Objectives
Sing C major scale in 3/4 rhythm.
Identify sign for treble clef and meter signature.
Identify quarter notes.
Recall the instruments in the woodwind family.
Listen to a piece featuring flute as solo instrument.
Recall piccolos in Sousa's "Stars and Stripes Forever."
Identify flute and piccolo as woodwind instruments held horizontally.
Materials
Classroom-size world map
C major scale as notated below to make copies for students
Picture of flute and piccolo from Suggested Books, Lesson 4
Recording of Debussy, Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun
Recording of John Philip Sousa's "Stars and Stripes Forever' from Lesson
4
Suggested Recording
Debussy's Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune,
Naxos CD 8.550262
Sousa's "Stars and Stripes Forever," Sony cassette MLT 66710, Greatest
Hits: Marches.
Procedure
Have the class sing the C major scale in unison, using do, re, mi syllables.
Next, have volunteers come to the board and notate the scale after you
have drawn the staff. (It should look exactly like the scale notated in
Lesson 3.)
Next, copy onto the board the version of the C major scale. Label the
first version #1; the second, #2.
Ask the students: Are these two exactly the same? (no) Ask for volunteers
to come and draw a circle around anything in #2 that is different
from #1 anything at all. They should circle:
the treble clef sign
the meter signature of 3/4
the vertical lines between measures
notes are black with stems except for last note, which is white with
stem
the quarter rest in the last measure
2 notes are repeated in #2
As they circle each item, identify what it is for the class, and have
them repeat it after you.
Go over them again, and tell them:
The first sign, with a tail that curls around the second line of the
staff, is a treble clef.
The 3/4 is a meter signature. This meter signature tells us
there 3 beats in each measure, and a quarter note gets one
beat.
The vertical lines divide the notes into measures. They show
us where each measure begins and ends.
The black notes are quarter notes. There are 3 in each measure; we
have repeated 2 notes to give us a melody.
The hollow note is a half note. A half note ' 2 quarter notes.
The funny sign in the last measure is a quarter rest. It makes the
3rd beat in the last measure. Have the students count 1, 2, 3, with you
from beginning to end, so they see how the rhythm goes.
Next, ask the students how many notes there are in the scale in #1?
(8)
How many in #2? (10)
How come? (2 notes are repeated)
Who can draw a circle around the 2 repeated notes? (so & la are
repeated in the 3rd measure)
Congratulate the class on being such good detectives, and sing the
little melody with syllables for the students as you point to the notes.
Have them repeat the melody with you, using the syllables and singing it
in the 1, 2, 3 rhythm indicated by the meter signature at the beginning.
Tell the class that, as a treat, you are going to play a little bit
of a famous piece for them in which a member of the woodwind family has
a wonderful solo Ask: What are the instruments in the woodwind family that
we have identified? (flute, oboe, clarinet, and bassoon) Say: This piece
was written by a French composer (find France on the map) named Debussy,
who was born at the time of the beginning of our Civil War and died at
the end of the First World War. Tell them: It is a very dreamy piece of
music, and you'll hear the melody played by a member of the woodwind family
that is held horizontally instead of vertically. Listen to the piece, and
see whether you can tell me the name of the solo instrument that you hear
singing the melody above the rest of the orchestra at the beginning.
Play the opening 3 minutes (?) Of Debussy's Prélude à
l'après-midi d'un faune for them. Play it until they have heard
the flute melody twice: once at the very beginning, then again following
the harp. Ask: Does anyone remember the name of this woodwind instrument?
If no one does, show them a picture of it and have them repeat the name
after you. Remind them that a flute today is made of metal, and the sound
is produced by blowing air across the open mouthpiece, and the notes are
changed with the various keys.
If time permits, tell them the flute has a little relative called the
piccolo. Show them a picture and say: It looks just like a flute, and is
played horizontally just like the flute, but it is smaller. Ask them: If
it is smaller than a flute, do you think the sound will be lower or higher?
(higher) Then play the Sousa march for them that they heard in Lesson 3,
but skip to the very end of the piece where the piccolos play the main
melody of the march. Ask them whether they remember the march, whether
they can hear the steady beat of the march, and, if they can, to get up
and march to the steady beat as they listen once more.
Third Grade - Music - Lesson 6 - Woodwinds with Reeds
Objectives
Recall the instruments in the woodwind family.
Observe the function of reeds in clarinet, oboe, English horn, and
bassoon.
Listen to classical pieces featuring reed instruments as soloists.
Differentiate between sounds of clarinet and bassoon.
Recall sound of the oboe in Peter and the Wolf (optional)
Materials
Pictures and descriptions of single and double-reed instruments, see
Suggested Books
Recording of Mozart's Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra in
A Major, 3rd movement (ca. 8 min.)
Recording of Vivaldi's Bassoon Concerto in a minor, 1st movement
(ca. 4 min.)
Recording of Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf (optional)
Suggested Books
Balet, Jan. What Makes an Orchestra. New York: Henry Walck,
1951.
Barber, Nicola and Mary Mure. The World of Music. Parsippany,
NJ: Silver Burdett, 1995.
Bunche, Jane. An Introduction to Instruments of the Orchestra.
New York: Golden Press, 1962.
Doney, Meryl. Musical Instruments. NY: Franklin Watts, 1995.
Hausherr, Rosmarie. What Instrument is This? NY: Scholastic,
1992.
Hayes, Ann. Meet the Orchestra. New York: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich,
1991.
Jeunesse, Gallimard and Claude Delafosse. Musical Instruments.
NY: Scholastic, 1994.
Taylor, Barbara. Sound and Music. NY: Franklin Watts, 1991.
Weil, Lisl. The Magic of Music. New York: Holiday House, 1989.
These books are all inexpensive, available either in paperback or (the
older ones) from the public library, and useful in the classroom primarily
for the pictures that illustrate various instruments and families of instruments.
All of them have good pictures of the members of the woodwind family and
descriptions that can be read aloud.
Suggested Recordings
Mozart's Clarinet Concerto in A, Naxos CD 8.550345
Vivaldi's Bassoon Concerto in A minor, Electracord ELCD 128
Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf, Cala CD 1022 (optional)
Note for the Teacher
The BCP Core Knowledge curriculum for First Grade includes a detailed
lesson on Peter and the Wolf as Music Lesson 4. You might want simply
to repeat or review that lesson, since there is a flute, an oboe, a clarinet,
and a bassoon solo in the same piece. We have chosen for this Third Grade
lesson to present sections of a clarinet and a bassoon concerto, in which
the sound of each solo instrument is both very characteristic and virtuosic.
We also include some information about the "nuts and bolts" of playing
a double-reed instrument, so that students who want to learn to play them
know that making reeds is an important, satisfying, but time-consuming
part of the practice.
Procedure
Start by asking the class what family of instruments they began talking
about in the last class (woodwinds). Ask them which woodwinds (flute and
piccolo) Ask whether anyone could describe what they look like (tube you
blow into, hold horizontally; change the pitches by using fingers to press
keys that close holes in the tube) Then ask: Can anyone describe what the
flute and piccolo sound like? (Accept any reasonable answers. Someone will
remember that the sound of a piccolo is much higher than the flute.)
Show the students some pictures of the other members of the woodwind
family and tell a little about each, using one of the books listed above.
Tell them that the oboe, English horn, clarinet, and bassoon all use mouthpieces
that have reeds that the player has to fix in place each time he or she
plays the instrument. Ask: Does anyone know what a reed is? (a piece of
a special kind of cane or grass that is flat but flexible, so that it vibrates
when you blow on it) Ask whether any of them have ever put a wide piece
of fresh grass between the outsides of their two thumbs to blow hard on
it and make a loud buzzing or squawking kind of music. Say to them: A reed
behaves very much like that squeaky piece of grass. In fact, oboe and clarinet
players have to watch out not to make squawks and buzzy squeaks that sound
like your piece of grass.
As you show a picture or drawing from a book, say to the class: Clarinets
use just one broad, single reed which they attach with clamps to the flat
back of the mouthpiece each time they play. The mouthpiece, as you can
see, looks a bit like the fat beak of a bird.The oboe, English horn, and
bassoon are double-reed instruments, which means that two very slim reeds
are put together with very thin string wound around them at one end, and
then the reeds themselves become the mouthpiece. (Show them a picture of
the oboe mouthpiece.) Tell them that almost all double-reed players make
their own reeds, and it is very tricky work. After the two reeds are joined,
they have to be shaved with a special cutting knife, making the tiniest,
tiniest shavings until the reed feels and sounds perfect to the player.
Often reeds get ruined by shaving just a little too far, and then the player
has to start all over again. They spend many hours cutting reeds and storing
them in special cases so they won't get broken. Even with good care, a
reed only lasts for a certain number of hours of playing before it is worn
out and has to be replaced.
Say to the class: Today you will hear one of the single reeds and one
of the double-reed instruments. They sound quite different from one another.
One is called a bassoon, and it's a double-reed instrument. (Show a picture.
The one in Meet the Orchestra played by a polar bear is especially
memorable and fun.) You may remember the grandfather in Peter and the
Wolf was the bassoon. It has a special kind of sound that makes everybody
smile when they hear it. Some people call it "the clown of the orchestra."
Listen carefully to what I play, and raise your hand when you think you
hear this "clown." First you'll hear an introduction by the string orchestra,
then the bassoon will play his part.
Play the 1st movement of the Vivaldi Bassoon Concerto, which takes
only 4 minutes. If you don't see hands go up when the bassoon solo first
comes in, draw their attention to it by raising your own hand, and keep
it raised until the bassoon stops and the orchestra continues without it.
The sections are very brief, but you will hear orchestra, solo, orchestra,
solo, orchestra, solo, orchestra. In other words, the bassoon solo music
can be heard three different times. Raise hands each time.
Next, show the class a picture of a clarinet and tell them: This is
the single-reed instrument. Who knows its name? (clarinet) Tell the students:
The clarinet was the last of the woodwind family to become a regular part
of a symphony orchestra, but one of the first to play in jazz bands. Sometimes,
just for fun, the clarinet has the nickname "licorice stick." Can you guess
why? (Show a color picture to reinforce this.)
Tell the students that a famous composer named Mozart was one of the
first people to write music especially for the clarinet. That was a little
over 200 years ago. Think about the sound of the bassoon in the piece you
just heard. I think it sounds a little like a leapfrog hopping around.
See if you can hear it in your ear. Now you're going to hear the last movement
of a piece that Mozart called a Clarinet Concerto. It was the last instrumental
piece that Mozart wrote before he died. I think you'll be able to hear
the clarinet in this movement, playing melodies up and down the scale and
trading places with the orchestra, back and forth. As you listen, see how
different this instrument sounds from the bassoon--that "clown of the orchestra."
Then tell me after you've listened what animal or creature the sound of
the clarinet makes you think of.
Play the 3rd movement for the class. It is a rondo form, which the
students don't need to know at this point, but it means that the structure
is ABACA and so forth, so that the melody keeps returning again and again.
It takes about 8 minutes to play and, for this piece, have the students
stand when they hear the clarinet and sit down when they hear just the
orchestra. When they have heard it, be sure to ask them (a) what the clarinet
sounded like to them and (b) which they prefer, clarinet or bassoon. If
time permits, you might want to let them listen to the bassoon so they
have it clearly in their ears.