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Very Young People’s Concert
Teacher’s Guide
February 26 & 27, 2013
Knoxville Symphony Orchestra
Lucas Richman, Music Director
Music Can Make Your Life Complete
Lucas Richman
Mary Had a Little Lamb Contrasts
arr. Lucas Richman
“Surprise Symphony”, Movement II
Joseph Haydn
“Laughing Song”, From Die Fledermaus
Johann Strauss
Night on Bald Mountain
Modest Mussorgsky
Fiddle Faddle
Leroy Anderson
The Tortoise and the Hare
Daniel Dorff
Carnival of Venice Variations
Jean-Baptiste Arban
Symphony No. 2, “Little Russian”
Movement IV
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Program notes on our composers and pieces 2-8
Music Can Make Your Life Complete 3
Anatomy of a Symphony 9
Student Program Template 10-11
Surprise Symphony Lesson and activity 12-13
Meet the Musicians: 14
Meet the KSO/Concert Behavior 15
Acknowledgments 16
Table of Contents
Hi! I’m Picardy Penguin. Follow me through this
guide to give you interesting facts or exciting musical
examples to listen to! First, we are going to learn
about a composer.
A composer is a person that writes music. He or she
can write music for groups as large as a symphony
orchestra, or as small as a single instrument. A
composer can write a song based on many different
things, such as a dream, a place, a person, or a
poem. A composer has the ability to hear a tune in
his head and write it down as notes for instruments.
Music Can Make Your Life Complete
Lucas Richman
1
Lucas Richman has been Music
Director and Conductor for the
Knoxville Symphony Orchestra since
2003. Richman has also worked on
many movies as their conductor for
the soundtrack. In 2011 he was
awarded a Grammy in the Best
Classical Crossover Album category.
Mr. Richman loves to work with
young musicians and has conducted
many Youth Orchestras, including
the Disney Young Musicians
Symphony Orchestra.
The conductor of an orchestra is the
leader. They must know a great deal
about music, the great composers, and
their works. Also, conductors must have
the personality and skill to direct many
players at once and to turn them into a
team. They understand how each
instrument works and the special
qualities of each instrument. Most
importantly, the conductor learns each
piece of music well enough to guide all
the players in an exciting performance.
Often Conductors hold a
baton, a stick that they use
to mark the beats of the
music for the orchestra to
follow. Do you see the
baton that Meastro
Richman is using?
As a composer, Mr. Richman has had his music
performed by over two hundred orchestras across the
United States, including music he has composed
specifically for children. As music education has always
been a passion of his, he created the animated
character, Picardy Penguin, to introduce young children
to classical music. In 2005 he was named Composer of
the Year by the Tennessee Music Teachers
Association.
Mr. Richman always knew he wanted to compose and
conduct and when he was just 8 years old he wrote a
letter to one of his favorite composers and conductors,
Aaron Copland. To young Richman’s delight, Mr.
Copland wrote him back and encouraged him to follow
his dreams.
Music Can Make Your Life Complete Lucas Richman
1964-Present
2
“Music Can Make Your Life
Complete” is the theme song
for the KSO’s Very Young
People’s Concerts. Join me,
Picardy Penguin, to sing the
refrain of this piece.
3
Symphony No. 94,
“Surprise Symphony” Movement II
Joseph Haydn
1832-1809
Picardy’s Musical Joke:
“ Beethoven and Mozart
went to a concert together
and heard a song that they
thought was really clever.
So, they set out to find the
guy who wrote it. They
spent months looking for
the guy, and never found
him. Turns out, the whole
time, he was Haydn.”
In music, the dynamics tell us how loud or
soft a piece of music is. Forte is the
musical dynamic meaning loud. Listen in
the “Surprise Symphony” for the sudden
loud, or forte, brass and timpani sounds.
Joseph Haydn was born in Austria to a family of amateur
musicians who loved music. Though his father could not
read sheet music, he played the harp and his mother
sang. Haydn and his two brothers all became
professional musicians. By the age of six, Haydn was
playing the harpsichord, violin and singing. As a young
boy he was asked to sing with the famous Vienna Boys
Choir.
From a young age, Haydn loved to play jokes and one time he even snipped off the
ponytail of the boy who sat in front of him at school! He was also well loved as a
composer and director. Musicians came to study with him, including Mozart and
Beethoven and his orchestra called him “Papa.” He spent much of his life working for
the wealthy Esterhazy family.
Haydn’s Symphony No. 94 is on of the twelve symphonies in a group known as the
London Symphonies. Haydn composed them all in four years during his two visits to
London. This symphony has the nickname of the “Surprise Symphony.” It was written at
a time when Lords and Ladies would enjoy a huge meal before attending a concert.
Haydn wrote in this symphony soft sections that would lull the audience to sleep. Then
he wrote a very loud sudden sounds that would wake them up!
When Haydn was asked why he
wrote the “surprise” joke part of
the symphony, he said he wanted
to “surprise” the audience with
something new. The audience loved it!
4
“Laughing Song” From Die Fledermaus
Johann Strauss
1825-1899
Composers can include sounds heard in everyday life within their
music. They also include sounds that show how they, or the
characters in the music, are feeling. Can you think of some ways
you could show how you are feeling in music? If something is
sad, or funny? Listen to how Strauss includes the sounds of
laughing within this piece to show how the singer finds something
funny!
HA HA HA!
Johann Strauss, Jr. was born in Vienna. His father, Johann
Strauss I, was a famous musician in Vienna. Despite being a
musician, he encouraged his son, Strauss II, to pursue banking
as a career. Johann Strauss, Jr. decided he wanted to be a
musician instead. When he was 19, he started his own
orchestra, and conducted his first public concert. Eventually,
people began to realize that the younger Strauss was even better than his
father.
Strauss toured internationally with his orchestra. He loved writing music
about all the places to which he traveled. Strauss is known for his dance
music and operettas. An operetta is a musical production with singing and
spoken lines in between the songs. The stories are usually funny and they
were a very popular form of entertainment during Strauss’s day. He
composed 16 operettas. The Laughing Song is from his operetta called Die Fledermaus, which means “The Bat.”
5
If music is written in a minor key, it begins to sound dark. Add some sound effects
along with a full orchestration of high notes and low notes that are played softly and
then suddenly loudly, and you’ve got one pretty creepy piece. Listen to how
Mussorgsky sneaks in a scary dance through all the instruments of the orchestra.
Night On Bald Mountain Modest Mussorgsky
1839-1881
Modest Mussorgsky was born in the Russian village of Karevo. His mother was his first piano
teacher and from an early age, she knew Mussorgsky was a very good pianist. Modest went to
military boarding school, and when he graduated, he joined the army as an officer. Then,
Mussorgsky started studying music with Russian composer Mily Balakirev, and left the army to
become a composer. He was part of a group of five Russian composers known as "The Five," or
the "Mighty Handful." This group of composers wrote music that had a distinct unique Russian
sound.
Mussorgsky had a hard time making a living as a composer, so he got a government job, and
continued to compose in his spare time. Mussorgsky wrote instrumental music, songs and
several operas. Night on Bald Mountain was finished in 1867, but it was never performed during
Mussorgsky’s lifetime. Because Mussorgsky was not a professional musician, another Russian
composer, Rimsky – Korsakov, re-orchestrated many of his pieces. This means Rimsky-
Korsakov took the beautiful music that Mussorgsky had written and reorganized how the
orchestra would play the music. Rimsky-Korsakov is known as one of the greatest orchestrators
in history. The version of Night on Bald Mountain that is heard today is the one rewritten by
Rimsky-Korsakov.
6
The Tortoise and the Hare Daniel Dorf f
1956- Pr esent
Daniel Dorff is an American composer
who, after having played bass clarinet for
the Haddonfield Symphony for 20 years,
now serves as their composer-in-
residence. Dorff has taken a great interest
in exposing young audiences to classical
music. He has written music for narrated
children’s stories, including; Three Fun
Fables, a setting for narrator and
orchestra of familiar Aesop tales; Billy and
the Carnival, a narrated guide to the
instruments of the orchestra; Blast Off!, a
travelog of a trip to outer space (the score
to which was flown by NASA on the 100th
mission of the Space Shuttle); and familiar
stories such as Goldilocks and the Three
Bears, The Three Little Pigs, and The
Tortoise and the Hare. These narrated
compositions entertain both children and
adults.
Tempo in music is how fast or slow
the music moves. Listen for the fast
music, for the Hare and how different
it is from the slow music, for the
torsoise.
Leroy Anderson was an American
composer, arranger, and conductor. He
studied piano, organ and double bass. His
parents were Swedish immigrants. His
father was a postal clerk and played the
mandolin and his mother played the organ
for a local church. He grew up with a
brother, Russ, and when they were older
the pair got a job playing music on cruise
ships. In High School he conducted the
Cambridge High School Orchestra and
orchestrated the school song. He went to
Fiddle Faddle is in a fast 2/2 time.
Listen to the strings play the fast
tempo and clap along! Then listen to
the strings play a slow pizzicato.
Pizzicato is a technique where the
string players use their fingers to pick
the strings.
college at Harvard, where he played the trombone in the band,
and after graduating conducted the Harvard University Band.
Anderson wrote the piece Fiddle Faddle for the Boston Pops
Orchestra. The piece became an instant favorite. Anderson
based the piece on the children’s Nursery Song “Three Blind
Mice.”
Fiddle Faddle Leroy Anderson
1908- 1975
7
Dynamics is how loud or
soft the music is. Listen to
how Tchaikovsky uses soft
and then loud dynamics to
build up the music to a big
finish!
Symphony No. 2, “Little Russian”, Movement IV
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky 1840-1893
Carnival of Venice Variations Jean-Baptiste Arban
1825-1889
Joseph Jean-Baptiste Arban was a French
conductor, composer and master cornetist. A cornet
is a brass instrument very similar to the trumpet. He
was deeply inspired by the solo violin playing of
Paganini and worked hard to prove that the cornet
could also be an exceptional solo instrument. He
was a great teacher and published a book about
methods on playing brass instruments. This book
has been referred to as the “Trumpeter’s Bible” and
is still being used to teach today. During Arban’s life recording equipment was
just being developed. He was thrilled to make a recording of his playing using
one of the earliest pieces of recording equipment called a phonograph cylinder.
Carnival of Venice Variations was originally written for a cornet soloist. We will
hear it on our concert with a flute soloist. It is based on a folk tune associated
with the words “My hat, it has three corners.” This piece is in theme and
variations form, meaning we will hear a melody in the flute repeated several
times, each a little bit different.
Can you hear the
contrast of the
melody’s slow notes
while the flute player
also plays very fast
notes in and around
the slow notes?
Tchaikovsky started learning music as a young
child and within just a few years had excelled
greatly. He attended boarding school and then
studied law but he continued to pursue music. It
was not long before he left his legal job to devote
himself to his music full time. Eventually, he began
teaching at the music conservatory in Moscow,
which is now named after him.
Tchaikovsky’s music won the support of a wealthy widow named
Nadezhda von Meck. For many years, she regularly sent him
money so that he could concentrate on composing without having to
worry about making a living. But Nadezhda von Meck didn't want to
meet Tchaikovsky. For 14 years they only communicated by writing
letters to each other. Tchaikovsky dedicated his Fourth Symphony to
his patroness.
Tchaikovsky traveled all over Europe for performances of his music.
In 1891, he even came to America for the opening of Carnegie Hall,
where he was invited to conduct his music.
Among those who loved Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 2, were the
group of Russian composers known as “The Five.”
Like many composers during his time, Tchaikovsky
uses several folk tunes with this symphony and
“The Five” loved this! Because of the use of
Russian folk music, Symphony No. 2 was given the
name “Little Russia.” We will hear Movement IV
from Symphony No. 2, which includes the folk song “The Crane.”
8
For their generous support of our Very Young
People’s Concerts Program, The Knoxville
Symphony Orchestra gratefully acknowledges
The Boyd Family
Nancy and Kreis Weigel
SPECIAL THANKS TO OUR PARTNERS IN EDUCATION:
Richard Mitchell, Knox County Schools
Tracy Ward, A.L. Lotts Elementary, Concert Guide Assistance
Classics for Kids
KSO Education Advisory Council
The Knoxville Symphony Orchestra
Presents
“High-Low! Fast-Slow!”
Winter 2013
Very Young People’s Concerts
Lucas Richman, Music Director
10
Knoxville Symphony Orchestra
Presents
“High-Low! Fast-Slow!”
Music Can Make Your Life Complete Lucas Richman
Mary Had a Little Lamb Contrasts arr. Lucas Richman
“Surprise Symphony”, Movement II Joseph Haydn
“Laughing Song”, from Die Fledermaus Johann Strauss Jr.
Night on Bald Mountain Modest Mussorgsky
Fiddle Faddle Leroy Anderson
The Tortoise and the Hare Daniel Dorff
The Carnival of Venice Variations Jean-Baptiste Arban
Symphony No. 2, Movement IV Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
The teacher may begin the lesson by reminding the students of the theme
of the concert, “High-Low! Fast-Slow!” about musical opposites.
MOVE: Ask students to pretend they are trying to sneak into the kitchen
for a midnight snack without their parents hearing them. They will tiptoe
into the kitchen, turning to look to see if anyone sees them!
SAY and DO:
Tip-toe, tip-toe, tip-toe, look,
Tip-toe, tip-toe, tip-toe, look,
Tip-toe, tip-toe, tip-toe, look,
Tip-toe, tip-toe, look, look,
Tip-toe, tip-toe, tip-toe, look,
Tip-toe, tip-toe, tip-toe, look,
Tip-toe, tip-toe, tip-toe, look,
Tip-toe, tip-toe, look, AAAH!!
“Guess what happened on the AAAH! We got caught sneaking into the
kitchen!”
Now have the students tip-toe with their fingers and turn their heads to
look along with you as they listen to the music.
NOTE: You may wish to have them move around the room to this music.
Explain that this is the Surprise Symphony by Haydn, and they will hear it
at the concert.
READ: Write the complete rhythm of the theme on the board and have
the students read and clap with ta’s and ti’s (or whatever system you use
in your classroom). Having this already written on the board will save
time.
Surprise Symphony: Lesson by Tracy Ward
12
The Tortoise and Hare:
Have the students sing a song that should be performed slowly , such as Starlight Star bright .
First Sing it like a tortoise (slowly)
Second Sing it like a hare (quick tempo)
The teacher can use puppets of a tortoise and a hare to mark the beats – slow or fast in each version.
Ask the students which sounded correct. Repeat with a fast song, game songs would work great!
Visual Representation of Fast and Slow Tempos: | | | | |
Explain which of the beats is fast and which is slow. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
The Tortoise and the Hare Activity
•The story of the Tortoise and the Haire, told by Caroline Repchuk in The Race,
illustrated by Alison Jay, Chronicle books, San Francisco, 2006.
•The Music Connection, Haydn’s “Surprise Symphony”, Gr. 6, Pg. 308, CD 11-10.
•The Music Connection, “Three Blind Mice” from Baby Nursery Rhymes, Miles,
Gr. K. Pg. 124, CD 3-27.
•Rachlin, Ann. Famous Children Series. Children’s Press.
For younger readers, the books in this series tell in story fashion about the early
lives of several famous composers, including: Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Chopin,
Handel, Haydn, Mozart, Schubert, Schumann and Tchaikovsky. Ages 4 – 8
•Rubin, Mark and Alan Daniel. The Orchestra. Groundwood, Toronto. 1984. A
nice introduction to the instruments of the orchestra and the experience of
attending a symphony concert.
Additional Resources:
TN State Standards Addressed:
1.0 Singing 8.0 Interdisciplinary Connections
6.0 Listening and Analyzing 9.0 Historical and Cultural
7.0 Evaluating
•Classics for kids: http://www.classicsforkids.com
•Dallas Symphony Orchestra for Kids: http://www.dsokids.com/
•San Francisco Symphony, Keeping Score Lesson s:
Tempo In Your Feet: http://www.keepingscore.org/sites/default/files/lessonplans/KSEd_Tempo_in_your_Feet_JGrant.pdf
Adventures in Tempo: http://www.keepingscore.org/sites/default/files/lessonplans/KSEd_Adventures_in_Tempo_Cobler.pdf
Introducing Tempo http://www.keepingscore.org/sites/default/files/lessonplans/KSEd_Introducing_Tempo_VanOoteghem.pdf
13
Katy Wolfe Zahn
Katy Wolfe Zahn has appeared
extensively in this region as well as
overseas as an active and versatile
performer fluent in both opera and
musical theater. She is a company
member of the Clarence Brown
Theatre where her favorite roles
include Kate in Kiss me Kate, Marian
in Music Man and Aldonza in Man of
La Mancha. Elsewhere she has
performed as Sally in Cabaret, the
title role in Suor Angelica,
Ebonee Thomas
Ebonee Thomas is a
native of Plano, TX.
She was previously
Principal Flute of the
Florida Grand Opera
and held a one-year
position as Second
Flute with the Houston
Symphony during their
2003-04 Season.
Ebonee completed a four-year fellowship with the prestigious New
World Symphony under the direction of Michael Tilson-Thomas.
She holds degrees from Southern Methodist University and the
New England Conservatory of Music. Ebonee was given the rare
opportunity to perform John Adams' Chamber Symphony in
Carnegie Hall under the composer's baton. Massachusetts. She
has also soloed with the New World Symphony performing Joan
Tower's Flute Concerto and the North American Premier of
Christian Lindberg's The World of Montuagretta. Other highlights
include performing as a soloist at the National Flute Association's
2006 and 2010 Annual Conventions, the International Festival at
Round-Top,with her current ensembles, Project Copernicus and
Seraphic Fire's Firebird Ensemble, and as guest artist of Flute
Fusion 2009 in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Ebonee was principal
flute for the Star Wars in Concert orchestra during their U.S.,
Canada, and Mexico tour. She most recently performed as
Principal flute in The Gershwin's Porgy and Bess: A Broadway
Musical with the American Repertory Theatre in Cambridge,
14
Desiree in A Little Night Music, and appearing as Mercedes in
Carmen with the Knoxville Opera Company, and Jenny in
Three Penny Opera with the Oak Ridge Symphony. She has
frequently performed as a soloist with the Oak Ridge
Symphony including a performance of Haydn’s Lord Nelson
Mass, which she premiered at the Cathedral Music Festival in
Southwark, Coventry and Salisburry Cathedrals in England.
Ms. Wolfe Zahn has appeared with the Knoxville Symphony
Orchestra’s Chamber Classics and Pops Series as well as
singing for the Fourth of July Celebration in World’s Fair Park
and the 75th Anniversary of the Smoky Mountain National Park
concert in Cade’s Cove.
Ms. Wolfe Zahn holds a Bachelor’s degree from Belmont
University and a Master’s degree from University of Tennessee
where she was a graduate assistant and Knoxville Opera
apprentice. Katy is a private voice teacher, conductor and
artistic director of Sound Company, The Children’s Performing
Choir of Oak Ridge, and serves as the voice teacher for the
University of Tennessee MFA actors for the Department of
Theatre.
The musicians who are performing for you would like to have your help in making this a wonderful concert. It is important to remember that the
orchestra is in the same room with you, not in a movie or on TV. If you talk or make other noises, they can hear you. If you get up and leave in the
middle of the performance, they can see you. These things could make the musicians take their minds off of their music and they may not be able to
perform at their best. These things can also be distracting to those around you.
Today's symphony orchestra varies in size from city to city, but usually has about 100 players. Orchestras are different from
bands because they include string instruments. The string section is the largest section of players in the orchestra, with about 60
people. The woodwind section is made up of approximately 12 or more players, and the brass section typically has 10 players. Finally,
the percussion section ranges in numbers, depending on the amount of percussion parts used in a piece. The anatomy of a symphony
sheet included in your teacher's guide shows how you will see the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra seated when you come to the concert.
The players are seated in a semicircle facing the conductor, with the strings right in front. The woodwinds are usually behind the strings,
and behind them are the brass. The percussion is normally seated at the back of the orchestra on the right and left corners of the
semicircle. Now let’s meet members of our very own KSO!
Concert Behavior
Jeffery Whaley •Meet the KSO’s new
Principal Horn player!
•Jeffery grew up in Sevierville,
Tennessee.
•A long time ago he played in
the Knoxville Symphony
Youth Orchestra.
•Teaches French Horn at East
Tennessee State University
Sara Matayoshi •In her second year playing
violin with the KSO.
•Studied at Northwestern
University and the Longy
School of Music.
•Sarah said she loves
playing the violin because
“of the way it is able to
become an extension of my
voice. It can express so
•Has played with the Symphony of the Mountains, Wichita
Symphony Orchestra, Wichita Opera, and Omaha
Symphony Orchestra
•Enjoys performing new music and recently played new
pieces written for horn, oboe and piano.
many things I feel that I cannot communicate in any other way.”
•Was thrilled to perform in concerts in Japan this past summer!
•Along with music, Sara enjoys being a Forrest Yoga instructor,
traveling, trying new foods and meeting new people.
15
Sponsors Audience Job Description
Please help make this a good performance by
showing how to be a good audience.
Be quiet as the lights dim and the concert
begins.
Clap when the concertmaster enters at the
beginning of the concert.
Clap when the conductor enters at the
beginning of the concert.
Clap to welcome any soloists during the
concert.
During the performance watch the conductor.
When the conductor puts his hands down and
turns to face the audience the piece is
completed.
At the end of a piece, clap to let the
musicians know you like what you hear.
Knoxville Symphony Orchestra
P.O. Box 360
Knoxville, TN 37901
865-523-1178
www.knoxvillesymphony.com
The Boyd Family
Nancy and Kreis Weigel
SPECIAL THANKS TO OUR PARTNERS IN EDUCATION: Richard Mitchell, Knox County Schools
Tracy Ward, A.L. Lotts Elementary, Concert Guide Assistance Classics for Kids
KSO Education Advisory Council
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