Music Education Articles » Orchestral Music

An unusual instrument to teach about in your music class

admin — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 07:02:28 +0000

Have a look at the length of the string, and discus the effect on its pitch Ask students to predict whether longer strings will create lower-pitched sounds or vice versa. Here is an interesting question to discuss with your students: Why do we use the word “high” to describe pitches of a higher frequency, when it has nothing to do with the height away from the ground?

Why do you think harp makers placed the shorter strings closer to the player and not the other way around?

Have a look at this idea you can use to demonstrate the workings of the harps pedals.

Background information: The double-action pedal harp has seven pedals. What happens is each pedal changes all the strings of one note name. Each pedal has three positions: top (flattens pitches by a semitone), middle (no change), and bottom (raises pitches by a semitone).There are three positions for each pedal: In the top position it lowers the pitch by a semitone, in the middle there is no change, and in the bottom it raises the pitch be a semitone. If all the pedals are in their centre position, the harp plays a C major scale

Procedure: On the whiteboard, draw seven pedals laid out from left to right (simple ovals or rectangles will do), and label them with the note names from C to B. You can then have the students follow along the whiteboard while you play the C major scale on a keyboard instrument. You can then play the scale again, and alter one note by either a semitone up or down. Ask the students which note was altereed, and in what direction it needs to be moved. You can then have one student run out the pedal in question and draw it again in the position you played. You could repeat this as many times as you wanted for a fun game. For a greater challenge, alter two or more notes.

If you have access to an electric guitar and an acoustic guitar, you can easily demonstrate the need for a resonator, both on the guitar on the harp. The electric guitar uses electric amplification instead of a resonator, but if the instrument is unplugged, it produces only a very faint sound. However an acoustic guitar is easy to hear because the body of the guitar is its resonator, amplifying the sound. The harp also would be far to quiet to hear without a resonator, so you can point it out to the students and demonstrate its function.

The most famous Deaf Musician in the classroom

admin — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 02:03:48 +0000

Ludwig Van Beethoven has to be one of the most unusual and interesting characters to ever compose music. Here are a few ideas to help introduce him into your music lesson plans:

Write a short children’s story about the life of Beethoven. Include the most important parts of Beethoven’s life that younger children may be interested in. Alternatively, you could write a story about one event in Beethoven’s life or a story based on one of his pieces of music. Research and Download some pictures from the internet.

Beethoven composed most of his most beautiful music during the last portion of his life when he was almost completely deaf. During this time, Beethoven would also often play with a metal rod attached to the piano soundboard that he could bite with his teeth in order to feel the vibrations.

Hold a class discussion on deafness and share insights on it, after looking at some of the activities below.

Some ideas to get you started:

Play some musical instruments that you can touch and feel the vibrations (how do different pitches feel different?) Have you ever felt the ground vibrate when you have been at a rock concert from the sound of the lower instruments?

Listen to some of the music which was written when Beethoven was deaf, including the Moonlight Sonata and the String Quartet No. 13 This piece was included on Voyager’s “Golden Record” it was considered so brilliant.

Experiment singing a song in your mind rather than out loud. Can you “hear” it?

Watch the excerpt from the movie Mr. Holland’s Opus where he tries to communicate the idea of music to his deaf son through lights and color.

Here’s a more detailed extension activity:

Research the form of the String Quartet. Use the following questions to get started: What instruments play in a string quartet? How many movements do they generally have? Which other composers wrote string quartets? What are some other interesting facts about string quartets?

Resource List

An excellent site with an overview of Beethoven’s life and music:

Classics for Kids has short radio shows on Beethoven’s life, his symphonies and an entertaining one on musical jokes and stories related to Beethoven.

Art Links

Goya: The Clothed Maja.

A classroom music lesson about the flute and piccolo

admin — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 20:29:11 +0000

The Flute and Piccolo are important instruments to learn about in music class, but no so easy if you can’t play them yourself, so here is a few ideas to get you started. This is an excerpt from a music lesson plan from the fun music company on instruments of the orchestra.

High or Low Game: Sing or play some melodic intervals in both directions. Ask students to discern which note comes first, the high note or the low note, by describing the interval as flute-piccolo (low-high) or piccolo-flute (high-low). This will help develop the students’ pitch discrimination and will reinforce the relative ranges of the flute and piccolo at the same time.

Demonstrate how the flute makes its sound by choosing a bottle with a small neck and blowing over it with a stream of air. You can then vary the sound by filling the bottles with a few inches of water, and asking the students to predict what will happen to the pitch You can then explain that this is exactly what happens when a flute player lifts their fingers from the finger holes – its just like shortening the tube.

You could then make a home-made instrument by filling several bottles with varying amounts of liquid, and tuning them to notes of a scale. (you can even borrow some pipes or test tubes from the science teacher!) Play some tunes with your bottle instrument, and ask for student volunteers to play their own tunes.

Listen to Sergei Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf, a work for orchestra with narration. In this work both the flute and piccolo are featured as well as all the woodwind instruments, the timpani and strings. You could use this piece in several sections in many classes when learning about the orchestral instruments

In Peter and the Wolf, each character is identified timbrally by a specific instrument or section. The strings are peter, the bird is represented by the flute, the duck by the oboe, the clarinet is the cat, the grandfather by the bassoon, the horns are the scary wolf and the hunters by the timpani.

Each character has its own melody, and tells the story through the music

Here are some questions for discussion:

Why do you think the composer chose those instruments for each of the characters? (E.g., the reedy, piercing quality of the oboe actually sounds something like a duck’s quack; the loud, sharp sounds of the timpani are like the sounds of gunfire.)

What else in the music conveys the personality of the characters? (for example the classy regal tone for the clarinet showing the cat, the lively major key theme for Peter showing a young boy’s confidence, and the powerful ominous minor key theme for the wolf)

How does a given section of the music convey the plot? (E.g., the cat scampering up the tree is conveyed by rapid rising arpeggios.)

During the Victory Parade, why do you think the composer switched Peter’s music from the strings to the horns?

Could an orchestra exist without a conductor?

admin — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 02:24:39 +0000

What would happen to an orchestra if the conductor wasn’t there – could the musicians cope by themselves? Students will discover in this music lesson.

These are all ideas that students can use to learn about the conductor in the orchestra. There is a complete lesson plan on this subject in Our Printable Music Lesson Plans Series

Demonstrate the basic beat patterns. Have students practice the patterns using pencils or drinking straws as temporary batons. Select individual students to choose a pattern, conduct it, and have the other students identify it. Don’t forget to show the students the beat patterns at different tempi (fast, medium and slow).

Dynamics are indicated by the size of the conducting gestures: big gestures = loud, small movements = piano. Conduct a beat pattern and have students count the beats out loud; ask them to get louder and softer as you change the size of your gestures.

Conductors also indicate articulation. Sharp gestures indicate staccato while smooth gestures indicate legato. Show the students these articulations and give students a chance to practice them.

Conductors also do a lot to convey the mood or emotion in the music. Have one student conduct and attempt to convey an emotion (e.g., happy, gloomy, agressive, triumphant, loving, etc.) while conducting a beat pattern. Have the students guess what emotion is being played.

Have the students listen to some music and have students conduct along with them. National anthems or other familiar melodies could be a good place to start. To practice duple time, use a march; for triple time, use a waltz; for quadruple time, use any of a huge variety of music.

Watch a video of someone conducting an orchestra. Can the students recognize particular beat patterns and techniques for expression, dynamics and articulation? Have the students identify the various Orchestral instruments and families

Help music students learn about symphony orchestra

admin — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 01:23:55 +0000

Here are a few ideas for lesson planning a lesson all about a Symphony Orchestra

Arrange the student’s seats as if they were an orchestra. Place instrument name cards on the appropriate desks, or Give Students name stickers to wear. Allow students to be different instruments on different days.

Discuss different types of musical groups (e.g., concert band, marching band, jazz band, rock band, choir). What are the similarities and differences between the orchestra and these other groups?

Discuss the relationship between the traditional sections of the orchestra and the Hornbostel-Sachs instrument classifications. (Strings are chordophones; woodwinds and brass are aerophones; some percussion instruments are membranophones, others are idiophones.)

What you could do is have a long term assignmore for the students to research and comment on the Hornbostel-Sachs categories of Chordophones, aerophones etc)

Discuss the science of musical instruments – the connection between vibration and sound

An excellent listening activity is to listen to Benjamin Britten’s Young Persons Guide to the Orchestra If you have assigned students to different instruments to the children’s seating positions above, they may stand or perform some action when their instrument is heard. This is a relatively lengthy composition (over 17 minutes) so you may want to do different sections on different days.

For more information on music lesson plans please contact the Fun Music Company

Lesson planning ideas for learning about the clarinet

admin — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 20:18:22 +0000

Here are a few lesson planning ideas that you can use when learning about the clarinet in the music class.

You can Make rudimentary single-reed instruments. Gather the following pieces of paper and plastic combs, about 5cm x 5cm (two inches by two inches) To play it simply place the paper on the comb in line with the teeth and hold it with your thumbs. Simply blow to make a sound with your lips around the paper and the comb. Students will come to understand the idea of a single reed vibrating with this activity

Here are some great clarinet players that you can talk about in music class You could also give the students a class project to learn about one or more of these musicians/

Benny Goodman (1909-1986) was an American clarinetist best known for his jazz playing. Goodman was born in Chicago to Hungarian Jewish immigrants. He learned the clarinet very quickly and worked as a professional musician while still a teenager. Goodman led a band in New York City in the 1920’s and 30‘s. Goodman even became known as “The King of Swing” as his music was very popular during the swing era Benny Goodman is known as one of the best jazz clarinetists of all timse, as he continued to make recordings for the rest of his life He was one of the few jazz musicians to cross over to the classical realm and make recordings of well known classical pieces.

Thea King (1925-2007) was an important English clarinetist. She played with many different groups, but perhaps her most significant position was principal clarinetist of the English Chamber Orchestra from 1964 to 1999. She was inducted into the Order of the British Empire in 1985, becoming “Dame Thea King.”

Richard Stoltzman (born 1942) is a well known American classical clarinetist. He has made both classical and jazz recordings Studying at Ohio State University, he majored in both Music and Mathematics Orchestras around the world would love to have him as soloist

The first ever female member of the Berlin Philharmonic was a german clarinetist, Sabine Meyer The other members didn’t accept her, however, and after a short time she left to become a full-time clarinet soloist. She is also very involved in chamber music (music for a small group of players).

These are just a few ideas taken from the fun music company’s music lesson plans on instruments of the orchestra.

A Music Lesson on the Symphony Orchestra

admin — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 01:10:17 +0000

This is a few lesson plan ideas that you can use when learning about the Symphony Orchestra

Arrange the student’s seats as if they were an orchestra. Place the names of instruments on the the students desks, or Give students name stickers to wear. Allow students to be different instruments on different days.

Discuss different types of musical groups (e.g., concert band, marching band, jazz band, rock band, choir). What are the similarities and differences between the orchestra and these other groups?

What you could do is have a long term assignmore for the students to research and comment on the Hornbostel-Sachs categories of Chordophones, aerophones etc)

Discuss the science of musical instruments – the connection between vibration and sound

For more information on music lesson plans please contact the Fun Music Company

How to have a lesson about a classical orchestra

admin — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 01:07:47 +0000

This is a few lesson plan ideas that you can use when learning about the Symphony Orchestra

Arrange the student’s seats as if they were an orchestra. Place the names of instruments on the the students desks, or affix name stickers to individual students. Allow students to be different instruments on different days.

Discuss different types of musical groups (e.g., concert band, marching band, jazz band, rock band, choir). What are the similarities and differences between the orchestra and these other groups?

What you could do is have a long term assignmore for the students to research and comment on the Hornbostel-Sachs categories of Chordophones, aerophones etc)

Discuss the science of musical instruments – the connection between vibration and sound

Then you could do a Guided Listening Activity featuring The Young Persons Guide to the Orchestra by Benjamin Britten, without narration. If you have assigned students to different instruments to the children’s seating positions above, they may stand or perform some action when their instrument is heard. This is a relatively lengthy composition (over 17 minutes) so you may want to do different sections on different days.

For more information on music lesson plans please contact the Fun Music Company

Learning about clarinets in the music classroom

admin — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 20:13:47 +0000

Here is a couple of lesson plan ideas that can be used when teaching students about the clarinet in your music classroom. There are lots more ideas for music lesson plans in the printable music lesson plans series at this webpage.

A simple single reed instrument can easily be made in the classroom You will need: pieces of paper and plastic combs, about 5cm x 5cm (two inches by two inches) Instructions: Hold a comb with the teeth pointed toward you. Place a piece of paper on the comb in line with the edge of the teeth and hold it in place with your thumbs. Simply blow to make a sound with your lips around the paper and the comb. This activity should make clear the concept of a single reed vibrating to create sound.

Spotlight on clarinet players: Share this information with your class in the manner that best suits you. You could also give the students a class project to learn about one or more of these musicians/

An American clarinetist, best known for his jazz musicianship was Benny Goodman. He was born in 1909 to jewish immigrants in Chicago He learned the clarinet very quickly and worked as a professional musician while still a teenager. Goodman led a band in New York City in the 1920’s and 30‘s. Goodman even became known as “The King of Swing” as his music was very popular during the swing era Benny Goodman is known as one of the best jazz clarinetists of all timse, as he continued to make recordings for the rest of his life He was one of the few jazz musicians to cross over to the classical realm and make recordings of well known classical pieces.

Richard Stoltzman (born 1942) is a well known American classical clarinetist. He has made both classical and jazz recordings Studying at Ohio State University, he majored in both Music and Mathematics He is in high demand as a clarinet soloist with orchestras around the world.

Sabine Meyer, a German clarinetist born in 1959, was the first ever female member of the Berlin Philharmonic. The other members didn’t accept her, however, and after a short time she left to become a full-time clarinet soloist. She is also very involved in chamber music (music for a small group of players).

A few lesson planning ideas about orchestras

admin — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 01:03:39 +0000

This is a few lesson plan ideas that you can use when learning about the Symphony Orchestra

Arrange the students’ seats as if they were an orchestra. Place instrument name cards on the the students desks, or affix name stickers to individual students. Allow students to be different instruments on different days.

Have a class discussion about the similarities and differences between different musical groups. What do Rock Bands and Symphony Orchestras have in common?

Here is an idea for a Long-term assignment: construct an instrument that demonstrates two or more of the Hornbostel-Sachs categories.

Discuss the science of musical instruments – the connection between vibration and sound

Then you could do a Guided Listening Activity featuring The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra by Benjamin Britten, without narration. A great activity is to have certain students stand up or do actions when their particular instrument or instrument family is heard This is a relatively lengthy composition (over 17 minutes) so you may want to do different sections on different days.

For more information on music lesson plans please contact the Fun Music Company