RPO ensembles
Filigree (flute and harp duo
CHRISTOPHER SEAMAN, MUSIC DIRECTOR
“Filigree”
RPO Flute and Harp Duo
Primary Ensemble Preparatory Materials
Dear Teachers:
This packet contains information and class activities that are designed to help you prepare your
students for the RPO primary ensemble that visits your school. We hope that they will be useful to both music teachers and classroom teachers. Feel free to adapt or change the activities to
suit the needs and abilities of your students. Please review the concert manners on page 10.
This will help your students enjoy the ensemble performance more on their special day.
Table of Contents
Meet your Musicians
English Language Arts: Standard 1 Listening and Reading
1
What is your Musical History?
Social Studies: Standard 2 World History
1
Instrument Information
English Language Arts: Standard 1 Listening and Reading
2
Where in the world does music come from?
Social Studies: Standard 3 Geography
3
Music in your Community
English Language Arts: Standard 1 Speaking and Writing
3
Musical Detectives
Mathematics, Science, and Technology: Scientific Inquiry Standard 1
4
Vocabulary and Word Search
English Language Arts: Standard 1 Listening and Reading
4
Tell a Story without Words!
English Language Arts: Standard 2 Listening and Reading, Speaking and Writing
5
What would you like to know about your visiting musicians?
English Language Arts: Standard 4 Listening and Speaking
6
Write a thank you letter
English Language Arts: Standard 3 Reading and Writing
7
Concert Manners
English Language Arts: Standard 4 Listening and Speaking
8
The Primary Ensembles are funded by the Glover/Crask Charitable Remainder Trust; the City of Rochester, William A. Johnson, Jr., Mayor; Best Buy Children’s Foundation and Time Warner Cable. The RPO’s Education and
Outreach programs are made possible, in part, by New York State Senator Jim Alesi; BlueCross BlueShield of the
Rochester Area; The Cornell/Weinstein Family Foundation; Corning Incorporated Foundation; Fleet Bank; New
York State Assembly, secured by Assemblyman Joseph D. Morelle; Monroe County, Jack Doyle, County Executive;
New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency; New York State Senator Michael F. Nozzolio; M & T Bank;
and the Josephine Bay Paul and C. Michael Paul Foundation.
As a child your age, Jan Angus would play hide and seek in her father’s band room. Her father was the high school band director and
on weekends would take Jan and her brother and sister to his band
room. While he worked, the siblings would hide in the large instrument cases. Eventually, they became more interested in the instruments and would very carefully take them out, one by one, and try to
produce a sound on the tuba, the cello, the French horn or violin. Jan
decided she loved the sound of the flute and knew in the 5th grade
that she wanted to have a career playing the flute. She was lucky that
her father helped her learn to play the flute.
Today, Mrs. Angus plays the flute and piccolo in the RPO and, like her
father, she teaches children of all ages to play the flute.
In addition to being a performer and teacher, Mrs. Angus coordinates
the Eastman Pathways Scholarship Program that offers scholarships
for private lessons to Rochester City School District music students.
Grace Wong is the Principal Harpist of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and has played with the orchestra for 23 years.
She has always liked to be physically active. Ever since she was
little she has enjoyed climbing, balancing, and jumping off or
over things like rocks, fences, trees and jungle gyms. She wanted
to be a trapeze artist in a circus, but started ballet lessons at age
five instead. Miss Wong began harp lessons in a New York City
high school where there was a harp class. It’s turned out to be a
fun instrument to play, because both the arms and legs are used.
What is your Musical History?
After reading the biographies of Jan Angus and Grace Wong, it is easy to see that they have
both participated in many musical activities. Now write your own musical history! Discuss
any musical activities you have participated in, such as a attending a concert, singing at home,
with family, by yourself, or in school, or playing an instrument.
• What have you found interesting about music?
• What types of musical activities would you like to do in the future?
• How might these activities be similar or different to the activities done by people who
lived in cultures hundreds of years ago?
1
The Flute
The flute is one of the oldest instruments you can find in the orchestra. This high-pitched woodwind instrument existed thousands of years ago in countries all over the world. Today the
flute is usually made out of precious metals, but in the past it
was also made out of bone, clay, or wood. The flute is a long
narrow tube with keys and finger holes on the side. Flute players blow air across the mouthpiece, a hole in the side of the tube, just like you would blow
across the top of a bottle to make sounds. Many of the flutes used in America today are made
in Boston because of its strong silversmith tradition. Flutes have a lovely airy tone quality that
can blend well with other instruments, as well as soar above the full orchestra.
Questions from the reading
1. Flutes today are usually made out of gold or silver. What other materials have flutes been
made of in the past?
2. What instrument family of the orchestra does the flute belong to?
The Harp
The harp is a large stringed instrument that originated more than 4,000 years ago. It is made
out of a triangular wooden frame with 47 strings stretching from top to bottom. At the base of
the harp there are seven pedals which the player controls with their feet. Harpists create music
by plucking the strings with their fingers. All the strings are different lengths which means that
each one creates a different musical note when plucked. The
harp is a vary large instrument. It is over six feet tall and weighs
almost eighty pounds! Because this instrument is so large, harp
players have to use a special transportation device with wheels
in order to bring their instrument from place to place.
Questions from the reading
1. How many strings are on a harp?
2. Why does each string create a different sound?
3. While flute players use just their hands and mouth to create
sounds, harp players use both their hands and feet. How do harp
players use their hands and feet to create music on their instrument?
2
Where in the world does music come from?
Music comes from all over the world! There are strong musical traditions in
every culture and community that have served many purposes over time. Music
can be used to celebrate happy occasions (like a wedding or birthday), sad occasions (like a funeral), patriotic occasions (like the Fourth of July) and religious occasions (like Christmas or Hanukkah). Because both the flute and the harp are
such old instruments, they have an especially large amount of music available for
them to play from around the world. For example, you will hear Latin music,
American folk music, Mexican, Hungarian, and even some Irish march music when Filigree
performs for you. Some music was written for the instruments based on a musical tradition
such as a concert or a parade. Sometimes specific instruments actually help to develop a whole
new kind of music. In Jalisco, Mexico, the harp was important for the development of mariachi
music. This is a type of Mexican folk music that originally used only string instruments in the
ensembles. Over time these ensembles expanded to include many other instruments, but they
still represent the Mexican culture that could be heard in the original string mariachi ensembles.
Music in your Community:
Activities for thinking and writing about music in our lives.
1. Brainstorming:
•
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Make a list of all the places you might hear music (shopping mall, in
a car, on television, concerts, etc.)
Do you hear the same music at all of these places? Discuss the different types of music you might hear at each location.
2. Critical Listening:
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•
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Play excerpts of a wide range of musical styles
Where could you hear this music in your life?
What could it be used for? (for dancing, relaxing, singing along, etc.)
3. Creative Writing:
Using the previous exercises as a class warm-up, have students write a few paragraphs on their
own.
• Describe a place or an event where you don’t usually hear music:
• Have students write a few paragraphs of their own that explain why they think it would be a
good idea to have music played there, and what type of music they would like to hear.
4. Follow-up:
•
•
Students may read papers to the rest of the class
Students may write a story that includes the ideas from their papers
3
Musical Detectives
•
Objective:
• To develop a greater understanding concerning the relationship between length of an instrument and the pitch produced.
Materials Needed:
• Glass bottles, water.
Prior Knowledge:
• Students are familiar with concept that different sized instruments produce different pitches
• Students understand the purpose of an experiment is to find an answer to a “why” question. (Why do
certain instruments produce mostly high notes, and others mostly low notes?)
Procedures:
• Fill several bottles with different amounts of water.
• Blow across the tops of the bottles to produce different notes.
• Do the bottles with more water make higher or lower sounds than those with less water? Ask students to
guess why this is. (Answer: shorter instruments make higher pitches. By adding more water to the bottle, it is essentially becoming “shorter” with less air space.)
Follow-up:
• See if the class (or small groups) can develop a musical composition using the bottles.
Vocabulary: Learn new musical words
Accompaniment: Any music which functions as a background to enhance the main melody
Communication: An exchange of information between two or more individuals
Duet: A musical ensemble of two musicians playing together
Melody: A series of notes that form an important musical idea
Pentatonic Scale: A special five note scale often found in the music of ancient cultures
Rhythm: A musical element which determines how long or short each note should be played
Word Search:
Find the words listed above in this puzzle. Words can be
found horizontally, vertically, and diagonally, both forward and backward.
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Tell a Story without Words!
When musicians play their instruments, they communicate many thoughts and emotions to each
other and the audience without using words! When a small ensemble of musicians plays together, it is just like a normal conversation between two people.
Activity 1: Silent Communication
Preparatory Question:
What are other communication devices which don’t involve spoken words?
(answer: facial expressions, hand gestures, body language, etc.)
Procedure:
1. Divide class into groups of three or four students each.
2. Give each group an emotion (possibilities include: happy, sad, angry, tired, excited, scared,
victorious, in love) and have them decide how to silently express it with facial expressions,
etc.
3. Have groups present their emotion to the rest of the class. Ask the class to guess their emotion based on the nonverbal communication.
Activity 2: Communication through Sound
When musicians perform, they communicate by using both their bodies and their instruments.
They can use facial expressions or hand gestures to communicate with one another while performing a piece of music. They also use different sounds on their instruments to communicate
the musical emotions and ideas with the audience.
Preparatory Questions:
• Name three ways you can make sound with your voices, bodies, or other materials in the
classroom (possible answers: humming, clapping, stomping, snapping fingers, pencils
tapped, papers rustled, etc.)
• What ways could you use these sounds to communicate a thought or emotion more effectively? (refer to Activity 1)
Procedures:
1. In the same groups from Activity 1, pass out a photograph or magazine picture that displays strong emotions.
2. Have each group determine the emotions that are expressed in their picture.
3. Decide how those emotions can be expressed using appropriate sounds.
4. Organize these sounds into a musical piece to perform for the rest of the class.
5. Lead class in a discussion of each group’s presentation.
• What was this group was trying to communicate? (then show picture)
• What different sounds did they use, and how were they successful in communicating
their picture?
• What was your favorite part of their musical piece?
5
What would you like to know about your
visiting musicians?
When the RPO musicians come to your school you will have a chance to ask
them questions about what they do and why they became musicians. Remember that a question begins with one of the following words:
WHO
WHAT
WHY
WHEN
WHERE
HOW
Here are some sample questions to get you thinking about what to ask the musicians.
Who was your first music teacher?
Who encouraged you to keep playing?
What did you first like about your instrument?
What was difficult about learning your instrument?
Why do you enjoy playing in an orchestra?
Why did you choose to become a professional musician?
When did you start music lessons?
When did you know that you would make music your career?
Where were you born?
Where did you go to college?
How long did it take for you to become a good musician?
How much do you practice each week?
Some questions also begin with the words “Do” and “Have.”
You may want to ask one of these question pairs.
Do you ever get nervous before you perform? How do you handle it?
Have you ever made a mistake during a performance? What happened?
Ask one of these questions, or think of a different question on
your own.
6
Write a letter to thank our sponsors!
There are a number of people who make these ensemble performances possible to the Rochester City School District. We ask that your students take
a little time to express their gratitude to one of them in a letter. They can
follow this format or come up with something on their own.
The letters can be addressed to one of the following:
1. Glover/Crask Charitable Remainder Trust
2. The Honorable William A. Johnson, Jr., Mayor of the City of Rochester
3. Best Buy Children's Foundation, Ms. Susan Hoff, President
4. Time Warner Cable, Mr. Brian Wirth
Dear (insert sponsor’s name here),
On (date) I saw the RPO Percussion Trio perform at my school. They were (insert
adjective). I learned
. My
favorite part was when the musicians
.
Thank you very much for making these visits possible.
Sincerely,
(name)
Please send all letters through RCSD interoffice mail to:
Paulette Davis
Artist-in-Residence Program
CO3
Ms. Davis will give them to RPO staff who will then make sure that the proper recipients get
them. Thank you!
7
Concert Manners
When the RPO musicians come to your school this is a special opportunity to
learn about the instruments and musicians of the orchestra. We hope you will enjoy meeting the musicians and listening to their music.
The following concert manners will help everyone listen and enjoy the performance more.
•
Concert manners begin the moment you walk into the performance room.
Take your seats quietly and keep your hands to yourself.
•
At this time, the musicians may be warming up their instruments. Watch and
listen carefully to see if they do something you don’t expect.
•
Talk only when you are asked to respond to a question. If someone is talking
and distracting your class, try to ignore them or quietly get the attention of
your teacher.
•
Clap enthusiastically after each piece. This shows the musicians that you enjoyed their music.
•
Save questions and comments for when the musicians visit your classrooms individually.
What did you learn?
Have a class discussion about what your students learned in the ensemble performance.
What did you like about the performance and workshop? Was there anything that you
didn’t like? Was there anything that surprised you about the instruments or music that
you heard?
8