molly on the shore for secondary music students (pdf 1.94 mb)
TRANSCRIPT
The resource content has been designed as teaching notes and activities for students in years 7 – 12
in preparation or as follow-up to attending a QSO Concert or as a stand-alone resource.
MOLLY ON THE SHORE – PERCY GRAINGER
Performed by Queensland Symphony Orchestra
Secondary Showcase Song to Symphony
5 March 2015
Percy Grainger
• Born on 8 July 1882 in Brighton, Victoria,
Australia.
• Toured as a pianist at the age of 12 and then
went to Germany and London to study as a
pianist and composer.
• Good friend Edvard Grieg inspired Grainger
to study and gain inspiration from folk
songs.
• Grainger gathered folksongs from many
countries and composed using these
melodies as inspiration.
• Died in 1961. His body was flown to
Adelaide where he is buried.
Web sites
• The International Percy Grainger Society
• Grainger Museum at the University of Melbourne. The
museum was set up by Grainger in 1930s.
• Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Interesting Facts
• The U.S. Geological Survey and NASA have approved
the name Grainger named after Percy Grainger for
one of the craters on the planet Mercury.
• Grainger’s father was an architect in Melbourne and
designed the Princes Bridge.
• Percy Grainger was also an artist and seriously made a
decision to follow music rather than art. He learnt from
Frederick McCubbin (Heidleberg School of Australian
Art) and was also good friends with artists, Tom
Roberts and Norman Lindsay.
The Composer – Percy Grainger
Percy Grainger
• Country Gardens. This composition was based on the old English Song English Country Gardens.
• Irish Tune from County Derry. Grainger uses the Irish melody also known as Danny Boy or
Londonderry Air. Performed by Melbourne String Ensemble.
• Children’s March (Over the Hills and Far Away). Vision of children from around the world and though
all eras.
• Shepherd’s Hey. Showcase traditional style performances with piano accordion, Violin (fiddle),
guitar and Irish bagpipes with orchestra accompaniment (starts at 2:40).
• Tribute to Stephen Foster. Featuring American folk songs with choir and unusual “instruments” such
as glasses of water and a marimba played with a violin bow in the slow section.
The Composer – Percy Grainger – Famous Compositions
• Composed in 1907 as a birthday present for his
mother.
• Grainger originally composed this for string quartet
or string orchestra (double bass added).
• In 1920 it was then arranged for both concert band
and orchestra.
• Features woodwind section and opens with clarinet.
• Arrangement of two contrasting reels, Temple Hill
and Molly on the Shore.
Grainger wrote to Frederick Fennell about composing
Molly on the Shore,
"in setting Molly on the Shore, I strove to imbue the accompanying parts that made up the harmonic texture with a melodic character not too unlike that of the underlying reel tune.
Melody seems to me to provide music with initiative, where as rhythm appears to me to exert an enslaving influence.
For that reason I have tried to avoid regular rhythmic domination in my music - always excepting irregular rhythms, such as those of Gregorian Chant, which seem to me to make for freedom.
Equally with melody, I prize discordant harmony, because of the emotional and compassionate sway it exerts”.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Molly on the Shore – Percy Grainger’s Composition
Percy Grainger
• Molly on the Shore performed on piano – follow the piano score.
• Molly on the Shore performed on violin and piano.
• Molly on the Shore performed by an orchestra.
• Molly on the Shore performed as a Celtic reel.
• Grainger plays Pergodas by Claude Debussy and speaks about Debussy’s inspiration
from Javanese music. This was recorded in 1948.
Listen and Watch
Molly on the Shore - Original Irish melody
Molly on the Shore
Percy Grainger used two Reels (dance melodies) from County Cork in Ireland to create the composition, Molly on the Shore.
Molly on the Shore is No.902 in the book The Complete Petrie Collection of Ancient Irish Music edited by Sir Charles Villiers
Stanford.
Temple Hill – Original Irish melody
Temple Hill
Percy Grainger used two Reels (dance melodies) from County Cork in Ireland to create the composition, Molly on the Shore.
Temple Hill is No.901 in the book The Complete Petrie Collection of Ancient Irish Music edited by Sir Charles Villiers Stanford.
Molly on the Shore is a dance melody
and originally written for a ‘fiddle four
some’ (string quartet).
• http://thesession.org/tunes/3741
• http://www.percygrainger.org/prognot7.htm
Molly on the Shore – the elements
Key of G Major (note F#)
Repeat signs.
Find the other
repeat sign.
1st and 2nd time endings
Time signature is 4/4
which means 4
crotchet beats in
each bar.
Find the triplets.
Play 3 notes evening
in the beat.
Anacrusis
4th beat of this bar is the
anacrusis at the
beginning of the melody
The tempo for this dance, and in Percy
Grainger’s composition is Presto.
Presto means very fast.
Woodwind
Piccolo
2 Flutes
2 Clarinets
2 Bassoons
Brass
4 French Horns
2 Trumpets
3 Trombones
Tuba
Percussion
Kettle Drum (Timpani)
Molly on the Shore – Instrumentation for full orchestra
Percussion
• side drum
• Cymbals
• Glockenspeil
• Xylophone.
Celeste
Hawkes Resonaphone (like a
Bass Glockenspeil or a marimba)
Strings
Violin
Viola
Cello
Double Bass
Opening – the melody
The tempo (or speed) of Molly on the Shore is Presto – Lively and fast.
Percy Grainger is renowned for using unusual combinations of instruments in his compositions. In Molly on the Shore the
melody is introduced by the viola .
Read the melody written in alto clef. The first note is a B
How fast can you play the melody?
Molly on the Shore – About the Music
The alto clef is used by the viola.
Middle C is written on the middle line.
The cellos keep the beat.
Opening – the melody (cont.)
The cellos and double basses then take over the melody followed by the bassoons. They are all low sounding instruments.
The higher strings are playing an accompaniment on the 2nd and 4th beats.
Read the melody written for cello and double bass and one octave distance in bass clef.
Molly on the Shore – About the Music
The bass clef is used by the low sounding instruments
including double bass, bassoon, trombone and tuba.
The Accompaniment
Percy Grainger wrote at the beginning of the piece :
“N.B. Keep 4 beats ( l l l l) hammering away in every bar throughout the piece, even in the soft bits.”
The violins, often the instruments which plays the melody, pluck notes to the beat as the accompaniment to the melody.
Play the accompaniment or listen for the accompaniment pattern in the music.
The strings, when they do not have the melody, use pizzicato – plucking the strings with the fingers to play the notes on the
beat.
Molly on the Shore – About the Music
The middle section
Finally the violins, then flutes take a turn at the melody while the clarinets and bassoons keep the beat “hammering away”.
The brass make their appearance with the trumpets playing a counter melody and horns, trombones and tuba joining in.
The melody is continuing and then the Timpani (also called the Kettle Drums) appear….
Molly on the Shore – About the Music
The middle section (cont.)
The second violins introduce the second melody taken from the Irish melody Temple Hill. Again, it is unusual for the second violins to
take the lead over the first violins.
Long notes played by the flutes, violas and cellos and dynamics marked pianissimo very soft, give this section a different feel.
For how many beats are the tied notes held?
Molly on the Shore – About the Music
Glissando (gliss,.) slide from the 1st note to the 2 nd note
Tied note –
the sound is
held for the
required
number of
beats.
The middle section (cont.)
The keyboard instruments, Glockenspeil, Celeste and Resonaphone (like a bass Glockenspeil) take over the steady beat.
Molly on the Shore – About the Music
Celeste Glockenspeil
The Ending
The instrumentation becomes thicker with all instruments playing.
Just before the end, all instruments except for the strings stop playing.
The strings play with mutes (con sord) and also double pianissimo ppp very, very soft and then decrescendo getting softer.
All instruments then play the last chord quadruple fortissimo ffff, very, very loud.
Molly on the Shore – About the Music
Decresendo –
gradually getting softer
Staccato (stacc.) short and detached
Australian Curriculum – Music Molly on the Shore – Percy Grainger
Elements of Music
Foundation to Year 2
Years 3 and 4
Years 5 and 6
Years 7 and 8
Years 9 and 10
Rhythm Beat Crotchet, quaver Fast Presto
Quaver, semi-quaver Beat sub-divisions
Time signature
Triplet chromaticism
Pitch Pitch direction Melodic shape Treble clef Staff
G major scale Bass clef
Alto clef
Dynamics & Expression
Forte, piano (de) crescendo Fortissimo, pianissimo and gradations
Accent Articulation Pizzicato Arco
Form and Structure
Introduction Same/different patterns
Repeat sign 1st & 2nd time bars
Theme, motif phrase Folk Song (Reel)
Anacrusis
Timbre How sound is made Recognise orchestral instruments by sound
Viola Clarinet
Recognise instrumental groups
Identify instruments by name and sound production.
Texture Melody accompaniment
Patterns 2 or more voices
Contrast of texture Orchestration
Creating beat and rhythmic patterns
Performing Keep beat Rhythmic patterns
Playing melody
. Awareness of ensemble
Responding Australian composer
Historical context Celtic music
Prepared by Pam Lowry, Education Officer
Queensland Symphony Orchestra