Composer studies: upgrading books and a look at Bach

Music does fill a fair bit of our family life, so what I'd consider 'incidental learning' happens here quite often.  With Maestro doing very well with his violin playing, and Mariposa taking so well to the piano, they are also learning the mechanics of music very well.

We've discussed composers before, and had a composer 'theme of the month'.  However,we need to keep this up and it's something I'd let slip a little last year.  My other music students should also be exposed to more information about various composers, so guess what?!  I'm looking at more books and fun ways to include this into our homeschool diet again.

In the past I relied heavily on my "In Classical Mood" cds with their accompanying booklets.  Now I'm adding to that with some more living books that I've found listed on the Living Books Curriculum site, as well as some audio books.  These audio books are actually the Classical Kids cds, of which I've selected a few titles from ebay to purchase first .. perfect for car trips!

 Sebastian Bach, The Boy from Thuringia by Opal Wheeler

So, where are we starting?  Well, we're looking at Bach.  Maestro is learning a violin piece known as "Where Sheep May Safely Graze".  We're also studying Medieval times, so I'm planning to keep our studies happening along the timeline we're following as much as possible (with the help from the Young Scholar's Guide to Composers).

 

We'll also look at things like fugues and canons.  I have a lovely cd from Amy Grant, where she uses part of a fugue to introduce her song "Sing Your Praise to the Lord".

Via Angie's Petra School blog, I've just come across Julie's site, A Teaching Heart.  Julie is running a study on composers every Thursday, so please jump on over and join in!

Thank you for dropping by!

Composer of the month: Camille Saint-Saëns

I'm very late into the month to post our composer focus, but I do have an honest excuse. We've enjoyed listening to Holst so much that I've just let that run it's course. I ended up buying a cd with all of "The Planets" and a few other of Holst's works so we can listen in the car. The other reason is that I've been so busy deciding about a new curriculum path.

So, to keep it fairly simple this month, and in honour of our newest pet "Cheekie", we're going to look at Camille Saint-Saëns.

Now here is a most gifted person. Perfect pitch by the age of 2; fair mastery of Latin by age 7; and talk about integrating subjects ... whilst a member of the Astronomical Society of France, he had a telescope made to his own specifications and also planned concerts to coincide with solar eclipses (hmmm - I see now that this is a good follow-on from Holst!)

Well, we're going to focus on his most famous work: Carnival of the Animals. This was written for a private performance and was only played once for his friends. After Saint-Saëns death, his will stated he'd allow the work to be published. Now this is he's most memorable piece, whilst he actually composed many more serious symphonies, concertoes, operas, songs, chamber works, solo pieces and sacred music.

There is a lovely review of all the movements here of "Carnival of the Animals", but if you're looking for more specific lesson plans, then I recommend skipping to this document for a summary.

Guydgazit has made a collection of Claymations (clay animations) based on Carnival of the Animals. The children think they're quite funny:



Here is the finalé performed by the Houston Ballet:


If there is ever an Australian performance of this, we'll be going! :)

Of course, for reading material you can easily borrow library books on each animal. Barrie C. Turner also has a book written based on this work.

A little more on Holst

Maestro's violin teacher was most excited at the last lesson. She really enjoys Holst, so we're making the most of her wonderful zeal.

We learnt about a technique that Holst has the strings using to bounce the wooden part of the bow onto the strings to keep the opening rhythmn in "Mars - the bringer of war". Naturally, Maestro just 'had' to give this a try at home. Then I looked for a YouTube video to try and show him how the orchestra plays this piece.




Wow ... and they ALL have to stay in perfect time to give that unified sound.

To read the original post on Holst, go here.

Composer of the month: Gustav Holst

We're yet again inspired to learn about another composer based on what the children are learning with their violin lessons.

Maestro is learning the theme of "Jupiter", so we're going to focus on the collection of works called "The Planets" by Gustav Holst.

Jupiter, of course, will be the highlight. It's main theme is quite inspirational and has been used for the popular English piece called "I vow to Thee my country."

With regard to art, the famous Australian, Leonard French, has a work displayed at the National Library (see the 5th page of this paper to view a picture and also this article) which was inspired by Holst's Planets.
Locally, I think we'll visit the National Gallery of Victoria to view the glass ceiling.

It's only fair that we discuss a bit about ancient Rome's gods, as the planets have been named after them. Here are some simple notes and photographed artwork the children can use. I know Story of the World will cover this, but we're not up to that as yet. So, I'm sure the library will have some books to help us out with books such as this: Gods and goddesses of Ancient Rome by Leon Ashworth.

Another work Holst is know for is St. Paul's Suite. I don't have a recording of this, so will be relying on You Tube. There are interesting notes here about how this composition came about whilst in his teaching position.

To read a follow-up post on Holst (re: Mars), go here.

June's composer focus: Dohnanyi

Here's a composer you don't often hear about: Erno Dohnayni.

His most popular piece is "Variations on a Nursery Song", based on what the English have titled "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star".

Some history of the music and it's French origin can be found here, with a worksheet to help note the changes in each variation as you listen.
What are you listening for?
Variation 1 - keyboard flurries.
Variation 2 - loud horn and trumpet calls.
Variation 3 - a parody of Brahms.
Variation 4 - a march featuring low then high woodwinds.

Variation 5 - brings in tubular bells, imitating a musical clock.
Variation 6 - more virtuoso writing for piano.
Variation 7 - in the fashion of a Viennese waltz.
Variation 8 - another march, led by woodwind.
Here is a link which will outline all of the variations (as I only have a recording of the first 8).

In contrast, we'll also listen to Mozart's "Twinkle, twinkle little star variations".

For another way to hear all of Mozart's variations, you may like to go here, where you can click on a different coloured star and play each variation separately.

This composer study could well be followed up with more nursery rhymes. Most rhymes were inspired from actual events. One of the earliest known collections is Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book, published in London, 1744. The most famous collection, of course, is Mother Goose's Melody: or Sonnets for the Cradle.

Free clipart from here.

Twinkle Twinkle image from here.

We'll be leaving our composer study there this month.

May's composer focus: Prokofiev

The composer we'll be focusing on this month will be Prokofiev, since Maestro has been practicing a new piece on his violin this week written by him: "Troika". As soon as his teacher began playing the piece through for him, I started humming along and Maestro's eyes lit up: "We've heard this piece before!" Then we began a discussion on what Troika meant. We guessed it may be a kind of dance, but upon returning home and finding it on our CDs, we've learnt that is actually a three horse Russian sleigh.

Here's the performance done on 2 pianos (8 hands) as arranged by Dr Walden Hughes:

As a side note, I'm so glad I invested in this collection of Classical music CDs, called In Classical Mood. They've been extremely useful and fun with their snippets of information about the composer and piece in each book. It's because I often put a couple in the car for the long trips that we've 'absorbed' a lot of classical music, thus my recognition of the piece.

Prokofiev's list of works is quite extensive, and having heard a few of them already, I know that there a many that the children will really enjoy.

A few other works we'll focus on are:

Winter Bonfire: a symphonic suite for children, based on verses written by Samuel Marshak, a popular children's author. It tells of an outing by a group of Young Pioneers to the winter countryside one Sunday afternoon. "Departure" (1st mvt) is the train journey; "Snow Outside the Window" being quite peaceful then becoming comical as we head to the 3rd mvt, "Waltz on Ice" which is swinging and lyrical. There are further movements (8 in total) but I don't have recordings of these at this stage.

"March" from The Love for Three Oranges: a march which occurs several times in the course of the opera. (This reminds me so much of the Ewok theme from Star Wars!!) The story is about a king who is concerned his son will die if he isn't made to laugh. The king brings in a lavish amount of comical entertainment, one of whom is an enemy who causes the prince to fall in love with three oranges.

Peter and the Wolf: this is a MUST when looking at Prokofiev. There are so many versions out there, with books to follow as well. Here is a site which uses the story to integrate all subject areas: Phil Tulga, Music Through Curriculum. Now, I'm always open for the children to see comical, or in this case, upbeated versions of a piece, showing how a tune can be modified to incorporate other styles. SOOoooo - here is a talented flautist playing the bird's theme, then becoming less traditional with a beatbox version. (Please don't be afraid to have a look!)

Previous "Composer of the month" posts:

• April - Rossini

April composer focus: Rossini

We're going to have a look at Rossini this month. Here's a composer with a great sense of humour!

Top of the list is The William Tell Overture. We've listened to this a few times, but we'll follow up with literature as well: William Tell and The Apple and The Arrow.

I thought we could also have a look at his music of Cinderella and various versions of this story from around the world.

There is also the Barber of Seville (and we can't pass up the Looney Tunes performance with Bugs Bunny!)

And, of course, the Cat Duet!