Music History

[elsie07]

You have 6-8 weeks to teach a basic music appreciation/history class for elementary school kids as a supplement to regular piano lessons (which is what I'm doing with my students this summer).  What pieces are the ones you consider absolutely necessary for this endeavor?

Ones I am considering are:

- Handel: Hallelujah Chorus
- Beethoven: 5th Symphony

Any suggestions?

[amanfang]

Here's a few... of course there are many many others....

Haydn - Surprise Symphony movement

Mozart - Symphony #40, Eine Kleine

Grieg - In the Hall...

Tchaikovsky - 1812 Overture

Rossini - William Tell Overture

Vivaldi - 4 Seasons

Something kid-friendly like Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra or Carnival of the Animals.

[slobone]

That's a good list. You can also just generally raid the repertoire of stuff that used to be called "light classics", especially for some American music. Anything by Gershwin, the Grand Canyon Suite, Bernstein's Dances from West Side Story.

Also think about all those cliché pieces they'll know from commercials etc. Pachelbel's canon, Boccherini minuet, Night on Bald Mountain, Bach's Air on a G string. Also opera's greatest hits -- the Dvorak flower duet, Non piu'andrai, La donna e mobile, toreador song, Wedding March from Lohengrin, maybe even Che gelida manina.

Keep the selections short and don't talk down to the kids. You should be aiming at the ones who might want to hear more, not the usual clods.

[Bob]

Absolutely necessary?  Get them involved, doing something, anything.

If you're talking about working with a group of public school kids.  They'll never sit still and listen through a lot of music. 

Something like marching around and responding to a reoccuring motive might be good.

[dan101]

Your list could prove endless. My suggestion is to take a one or two representative examples from each era (Baroque, Classical, Romantic, Impressionistic...). Good luck.

[johnk]

If these are your piano students, introduce them to the famous piano concertos, specially Grieg and Rachmaninoff 2. These knocked me out when I first heard them and inspired me to get more into classical music. And if you can, watch videos, not just listening to audio. Fast pices rather than slow. bach Brandenburg 3, Pachelbel canon plus the rock version on YouTube that has 40 million hits ....  does it have to be only classical? i really regret not being introduced to jazz and pop music earlier. Also, if its history of music,  you really should tell them the story of how the letternames A to G were first defined - see my YT channel "Express Stave Notation".

[slobone]

On reflection, I think music appreciation rather than history is the way to go if you only have 6 weeks. It sounds like this may be the only music education these kids will have for a while, which is disgusting, but what can you do?

Like Bob said, get them actively involved. Use Kodaly method or similar. When I was a kid we had lots of music classes in school, group singing (rounds are especially popular), percussion bands with wood blocks & triangles, etc.

If you do play classical selections, make them participate actively. For example you could play them a Bach fugue in a transcription for an instrumental ensemble. Divide them into one group for each instrument, and have each group raise their hands when the theme comes in on that instrument. That kind of thing.

Don't try to play them a whole opera, but do pick one scene, say Act I of Boheme. Explain the story, run through the musical high points on the piano, then hand out a bilingual libretto and run the DVD. Or DVD's -- compare different productions. Have them do a short research paper explaining the historical background and what the composer was trying to do (that would work with Marriage of Figaro too).

And watch the paper for live musical events that take place during your class. Find out if they can get student-rate tickets and have them write a review.

These are fairly conventional ideas, I know, but at least it will get them understanding classical music a little better. I wouldn't get into pop music in such a short class, they'll learn to appreciate that on their own.

[elsie07]

I will write more details later about what I decided on, but for now I just want to say a big, huge

THANK YOU

to everyone!!  You gave me some great ideas that I can't wait to try.

[dan101]

I would take one selection from each era. Each era should have a different type of genre. You've already covered the oratorio and symphony with the Baroque and Classical eras respectively. Basically, your on the right track. Keep going.