Maurice Ravel

Composition Title: Mother Goose Suite - The Fairy Garden

Short bio Maurice Ravel was born on March 7, 1875 in Ciboure, Basses Pyrénées, France, and he died December 28, 1937 in Paris, France. Some of his first memories were of his mother singing to him, and her Basque, Spain roots were a strong influence on the young Ravel. With an almost chance genius in music, other than this early experience Ravel had no musical talent in his modest middle-class family. Still encouraged to take lessons, Maurice began piano with Henry Ghys and received his first instruction in harmony and counterpoint at age seven. He did this while also beginning composition with Charles-René. His earliest public piano recital was in 1889 at age fourteen.

Ravel’s parents encouraged his musical pursuits and sent him to the Conservatoire de Paris. He first began as a preparatory student and eventually became a piano major. He received a first prize in the piano student competition in 1891. Since he did not earn the required competitive medal for three consecutive years, Ravel was not allowed to return to the Conservatoire de Paris in 1895.

Three years later (1898), after turning down a music professorship in Tunisia, he instead returned to the Conservatoire determined to focus on composing rather than piano playing. Ravel began studies with Gabriel Fauré and studied composition with him for a remarkable fourteen years. Ravel found his teacher’s personality and methods sympathetic and they remained friends and colleagues. Ravel studied the ability of each orchestral instrument carefully in order to determine the possible effects, and was sensitive to their color and timbre. This may account for his success as an orchestrator and as a transcriber of his own piano works.

Ravel never married nor had children, but his cultivated persona was balanced with his joy and warmth for children and animals. This empathatic attitude led him to serve in the first World War, but only as as an ambulance driver due to his short stature. After a serious car accident in 1932 Ravel was rumored to have developed a brain tumor and died several years later in 1937. though Ravel never won coveted Prix de Rome award, he along with Claude Debussy developed a unique French school of music, and left a wealth of celebrated and ingenious compositions.

Historical Context in which the composer lives As a composer of Impressionist music, Ravel was known for the gentle depth and intensity of his melodies, orchestral and instrumental textures, and dramatic outcomes. Though Ravel was a talented pianist his preference was for composing. He was particularly impressed with Russian works by Rimsky-Korsakov, which he heard at the Exhibition Universelle in 1889. In addition to the influential Russian School inspiring Ravel and other students like Claude Debussy was a shared apperciation for the music of Richard Wagner, and the writings of Edgar Allan Poe, Charles Baudelaire, and Stéphane Mallarmé. It too was during this year Ravel met Ricardo Viñes, who would become one of his best friends, one of the leading tranlators of his piano music, and an imperative connection between Ravel and Spanish music. Ravel spent his life as as composer of piano music, chamber music, vocal music and orchestral music. While his most famous reknowned work is probably the orchesral work, Boléro, he also composed what some call “the finest French ballet ever written,” Daphnis et Chloé.

NYS Standards Addressed: Standard 3:

Students will demonstrate the capacity to listen to and comment on music. They will relate their critical assertions about music to its aesthetic, structural, acoustic, and psychological qualities. Students will use concepts based on the structure of music’s content and context to relate music to other broad areas of knowledge. They will use concepts from other disciplines to enhance their understanding of music. Standard 4: Students will develop a performing and listening repertoire of music of various genres, styles, and cultures that represent the peoples of the world and their manifestations in the United States. Students will recognize the cultural features of a variety of musical compositions and performances and understand the functions of music within the culture.

Performance Indicators:

Standard 3 • through listening, tell what they liked or disliked about specific musical works and performances • learn about the basic elements of music such as melody, rhythm, harmony, dynamics, timbre,

form, style, etc. • learn about the basic means by which the voice and instruments can alter pitch, loudness,

duration and timbre

Standard 4 • listen to composers of well-known examples of classical concert music, folk and blues/jazz

selections

Objectives: Students will:

1) demonstrate the capacity to listen to and comment on music. 2) will develop a beginning performing and listening repertoire of music of various genres, styles and

cultures that represent the peoples of the world and their manifestations in the United States. Students will learn about the cultural features of a variety of musical compositions and performances and the functions of music within the culture.

Procedures:

Class One: Objective as stated to students: Discuss Maurice Ravel and uncover common textures found in his compositions.

• Tell students before they enter the room that there will be a piece of music playing by a man named Maurice Ravel.

• As they enter they need to move throughout the room by skipping, leaping, crawling, or walking. They can also use different levels: teacher demonstrates high, medium, and low.

• The one requirement is that they moved based on what they hear in the music, as you (the teacher) will be asking for reasons behind their movement choices.

• Students enter room as Ravel’s Boléro plays (you do not need to complete hearing the entire piece). Let students know title of work once they are in seats.

• Discuss movements that you observed and have class discuss their choices. Guide discussion to what they heard happening in the music, i.e. instrument layering (building texture, building dynamics, etc.)

• Ask- “What do you think of when you hear the word texture?” Discuss. • Explain that texture in music is the layering of melodies, harmonies, instruments, etc.

• Tell class that they will hear part of the piece again, but divide the class to represent the different instruments in Boléro. Rather than locomotor movements this time, have the students use on the spot motions, such as dab, twist, shake, spin, twirl, push, pull, etc.

• Instruct students to begin moving once they hear their instrument or instrument family. Let students know that you will also cue them, as Ravel sometimes makes instruments sound different from what we are used to.

• As they are doing the activity, have students watch for how the movement represents the texture of the music --- let them know that they are going to have to explain it in their on words later. Ask students to also listen for how their instrument or instrument group sounds --- is it what they thought it would sound like?

• After movement activity is complete, have discussion regarding Ravel’s texture, how it also works with the dynamics, and how he uses instruments.

• Distribute worksheet with the above bio, historical context, and following questions: 1) Where was Maurice Ravel from? 2) What was Ravel’s birth and death dates? 3) Did he grow up in a musical household? 4) Who was his first influence? Where was she from? 5) What instrument did Ravel study? 6) When was his first recital? 7) What school did Ravel go to for his musical studies? 8) What were his first studies? 9) What did he finally focus on for the rest of his studies? 10) With whom did he study composition? 11) Ravel never had his own family, but what did he show affection and love towards? 12) Who was the other composer that helped to develop a unique French school of music?

• Tell students that you will read through the information on Maurice Ravel twice. The first time they need to follow along, and the second time they need to answer the questions.

• Have class chorally read the questions with you and then proceed to read the passage. • Read a second time and call on students to answer questions. Closing: We have heard one of Ravel’s most famous works, Boléro, his use of texture, and some aspects of his life. Write on the back of your paper in your on words what texture in music is, and something you found interesting about Ravel.

Class Two: Objective as stated to students: Discuss and evaluate Mother Goose Suite by Ravel. Compare scenes in Ravel’s work to French Impressionistic Art Work.

• Review Ravel, his use of texture, dynamics, and orchestration from previous class. (Students will need either a writing utensil and paper, or white board and dry erase)

• Inquire about what students think Mother Goose Suite will entail. Discuss fairy tales and part of the ones associated with Mother Goose and list on board. (Have book to reference)

• Tell students that they are going to hear parts Ravel’s Mother Goose Suite, which is made up of five movements, or scenes. (Give brief history of work --- discuss movements/scenes).

• As they listen they need to write what they hear in relation to the texture and dynamics, but also they need to think about which fairy tale might be being told through the music and why. Model the kind of notes to take as they listen and tell them to write down anything that will help support their decision. (Briefly listen to parts of each scene)

• After listening to excerpts from all scenes, students need to select their favorite and be ready to explain why by the end of class.

• Discuss what students selected and why. • Discuss how impressionistic music is a lot like impressionistic art in that we can see a picture,

but if we get close the texture gives it a blurry effect. • Show the artwork of impressionistic composers to students, and reveal the pieces in Ravel’s

Mother Goose Suite. Closing: Write what piece you liked most in Ravel’s Mother Goose Suite and explain why. Use the notes you took to support your choice.

Listening Repertoire: Boléro, Mother Goose Suite Materials: Worksheet, paper, pencil, Mother Goose Book, CDs with

Music selections, impressionistic visuals Vocabulary: Texture, Dynamics, Impressionism, Movements, Scene Pictures: The pictures below are all French Impressionist, and other

than The Spinning Wheel. Pictures were selected based on possible connections that could be made with the movements of Mother Goose Suite.

At Bougival ~ Berthe Morisot

1882

Young Woman in a Ball Gown ~ Berthe Morisot

1879

Country Dance ~ Auguste Renoir

1883

Sleeping Girl with Cat ~ Auguste Renoir

1880

The Promenade ~ Auguste Renoir

1880

The Swing ~ Auguste Renoir

1876

Garden Path ~ Claude Monet

1902

The Spinning Wheel ~ Leon Augustin Lhermitte

1885

Availability of other materials about the music/composer (optional) • Website about “The Mother Goose Suite”

http://www.daytonphilharmonic.com/content.jsp?articleId=855 Indicators of Success:

• Thoughtful and reason supported discussion regarding texture, and story selection • Successful completion of the biographical/historical worksheet. • Thorough response in closing activities

Prior Knowledge: Fairy tales (Mother Goose), folk songs, material covered in previous classes.

Follow-up: • Compare to other works and genres being performed by

RPO. Extensions:

• Have class create textured compositions using classroom instruments and turn them into a movement piece like a ballet.

• Using fables and other tales, have students develop their own scenes using on music and movement to tell story.

 

 

Maurice Ravel

Born: Ciboure, France in 1875

Died: In 1937 following brain surgery.

Education Conservatoire de Paris Marriage: Never married. Occupation Composer, arranger, pianist Compositions: Bolero, Mother Goose Suite, La Valse Noted for: Impressionism in his composition The music you will hear at the concert

The Fairy Garden from the Mother Goose Suite

 

Name_______________________ Class_______________________

Maurice Ravel Maurice Ravel was born on March 7, 1875 in Ciboure, Basses Pyrénées, France, and he died December 28, 1937 in Paris, France. Some of his first memories were of his mother singing to him, and her Basque, Spain roots were a strong influence on the young Ravel. With an almost chance genius in music, other than this early experience Ravel had no musical talent in his modest middle-class family. Still encouraged to take lessons, Maurice began piano with Henry Ghys and received his first instruction in harmony and counterpoint at age seven. He did this while also beginning composition with Charles-René. His earliest public piano recital was in 1889 at age fourteen.

Ravel’s parents encouraged his musical pursuits and sent him to the Conservatoire de Paris. He first began as a preparatory student and eventually became a piano major. He received a first prize in the piano student competition in 1891. Since he did not earn the required competitive medal for three consecutive years, Ravel was not allowed to return to the Conservatoire de Paris in 1895.

Three years later (1898), after turning down a music professorship in Tunisia, he instead returned to the Conservatoire determined to focus on composing rather than piano playing. Ravel began studies with Gabriel Fauré and studied composition with him for a remarkable fourteen years. Ravel found his teacher’s personality and methods sympathetic and they remained friends and colleagues. Ravel studied the ability of each orchestral instrument carefully in order to determine the possible effects, and was sensitive to their color and timbre. This may account for his success as an orchestrator and as a transcriber of his own piano works.

Ravel never married nor had children, but his cultivated persona was balanced with his joy and warmth for children and animals. This empathatic attitude led him to serve in the first World War, but only as as an ambulance driver due to his short stature. After a serious car accident in 1932 Ravel was rumored to have developed a brain tumor and died several years later in 1937. though Ravel never won coveted Prix de Rome award, he along with Claude Debussy developed a unique French school of music, and left a wealth of celebrated and ingenious compositions.

Historical Context in which Ravel Lived

As a composer of Impressionist music, Ravel was known for the gentle depth and intensity of his melodies, orchestral and instrumental textures, and dramatic outcomes. Though Ravel was a talented pianist his preference was for composing. He was particularly impressed with Russian works by Rimsky-Korsakov, which he heard at the Exhibition Universelle in 1889. In addition to the influential Russian School inspiring Ravel and other students like Claude Debussy was a shared apperciation for the music of Richard Wagner, and the writings of Edgar Allan Poe, Charles Baudelaire, and Stéphane Mallarmé. It too was during this year Ravel met Ricardo Viñes, who would become one of his best friends, one of the leading tranlators of his piano music, and an imperative connection between Ravel and Spanish music. Ravel spent his life as as composer of piano music, chamber music, vocal music and orchestral music. While his most famous reknowned work is probably the orchesral work, Boléro, he also composed what some call “the finest French ballet ever written,” Daphnis et Chloé.

Maurice Ravel Questions

1) Where was Maurice Ravel from?

2) What was Ravel’s birth and death dates?

3) Did he grow up in a musical household?

4) Who was his first influence? Where was she from?

5) What instrument did Ravel study?

6) When was his first recital?

7) What school did Ravel go to for his musical studies?

8) What were his first studies?

9) What did he finally focus on for the rest of his studies?

10) With whom did he study composition?

11) Ravel never had his own family, but what did he show affection and love towards?

12) Who was the other composer that helped to develop a unique French school of music? Exit Pass:

• Describe in your own words what texture in music is:

• Write one thing you found interesting about Ravel: