Teacher’s Notes

Tchaikovsky Discovers AmericaBased on the original work

by Douglas Cowling

Teacher’s Notes written by Susan Hammond

To Sarah and Katie, who inspired this series

Published by The Children’s Group Inc.1815 Ironstone Manor, Suite 13

Pickering, Ontario, Canada L1W 3W9 For a complete catalogue, please call 1-800-757-8372

or e-mail moreinfo@childrensgroup.com Visit us online at http://www.childrensgroup.com

© Classical Kids 1993 Tchaikovsky Discovers America, Original edition © Classical Kids 1998 Tchaikovsky Discovers America, Revised edition© Classical Kids 2008 Tchaikovsky Discovers America, Revised edition

�

Contents

Letter to Teachers .................................................................................................................3

How This Book Is Organized ........................................................................................... 4

Scene 1: The Escape ........................................................................................................... 8Piano Concerto No. 1, Mvt 1 • Danse Napolitaine (Swan Lake) • Trepak (The Nut-cracker) • “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” • “Turkey in the Straw” • Waltz (String Serenade)

Scene �: Travel in Many Lands ...................................................................................... 16Tea (The Nutcracker) • Overture (The Nutcracker) • Coffee (The Nutcracker) • Choc-olate (The Nutcracker) • Danse des Cygnes (Swan Lake) • 1812 Overture

Scene 3: Ragtime and Swan Lake ..................................................................................�1Silver (Sleeping Beauty) • Overture to Act II (Swan Lake)

Scene 4: Father Arrives and Sleeping Beauty ............................................................�6“The Maiden’s Chorus” (Eugene Onegin) • Coda (The Nutcracker) • Ragtime • Marche Slav • Violente (Sleeping Beauty) • Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy (The Nutcracker) • Le Sommeil and Panorama (Sleeping Beauty)

Scene 5: Conclusion .........................................................................................................34“Long, Long Ago” • “The Maiden’s Chorus” (Eugene Onegin) • Waltz (Swan Lake) • “Amazing Grace” • Serenade for Strings, Mvt 1 • Serenade for Strings, Finale • 1812 Overture, Finale

Classical Kids and the Integrated Curriculum .............................................................41Themes • Suggested Lesson Plan • Worksheet

Classical Kids Awards and Honors ...............................................................................44

3

Letter to teaChers

Many classical music fans claim that Tchaikovsky was their first love. Is it his broad sweeping waltzes that make us want to dance? His lonely aching melodies that make us want to cry? Or his thunderous fortissimos that make us want to reach for the limitless skies? There is something fun-damentally emotional in every note Tchaikovsky wrote.

And he wrote so many notes! While his symphonies run well over 45 minutes, his ballets call for almost four hours of continuous music. His compositions challenge the resources of even the larg-est orchestras and yet, undaunted, they perform his music almost as often as Beethoven’s.

Tchaikovsky was almost as prolific with words as with notes. His 10 diaries and 5,000 letters give us keen insights into the composer’s world. His music and words open up for us the fairy-tale world of ballet and the Great Bear of Mother Russia itself.

In 1891, Tchaikovsky came to New York City to open Carnegie Hall. His diaries eloquently capture that optimistic period of American history, the 1890s. We meet its people, its beliefs and its music: spirituals, ragtime, popular songs and the beginnings of Broadway. When asked what he thought of Americans, the composer wrote:

“I am ten times better known here than in Russia. Of all the people I have met, [the Ameri-cans] are the most generous and open-hearted.”

In Tchaikovsky Discovers America, we explore this fascinating era, filled with possibilities for creative classroom activities. Whether you have an extensive background in music or none at all, in these Teacher’s Notes you will find more than 70 suggestions ranging broadly across the integrated cur-riculum: personal biography, social history, geography, science, creative writing, drama, dance, art and music. Here, your library research is collected in one place, along with many classroom activ-ity ideas.

Classical Kids recordings begin with careful research into the music and life of the featured com-poser. Then we introduce a fictional child into the drama so young listeners have a point of entry into the story. This emotional involvement is primary for allowing them to empathize with the composer — where the heart goes the mind will follow.

Many teachers have concerns about using audio productions in the classroom where the “fidget factor” cannot be tamed by “things to look at.” Yet listening to recordings in class, like reading aloud, can encourage children to create whole worlds in their imaginations. This creative listening is one of childhood’s greatest gifts, and is an essential skill for later life.

Let us give our children a window on earlier times, accompanied by glorious music, enticing drama and some profound themes.

Susan Hammond

4

how this Book is organized

Classical Kids recordings have been used in K–8 classes, but are most suitable for Grades K to 6. We have ranked the activities according to grade level with the symbols below. The icon applies to all the activities in the section, unless otherwise indicated. In the Exploring the Music sections, the icon also includes a number indicating the appropriate National Standard for Arts Education (see page 5).

K–2 3–4 5–6 3–6 All

Presenting the RecordingThis recording can be presented in its entirety (approximately 42 minutes), in two halves or in the five scenes outlined here. Each scene is identified in terms of CD track numbers and beginning and ending dialogue. You will find in these Teacher’s Notes:

Getting ready: Questions and activities for use before the recording

Scene-by-scene suggestions: For use during the recording• The story• Music used in the scene• Interesting background facts• Discussion and activity suggestions• Suggestions for exploring the music

Follow-up: Questions and activities for use after the recording• Charts: Themes and skills, and a 10-day lesson plan• Student’s worksheet

Music in the Integrated CurriculumAlthough Classical Kids recordings can be enjoyed as musical stories, our aim is to move children from being passive listeners to active participants: to engage their imaginations, to offer new skills and knowledge, to stimulate higher-order thinking skills and, finally, to give every teacher the tools to build a rich learning environment. These Teacher’s Notes present more than 70 facts and thought-provoking questions to move beyond music into an integrated curriculum of social stud-ies, creative writing, math, sciences and the other arts.

Our intent is to provide both specialists and general classroom teachers with engaging materials that expand their students’ knowledge of music and times past. Instead of presenting a basal text of sequential musical skills, Classical Kids urges teachers and their students to “play with” musi-cal concepts, to develop an interpretive vocabulary, to sing or play classical melodies on simple classroom instruments, to write lyrics, even to venture into composition. Children find it difficult to work in a vacuum, so let these recordings serve as a model, captivating young listeners with a moving story and then motivating them to acquire new facts and skills. Put these recordings in your classroom library for repeated listening.

5

Classical Kids and Children with Special NeedsClassical Kids recordings do not talk down to children. Our challenge here has been to design concrete activities that are sufficiently broadly based to inspire and involve children with special needs.

Teachers of children with learning disabilities often use the activities designed for younger classes, or allow more time for tasks: retell the story, dance, draw, sing or clap. Those teaching chil-dren with physical disabilities concentrate on singing, storyboarding, drawing or discussing events from the past. Teachers of children who are deaf or hard of hearing can tell the compelling story of Beethoven’s triumph over deafness in Beethoven Lives Upstairs.

ESL students benefit from recordings that use well-spoken English to promote oral comprehen-sion. Singing and writing lyrics are also wonderful ways to learn a second language. Classical Kids materials are available in other languages. Illustrated books of Beethoven Lives Upstairs and Tchaiko-vsky Discovers America are available in Spanish, and recordings of Beethoven Lives Upstairs and Vival-di’s Ring of Mystery are available in French.

The Teacher’s Notes in this series encourage gifted students to write variations, study rondo structure, venture into European history and write time-travel stories with shifting points of view.

To all students, we encourage you to ask: “Who would want to do the possible all your life? The impossible — that’s exciting!”

AssessmentAssessment in the arts is always difficult, often subjective, yet ultimately essential to spur excel-lence. Depending on what you hope to achieve with your arts program, you can test students individually or in groups, orally or on paper, for skills or understandings. These Notes encourage children to form their own questions, define tasks, discover research strategies, justify interpreta-tions and then create a final product. Each of these stages can be assessed by the teacher. A sample student worksheet is included at the end of this book.

Observe and assess your students not only on final results but also on the care taken with the process. We encourage specialists to move beyond traditional music skills into cultural history, creative writing, research projects, timelines, storyboards, set designs, murals or dance. Conversely, general classroom teachers are urged to try musical activities not necessarily based on playing pro-ficiency. These listening and interpretive skills are important for music and for life in general.

Exploring the Music with Classical KidsThe suggested activities in the Exploring the Music sections are coded by number to reflect how they fulfill the U.S. National Standards for Arts Education.1. Singing, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music. Classical Kids believes that singing is

primary for all music-making. The series offers more than 40 classical songs written out, and students are encouraged to write their own lyrics to well-known orchestral pieces and sing them.

2. Performing on instruments, alone and with others, a varied repertoire. These Teacher’s Notes offer more than 50 pieces written out for recorders, glockenspiels, piano or guitar.

6

3. Improvising melodies, variations and accompaniments. The series encourages actively “play-ing with” musical elements, making answering phrases in ABA form, creating melodies based on chords and scales, and improvising variations or canons.

4. Composing and arranging music within specified guidelines. Be it creating “music from Neptune,” writing ragtime, superimposing melodies, or composing music over which to read script, we seek to fire a child’s musical imagination.

5. Reading and notating music. All the written-out pieces can be photocopied for classroom reading. Some titles include step-by-step descriptions for learning to read notation.

6. Listening to, analyzing and describing music. Musical terminology, instrumentation and form are explained. We encourage students to graph the “musical spine” of scenes in terms of tempo, instrumentation and mood. Classical Kids is particularly interested in helping students develop a descriptive vocabulary to interpret and listen to music imaginatively.

7. Evaluating music and music performances. All the music on the recordings has been expressly recorded to reflect images in the script. This provides an opportunity to talk about the performances and compare them to other recordings of the same piece.

8. Understanding relationships between music and the other arts as well as disciplines outside the arts. Classical Kids offers something unique for the last two criteria (8 and 9). The Discussion and Activities sections link music to other arts and subjects.

9. Understanding music in relation to history and culture. In the Background section of every scene, the music is set in its historical context. You will find a wealth of anecdotal facts and vivid descriptions of the times, without having to go to a library for outside sources.

(Adapted from National Standards for Arts Education published by Music Educators National Conference. Copyright 1994. Reproduced with permission. The complete National Standards and additional materials related to the standards are available from Music Educators National Conference, www.menc.org, 1806 Robert Fulton Drive, Reston, VA 22091.)

Synopsis of the StoryThis recording is a journey. Moving from the excitement of Tchaikovsky’s arrival by ship into New York Harbor, by train to Niagara Falls and back to New York City, it faithfully chronicles the composer’s trip to America in 1891. There he meets a young Russian im-migrant family and their two children. As they travel up the Hudson River, Tchaikovsky entertains the children with stories of Russia and his great ballets. They in turn introduce the composer to the wonders of America — its inventions, its people, its music. Finally, before the majesty of Niagara Falls, both Tchaikovsky and the family come to some impor-tant realizations about overcoming fears and living in a new land. Tchaikovsky returns to conduct his concert and the family watch him sail back to his homeland.

�

Things to Talk About Before the Recording• Has anyone in your class attended a live performance of The Nutcracker ballet? Swan

Lake? Sleeping Beauty? What were their impressions? Does anyone know who wrote the music?

• Play an excerpt from The Nutcracker or the 1812 Overture. How many of your students recognize it? Many people do not realize that, next to Beethoven, Tchaikovsky is the most often performed composer in America!

• Showing pictures before listening to a CD can help your students build images in their heads while they listen. Bring in some illustrated books about America at the turn of the century and about Tchaikovsky’s Russian ballets.

• This is a story of the Old World meeting the New World. Can your class name other movies or books in which the present meets the future or the past? What happens?

• The information on this recording and in these Teacher’s Notes is drawn from the letters, diaries and newspaper reports of the time. Ask your students whether they write regularly to friends, pen pals or relatives. Do they prefer to use e-mail or regular mail? Does any-one keep a diary?

• On hearing Classical Kids recordings, many people ask what is true and what is fictional. Explain to your class that only the family is fictional. The details about Tchaikovsky’s life and ballets are true.

• Tease your students with this classic joke: “How do you get to Carnegie Hall?” Answer: “Practice, practice, practice!”

8

sCene 1: the esCape

LENGTH OF SCENE: 5:15 CD TRACKS 1–3

Begins: “I saw his ship sail into New York harbor.”

ends: “Well, thank you.”

The StoryFather describes Tchaikovsky’s arrival in America, as he sails past the Statue of Liberty into New York Harbor. When the composer storms out of a rehearsal that is not going well, his hostess, Mrs. Petroff, and her two children suggest a trip to Niagara Falls. After a chase to Grand Central Station, Mother is left behind. Jenny and Alexander set off alone with Tchaikovsky. Onboard, we hear American music: spirituals, folk songs and an arranged waltz by Tchaikovsky.

The Music• Piano Concerto No. 1, Mvt 1• Danse Napolitaine (Swan Lake)• Trepak (The Nutcracker)• “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot”• “Turkey in the Straw”• Waltz (String Serenade)

Background InformationThe First Modern ComposerAlthough many consider Tchaikovsky another “ye olde” composer, he was actually an early example of the modern guest conductor. Keep in mind that:

Through his agent, Tchaikovsky was summoned by telegraph, to come on an iron ship across the Atlantic Ocean to America where, pursued constantly by reporters, he guest-con-ducted a fine orchestra, in Carnegie Hall, for a concert that was reviewed by newspapers such as the New York Herald.

These diary entries paint a vivid picture of Tchaikovsky’s visit to America as described in his own words:

�

We can only imagine Tchaikovsky’s amaze-

ment at crossing the ocean to discover:

“I am ten times better known here than in Russia . Of all the people I have met, [the Americans] are the most generous and open-hearted.”

Tchaikovsky was both terrified and exhilarat-

ed by his trans-Atlantic crossing. He wrote:

“The ship is superb. A veritable floating palace... The ship moves so quietly that one can hardly believe one is on the water. Last night, the weather got worse and worse. Every thing creaked and groaned . One minute we were tossed up to the clouds, the next we sank into the depths. The horrible shocks each time the screw lifted out of the water could not be silenced... It was impossible to go on deck, for the wind almost blew one overboard.”

Tchaikovsky approaches New York City

with a child-like delight, writing:

“I went for a stroll down Broadway. An extraordinary street! Houses of one and two stories alternate with nine-storied buildings. The houses downtown are simply colossal; I cannot understand how anyone can live on the 13th floor. The view was quite splendid, but I felt quite giddy when I looked down on Broadway... Every morning, people rush east to a place called ‘Downtown,’ then rush home again at night... [The hotels here have] lavatories with basins, bath and washstand. Hot and cold running water. Lighting by electricity or gas — candles are never used — and the constant rumble of the elevator going up and down at incredible speed.”

During rehearsal, Tchaikovsky complained:

“Several workmen were hammering , shouting, and running hither and thither... I stopped the Pianoforte Concerto at the first movement, as the parts were in confusion and the musicians exhausted.”

Newspaper descriptions of the concert give

us a vivid sense of high society in 1891:

“All was abustle outside the big temple of

music before the festival began. Carriage after

carriage rolled up to the broad entrance and

deposited its precious freight... At one time

there was a line of carriages standing from the

entrance to the hall a full quarter of a mile

away. Long before the doors opened the street

in front of the hall was crowded with people

who wanted to enter... ladies, whose bonnets

must have cost more than the average laborer

receives a week for his labor, stood in line

waiting for the doors to open... The audience

rose and lifted up its thousand voices to the

tune of ‘America’.” —New York Herald

In the Railway Age, rivers of steel were

laid around the world. Tchaikovsky loved

trains:

“I entered the drawing room car. The easy chairs are placed close to one another, in such a way that it is possible to turn in all directions. The windows are large and the view on both sides is completely unobstructed. Next was the dining car and the smoking car with buffet (with desks for writing letters and telegrams). The cars are much more luxurious than ours. There are numerous compartments in which are washstands with hot and cold water, towels (regarding towels, there is an amazing supply here in general), cakes of soap, brushes, etc. There is a bath and a barber shop. As there are almost no stops, it is all the more tiresome.”

10

Discussion and ActivitiesOf Trains and BicyclesLike many children, Tchaikovsky was fascinated by trains. Explore some of these ideas with your class as follows:• Listen again to this scene. What sound effects can you identify? [Answers: crashes, ham-

mering, horse whinny, train sounds.] Notice that all the train sound effects on this recording are from the period.

• How many songs about trains can you name (e.g., “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad”)? Sing them.

• Imitate a train approaching, stopping, then passing by. Be creative with chug-a-chugs, wailing whistles and screaming brakes.Tchaikovsky would have enjoyed the 1891 Broadway hit A Bicycle Built for Two. He loved

all inventions and even rode a tricycle in Russia. Ask your students:• Did you know that in the 1860s people had to have a license to ride a bicycle? What are

the rules about riding bicycles where you live?• How many types of bicycles can you name? [Suggestions: tricycles, mountain bikes, etc.]

What is your favorite? At what age did you learn to ride a bicycle?

Introducing the FamilyQuestions to ask:• Why is Alex so excited that his mother missed the train? [Answer: an adventure alone.]• What differences do you sense between the sister and brother? [Answer: Jenny is older, more

serious, dreamy, responsible; Alex is irrepressible, adventurous, American in outlook.]• Has anyone traveled as an unaccompanied minor? Did you enjoy it? What are the rules

of unaccompanied travel?• Has anyone ever missed a bus, train or airplane? What happened?

Exploring the MusicThe Best-Loved Piano Concerto of All TimeMany students will recognize the opening piece on this recording: the Piano Concerto No. 1. Read aloud Tchaikovsky’s painful description of first showing it to his teacher:

“It was Christmas Eve of 1874. We were invited to a Christmas tree that evening... [but it was] suggested that we go first to one of the classrooms at the Conservatory beforehand. And so we did.

“I played the first movement (for my teacher)... Not a word, not a remark. If you only knew how disappointing, how unbearable it is when a man offers his friend a dish of his work and the other eats and remains silent! I armed myself with patience and played it right to the end. Again silence. I stood up and said: ‘Well?’

“Then from the lips of N.G.R. poured a torrent of words, first quiet, then more and more in the tone of Jupiter, Lord of the Thunderbolts. It appeared that my concerto was worthless, impossible to play; that these ideas had been used before, and were clumsy and awkward beyond the possibility of correction. As a composition it was poor; I had stolen this from one source and that from another. There were only two or three pages

11

that could be salvaged, and the rest must be thrown away, or completely altered! An outsider dropping into the room would have thought me a madman, without talent, ignorant, a worthless scribbler who had come to trouble a great man with his rubbish.

“Speechless with agitation and fury, I walked out of the room without a word and went upstairs. Rubinstein appeared soon afterwards... He told me that if I would alter it according to his wishes by a certain date, he would do me the honor of performing it at his concert.

“‘I will not alter a single note!’ I replied. ‘I will print it exactly as it is!’ And so I did.”

All this for one of the greatest piano concerti ever written!• Has anyone in your class experienced a huge disappointment like this?

Two Famous Opening MotifsTchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto begins with four powerful notes in the horns. In many ways, it is similar to the equally famous opening of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony (see Clas-sical Kids recording Beethoven Lives Upstairs). These are called “masculine motifs” —power-ful and short.

Listening• Play only the first four notes of both Tchaikovsky’s Concerto No. 1 and Beethoven’s Sym-

phony No. 5 (here in the key of D).

Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5

Tchaikovsky’s Concerto No. 1

• Ask students how these are similar. [Answer: The rhythm is short-short-short-long.] How are they different? [Answer: Tchaikovsky’s is more broad in tempo and is in only brass.]

Singing• If Beethoven’s motif could be sung to the words “Beethoven Lives,” what words can stu-

dents suggest for Tchaikovsky’s opening horn motif? [Suggestion: “Come and be free!”]• Can anyone think of an image to fit the violin theme that follows the opening motif?

[Suggestion: ocean waves rolling in.]

8

6

8

6

1�

8

Napolitaine and TrepakThere is a wonderful arched quality to this piece from Swan Lake. Much of its elegance comes from the sonority of the solo “piston” trumpet. At the time Tchaikovsky was writ-ing, the valveless piston was competing with the modern valved trumpet.• Does anyone in your class know a classical or jazz trumpeter who can come into the

class and demonstrate this versatile instrument?• Trepak from The Nutcracker is one of the most popular pieces of all time. Its infectious

Russian dance rhythm suggests a wild chase. Here are some suggestions:– Gallop around the floor (sure to reduce younger children to giggles of delight).– Many ballet schools use the Trepak for cross-floor exercises. Divide the class into two

or four groups positioned in the corners of a square room, with students lined up like in a ballet class. Create a step pattern or gallop diagonally across the room, starting with the strongly accented beat of each new phrase.

– Try to think of some appropriate snatches of dialogue to say at the crossing in the center of the square. This is similar to the game of guessing what someone shouts just as they jump into a swimming pool. [Suggestion: “I love chocolate, I love tea, I love dandelions and you love me!”]

Music of the New World: “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot”The train takes us on a musical ride through America. Tchaikovsky hears a group of ex-slaves who, freed only 25 years earlier, were confined to the end cars. • Tell students the history of “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot”:

“Swing Low” was first published in 1871 by the Jubilee Singers. This choir has a remarka-ble history. It was formed to raise money for Fisk University, one of the first black colleg-es in the United States. From 1871–1887, the Jubilee Singers traveled across the United States and Europe, introducing the world to black music and laying the groundwork for blues and jazz. Its energetic director searched out and printed many of the spirituals that had previously been passed on by memory. This choir discovered and published many wonderful songs, including “Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen,” “Deep River” and “I’m A-Rollin’.”

The words to “Swing Low” are explained below:

According to legend, when a chief in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) was dying, he was put in a great canoe with food and symbols of his rank. The canoe was then launched into the river, heading toward the mist of Victoria Falls. As all the members of the tribe stood on shore to sing their farewell chant, the king allegedly rose from his canoe and entered a chariot that descended from the mists and took him up into the skies.

• Sing this song with your class as written here. If you have Orff instruments, create an in-troduction and bass line on glockenspiels. Consider adding a lazy drum and vocal chant to suggest the legend above.

• Draw the story of “Swing Low.” Find other spirituals to sing and illustrate, and then put them in a heritage book.

1

8

6

8

13

Swing Low, Sweet Chariot

Arr. Susan Hammond

14

Popular Songs and the Beginnings of BroadwayThere are many books full of the folksy, optimistic songs from the “Gay Nineties”: “Clem-entine,” “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad,” “She’ll Be Comin’ Round the Mountain,” “The Red River Valley” and “Ta-ra-ra-boom-de-ay.”• How many more titles can your class suggest? Sing them.

In 1891, Broadway was in its infancy. New York celebrated itself with songs such as “The Sidewalks of New York” (1891) and “East Side, West Side” (1894). The all-time hit for 1891 was “A Bicycle Built for Two” (also known as “Daisy, Daisy”). These songs are full of bouncing good humor, energy and sentimentality.• Plan a cabaret concert of Broadway and popular songs from the 1890s.

Waltz, Anyone?Like Johann Strauss, Tchaikovsky is famous for his waltzes. Although written for full orchestra, they are effective in simple piano arrangements.• Teach your class to dance the waltz. Talk about ballroom dancing.• Play with conducting techniques. Slow waltzes can be conducted in 3/4 time as shown

on the left. Faster waltzes are usually conducted with a simple down-up motion so that the down-stroke indicates the strong first beat of each bar. It is shown on the right.

1

2

31

2

3

3/4 time 3/3 time

8

1

15

Waltz (String Serenade)

16

sCene 2: traveL in Many Lands

LENGTH OF SCENE: 4:30 CD TRACKS 4–7

Begins: “Good morning, sir... Please take a table here.”

ends: “Why do people have to get so stuck in the old ways?”

The StoryThe maitre d’ takes their order. Tchaikovsky and the children talk of Coca-Cola and Rus-sian tea. Tchaikovsky encourages his young listeners to hear music in a cup of tea. He tells a story about coffee and the Arabian nights. As Chocolate ends, the reporters reappear. The children and Tchaikovsky hide. Tchaikovsky tells them about life in Russia.

The Music• Tea (The Nutcracker)• Overture (The Nutcracker)• Coffee (The Nutcracker)• Chocolate (The Nutcracker)• Danse des Cygnes (Swan Lake)• 1812 Overture

Background InformationWriting The NutcrackerWhile composing The Nutcracker in his last year, Tchaikovsky complained of “a decline in my inventive powers.” In addition, his long-time collaborator, Marius Petipa, fell ill dur-ing its production. At the premiere on December 17, 1892, audiences disliked its German story, its extensive use of child rather than adult dancers and the appearance of the Sugar Plum Fairy (whom Tchaikovsky’s brother described as ugly).

Nonetheless, the brilliance of Tchaikovsky’s music is unsurpassed. The most famous movements were collected into a Concert Suite (Op. 71). Its premiere was greeted with calls to repeat five of its six sections. This suite is a great addition to any classroom library.

Tchaikovsky’s FamilyDuring the 1812 Overture, we learn about Tchaikovsky’s life in Russia. Here are some ad-ditional details to share with your class:• Tchaikovsky was born on May 7, 1840, in the province of Viatka, where his father was a

mining engineer. He had an older brother, Nikolai, and twin brothers 10 years younger than him. After the early death of his mother, Peter Ilyich virtually raised the twins, who in turn, grew up to manage his musical affairs.

• Tchaikovsky also had a sister two years younger than him. He adored Sasha, and often visited her at her riverside dacha (country house) near Kiev. On his way to America, Tchaikovsky read in a Paris newspaper that his sister had died and almost canceled the trip.

1�

• Tchaikovsky’s affectionate nature and happy childhood were profoundly shaken by two traumatic childhood experiences.– First, his mother died when he was only 11 years old. She was very musical and used to

sing Mozart to him as a child. Tchaikovsky watched her die a horrible death of cholera, the disease that was to take his own life on November 6, 1893.

– A second loss occurred when the family moved to St. Petersburg and had to leave behind his beloved governess, Fanny. She described Tchaikovsky’s sensitive temperament: “As a young child, Peter Ilyich put his hand right through a windowpane drumming out a piece of music. I found him upstairs crying, ‘The music... It won’t let me sleep. It’s here in my head. It won’t leave me alone!’”

Discussion and ActivitiesActivities on The Nutcracker

The Story• Both Mozart and Tchaikovsky composed music based on a child’s fairy tale during their

final year. Mozart, whom Tchaikovsky called “the supreme God of music,” had written The Magic Flute exactly a hundred years earlier in 1791. Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker is based on Hoffman’s story called The Nutcracker and the King of the Mice. Ask your class to tell the story of The Nutcracker as they might have seen it. Or get out a book and tell the plot.

The Stahlbaums are decorating their Christmas tree in the drawing room. Godfather Drosselmeyer arrives, serious and sinister. He gives the children toys, including a Nut-cracker. In the quarrel between Clara and Fritz, the Nutcracker is broken. Clara puts it in her doll’s cradle. After everyone has gone to bed, Clara goes down to see her Nutcracker. All the toys have come to life and are battling the King of Mice. Clara hurls her slipper at the King of Mice and kills him. The Nutcracker turns into a prince who invites her to visit his kingdom.

Clara and the Nutcracker Prince fly over a wintry forest to the Kingdom of Sweets where the Sugar Plum Fairy is Queen. There is a splendid banquet featuring many of Tchaikovsky’s most familiar melodies: Tea, Coffee, Chocolate, Trepak, and the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy.

Creative WritingThe story of The Nutcracker is great material for a creative writing class. Suggest that your students:• Change the point of view by rewriting the story from the Nutcracker’s perspective.• Change the ending by writing a sequel to the present story.• Write a whole new story entitled “In the Land of Sweets.”

Vocabulary and Associative Thinking with The Nutcracker• Music can be a wonderful stimulant for lateral, associative thinking. Make a chart like

the one on the next page to fill in with your class. (These are only sample answers.)

18

Association Tea Coffee ChocolateEmotion cheerful sad powerfulColors yellow brown redPossible food

Country

Animals

Smells

Memories sparklinglake darkforest passingbandInstruments flutes clarinets trumpetsMovement tiptoe slinklowtoground strutting,arch

Dancing The Nutcracker• Almost every ballerina begins her dancing career in Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker. Does

anyone in the class take ballet lessons? Can they demonstrate some of the steps, posi-tions or even choreography of The Nutcracker?

• Watch a video of The Nutcracker and study some of the dance ideas. Even kindergarten classes have made wonderful impressions, however brief, of this classic ballet. Write a simple script, appoint one or two narrators and make ballet costumes from your dress-up box.

Art ClassThe Nutcracker is a lovely visual ballet to work with in art class. Suggest that your students:• Bring in a wooden nutcracker as a model. Make nutcrackers with empty paper towel rolls

decorated with paper.• Build a scene in which to set the nutcrackers, complete with other Christmas tree decora-

tions, and even a little ballerina.• Does anyone in your class have dolls or toys from other countries? These can be incorporat-

ed into the nutcracker scene. Traditional Russian stacking dolls are always a welcome addi-tion.

A Musical Map of the World• Each of the foods in the Kingdom of Sweets is associated with delicacies from around

the world. As an exercise in geography, explore the globe by making a musical map of The Nutcracker: Tea (China), Coffee (Arabia), Chocolate (Spain), Trepak (Russia) and the Sugar Plum (France).

• Trace Tchaikovsky’s 1891 trip to America: from St. Petersburg, to Berlin, to Paris, to Le Havre, to New York, to Niagara Falls, to Baltimore, to Washington, to Philadelphia, to New York and back to Russia.

Attending The Nutcracker• Try to attend this Christmas classic with your students.

1�

Media Attention and CreativityAlthough Tchaikovsky greatly appreciated his American reception, he often complained about the reporters. “They press me to play. I refuse, but apparently it will never end until I have played something on the wretched piano...”

Discuss the price of fame with your class. Ask your class:• Can you think of rock stars or public figures who are relentlessly pursued by their fans?• Do you think we ask too much of our heroes in terms of access to their private lives?• Have you read whether media attention interrupts their work? Is it worth the cost?• “Inspiration is an invited guest who comes only to those who are prepared.” Ask your class what

they think this quotation from Tchaikovsky could mean. As you discuss it, keep in mind that Tchaikovsky had none of Mozart’s reported ease of composition. Like Beethoven who struggled with his musical ideas, Tchaikovsky sometimes took two weeks to think of a single theme.

Exploring the MusicThe NutcrackerTchaikovsky sketched out the first act of The Nutcracker before leaving Russia and finished its orchestration a year later in March 1892. The script tries to illustrate the compositional process by treating excerpts from The Nutcracker as “works in progress.”• Ask your class what each of the three movements here represent in terms of stimulating

the imagination. Answers:– A composer can get his ideas from everyday life (Tea).– A composer can orchestrate it to catch the warmth of other senses such as smell (Coffee).– A composer can bring alive the exotic smells and tastes from another land (Chocolate).

• The Nutcracker is famous for its orchestration. Can anyone identify the solo instruments in these movements? Answers:– Tea (piccolo, two flutes),– Coffee (clarinets),– Chocolate (trumpet and castanets).

Introducing the 1812 OvertureThe 1812 Overture was written in 1880 to commemorate the victory of Russia over Napo-leon at the end of this recording, but here are some earlier passages.

Although the 1812 Overture is usually recorded with instruments only, the opening “Hymn” and the “Children’s Folksong” are sometimes sung. The “Hymn” represents a prayer by the Russian people on the eve of the Napoleonic invasion. It was recorded here with a full seven seconds of reverberation, similar to that found in St. Paul’s Cathedral in London and the Grand Canyon.• Sing “The Children’s Folksong,” drawn from the middle of the 1812 Overture. It adds a

sweet innocence to this militaristic piece.

8

6

1

�0

Children’s Song from 1812 Overture

Arr. Susan Hammond

• Like Schubert, Tchaikovsky loved to contrast the major and minor tonalities. Point out how the major tone describes “wheat fields stretching out like a golden sea” and the mi-nor describes “dark pine forests full of mysterious shadows and spirits.”

Humor in Swan LakeHumor is an important element for children. The scene with the reporters pokes fun at The Dance of the Little Swans.• How does the character of the music fit the words? [Answer: It is like the reporters sneak-

ing around, with its detached accompaniment and paired clarinets.]

6

6

�1

sCene 3: ragtiMe and swan Lake

LENGTH OF SCENE: 5:20 CD TRACKS 7–8

Begins: “We have electricity now. Blow out the old candles!”

ends: “What happened then? Did he find her?”

The StoryAlex confesses his resentment of “the old ways” of his immigrant parents. Tchaikovsky tells of his delight in new inventions, then describes the story of Swan Lake.

The Music• Silver (Sleeping Beauty)• Overture to Act II (Swan Lake)

Background InformationSwan Lake: Its Fate and FameSwan Lake is to ballet what Handel’s Messiah is to oratorio. Amazingly, both were sketched out in about three weeks.

How tragic that Tchaikovsky never heard Swan Lake in even a passable performance! During his lifetime, he had to endure watching sets tip over and costumes fall apart. Even worse, the amateur conductor and orchestra found the music too difficult. Pages were care-lessly thrown on the floor and replaced with easier movements. In fact, his friend Madame von Meck (of whom we will hear more later) reported that five years after its premiere, she attended a performance of Swan Lake that was unrecognizable... a full third had been replaced with other music, often by other composers!

Discussion and ActivitiesA Week of Swan Lake

The Story• This is one of the most compelling fairy tales in Russian literature. Tell students its plot:

Prince Siegfried is celebrating his coming of age. His mother tells him he must choose a bride from the guests at the ball the next night. A flight of swans darken the sky as the Prince and his friends go hunting. They find the swans swimming silently on a lake. Siegfried stays behind to watch them. A swan rises from the water in human form as Odette. She tells him the story that is the basis of our segment:

Odette’s mother was a good fairy who married a noble knight. He destroyed her and married another woman, who tried to kill her stepdaughter. As the script says, Odette fled and followed her mother’s voice to a magic lake filled by her dying tears. When she touched the water, she was changed into a swan.

Odette and her friends are now in the power of an evil magician, von Rothbart. His spell can be broken only when a prince who has never pledged his faith to another woman asks her to marry him. Prince Siegfried pledges his love and tells Odette to come to his ball the next night.

��

At the ball, von Rothbart enters the hall with his daughter Odile. She is the mirror image of Odette except that she is dressed in black rather than white. The Prince is struck by her beauty and is about to take her hand in engagement when the cry of an owl rings out. Von Rothbart appears as a demon and Odile laughs cruelly as Odette appears sadly at the window. The Prince realizes his mistake and rushes out to the lake. He asks Odette’s forgiveness, but he has now pledged himself to another and cannot break the spell. As she tries to say goodbye, he takes the crown from her head and throws it into the stormy lake. She calls out: “You have destroyed yourself and me.” The last sad song of the swan is heard as the Prince and Odette disappear under the lake. On the calm lake appears a band of white swans swimming peacefully.

Creative WritingThe story of Swan Lake is great material for a creative writing class. Play this segment for your class again and ask your students to:• Tell the story of Swan Lake in your own words.• Write your own conclusion to this wonderful fairy tale. Swan Lake has been performed

with happy endings, religious endings, sad endings. • Write a sequel, perhaps based on the idea that Prince Siegfried and Odette do not drown

underwater but return to this world and break the spell for their friends.• Elaborate on the moral of this story.• Talk about swans in literature. Why do you think the swan was chosen as the bird into

which the maidens were changed? [Suggestion: They are beautiful and pure.] What is a “swan song”? [Answer: a last performance.] Do swans have a song? [Answer: No, they are mostly silent.] Read The Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White.

Visual ArtsFind a book on Swan Lake or bring in the Classical Kids book Tchaikovsky Discovers America to examine its centerfold picture.• In art class, listen to the music and draw your favorite scene from Swan Lake.• Produce sets and costumes for a short classroom production of Swan Lake. Only two sets

are necessary: the enchanted lake and the castle hall.

DanceSections of Swan Lake were conceived in mime. It is a great preparation for a classroom production of this wonderful ballet.• With your class, write down the words of the script for Odette’s story.• Have students act it out in mime, using an appropriate gesture to describe each phrase

(e.g., “When I was a little child [hand low to indicate a short person], “I was bewitched by a sorceress” [fists clenched above head]).

• Ask students to rewrite and dance their own version of this wonderful ballet, using the sets prepared above.

Ballerinas in Tchaikovsky’s TimeMany people are surprised to learn that ballet did not develop into its present form until this century.

�3

• Bring in a book of Degas’s famous ballerina paintings. Ask your students how these ballerinas differ from today’s. Answers:– Tchaikovsky’s ballerinas had soft slippers rather than hard toe shoes.– They wore soft, calf-length skirts rather than short tutus.– There was a different definition of beauty: earlier ballerinas were often shorter and stockier

than our present long-legged prima ballerinas.– Ballerinas did not tie their hair back in a tight bun, but let it hang loose around their face.

• Continue to explore the world of ballet:– Why do students think these changes may have occurred? [Answers: changes in the defini-

tion of beauty, improvements in the technology of shoes and materials, new training meth-ods.]

– Ask a ballet teacher or student to explain the principle ballet positions and steps.– Anna Pavlova was a ballerina who did much to change the look of ballet. There are many

children’s books on this heroic dancer. Have students research her story and tell it in their own words.

Dance and SportAs in sports events today, the Russian ballet community was fierce in cheering or booing its danc-ers.• Discuss with your class the differences between dance and sport using the examples of ballet

and modern figure skating. Why is one considered an art and one a sport?• Swan Lake is as difficult for the dancers as for the musicians. At one point the Black Swan

does an impossible 32 fouettés (spins) on point. Today, many audiences count them out like triple Axels in skating. Bring in a recording of Swan Lake and enjoy the Black Swan’s wild mu-sic, called the Coda. No more exciting orchestral music exists!

Exploring the MusicThe Famous “Swan Motif”Tchaikovsky’s music eloquently captures Odette’s loneliness and approaching doom. It appears in two forms, one melody descending and one ascending (used in this recording).• As you play them to your class, see whether your students can determine which theme sug-

gests doom or loneliness. [Answer: the descending line.] Which suggests eventual triumph? [Answer: the ascending line.]

Two Swan MotifsAct 1. Overture

Act II. Overture

6

�4

• Can your class identify the solo instrument of both these melodies? [Answer: oboe.] Why is this a good choice? [Answer: This woodwind has the most pure tone. It gives the tun-ing A for the rest of the orchestra, and is often compared to the human voice.]

• What instruments dominate the later forte statement? [Answer: four horns, four trum-pets, four trombones, tuba — a large orchestra!]

• Tchaikovsky’s writing is so compelling that few children realize that they are listening to almost four minutes of continuous music. Play this segment again and see how many examples your students can find where the music imitates the words. For example:– The harp mimics “The branches brushed their faces” and “They arched their long necks

and swam in magical circles.”– A dramatic musical pause highlights the moment when “they danced in the moonlight.”– The major key asserts itself at the shining moment when “in an instant, the Prince was

surrounded by a snowstorm of white feathers. The swan maidens rose above the wa-ters, their wings silver in the moonlight.” (The theme also changes from descending to ascending.)

There is so much wonderful music in Swan Lake. On this recording, we hear the Napoli-taine (Scene 1), the Danse des Cygnes (Scene 2) and some of the Waltzes (Scenes 2 and 5).• Listen to the condensed Orchestral Suite of Swan Lake (Op. 20) with your class. It is read-

ily available in stores or libraries.

How About a Little Ragtime?It became fashionable in the 1890s to play Romantic composers such as Chopin and Tchaikovsky in the new ragtime beat. Ragtime began on the piano, but was later adopted by Big Bands. Scott Joplin’s Maple Leaf Rag was written in 1904, 13 years after Tchaiko-vsky’s trip to America.• Listen again to John Arpin’s ragtime improvisation on Silver, then have students play

with this musical form by asking:• Where do you think the name “ragtime” came from? [Answer: the rhythm is “ragged time.”]• What is the difference between a composed piece and an improvised piece? [Answer: the

latter is not written out.] Which technique does rock and roll use? What are the differ-ences between notation, chord symbols and charts?

• What is the time signature of Silver? [A clue: start counting after the first four notes. The time signature is 4/4.]

• Now encourage your class to make their own ragtime, using a familiar theme such as “Frère Jacques” (“Are You Sleeping”). Here are the steps:

4

6

6

�5

1. Create a simple bass accompaniment. In its simplest form, alternate F’s and C’s in a perfectly even rhythm. The accompaniment now looks like this, and can be played on piano, guitar or glockenspiels.

2. Play or sing “Frère Jacques” along with the bass, one note per bass accompaniment.

3. Now try it in syncopated time. For example, start beat one on time, then tuck beat two in tightly to that note so it comes before the A–C hits.

4. Build the third phrase by experimenting with dotted rhythms.

�6

sCene 4: Father arrives and sLeeping Beauty

LENGTH OF SCENE: 11:00 CD TRACKS 9–13

Begins: “I guess you’ll have to come to Russia and find out.”

ends: “Together they danced in the first moments of their love.”

The StoryThe travelers get a taste of American food and games during a whistle stop at Albany. Father joins Tchaikovsky and the children. He tells about his voyage to America and his desire to return to Russia. Alex shows Tchaikovsky electricity. The composer demonstrates how he put it in his music. Jenny dances to the music of the Sugar Plum Fairy (The Nut-cracker). Tchaikovsky tells the story of Sleeping Beauty.

The Music• “The Maiden’s Chorus” (Eugene Onegin)• Coda (The Nutcracker)• Ragtime• Marche Slav• Violente (Sleeping Beauty)• Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy (The Nutcracker)• Le Sommeil and Panorama (Sleeping Beauty)

Background InformationA Fateful MarriageScene 4 opens with “The Maiden’s Chorus” from Tchaikovsky’s opera Eugene Onegin. There is a tragic personal story associated with this piece. A young music student named An-tonina Ivanovna wrote to Tchaikovsky at precisely the time he was writing the operatic love letter between Tatiana and Onegin. Feeling that Antonina’s letter was a sign, the composer proposed to her. Three months after they married, Tchaikovsky suffered a “violent nervous attack” and went into a coma for 48 hours. Antonina ended her days in an insane asylum.

America in the 1890sThe energy of America is reflected in the wild swirling music of The Nutcracker’s Coda. In his letters, Tchaikovsky repeatedly praised the inventions that were changing the lives of all those living in the 1890s:• Peanut butter (invented by a St. Louis physician as a health food); hot dogs and cotton

candy; postcards (1861); Coca-Cola (invented in Atlanta, Georgia, 1887) and ginger ale 20 years later; drinking straws (1888); soda water; the zipper.

• The rotary dial telephone and automatic exchange (1891, the telephone having been in-vented in 1867); the telegraph and telegram; the phonograph player (by Edison in 1877) and its recording on wax-covered zinc disks 10 years later (the gramophone); the Kineto-scope for a single spectator to view animated pictures (1891).

• American Express Travelers’ checks; the adding machine; the Waterman fountain pen; Ever Ready batteries; electricity and the first electric oven; the first steel-framed building

��

in Chicago; photographs (Tchaikovsky had his taken while he was in New York); the bi-cycle (1864); hot-air balloons (trip around the world in 67 days); the gasoline buggy; the removable tire by Michelin (1891); an engine-powered plane by French Clement Ader (which flew for a few inches, 1890).

• Within the next decade would come the radio, the Model-T Ford, the airplane, the first wireless telegraph, moving pictures and the first modern Olympics.

Politics and Society in Three CountriesIn 1891, the population of the United States was 62.9 million. Benjamin Harrison was its 23rd president and the National American Woman Suffrage Association campaigned for the right of women to vote. In the West there was the massacre of the Sioux at Wounded Knee and the Oklahoma Land Grab. Stanford University, the University of Chicago, Yosemite Park and the New York Botanical Garden were established in 1891.

In 1891, the population of Canada was 4.8 million. Sir John A. Macdonald was elected for his second term as Prime Minister, but died of a stroke three months later. To tie this vast country together, the last spike of Canada’s National Railroad had been driven in just six months earlier.

In Russia, the crops of 1891 failed, reducing millions to starvation. As peasants raided the towns in search of food, Tchaikovsky knew only too well that revolution was in the air.

Tchaikovsky’s “Woman of Mystery”Madame von Meck was the wealthy widow of a powerful railway builder. An amateur pianist, she was infatuated with Tchaikovsky and even arranged for one of his students to report regularly to her about the composer’s daily life. She often sent Tchaikovsky money and even gave him rooms in the gatehouse on her estate on the condition that they never meet. For more than 13 years, the two exchanged over 1,100 passionate letters about music and love. Then, just months before Tchaikovsky left for America, the letters and money mysteriously stopped. He was devastated. Without explanation, his “woman of mystery” retreated into a reclusive life, plagued by tuberculosis and money problems.

Immigrants and Ellis IslandIn Mr. Petroff’s story, we get a glimpse of the voyage endured by more than three million immigrants to America between 1880 and 1890. Ellis Island opened the year after Tchaiko-vsky’s visit and by 1912 New Yorkers were lining the balcony of the Great Hall to watch 5,000 immigrants a day arriving in the New World. Ellis Island has recently been refur-bished into a magnificent museum. Has anyone in your class been there?

Discussion and ActivitiesAmerica’s Favorite GameInvented in the 1840s, baseball was refined to its present form in 1845 by Alexander Carter of New York’s Knickerbocker Club. Three years after Tchaikovsky’s visit, the New York Giants set a league attendance record of 400,000 for a year. • Can your class think of baseball jokes? [Suggestion: “All my basses are in the orchestra.”

“You certainly know the score.”] Tell some favorite stories about baseball and players.

�8

Alex’s Story: ImmigrantsAlex is afraid that his father wants the family to return to Russia. Ask your class:• Was anyone born in another country? Were your parents born elsewhere? Grandparents?

Explain the difference between first-, second- and third-generation immigrants.• Is English the language spoken in your home? Can you speak another language?• Have you ever visited your family’s country of origin? What differences did you notice?

Children and Tchaikovsky“Children are enchanting. Only puppies are better: they are the pearls of creation.”While writing Sleeping Beauty, Tchaikovsky enjoyed the company of a three-year-old girl. She was the child of one of the servants on his friend’s estate and amused him with her charming chatter and love of fairy tales. “He seemed to know that grownups must not talk to children in a special way, talking down to them; but simply, as if they were grownup too.” Later, many poor students at the Moscow Conservatory were given scholarships by an “unknown donor” — Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky!• Ask students if they can tell when grownups are talking down to them? Do they like it or

resent it?• Can anyone in your class play some of his children’s music (Op. 39)?

A Project on InventionsExplore the inventions of the 1890s with your class. Start by copying the list at the begin-ning of this chapter or work from a chronology at the library.• Ask students to pretend they live in 1891 and write newspaper articles about the latest

inventions. This exercise teaches journalistic writing with compressed, eye-catching prose and dramatic headlines. Don’t forget to include the date and city at the top of the article.

• Have students make a list of what was not yet invented in 1891: motorcycles, radio, the Space Shuttle, television, computers, Nintendo, fax machines, Federal Express, cellular phones, Disney World, Lego, lasers, open heart surgery and the polio vaccine. How many more can they add?

• Suggest creating a wall mural that reflects the general excitement of the era, including its inventions, landscape and people.

Activities on Sleeping BeautySleeping Beauty, Tchaikovsky’s own favorite ballet, was first performed just a year before his American adventure.

The StoryTell your students Tchaikovsky’s version of this classic fairy tale.

At Princess Aurora’s christening, she is visited by the good fairies who bestow their gifts: Candide (for beauty), the Wheat Fairy (for grace), Breadcrumbs Falling (for food), Ca-nary (for eloquence) and the Lilac Fairy (for wisdom).

The Wicked Fairy, Carabosse, arrives and announces that Aurora will prick her finger and fall into an everlasting sleep on her 16th birthday. The Lilac Fairy uses her magic to assure that Aurora will awaken from the spell if a Prince kisses her. The King commands that all the spindles and needles in the kingdom be taken away.

��

On Aurora’s 16th birthday, many princes come to a ball to seek her hand in marriage. In the famous “Rose Adagio,” the ballerina must remain steadily on point while each Prince presents her with a rose.

An old hag arrives and offers Aurora a spindle. The girl dances with it, pricks her finger and falls to the ground. The Lilac Fairy orders Aurora to be carried into the palace. The entire court falls asleep for a hundred years. In this recording, Le Sommeil describes the palace covered with flowers, waiting for love to come.

A hundred years later, a Prince and his huntsmen arrive. The Lilac Fairy appears in a boat of mother-of-pearl and tells the Prince about Aurora. She leads him to the Palace. When the Prince kisses Aurora, the spell is broken and all awaken. During the wedding, other fairies arrive, including Silver (remember the Ragtime from Scene 3!), Gold and fairy tale characters such as Cinderella.

Creative WritingSimilar to the activities for Swan Lake, ask your class to:• Tell this story in their own words as they understand it from the recording.• Describe how it is different from the fairy tale version of Sleeping Beauty that they know.• Talk about some other fairy tales that include fairies or godmothers (e.g., The Wizard of

Oz). How are they similar to or different from those described here?• Write a rhyming spell that Carabosse might have said to make Aurora fall asleep.

Other ArtsDancingLike Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty is a wonderfully visual story. Listen again to this section and draw the scene as you see it in your imagination.• Research the legendary dance partners Margot Fonteyn and Rudolph Nureyev, who made

Sleeping Beauty so famous. There is plenty of information on both dancers in the library.

Exploring the MusicSinging Tchaikovsky“The Maiden’s Chorus” from the opera Eugene Onegin is the next page. Ask your class:• What is the time signature? [Answer: a gently rocking 3/4 rhythm.]• What mood does it create? [Suggestion: a peaceful country scene.]• Sing it in a concert.

Nutcracker CodaSandwiched between the gentle “Maiden’s Chorus” and the melancholic Marche Slav, the Coda from The Nutcracker virtually explodes on this recording. This piece is excellent for exploring ABA form in music.• Suggest students be musical detectives and find out how many phrases there are in the

first theme. [Answer: four — the phrases are clearly separated by “breaths-points.”]• Ask how often does the theme return? [Answer: twice.]• Have your students raise their hand when they hear the “flute swirls” wrap around the

return of the main theme.

6

6

30

The Maiden’s Chorus

Arr. Susan Hammond

31

3�

8

8

Marche SlavThis is one of Tchaikovsky’s most famous pieces. Spend some time with it using these ac-tivities and questions:• What instruments underlie the words “I knew then that I had a new life ahead of me...

a new world”? [Answers: horns, for nobility.]• Review Swan Lake (Track 8) and the 1812 Overture (Track 6) to recall how major and mi-

nor keys offer different moods. In the Marche Slav, what words signal the change to the major key? [Answer: the section about coming up on board to see the Statue of Liberty.]

• Often a performance is more compelling if the performer can put into words exactly the emotion he or she is trying to express. For instance, students might say the Marche Slav is “sad.” As an exercise in creative writing, listen again and develop a list of close qualifiers for the word “sad.” For example, is it melancholy, nostalgic, hurting in the distant past or painfully close, resigned or hopeful...?

• Similarly, try to make a list of qualifiers for the word “happy.” Such an exercise will im-prove students’ creative writing skills as well as their performance of music.

• The Marche Slav is similar in mood to Swan Lake’s haunting swan motif (Scene 3). Both were written in 1876 and share a quintessentially Russian flavor. A more familiar exam-ple of this type of melody is the “Volga Boat Song.” Find an appropriate movement and make up your own words.

Volga Boat Song

Violente: Electricity and Sleeping BeautyThe composer had seen electricity for the first time in Paris and wrote Violente (Energy) in close collaboration with his favorite choreographer, Petipa. Then Petipa outlined the char-acter of the dance, including the number of beats for each movement. Ask your class:• How does Violente imitate energy or electricity? [Answer: The phrases are short, darting

and highly charged.]• Can you find some movements that express this music? More advanced classes might try

this original choreography:– Keeping your arms parallel to each other, “shoot” them diagonally across your body:

downward to each side, then diagonally upwards to each side.– Add stabbing motions with your index fingers (to represent electrical bolts).– Make up some footwork and, voilà — a ballet is born!

8

6

33

Sugar PlumThis well-known piece features a new instrument that Tchaikovsky discovered in Paris: the celeste. It has a keyboard like a piano, which activates little bells inside a cabinet. The com-poser told his publisher to buy it as a “secret weapon” for his last ballet, The Nutcracker. Listen to the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy and ask your class:• Why do you think the celeste is well named? [Answer: “heaven” is often associated with

sweet bells and céleste means heaven in French.]• How would you describe the rhythm? [Suggestion: gently “square” and restrained.]• Can you think of a dance movement for this famous piece? Begin by listing some adjec-

tives. [Suggestions: otherworldly, charming, measured.] Then decide how you could best express these qualities with your arms, legs and bodies.

• Try to invent a way of “writing out” your dance. Experts have spent years finding ways to notate movement. Who knows — your notated dance chart might even become a work of art in itself!

Sleeping BeautyThere is so much wonderful music in Sleeping Beauty that it was difficult to decide which sections to use for this recording. In the end, we settled on two movements: Le Sommeil and Panorama.• Le Sommeil makes an excellent study in orchestration. Ask your class:

– What does the French word sommeil mean in English? [Answer: sleep.]– How does Tchaikovsky suggest sleep? [Answer: the high tremolo violins are dreamlike

and unreal above the theme.]– How does he suggest a dark, mysterious scene? [Answer: Clarinets and other wood-

winds move slowly upwards toward a curiously accented chord.]– How does he suggest the evil Carabosse? [Answer: jagged strings.]– How does he suggest the Lilac Fairy? [Answer: a smooth far-off solo trumpet.]– How does he suggest a transition or passage of time? [Answer: harp swirls moving

through space.]• The following Panorama lushly depicts the mother-of-pearl boat in which the Lilac Fairy

takes the Prince to the castle. Ask your class:– What makes the Panaroma seem to float in space? [Answer: the harp set against synco-

pated triplets of a waltz.]– Play along with the recording on your glockenspiels. You need only a simple descend-

ing scale of G-F#-E-D.

6

8

8

6

34

sCene 5: ConCLusion

LENGTH OF SCENE: 8:28 CD TRACKS 14–16

Begins: “It looks as if we have two more sleeping beauties.”

ends: “Goodbye, goodbye.”

The StoryFather talks to Tchaikovsky about his plans to return to Russia. The children whisper their fears about leaving America. The reporters come in for “one last question.” At Niagara Falls, the immigrants leave the train singing “Amazing Grace.” There, Tchaikovsky and the family come to some important realizations. After a successful Carnegie Hall concert, Tchaikovsky leaves America as the family waves goodbye.

The Music• “Long, Long Ago”• “The Maiden’s Chorus” (Eugene Onegin)• Waltz (Swan Lake)• “Amazing Grace”• Serenade for Strings, Mvt 1• Serenade for Strings, Finale• 1812 Overture, Finale

Background InformationThe Statue of Liberty and the French ConnectionTchaikovsky celebrated his 51st birthday on May 7 in America, just two days after his Carn-egie concert. Someone gave him a souvenir Statue of Liberty for a present. Here is its story:

France played a decisive role in the American War of Independence in 1776. The French sculptor Auguste Bartholdi decided to celebrate its centennial with a giant statue. The French–American Union supported his dream, but only the arm and torch arrived on time for the 1876 celebration in Philadelphia. Gustav Eiffel was asked to build the huge iron framework and the publisher Joseph Pulitzer to finance the giant pedestal. Mark Twain auctioned manuscripts for the cause and Emma Lazarus contributed its moving poem after watching Jewish immigrants from Russia. The Statue of Liberty was installed in New York Harbor on October 28, 1886.

In the end, this famous statue stood even higher than the Eiffel Tower: 305 feet includ-ing its pedestal. The frame is 162,000 pounds (73,483 kilograms) and the copper weighs 200,000 pounds (90,720 kilograms). It carries the message:

Give me your tired, your poor,Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,The wretched refuse of your teeming shore,Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,I lift my lamp beside the golden door! — Emma Lazarus

35

Discussion and ActivitiesQuestions to ask and activities to suggest:• Copy out the words as they are inscribed on the Statue of Liberty.• Choose a piece of music you think is appropriate and recite the poem over this music.• Has anyone visited the Statue of Liberty or Ellis Island? Can you bring in brochures and

talk about them?• Make a research project on these two great symbols of America’s gateway.

Fear• For years, Tchaikovsky was terrified to conduct. Read aloud this agonizing description of

a concert ordeal that took place when Tchaikovsky was only 28:

“The stance he took was grotesque. With one hand, he grasped his scraggy beard. With the other he held the baton, but the gestures he made with it were wild and uncon-trolled: he did not appear to be looking at the score at all. The audience began to realize that there was no relation between his antics and what the orchestra was playing. The players were well rehearsed. Receiving nonsensical indications from the conductor, they took over the responsibility themselves, leaving Tchaikovsky to devote himself to his own task, which was nothing less than preventing his head from falling off.”

While in America, Tchaikovsky wrote:

“I am 51 today. I feel very excited. The concert begins at two o’clock, with the Suite. This curious fright I suffer from is very strange. How many times have I already conducted the Suite and it goes splendidly? Why this anxiety? I suffer horribly, and it gets worse and worse. I never remember feeling so anxious before. Perhaps it is because over here they pay so much attention to my outward appearance, and consequently my shyness is more noticeable.”

Talk about fears by asking your students:• Can anyone describe a fearful situation they have experienced? [Suggestions: performing

at a concert, running in a race, seeing a frightening movie or being vaguely aware that something terrible is happening.]

• Why might Alex’s idea to “open your eyes” be a good one? [Suggestion: If you really look at a situation, you will often find there is little to be afraid of.]

• What are the signs of fear? [Suggestions: sweating, feeling unable to breathe, upset stomach.]• What kind of situations make you most fearful?• Do you have good luck charms to take along to such a situation?• How can you best get over your fears?• Alex helps Tchaikovsky overcome his fear of conducting. How has Tchaikovsky helped

Alex? [Answer: He convinces Mr. Petroff that the family belongs in America.]

On Civil WarsDuring the talk between Tchaikovsky and Father, the composer says, “You’ve had your civil war. Ours is yet to come.”• Do your students know how many years separated Tchaikovsky’s visit from the American

Civil War? [Answer: 27 years.]• How long was it before the Russian Revolution? [Answer: 14 years.]

36

The Sixth Wonder of the World: Niagara FallsNiagara Falls has been a major tourist attraction for longer than we might think. It has been visited by many famous Europeans: Sarah Bernhardt, Oscar Wilde and Gustav Mahler (who penned the memorable comment, “At last a fortissimo!”). Tchaikovsky’s own words vividly describe Niagara Falls in 1891:

“I will not describe the beauty of the Falls, as such things are difficult to express in words. The beauty and majesty of the sight are truly breathtaking. It is divided into several separate waterfalls of which two are colossal... Went to the Three Sisters Islands... then across a marvelous, daring and beautiful bridge to the Canadian side. This bridge was constructed or, better, thrown across the Niagara but two years ago. One feels dizzy when looking below... I changed into some very ugly clothing, descended in an elevator below the Falls and walked through a tunnel to finally stand right below the Falls... a lit-tle frightening. The Niagara, a river wider than the Volga, does battle against the rapids... I descended by cable railway and walked along the shore level with the roaring river.”

Questions to ask and activities to suggest:• Has anyone in your class been to Niagara Falls? How do your impressions differ from

Tchaikovsky’s?• Bring in some tourist or history books on this long-time tourist attraction.• Research the history of Niagara Falls: When did the first American successfully go over

the Falls? [Answer: 1886, when Carlisle D. Graham of Philadelphia went over the Falls in a reinforced oak barrel with a canvas and string bag inside.]

• Create a mural of the immigrants streaming toward the Falls and Tchaikovsky gaining the courage to conduct before them.

Epilogue: Before the Statue of LibertyTwo final activities:• Talk about the use of a prologues and epilogues. In what way does Tchaikovsky Discovers

America use these devices? [Answer: It begins with a description of Tchaikovsky’s ship sailing into New York Harbor and ends with his ship sailing away. Both scenes are de-tached from the flow of the main story, which takes place in Carnegie Hall, on the train and at Niagara Falls.]

• This epilogue creates a misty, surreal picture. While listening to the moving finale of Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings, provide art materials for your class to paint the clos-ing scene: as Tchaikovsky’s ship pulls out of New York Harbor past the Statue of Liberty, fireworks light the sky.

Exploring the Music“Long, Long Ago” and “The Maiden’s Chorus”Listen to how this 18th-century English song “Long, Long Ago” melts seamlessly into Tchaikovsky’s “The Maiden’s Chorus.” Ask your class:• In what sense are these two songs similar? [Answer: They are both pastorales, describing

a longing for the simple country life.] 6

3�

• Sing “Long, Long Ago” as printed here. It can be accompanied simply with only two chords (F+ and C+). Younger classes can accompany the entire piece on a single glockenspiel in C.

• Sing “The Maiden’s Chorus.”

“Amazing Grace”Do your students know the story “Amazing Grace”? While bringing his “human cargo” back from Africa, a slave trader had a religious conversion and realized the error of his ways. Ask your students:• How does this story explain the last two lines of the song?• Sing “Amazing Grace,” using the glockenspiel descant on Orff instruments.• On this recording, what is the accompaniment to the second verse and what effect does

it create? [Answer: A uniquely still “string pad” is wrapped around the voices of the girls to create a sense of reverent wonder.]

Serenade for Strings“Amazing Grace” is so similar to the opening of Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings that we were tempted to lay the two pieces on top of each other. Pose these questions to your class:• How would you put into words the mood of these two pieces. [Suggestions: solemn,

triumphant, radiant.]• How does the opening of the Serenade for Strings portray the waterfalls? [Answer: Its melody

is a huge descending scale suggesting tremendous power in a downward direction.]• Obtain a copy of the entire Serenade for Strings, Op. 49. It has four movements: this

opening, a quietly radiant Elegie, the Waltz we heard in the first scene and the Finale, which underlies the mist in the harbor during the Epilogue. In this Finale, you can hear the same tremolo violin technique that was used in Le Sommeil. The overall effect is very similar to Appalachian Spring by Aaron Copland. By way of comparison, listen to both recordings, Russian and American.

1812 Overture, FinaleThe Finale of the 1812 Overture is one of the best-known pieces in all of classical music. It is interesting that Tchaikovsky was not much impressed with this work. He called it “showy and noisy,” with “no artistic merit, because I wrote it without warmth and without love.” Generations of listeners would disagree. In 1993, the Russian cellist and conductor Mstislav Rostropovich played it in Red Square to celebrate the dawning of democracy in Russia.

Just a glance at the score of the 1812 Finale is terrifying. Maybe the fact that it was made to be played outdoors, rather than inside a concert hall, accounts for its huge size. It is a good thing that Tchaikovsky was not paying for all those players!• Direct the attention of your class to the use of a huge brass section (four horns, four

trumpets, three trombones, one tuba). To this, Tchaikovsky adds no fewer than four percussionists, cathedral bells and cannon fire. Still unsatisfied, he augments the sound with an entire military band. Like Beethoven’s addition of a choir to his “Ode to Joy,” Tchaikovsky needed more than even the largest orchestra to express his vision.

• Can your students hear echoes of the French “La Marseillaise” and the Russian national anthem in the Finale?

1

1

1

6

6,8

1

6

6

38

Long, Long Ago

Arr. Susan Hammond

3�

Amazing Grace

Arr. Susan Hammond

40

Tchaikovsky on Other Composers• Mozart: “When I play Mozart, I feel brighter and younger, almost youthful again... To my

mind, Mozart is the culminating point of all beauty in the sphere of music. He alone can make me weep and tremble with delight.”

• Beethoven: “I praise him unconditionally... but I do not love him.”• Bach and Handel: “I like to play Bach, because it is interesting to play a good fugue, but

I do not regard him as a great genius. Handel is only fourth-rate; he is not even interest-ing.”

• Brahms and the Romantics: “Brahms’s creative gift is meager, unworthy of his aspirations... Liszt’s compositions leave me cold.” Tchaikovsky claimed he hated Wagner, liked Weber, admired Mendelssohn and loved the sweet Schumann.Other music by Tchaikovsky to explore with your class: six symphonies, four concerti,

eleven operas, three famous ballets, orchestral suites, string quartets, songs and piano miniatures.

After the RecordingQuestions to ask:• In what sense did Tchaikovsky “discover” America? [Answer: He learned about its people,

its music, its landscape.]• How many years separated Tchaikovsky’s “discovery” from that of Columbus? [Answer:

400 years.]• Any good story demands change in its characters. How have Alex, Jenny and even Tchaik-

ovsky been changed by this experience?• What can you remember most vividly about the story? What were your favorite parts?

More activities:• From the descriptions in Tchaikovsky Discovers America, create a class mural to represent

the Old World meeting the New.• While listening to the music, make individual or group pictures of Tchaikovsky’s three

famous ballets.• Try to organize a class outing to see one of Tchaikovsky’s ballets.• Visit a ballet studio or ask a dance teacher to come in to explain the technique and

history of ballet.• Ballet is the essence of Tchaikovsky. Choose a ballet and create your own class version of it.

41

CLassiCaL kids and the integrated CurriCuLuM

This chart and the following 10-day Lesson Plan illustrate the themes and skills developed in these Teacher’s Notes for Tchaikovsky Discovers America.

There is also a sample question sheet after the Lesson Plan for those teachers wishing to assess their students’ skills and knowledge with a short test.

Core Area Tchaikovsky

Time Frame 1840–1893

Geography Russia, America

Social Studies • Old Russia • America in the 1890s • Civil wars • Statue of Liberty • Niagara Falls • Ellis Island • Maps • Baseball

Creative Writing • Fairy and folk tales • Ballet stories • Sequels, spells • Prologue and epilogue • Point of view

Modern Issues • Fears • Celebrity

Other Arts • Drawing scenes • Dancing • Ballet and sports • Making nutcrackers

Music • Piano Concerto No. 1 • The Nutcracker • Sleeping Beauty • Swan Lake • Major–minor tonality, motifs • 1812 Overture, Marche Slav • Serenade for Strings • Singing Tchaikovsky • Singing American songs • Instruments • Ragtime

Math and • InventionsScience • Trains and ships

• Elevators

4�

Suggested Lesson Plan

Monday

Part One• Familiar music

(7)• Old World, New

World (8)• The first modern

composer (8)• Price of fame

(19)• Family (10)

Tuesday

Part Two• Character change

(40)• Favorite parts of

story (40)

Wednesday

Biography• Diaries, quotes

(9)• Tchaikovsky’s

family (16)• Women in

Tchaikovsky’s life (26–27)

• Fears (35)• Tracing Tchaiko-

vsky’s trip (18)• Other composers

(40)

Thursday

Social Studies• Inventions (10,

28)• Transportation

(9–10)• Statue of Liberty

(34)• Ellis Island

(27, 34)• Niagara Falls (36)• America in

1890s (26)• Baseball (27)• Maps (18)• Civil wars and

politics (27, 35)

Friday

Creative Writing• Fairy tales (17,

29)• Point of view

(17)• Retelling story

(12, 17, 22, 29)• Sequels (17, 22)• Vocabulary (17)• Prologue and

epilogue (36)

Week One

Week Two

Monday

Other Arts• Dancing to

Trepak, Waltz, Violente (12, 18, 32, 33)

• Mime (22)• Ballet and

sports (22, 29)• Painting scenes

(18, 22, 29, 36, 40)

• Making nut-crackers (18)

Tuesday

Three Ballets• The Nutcracker

(12, 17–19, 29, 33)

• Swan Lake (11, 20–24)

• Sleeping Beauty (28–33)

Wednesday

Create a Ballet (18–22, 40)• Constructing

sets, costumes• Writing scripts• Choreography• Seeing a ballet;

inviting a dancer (23, 40)

Thursday

Music• Piano Concerto

(10)• 1812 Overture

(19)• Major–minor

singing (11, 19, 24)

• Motifs (11)• Conducting

waltzes (14)• “The Maiden’s

Chorus” (29)• Marche Slav (32)• Serenade for

Strings (37)

Friday

American Music Songs• “Swing Low,

Sweet Chariot” (12)

• Broadway (12)• Ragtime (24)• “Amazing Grace”

(37)• “Long, Long

Ago” (37)• Worksheet (43)

43

Worksheet for Tchaikovsky Discovers America

1. Tchaikovsky visited America in the year _____. He died two years later at age _____.2. He lived in the city of ___________________

in the country of _______________________3. He traveled by _________ to America, then

by ____________ to Niagara Falls.4. In New York, he met the __________ family.

The girl’s name was ____________________ and the boy’s name was _________________

5. What is Alex’s problem? _________________ _____________________________________

6. What is Jenny’s dream? _________________ _____________________________________

7. Tell the story of Tchaikovsky Discovers Ameri-ca in your own words. __________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________

8. List three sad scenes. ___________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________

9. List three funny scenes. _________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________

10. Name the foods / drinks and their country of origin included in The Nutcracker scene. _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________

11. Tell the story of The Nutcracker in your own words. ________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________

12. Tell the story of Swan Lake in your own words. ________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________

13. What does Tchaikovsky tell Mr. Petroff on the train? _____________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________

14. Do you think this ending was happy, sad? _____________________________________

15. What does Tchaikovsky discover in America? _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________

16. What was your favorite scene? Why? ______ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________

17. What was your favorite piece of music? _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________

18. Which singing did you like best? _________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________

answers: Cut off this portion before photocopying worksheet. (1) 1891, 53; (2) St. Petersburg or Moscow, Russia; (3)ship, train; (4) Petroff, Jenny, Alex; (5) He is afraid his father wants the family to return to Russia; (6) to dance ballet; (7) N/A; (8) Swan Lake, Father’s story, Sleeping Beauty; (9) Two reporter scenes, baseball; (10) Tea from China, Coffee from Arabia, Chocolate from Spain; (11) N/A, (12) N/A; (13) Russia is no place for children; (14) Some of each; (15) inventions, warm people, the courage to conduct; (16) N/A; (17) N/A; (18) N/A.

44

CLassiCaL kids awards and honors

Beethoven Lives UpstairsAudio: Juno Award Best Children’s Recording (Canada), Parents’ Choice Silver Honor (U.S.), American Library Association Notable Children’s Recording Award, Practi-cal Home Schooling Reader Award Music Curriculum Category and Educational Audio Cassette Category (U.S.), Film Advisory Board Award of Excellence (U.S.), Parents’ Choice Classic Award (U.S.), Certified Gold Record (Canada), Certified Platinum Record (Canada)

Book: Governor General’s Award Finalist – Illustration (Canada), Canadian Children’s Book Centre Our Choice Recommendation

Video: Emmy Award for Best Children’s Program, Parents’ Choice Movie Hall of Fame Classic and Gold Awards (U.S.), Dove Foundation Dove Family Approved Seal, Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Platinum Award (U.S.), Film Advisory Board Award of Excellence (U.S.), Gold Camera Award Best Children’s Program and Best Direc-tion (U.S.), Certified Multi-Platinum Video (Canada)

Cd-RoM: National Parenting Publications Honors Award (U.S.), Film Advisory Board Award of Excellence (U.S.), Curriculum Administrator Top 100 Districts’ Choice Award (U.S.)

Mr. Bach Comes to CallParents’ Choice Gold Award (U.S.), American Library Association Notable Children’s Recording Award, Parents’ Choice Classic Award (U.S.), Practical Home Schooling Reader Award Music Curriculum Category and Educa-tional Audio Cassette Category (U.S.), Film Advisory Board Award of Excellence (U.S.), Certified Gold Record (Canada), Certified Platinum Record (Canada)

Mozart’s Magic FantasyJuno Award Best Children’s Recording (Canada), Parents’ Choice Gold Award, American Library Association Nota-ble Children’s Recording Award, Parents’ Choice Classic Award (U.S.), Practical Home Schooling Reader Award Music Curriculum Category and Educational Audio Cassette Category (U.S.), Film Advisory Board Award of Excellence (U.S.), Certified Gold Record (Canada), Certi-fied Platinum Record (Canada)

Vivaldi’s Ring of MysteryJuno Award Best Children’s Recording (Canada), Parents’ Choice Gold Award (U.S.), American Library Association Notable Children’s Recording Award, Parents’ Choice Classic Award (U.S.), Practical Home Schooling Reader Award Music Curriculum Category and Educational Audio Cassette Category (U.S.), AudioFile Earphones Award of Excellence (U.S.), Film Advisory Board Award of Excellence (U.S.), Certified Gold Recording (Canada)

Daydreams and LullabiesFilm Advisory Board Award of Excellence (U.S.), Practical Home Schooling Reader Award Music Curriculum Cat-egory and Educational Audio Cassette Category (U.S.)

Tchaikovsky Discovers AmericaAudio: Juno Award Best Children’s Recording (Cana-da), American Library Association Notable Children’s Recording Award, Parents’ Choice Classic Award (U.S.), Practical Home Schooling Reader Award Music Curricu-lum Category and Educational Audio Cassette Category (U.S.), AudioFile Earphones Award of Excellence (U.S.), Certified Gold Record (Canada)

Book: Canadian Children’s Book Centre Our Choice Recommendation, Gibbon Award Finalist Illustration (Canada)

Hallelujah HandelParents’ Choice Gold Award (U.S.), Film Advisory Board Award of Excellence (U.S.), Practical Home Schooling Reader Award Music Curriculum Category and Educa-tional Audio Cassette Category (U.S.)

Mozart’s Magnificent VoyageJuno Award Best Children’s Recording (Canada), Au-dioFile Earphones Award of Excellence, Parent’s Guide Children’s Media Award, Selected as Outstanding by Parent Council, Canadian Children’s Book Centre - Our Choice Gold

Song of the UnicornJuno Award nomination Best Children’s Recording (Canada), AudioFile Earphones Award of Excellence, Parent’s Guide to Children’s Media Award of Excellence, Parents’ Choice Recommendation

Educational AwardsCurriculum Administrator Top 100 Districts’ Choice Award, Learning Magazine – Teacher’s Choice Award, Practical Home Schooling Association Notable Children’s Recordings

The Classroom CollectionTeacher’s Choice Award Learning Magazine

Susan Hammond, Classical Kids Producer The Order of Canada for her contribution to arts and education in Canada