Johannes Brahms Hungarian Dance No. 5 1. Listening and Analyzing All students fill out Listening and Analyzing questions as they listen to the piece (multiple times if necessary). This requires students to use higher level thinking skills and listening skills; this may also help meet any district wide writing initiatives/requirements. See additional student handout. 2. Listening Map Students listen again to the piece and include a more personal response and making connections. See additional student handout. 3. Movement Plan Students will create their own Hungarian Dance to match the music that Brahms wrote. See student planning form. ***Teachers may consider teaching this movement portion AFTER students have attended the RPO concert students may momentarily forget their concert etiquette if they have moves! Allow students to work in 4 groups; you might consider using one movement planning page per group, so that all ideas are in one place, and students don t use all of the class time to write. Each group will be responsible to create movement for only one section of the piece. Students should have time to practice their ideas with their group (5-10 minutes), then an opportunity to practice with the music, receive feedback from the teacher, and then more time to plan/practice their movement based on teacher feedback. This process may be repeated until students are confident with their plan and able to teach/demonstrate their plan to the rest of the class. Because there are two A and B sections, that movement should be repeated. Consider the following breakdown: A (first 16 m.) group 1 (second 16 m.) group 2 B (all m.) group 3 C (all m.) group 4 A (first 8 m.) group 1 (second 8 m.) group 2 B (all) group 3 (remember ending) ***OR, you can consider a 5 th group (of perhaps more reluctant learners) who can design a big ending. Student parameters for designing movement: 1. At least one foot should be touching the ground at all times. (This avoids ideas like cartwheels and splits from all of your gymnasts.) 2. Everyone will need to be able to perform the motions each group. Movement should be something that all classroom members can do; if someone has a broken arm that needs to be taken into consideration. 3. Students should remember that all motions will happen while the class is standing in a circle. Plan movement accordingly.
4. Movement should show a steady beat as much as possible. (The tempo changes will make that challenging; place stronger musicians in the group responsible for the C section, which has many tempo changes in a short period of time.) 5. All motions must look like they match the music. Teacher should provide guidance/examples of how a movement may look loud or soft. Students can use their listening map for ideas or reminders about how their section sounds. 6. Group members for Section A will need to be careful planners; they have to cut their plan in half the second time Classroom performance: After students have taught their movement plan to the other students, the class should stand in a circle order of the section they were assigned ABCAB. The first two groups lead the A section, group 3 leads the B section, and so on.
Listening and Analyzing Hungarian Dance No. 5, by J. Brahms (1833-1897) Name 1. What section of the orchestra carries the melody in Section A and is featured throughout the piece? 2. What instrument of the orchestra adds the crashing sound to help accent specific notes? 3. Why do you think Brahms used so many tempo and dynamic changes in Hungarian Dance No. 5? 4. How do you think this piece would sound if all the parts were played on a piano instead of in a full orchestra? Why? 5. How does this dance, which was written in the 1800 s, relate to dance music of today?
Hungarian Dance No. 5 by J. Brahms (1833-1897) Name Listening Map Directions: As you hear each section of Brahms Hungarian Dance Number 5, make some notes that describe what you hear. This may include: Specific instruments that you hear Dynamic levels or changes in them Tempo What the music makes you think about Section A (32 measures) Section B (16 measures)
Section C (28 measures) Section A (16 measures) Section B (16 measures)
Hungarian Dance No. 5 by J. Brahms (1833-1897) Name(s) Movement Plan Directions: Using your listening map, create motions that match the music for each section of Hungarian Dance Number Five. Make notes in the areas below to help you remember your plans. Hints: If the music is loud, your motion should LOOK loud, but should be quiet. Make patterns in your motions so that you can remember them easily. Everyone in the room should be able to do the motion you create while the class is standing in a circle. Keep at least one foot on the floor at all times. Assigned section: Movement plans:
Johannes Brahms Born: Hamburg, German on May 7, 1833 Died: Vienna, Austria on April 3 1897 Education Studied in Paris Marriage: Never married. Occupation Composer, conductor, teacher, pianist Compositions: 4 Symphonies Lullaby Violin and Piano concerti Hungarian Dances Noted for: A Master of Classical Music The music you will hear at the Hungarian Dance #5 concert
Johannes Brahms Have you ever Created a secret code? Played the piano? Tried really hard at something only to fail at first? Wanted to be famous? Then you might be more like Johannes Brahms than you know. Johannes Brahms was born on May 7, 1833 in Hamburg, Germany. His parents owned an inn and his father taught him to play the violin and the piano. When he was in first grade, he had so many musical ideas that he made up his own music code to get all of his thoughts on paper. Later, he learned how to write them all out in the music notation system that we have today. When he was a teenager, he had a job giving music lessons and performing in dance halls. As a teenager, he had a chance to conduct a men s choir that debuted some of his own compositions. Although he was hoping for widespread recognition of his new music, he did not achieve the notice from the public he was seeking at the time. i Later in his career, Brahms did achieve the musical recognition that he sought as a teenager and young adult. He was encouraged and championed by the composer and musician Robert Schumann and Schumann s wife, Clara. The Schumanns were also composers and performers and were helpful in establishing Brahms as a prominent music-writer and performer. ii However, his concerts with the singer Julius Stockhausen truly secured his reputation as a serious composer of songs for voice. iii Brahms life work includes compositions for piano, voice, mixed chorus, cello, chamber ensembles, violin, and symphony. iv He is most well-known for his prolific song writing. v Because he considered his Hungarian Dances adaptations, and not original work, he did not assign them an opus number, but did include them in his composer s repertoire. vi Brahms Hungarian Dance #5 is part of a set of twenty-one dances originally scored for piano. vii Only the 11 th, 14 th, and 16 th dances are works written by the Brahms himself. viii The rest are adaptations or variations on folk songs. The version that you will hear for orchestra is in the key of g minor.
Where did Brahms live? Brahms lived here! ix Brahms was born in the house on the left in 1833. x This picture of Brahms as a young man was taken in 1853 when he was twenty. xi What events happened in Brahms lifetime? 1833-1897 xii Cherokee Trail of Tears Amistad Baseball is invented New Mexico annexed by the U. S. Potato Famine in Ireland Women s Rights Convention in Seneca Falls, NY Washington Monument is constructed Oregon Trail Lincoln-Douglas Debates Internal Combustion Engine is invented Abraham Lincoln takes office American Civil War Thanksgiving Day is commemorated 13 th Amendment U. S. buys Alaska Transcontinental Railroad 15 th Amendment Yellowstone Founded Telephone Phonograph Electricity Statue of Liberty Movies Wounded Knee Pledge of Allegiance Plessy v. Ferguson
i http://www.notablebiographies.com/be-br/brahms-johannes.html ii http://www.notablebiographies.com/be-br/brahms-johannes.html iii http://www.notablebiographies.com/be-br/brahms-johannes.html iv http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/list_of_compositions_by_johannes_brahms v http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/list_of_compositions_by_johannes_brahms vi http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/list_of_compositions_by_johannes_brahms vii http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/hungarian_dances_(brahms) viii http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/hungarian_dances_(brahms) ix http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&tab=wl x http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/johannes_brahms xi http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/johannes_brahms xii http://www.laughtergenealogy.com/bin/histprof/misc/timeline7.html