine. My room is really clean. Won’t mess it up today. I plan to keep it that way.

Alex right here please give me a cheer I’m actually workin’ on a song Not playing football and “goin’ long”

This is what I’m writing down. It isn’t very long, but it’s my own song.

Sheila Rose is my name and composing is my game. Go away, you. I’ve got work to do!

Notes, rhythms, what’s this all for? To cheer myself up. That’s what it’s for. I will make myself proud when I hear aloud My own song (selfie) Yeah. (Susan Carlson)