Objectives
Identify C-major scale on "personal
keyboard."
Recall C-major scale as notated on music staff (from Lesson 3).
Identify letter names of C-major scale on keyboard transparency.
Identify letter names of C-major scale on music staff.
Identify names of lines and spaces on music staff.
Sing a song about bones (review from First Grade) that climbs up and
down scale.
Materials
Personal keyboard from Lesson 1 used as a transparency for demonstration
C-major scale notation from Lesson 3, reproduced again below
Words to song "Dry Bones,"
reproduced for students (attached)
Note to the Teacher
The students sang the song "Dry
Bones" as part of their science
lessons in First Grade. They have just finished learning about the human
skeleton in more detail in their science lessons last month. This time
when they learn the song, they will tie it to some of the elements of music
they have recently learned. Notation for the song has not been included,
because the melody moves up and down in chromatic increments, with sharps
and flats which the students are not introduced to until next year. Most
of them will know the melody by heart already, but now they can hear that
the melody keeps climbing up as the bones are connected and coming back
down as the bones are disconnected. By showing them with your hand when
to get gradually louder and softer, the point will be made even more clearly.
Procedure
Show the class the transparency of the keyboard, point out middle C
with a pointer, and have them sing the C-major scale, using the syllables
do, re, mi. By way of review, ask them how many notes there are
in the C-major scale (8). Again, point to the keyboard and ask them to
check their answer by singing the scale with numbers as you point to each
one. Next ask them what they see written on the keys in addition to the
numbers (letters). As you point to them, have the students sing the scale
using the letters this time. Go up and then down the scale with them several
times as they sing it using the letters. Ask them: What makes this musical
alphabet so different from our regular alphabet? (just keeps starting over
again, never gets to use all the letters) You might want to start at middle
C and have them sing all the way to the upper end of the keyboard, then
middle C going down, so they see they can know the names of the notes (by
letter) just by knowing the arrangement C, D, E, F, G, A, B and C starts
once again.
Next ask the students: How would a musician notate that same scale?
(lines, staff, notes, accept any answer that refers to writing notes on
a music staff) Draw on the board the C-major scale they used in lesson
3 and reviewed in Lesson 5.
Have the students sing the scale as you point to the notes on the staff,
this time using the letters they just identified on the keyboard transparency.
Write in the notes going down the scale; then try to have them go down
as well as up the scale, though they will find it harder to sing the letters
in descending order. Help them by letting them give you the letter names
of the notes to write under the ascending scale, then under the
notes of the descending scale, which will be in reverse order. Have
them sing the scale once more, up and then down, as you point to the notes.
Tell the class: When you sing the scale, the letters always go in order;
but in many songs for voices and for instruments, the notes skip around
a lot. The way that music readers--especially students who play piano,
violin, clarinet and other instruments--figure out the names of the notes
is by remembering that the lines and spaces of the staff always keep the
same letter names. Point to the scale, erase the descending scale, and
have the students help you fill in the letters that remain on the staff
if you continue from the second C (D, E, and F). Then ask them to tell
you the names of the 5 lines from bottom to top as you point (E,
G, B, D, F) and the 4 spaces from bottom to top (F, A, C, E).
Ask them to name them again as you write the letter names of the lines
on the board. Tell them the way to remember the names of the lines is to
memorize the little sentence
Every Good Boy Does
Fine.
The way to remember the names of the spaces (have them tell you the
names as you write them on the board) is to remember what they spell, which
is? (FACE) (It might be helpful if you use 2 different colors
of chalk: one for the names of the lines, and the other for the names of
the spaces.)
Congratulate the class for their hard work; tell them that they are
going to learn a song they may have sung together in First Grade, and that
it has to do with what they learned in Science this past month. Try to
have them guess by encouraging them to recall what they learned, until
someone arrives at "skeleton"
and then "Dry Bones."
Pass out copies of the words to the song. Most of the students will
have the tune in their heads from hearing it sung, in or out of school.
You might sing it through for them once as they follow along on the copies
you have given them. Once they have learned the song, have them slap the
parts of the body they are singing about each time it says (clap) on their
sheets, so they can feel that off-beat hesitation that marks the syncopated
rhythm. For tempo and dynamic changes, try thinking of the opening part
as an Introduction, sung in a moderate tempo and medium loud. When you
start to sing about the actual bones, begin to increase the tempo and sound
very gradually; as they disconnect the bones, gradually diminish the sound
and speed until it is very soft when they get to the toe bone. The ending
should again be forceful and loud on, "I
hear the word of the Lord!" perhaps
even louder each time. The changes in dynamics and tempo will make the
song more dramatic and more fun for the students to sing.
Dry Bones
Ezekiel connected them (clap) dry bones, (REPEAT 2X)
I hear the word of the Lord!
Your toe bone connected to your (clap) foot bone,
foot bone (clap) ankle bone,
ankle bone (clap) leg bone,
leg bone (clap) knee bone,
knee bone (clap) thigh bone,
thigh bone (clap) hip bone,
hip bone (clap) back bone,
back bone (clap) shoulder bone,
shoulder bone (clap) neck bone,
neck bone (clap) head bone,
I hear the word of the Lord!
Them bones, them bones gonna (clap) walk around, (REPEAT 2X)
I hear the word of the Lord!
Disconnect them bones, them (clap) dry bones, (REPEAT 2X)
I hear the word of the Lord!
Disconnect your head bone from your (clap) neckbone,
neck bone (clap) shoulder bone,
shoulder bone (clap) back bone,
back bone (clap) hip bone,
hip bone (clap) thigh bone,
thigh bone (clap) knee bone,
knee bone (clap) leg bone,
leg bone (clap) ankle bone,
ankle bone (clap) foot bone,
foot bone (clap) toe bone,
I hear the word of the Lord! I hear the word of the Lord!
Third Grade - Music - Lesson 8 - Beethoven Symphony
Objectives
Recall the terms symphony, orchestra, and conductor.
Listen carefully to 1st movement of Beethoven's Symphony #5.
Make up a phrase whose text matches the rhythm of Beethoven's theme.
Discuss the role of silence in the theme and in the whole movement.
Materials
Recording of Beethoven's Symphony #5, see Suggested Recording
below; 1st movement takes about 8 minutes to play
Simplified notation of the opening theme of Beethoven's Symphony
#5, for transparency (attached)
Suggested Books
Student Titles
Giants of the Arts: Ludwig van Beethoven, Charles Dickens, Vincent
van Gogh. New York: Marshall Cavendish Corporation, 1991.
Wonderful coverage of Beethoven. Includes personal profile, place on
a timeline, archival photographs and art works relating to his life and
music, reporting on history of time between Austria and Napoleon, and a
retelling by the soprano Anna Milder (later Hauptmann) of her experience
singing in various productions of Beethoven's only opera Fidelio, which
is based on the heroism of a woman in an incident that took place during
the French revolution.
*Nichol, Barbara. Beethoven Lives Upstairs. New York: Orchard
Books Watts, 1994.
A wonderful story about a young boy who is at first put off by Beethoven's
eccentricities as a neighbor. This is the same story in the Classical Kids
cassette and CD. A video version is also available (BMG, 1992)
Thompson Wendy. Ludwig van Beethoven. New York: Viking Penguin,
1991.
Part of a series called "Composer's
World" developed in England by
Faber & Faber. This is very similar in feeling and in format to the
Cavendish book above, showing archival photographs and providing a lot
of historical context for Beethoven' life. A piano reduction of the actual
music for the opening of the Fifth Symphony is given on p. 27, which the
students might enjoy seeing as they listen. A Glossary of Musical Terms
and a list of Beethoven's major works are included.
Teacher Reference
Marri, Noemi Vicini. Ludwig van Beethoven. Parsippany, NJ: Silver
Burdett, 1987.
A rather strange book which was translated from the Italian, then an
English adaptation was made from the translation. It is illustrated with
original paintings and packed with information and stories from the life
of the composer. A Chronology in the back is really a kind of timeline,
giving dates for events in Beethoven's life and important historical and
cultural events that are contemporary. It is definitely too difficult for
third grade students to read on their own.
*Reading this book aloud or playing the CD or cassette made by Classical
Kids about Beethoven
would definitely be the best introduction the students could have for
making this composer come alive before listening to his fifth symphony.
Suggested Recording
Beethoven, Symphonies 5 & 6, Naxos CD 8.553224
Procedure
If you have not been able to get the Nichols book or the Classical
Kids recorded materials about Beethoven's life and work, read sections
of one of the other books listed above or tell the students something about
Beethoven's life and the times in which he lived. He was born in 1770 in
Bonn, Germany, which is on the Rhine River (point it out on the map) and
spent most of his life in Vienna, Austria (show it on the map), where he
died in 1827. It is important that the students know what a turbulent time
in history this was. Tell them there were many wars that went on during
Beethoven's lifetime--the American Revolution, as well as revolutions in
France and countries in South America. In fact the city of Vienna was taken
over by French soldiers while Beethoven was living and composing there.
Tell the students: Just as you have been learning in the American Revolution,
men and women at this time all over Europe and the Americas were filled
with strong ideas about independence from colonial rule and about religious
freedom, and held debates about the slave trade; Beethoven expressed many
of these strong feelings in his music, even though most of his music had
no words.
The students should also know about Beethoven's deafness and what a
terrible frustration it was for a man whose whole life was devoted to music
not to be able to hear. He had the first signs of deafness before he was
30, and he was completely deaf by 1818, when he was 48. Beethoven used
various kinds of ear trumpets (that looked like little horns of varying
sizes and have been preserved in a museum for visitors to see) for years,
because there was no such thing as a hearing aid in those days. His deafness
made him irritable; it made him shout when he spoke to people because he
couldn-t hear himself, and it made it nearly impossible for him to work
with an orchestra that was playing his music or to continue to perform
on the piano, which he did for years as a child and very young man. Ask
the students: How do you think Beethoven could hear the music he wrote?
(He heard every note in his head.) If you have a book that shows pages
from Beethoven's manuscript books, show the students how many times he
revised his compositions, crossing out and rewriting, and then making another
copy and another revision for all those instruments playing at once, while
inside his head he could hear every little change that he made on the paper.
Tell the students that Beethoven wrote many different kinds of classical
music--quartets for 4 solo instruments of the string family, piano solo
pieces and piano concertos (remind them that they heard a clarinet concerto
of Mozart's, last time, and that concerto means a solo instrument
taking turns with and playing against a full orchestra), even an opera,
but that probably his best known pieces are his symphonies. Remind the
students that symphonies are pieces of classical music written for all
four families of instruments (have the students name the families). Ask
them: With all those instruments playing at once, how do you think they
stay together? (conductor) Tell the students that composers during the
17th, 18th, and 19th centuries in Europe wrote symphonies, and, during
that time, they kept getting bigger, longer, and more complicated. Tell
them: Beethoven wrote nine of them, whereas Haydn, a composer from the
generation before Beethoven, wrote over 100; but Beethoven wrote symphonies
that were very different from any symphonies people had heard before.
The symphony you will listen to today has 4 movements, or sections.
It is Beethoven's 5th Symphony, and we are going to hear
just the first movement. Tell them: Remember, you will hear all 4 families
of instruments playing together in a very large orchestra, but Beethoven
has written all the parts to fit so well together that you probably won-t
hear individual instruments the first time you listen. As you listen, see
whether you have ever heard the theme before. The theme is the main melody
that starts at the very first measure.
Begin the recording, and make sure it is at a good volume before you
begin, so that the students can hear the abrupt way the movement begins.
The movement takes only 8 minutes, so let them hear it through. When they
have heard it, ask them some questions about it. First let them tell you
whether they have ever heard that 1st theme, and where. Ask whether they
could hear it come back, again and again, all during the movement. Next,
ask them if they can either sing or clap out with their hands or beat on
their desks the rhythm of the opening theme. If they cannot do this, let
a few individuals do it first, then the others.
Next, show the students the simplified notation of the theme provided
below. Tell them this is only the opening theme and does not show the parts
for all the instruments, but that one of the reasons the theme sounds so
dramatic is that all the instruments play this theme together, in unison
(have them recall that unison means exactly the same music at exactly the
same time). As you point to the notes of music in rhythm, have the students
tap it or say it as, "Buh, buh,
buh, boom" or "Dot,
dot, dot, daaash," or syllables
that you find effective for bringing out the rhythm. They will probably
notice how hard it is for everybody to come in at the same time. Say to
them: Can you imagine what a mess it would be in a great big concert hall
if the players didn-t all begin at exactly the same moment? What do you
think a conductor does to make sure everyone begins this theme at exactly
the same time? (Let them respond.) Show them the rest that stands at the
very beginning of the 1st measure, the 3rd measure, and so on, and show
them how a large and vigorous breath and strong beat of your hand and arm
shows the whole orchestra exactly when to start playing. Tell them: Those
little rests are some of the most important parts of this theme. Also show
them the ff in the first measure and the p in the 6th, and
so on. Tell them: These little marks of Beethoven's tell all the players
exactly how loud to play the music. The loudest is ff, the mark
for fortissimo, which means very loud in Italian. The p
you already know means piano, or soft in Italian. The single f
is forte, or loud, but not as loud as ff. You can watch this time as
you listen, to see whether the conductor and the orchestra follow those
markings. Notice that the music changes its dynamics all the time; it never
stays the same. It's always getting softer or louder, sometimes gradually
and sometimes very suddenly and dramatically.
Play the movement again for the students and encourage them to beat
out the theme each time they hear it return. Also alert them to the part
where the solo French horn plays the theme as a very loud solo, adding
2 extra notes to change it. When they have listened again, ask them whether
they could say something about the feeling of this theme of Beethoven's--does
it sound sad, happy, strong, dreamy? (Accept any answers, but emphasize
the strength of the theme if they do not bring it out in their responses.)
Say to them: I would like you to make up some words that have the same
rhythm as this opening of Beethoven's 5th symphony. They should have the
same rhythm and the same feeling. If they don-t immediately suggest some,
suggest the following and write them on the board. Have the students try
individually and then as a group to declaim these sentences in rhythm.
It helps if everyone takes a big, rapid silent breath that you indicate
by a strong beat down with your hand and arm at the beginning of each to
mark the "rest"
and make it stronger.
Go to your room! Try that again! You saved my life!
Stand up and try! That's all there is! We-ll try once
more!
Come here and speak! We will succeed!
When the horn solo comes in and adds a few notes it sounds like:
Back to your room and stay! We will not fail this time!
Get out of bed right now! She's brave and filled with trust!
If there is time and the students are interested, encourage them to make up some more phrases or short sentences to add to the list. Let the person who makes the suggestion say it in rhythm for the class, and then have everyone say it together, again giving them a large and definite signal. If the student who makes the suggestion can also make the large gesture to bring the rest of the group in together, that would be even better.