“Winter”
from
Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons
Teacher’s Guide for the Portland Symphony Orchestra’s Youth Concert Series
“Sounds Like Art: Painting, Poetry and Performance”
Materials created by
The Center for Excellence in Music Education
University of Southern Maine, School of Music
©January 2010
The Center for Excellence in Music Education was established
within the School of Music at the University of Southern
Maine in 2009. Under the leadership of Dr. Michele Kaschub
and Dr. Douglas Owens, the Center draws together pre-service
and in-service music educators for the creation of teaching
materials and resources for PK-12 classroom and ensemble
instruction. The Center for Excellence in Music Education is delighted to
enter into partnership with the Portland Symphony Orchestra
and to contribute to the creation of the Teacher’s Guide for the
Portland Symphony Orchestra’s 2010 Youth Concert Series
“Sounds Like Art: Painting, Poetry and Performance”
EXPANDING MUSICAL DEVELOPMENT
The activities of the lesson are designed to develop the three capacities
foundational in all listening: attention, impressivity and aural craftsmanship.
1. All listeners must chose to pay “attention” to the music. The questions that
teachers use to guide children before they are asked to listen help students
focus their attention of particular aspects of the music.
2. All listeners are impacted by the music that they hear. This impact is called
“impressivity”. The music presses inward as we hear and feel sound.
Questions that ask students to think about how music “feels” and why
composers shape music as they do help children develop their awareness of
how music impacts their lives.
3. While all listeners hear music, attentive listeners also pay attention to
particular features of the music. The brain then uses such observations to
make connections and attribute meaning to the way the music is heard and
felt. The process of hearing features and recognizing relationships between
features is called “aural craftsmanship”. Teacher can help students develop
control over this natural process by asking questions that require students to
focus their attention particular musical events or on the ways that a composer
crafts sounds.
Teacher’s Guide for the Portland Symphony Orchestra’s Youth Concert Series
“Sounds Like Art: Painting, Poetry and Performance”
Materials created by
The Center for Excellence in Music Education
University of Southern Maine, School of Music
©January 2010
PURPOSE
This lesson is designed for classroom instruction with students who are able to
use small classroom percussion instruments, can recognize and identify
string instruments by sound, and can identify duration (long/short sounds),
pitch (high/low sounds) and melodies.
MATERIALS
Teachers and students will need variety of small classroom percussion
instruments (shakers, metallophone, triangles, jingle bells, and any other
metallic/tinkle-y sounding instruments that are available), chalk/white board
or large piece of paper and chalk/pen, a recording of Vivaldi’s “Winter” from
The Four Seasons, and paper and pencils for writing poetry.
LEARNING GOAL
At the completion of this lesson students will be able to identify how the
composer uses the musical principals of motion/stasis and unity/variety to
organize sounds evocative of the season of winter.
Notes on principals:
Motion/stasis: forward motion achieved by starting in lower pitches
instruments, added higher pitch, repeating pitches several times, and then
melodies where violin plays very short notes changing pitch quickly
Unity/variety: unity created by use of short, detached sounds; variety found
in pitch placement (high/low)
Teacher’s Guide for the Portland Symphony Orchestra’s Youth Concert Series
“Sounds Like Art: Painting, Poetry and Performance”
Materials created by
The Center for Excellence in Music Education
University of Southern Maine, School of Music
©January 2010
ACTIVITIES OF THE LESSON
Part I: Hands-on Composition
Engaging children in creating their own music through composition allows them
to readily identify with the work of other composers. The following
activities will create a foundation that will allow the students to connect their
work with the work of Vivaldi.
Introduction: Let’s think a little bit about winter and about snowstorms.
1. Ask students to describe how a snowstorm begins, how it builds/changes
over time, and how it ends. As children describe the snowstorm, draw it
organized beginning-middle-end on the board.
2. Ask students to describe what winter sounds like (falling snow, breaking
icicles, blowing cold wind, etc.)
3. Ask the children to suggest instruments (that the teacher has already laid
out) for each section of the snowstorm).
4. Distribute instruments and perform the storm. After the first performance,
ask children what worked well and what changes they might make. Perform
the composition a second time.
Suggested transition to listening activity: Wow! That was quite a snowstorm.
Many composers have considered what snowstorms and winter might sound
like as songs or pieces of music. Vivaldi wrote a piece of music about winter
much in the same way we just did. Today, we are going to listen to his
composition. It is called “Winter”.
Teacher’s Guide for the Portland Symphony Orchestra’s Youth Concert Series
“Sounds Like Art: Painting, Poetry and Performance”
Materials created by
The Center for Excellence in Music Education
University of Southern Maine, School of Music
©January 2010
ACTIVITIES OF THE LESSON
Part II: Ears-on Listening
As listeners need to hear a piece of music three times in order to be able to
organize and process it meaningfully, this lesson divides “Winter” into short
excerpts in the information gathering stage and then presents the whole piece
as both conclusion of listening and transition to poetry writing.
1. Focus attention on music (goal: identification). As we listen to just little bit
of Vivaldi’s “Winter”, let’s try to figure out what instruments he used. Try to
remember the name of at least one instrument that you hear. (Play 0:00-0:37
and collect responses verbally.)
2. Narrowing focus (goal: identification). Let’s find out what else Vivaldi
did. As we listen again, let’s try to find out if instruments are used to play
both long and short sounds or just one or the other. (Play 0:37-0:54 and
collect responses verbally.)
3. Seeking details (goals: identification and comparison). As we listen this
time, let’s try to figure out how Vivaldi uses pitch. Are most of the sounds
high or low, or does he use high and low together? (Play 1:00-1:25 and
collect responses verbally.)
4. Specific details (goals: identification and comparison). Vivaldi doesn’t
always present his musical ideas in the same way. Let’s listen to how he uses
the orchestra. Do all the musicians play all the time? Are any instruments
featured separately from the orchestra? If so, what instrument or
instruments are featured? (Play 0:00-1:00 and collect responses verbally.)
Teacher’s Guide for the Portland Symphony Orchestra’s Youth Concert Series
“Sounds Like Art: Painting, Poetry and Performance”
Materials created by
The Center for Excellence in Music Education
University of Southern Maine, School of Music
©January 2010
ACTIVITIES OF THE LESSON
Part II: Ears-on Listening (continued)
5. Synthesis (goals: understanding craftsmanship and making meaning). As we
listen one last time, let’s do two things. First, as we listen, let’s think about
why Vivaldi used different sounds - high/low, long/short, repeated/changing,
and solo instrument versus orchestra – create the feeling of winter? And,
second, as we listen, let’s each write down a list of two or three words
(related to winter) that come to mind as we listen. (Play full piece and collect
responses verbally.)
Suggested transition to poetry writing activity: Now that we’ve got such a
collection of words about winter, we should write a poem! Poets use words
to create a feeling of an event or time or place much in the same way that
Vivaldi used musical sounds. The main difference is that poets have words
and Vivaldi had an orchestra.
Part III: Writing Poetry
Synthesis and transfer: Let’s try to write some poems about “Winter”. As you
create your poem, think about your own experiences of winter as well as how
our class and Vivaldi both used repeating sounds, rapidly changing sounds,
short sounds, and high and low sounds to capture the feeling of winter in
sound. Try to include words in your poem that remind the reader of winter.
Remember that words, just like musical sounds, can be repeated, changed
quickly, and used to create feeling. Write a poem that is at least 2-4 lines
long (for Grs. 3-4; lengthen to 4-8 lines for Grs. 5-6 and 8-12 lines for
Grs.7-8).
Teacher’s Guide for the Portland Symphony Orchestra’s Youth Concert Series
“Sounds Like Art: Painting, Poetry and Performance”
Materials created by
The Center for Excellence in Music Education
University of Southern Maine, School of Music
©January 2010