Expanded Lesson Activity 1 Recording of The Composer is Dead Class copies and display copy of Tangled Timbre Tango Theme and Variations Worksheet.

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1 LEVEL: Grade 4-7 National Standards for Music Education: 5, 6, 7, 8 Maryland State Curriculum for Music: I-A, I-D, II-C, II-D, IV-A OBJECTIVES - Students will: 1. Describe similarities in the way a literary work and a music composition are developed. 2. Identify melody, counter-melody, and accompaniment in a musical example. 3. Recognize ABA form in a listening example. 4. Identify instruments of the orchestra through visual and aural examples. 5. Listen to an example of Theme and Variations and techniques used to vary the main theme. 6. Describe with specialized vocabulary how literary and composing techniques can be used to shape the mood, form, and development of a creative work. STUDENT FRIENDLY OBJECTIVES - Students will: 1. Compare how writers and composers use similar techniques to develop their ideas. 2. Listen to different ways a composer can develop a musical idea. 3. Use new vocabulary words that describe the techniques used by writers and composers. MATERIALS: Core Lesson Recording of The Composer is Dead Display copy (transparency or computer image projection) of Waltz Theme Map Waltz Theme Map images clip art from Microsoft Word Expanded Lesson Activity 1 Recording of The Composer is Dead Class copies and display copy of Tangled Timbre Tango Theme and Variations Worksheet. Activity 2 Recording of The Composer is Dead Common Creative Elements Chart from Lesson 1 student copies

2 LESSON UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCore Lesson Time: 30 minutes 1. Explain to students that they will be exploring the way a piece of music is developed and expanded from the main theme and plan. In the same way a writer develops a problem to create the plot of an entire story, a composer develops musical themes to create the form of an entire musical work. There are many techniques that can be used to accomplish this. In this lesson, students will be exploring examples of how those tools and techniques are used in The Composer Is Dead. 2. Ask students to share their knowledge of the elements of a plot. Plots usually are based on a problem, which creates complications and questions that must be resolved. Especially in a murder mystery, there is often suspense involved in finding a solution to the problem, which reaches its highest point at the climax of the story. This is followed by the resolution to the problem. Ask students to identify the problem, complications and questions, climax, and resolution in The Composer Is Dead. (Answers: the composer is dead, the inspector must find the murderer by interviewing the instruments for alibis, the conductor is accused, and the entire orchestra admits shared guilt in sometimes butchering a composer.) 3. Tell students that composers develop their music much like writers develop a story. They do this by creating a theme that can be changed or complicated in many ways, reaching a climax, and then resolving, often with a repeat of the original theme at the end. Musical compositions often have other themes in addition to the main theme (like sub-plots in a story), as is the case in The Composer Is Dead. In this piece, the composer introduces new themes for each section of the orchestra, as well as for some individual instruments. For instance, the string section theme is a waltz, which is a dance in ¾ time. The Waltz Theme is first introduced by the violins. Next, the cellos and basses provide an accompaniment part. Then the violas introduce a counter-melody that compliments the main theme. Finally the concertmaster (most accomplished violinist) plays a cadenza and solo part above all the others. This technique of layering parts one at a time is just one of many common ways to develop a theme, allowing it to become more complex by adding complimentary and contrasting melodies, harmonies, and rhythms; increasing the dynamic level; and creating a broader ranges of tone colors. 4. Now students will listen to each of the parts of the Waltz Theme individually. As they listen to each individual part, repeat the description from Step 3. (Try not to play any of the narration unless it overlaps the music.) Main Waltz Theme Violins with light accompaniment from the orchestra Track 3 1:30-2:00 Accompaniment Cello and Bass with violins and orchestra accompaniment Track 4-0:40-1:13 Counter-melody Violas with orchestra accompaniment Track 5 0:00-0:47 Cadenza Concert Master (violin) Track 6 0:32-1:15 5. Now that students have heard the pieces of the Waltz Theme section as they were layered in, listen to the full development of the Waltz Theme. Listen for the familiar instruments and parts. Also

3 listen for the ABA plan within this section in which the main violin theme begins and ends the section, but the viola theme is featured in between. Use the Waltz Theme Map to guide listening. Full Development of Waltz Theme Strings with full orchestra Section A Main Violin Waltz Theme A with layers Section B Theme B featured with violas Section A Return to Main Violin Waltz Theme A with layers Track 6 1:15-2:40 Expanded Lesson Activity 1: A New Development in the Case Theme and Variations Time: minutes 1. Remind students they have already heard one way a composer can develop a musical idea. In that example, each type of instrument played a different part, and those parts were used to create layers of sound that complimented the main musical theme. Another technique composers use to develop a musical idea is called theme and variations. With this technique, the composer starts with one musical theme, and then repeats it multiple times. However, on each repeat something is changed. It could be the rhythm, the time signature, the harmony, the tempo or dynamics, or the instruments used to play it. 2. Explain that in The Composer Is Dead, composer Nathaniel Stookey uses the theme and variations technique in the section Tangled Timbre Tango Theme. The French horns state the theme first, playing it in 3rds harmony (explain to students what thirds sound like and give a quick demonstration on the piano). Listen to a short excerpt of the theme (Track 11 0:12-0:25). 3. Distribute the Tangled Timbre Tango Theme and Variations Worksheet student copies. Ask students to listen to the music and complete the worksheet as the teacher states the call numbers for listening. Discuss answers as a class. (Answer Key 2) The teacher should listen to the selection in advance to be sure where call numbers should be stated. 4. Tell students that the composer went even further in developing this section by adding the percussion section, creating accompaniment parts, expanding small pieces of the original melodic theme and trombone accompaniment, and tangling all the instruments into a complex layering of sound. Listen to Track 12 0:30-1:16. Activity 2: In The Mood for Murder Literary and Composing Techniques Time: 30 minutes 1. Ask students to describe the mood of The Composer Is Dead. Students should identify that the mood is generally suspenseful, but changes as the music moves from section to section. Discuss how the music reflects the mood of the story. Have students give examples from music they have already listened to (the waltz is happy because they are dancing, the dead theme is dark and ominous, the tango theme is a little frantic, chaotic, or wild). Ask students what the composer does to the music to make it sound happy, ominous, or chaotic. (Answers might include musical elements such as choice of key signature - major or minor, choice of instruments - low or high register, orchestration - number of instruments playing, rhythmic patterns, tempo, and dynamics.)

4 2. Tell students that a writer can use ideas such as flashback (going back to an earlier point in time) and foreshadowing (hinting at what might be coming) to establish the mood and setting, and to develop the plot and build suspense. A composer can use these ideas in a musical way. For instance, in The Composer Is Dead, each instrument uses flashback when they describe where they were on the night of the murder. As the inspector reviews their alibis, the music repeats the themes that represented each instrument and their alibi. Listen again to the section we listened to in Lesson 1, and pay attention not only to the narration as the alibis are re-stated, but to the musical themes that are playing in the background. These are all themes that have occurred before and are restated here as a type of musical flashback. In music this is called recapitulation. It is this use of repetition throughout that ties the work together, helps the reader/listener to remember key ideas, and contributes to the movement of the plot. Track 14 (0:00-2:04) 3. Explain that there are other literary techniques, known on the whole as figurative language, that have a comparable technique in music composition. One of these is onomatopoeia. This is when a word imitates its own sound for instance, in the word buzz, the zz sounds like a buzzing sound. Ask students to think of other words that are examples of onomatopoeia (splash, honk, bang, crash, snap, pop, hiccup, woof, meow, quack). Lemony Snicket uses words like humming, sighing, ringing, and rattle that demonstrate this idea. In composing, instruments can actually be used to imitate sounds or ideas musically. This is sometimes called tone painting. Listen to these examples of the flutes making bird sounds (chirping) and laughing sounds (giggling). Play Track 7 1:00-1:25 and 2:42-2: Introduce another literary technique alliteration. In writing, this involves repeated sounds to add emphasis. Ask students if they know the meaning of this word (starting two words with the same sound). Listen to how Lemony Snicket uses alliteration. Play Track 12-0:00-0:30. Identify examples of alliteration (conquered the concert, battered the band, agitated the audience, rattled the roof). In music, repeated pitches and/or notes can produce the same type of emphasis. Listen to this example where the oboes repeat the pattern Eb-D over and over. Notice the two repeated trumpet notes that come in at 0:38, and listen for other repeated ideas in the melody and rhythm. Play Track 12 0:30-1: Ask students to take out their copies of the Common Creative Elements Chart. Display Answer Key 3 and have students complete the sections for Lesson 2 as they listen to Track 11 and Track 12 in their entirety.

5 WALTZ THEME MAP THEME A Violins and Full Orchestra Viola Counter-Melody Cello and Bass Accompaniment THEME B Violas with Full Orchestra THEME A Violins and Full Orchestra Viola Counter-Melody Cello and Bass Accompaniment

6 Tangled Timbre Tango Theme and Variations Worksheet NAME Write in the name of the main instrument you hear and see. Choose from the word bank below. Violin Bassoon Trumpet French Horn Clarinet Trombone Call Number Section Instrument Picture Melody Instrument Name Melody 1 Theme 2 Variation 1 3 Variation 2 4 Variation 3 5 Variation 4 6 Variation 5 All Instruments All Variations Layered All Describe two ways that the composer changes the main theme to create variations. 1.

7 2. Tangled Timbre Tango Theme and Variations Worksheet NAME Write in the name of the main instrument you hear and see. Choose from the word bank below. Violin Bassoon Trumpet French Horn Clarinet Trombone ANSWER KEY 2 Call Number Section Instrument Picture Main Instrument Name Melody 1 Theme French Horn 2 Variation 1 Clarinet 3 Variation 2 Violin 4 Variation 3 Bassoon 5 Variation 4 Trombone Trumpet 6 Variation 5 All Instruments All Variations Layered All Describe two ways that the composer changes the main theme to create variations. Changing the clef from treble to bass, changing the direction or rhythm of the melody

8 1. Using different instruments to play the same melody 2. Changing the clef from treble to bass, changing the direction or rhythm of the melody Using different instruments to play the same melody

9 Common Creative Elements Chart ANSWER KEY 3 Lesson Music Literature Art (using artwork provided) 1 Purpose Why did the composer write the song? To introduce students to the orchestra and create a life-long interest in the symphony What is the main musical idea? The dead theme Why did the writer write the story? To introduce students to the orchestra and create a life-long interest in the symphony What is the main idea of the story? The death of the composer and finding the murderer Why did the artist paint the picture? To portray an orchestra playing 1 Theme What is the subject of the painting? The full orchestra with the bassoon, cello, and bass featured. 1 Plan What is the form of the song? In the introduction, the main theme is stated, and recurs again between sections with different themes that reflect the story. What is the plot of the story? The inspector tries to find who killed the composer by interviewing all the instruments. What is the layout design of the painting? A balance between the edge of the audience, the dark but focused orchestra, and the light but blurry stage. Almost photographic. 2 Development How does the composer develop the theme? The use of layering of melody, counter-melody, and accompaniment; theme and variations; use of composing techniques How does the writer develop the plot? By interviewing the instruments for an alibi and using literary techniques such as flashback How does the painter expand the subject? He uses a lot of detail in the foreground, repeating colors, and patterns of diagonal lines. 2 Techniques & Terms What musical terms describe techniques that are used? Choice of musical elements (dynamics, tempo, key), recapitulation, tone painting What literary terms describe techniques that are used? Onomatopoeia, alliteration What artistic terms describe techniques that are used? Proportion, balance, light and dark, perspective 3 Tools What tools are used to express the musical ideas? What tools does the writer use to tell the story? What tools does the artist use to create the picture? Oils on canvas you can tell by the intensity and depth of color.