Marching
BOSTON
SYMPHONY
ORCHESTRA
to the
Beat
A lesson plan for use in conjunction with the Boston Symphony Orchestra
Youth and Family Concert Series, Dance…March!, April 1-4, 2009
Introduction
Ask the students, what
is a march?
In its most basic sense, a march is the rhythmic procession of a
person or a group of people from one place to another. It’s halfway
between a walk and a run, and the main difference from either of those
is that it’s rhythmic: that is to say, it’s governed by music. And since
we have two feet, march music is always in duple meter, which means
it’s written in groups of two counts. All march music shares this
characteristic; in fact, it’s the defining feature of a march, and it’s written that way because it’s supposed to make you move! You can tell if
a piece is written in march rhythm if you can count out one, two,
one, two, one, two….and so on. You can think of it the way your
feet would if you were the one doing the marching, as left, right,
left, right, left, right, if you prefer, since that’s what a march is
supposed to make you do.
Marches were written (and continue to be written)
for all kinds of different reasons. Armies, dating back
to the times of the Romans and before, have always
used music to keep their soldiers all marching together
at the same time to the same step, and so we often think
of marches as military music, played by bands.
Roman soldiers playing trumpets as they
march (Trajan’s column, Rome, 113 A.D.)
We’re going to listen to a very well-known march by the
Viennese composer Johann Strauss, Jr., who was famous for
the waltzes, polkas and marches he composed, most of them in
the second half of the nineteenth century. This is the Radetzky
March, composed in honor of an Austrian Field Marshal (which
is similar to the rank of General but even higher) by the same
name, so you can imagine it’s going to sound like music for a
marching army.
Like the waltzes that have immortalized Johann Strauss, Jr.,
this piece is especially popular in Vienna. Every year on New
Joseph Radetzky von Radetz
Year’s Day the Vienna Philharmonic plays a special concert,
(1766-1858)
and this march is the last piece on the program. Because of its
special association with the city of Vienna, the audience always
claps their hands and stomps their feet along with the music
of the chorus, which is what you’re going to do in a moment. But first
we’ll listen – in silence -- to the whole piece of music, since it’s very
short.
First listening: listen for the one, two, one, two….march rhythm. Some things to
think about: what keeps the rhythm going? What instruments play the melody? When
do you know that the chorus has arrived?
Now, for the second listening, you’re going to clap and stomp with the chorus and
ONLY the chorus.
Second listening: wait until the chorus, which you now know to be when the full orchestra joins together fortissimo with the opening melody.
Development
Now we’re going to listen to another kind of march altogether: a
funeral march. This has military antecedents too: what do you
suppose a funeral march is for? One thing might be conveying a coffin
in an appropriately solemn manner to its final resting place: what do
you think this kind of march might sound like?
John McRae’s Funeral Procession to Wimereux, France, 1918
We’re going to listen to a funeral march that’s considerably less up-beat than the Radetzky march. This is the
second movement from Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3, which is nicknamed “Eroica”, since it was
originally intended to have been composed in honor of
a great man (Beethoven was going to dedicate it to Napoleon but changed his mind after he was finished).
When you listen to this piece, you’ll note that it’s composed for an orchestra of the same basic forces as the
Strauss – namely, woodwinds, brass, percussion and
strings – but the tone is another world altogether. LisLudwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
ten for tone: you’ll still be able to count the one, two,
one, two… of the march rhythm (but do so QUIETLY!) but the outcome will be considerably different. Think of three
words you would use to describe this music while you’re listening.
Listening: play the first five minutes of the second movement.
Now, how would you describe this music? How does it contrast with
the Strauss? Try to think of more examples of musical marches in the
other kinds of music.
Don’t forget to think about all of this when you hear
the Boston Symphony Orchestra perform this music!