BLOG-mas: Day 2
Tchaikovsky’s
THE NUTCRACKER: Geography and Math!
4th and 5th Grade are getting to know their composers! We started the year way back in the Baroque period with Bach and Handel and are currently learning about Nationalistic composers! These guys like Verdi, Wagner, Gilbert and Sullivan were so proud of their countries that they couldn’t help but write music about them. The pieces that they wrote reflected the culture and uniqueness of each ones country.
So WHO are we learning about:
Verdi – Italy
Wagner – Germany
Strauss – Austria
Tchaikovsky – Russia
Rimsky-Korsakov – Russia
Grieg – Norway
Sibelius – Finland
Gilbert and Sullivan – England
Elgar – England
*who says Geography and Music don’t mix!
Verdi – Italy
Wagner – Germany
Strauss – Austria
Tchaikovsky – Russia
Rimsky-Korsakov – Russia
Grieg – Norway
Sibelius – Finland
Gilbert and Sullivan – England
Elgar – England
*who says Geography and Music don’t mix!
I really enjoy introducing Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker at this time of year! 4th and 5th Graders have already listened to his 1812 Overture and loved Tchaikovsky’s use of cannons as an instrument!
But he didn’t stop there! For The Nutcracker (which by the way tells a story through ballet) Tchaikovsky not only wrote music that expressed his love of his own country, Russia, but he included sounds from other countries as well…and added unique instrumentation.
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For the Spanish Dance or Chocolate, characters dance to the lively music of trumpets and castanets of the Spanish fandango.
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The celeste is a percussion instrument that looks like a piano but when played sound like tiny little bells!
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Tchaikovsky began work in February 1891, continuing his efforts while on an American tour later that year for the opening of Carnegie Hall. His homeward journey took him through Paris, where he discovered a new instrument: the celesta, whose clear, bell-like tone was perfectly fitted to The Nutcracker’s fairy-tale ambience. In the celesta’s ethereal notes, Tchaikovsky recognized the “voice” of his Sugar Plum Fairy, and he immediately wrote to his publisher, asking that the instrument be acquired for the performance.
Students have been watching the 1989 Bolshoi Ballet version of the Nutcracker. They also went “behind the scenes” of the Boston Ballet production. Students were amazed by the strength and stamina needed to be a professional ballet dancer!
*I had the opportunity to see the Boston Ballet production in 2003.
*I had the opportunity to see the Boston Ballet production in 2003.
My, my, you’re wearing a “tie”
PNA Band is learning about “ties”. No, not the ones you wear around your neck. But “ties” that help connect or tie same notes together to give them a greater note value.
You can only “tie” together like notes. When the sound is connected but using different pitches it becomse a slur.
2 quarter notes ( 1 beat + 1 beat) = 2 beats
2 half notes (2 beats and 2 beats)= 4 beats.
1 half note + 1 quarter note: ( 2 beats + 1 beats)
3 beats
1 dotted half note and 1 beat (2 beats + 1 beat)
2 half notes (2 beats and 2 beats)= 4 beats.
1 half note + 1 quarter note: ( 2 beats + 1 beats)
3 beats
1 dotted half note and 1 beat (2 beats + 1 beat)
