Video #4: What Does the Conductor Do?

Curriculum Guide

The curriculum guide below is designed to help you use the MPR Classnotes video as a

teaching tool in your classroom as a means to help teach the highlighted standards below.

Young students may have seen a musical conductors referred to in pop culture, but most kids

dont fully understand what a conductor does. This topic of interest to kids is a great

introduction into the music standards, bringing many music concepts that we teach in the music

classroom to life through the baton. As you show What Does a Conductor Do? to your

students, the following curricula can add value and enrich this experience for your students.

Table of Contents:

Music Standards Link ................................................................................................................. 2

Definition of Terms ..................................................................................................................... 2

Full Length Examples of Audio on YouTube .............................................................................. 3

Background on Sarah Hicks ....................................................................................................... 4

Composer & Composition Background ...................................................................................... 5

Score of Hansel and Gretel ........................................................................................................ 6

Score of Concerto for Orchestra ................................................................................................ 7

Classroom activites .................................................................................................................... 8

Below is a copy of the Minnesota Music Standards. The standards which are the focus of this

video are highlighted in yellow.

2008 Revised Minnesota Academic Standards in the Arts Perpich Center document adapted from MDE Minnesota Academic Standards in the Arts 2008 To download, visit - http://education.state.mn.us/MDE/Academic_Excellence/Academic_Standards/Arts/index.html

4-

5

Music 4.1.1.3.1 1. Artistic

Foundations

1. Demonstrate knowledge of

the foundations of the arts

area.

1. Describe the elements of music

including melody, rhythm, harmony,

dynamics, tone color, texture, form and

their related concepts.

4.1.1.3.2 2. Describe how the elements and their

related concepts such as pitch, tempo,

canon, and ABA are used in the

performance, creation or response to

music.

Music 4.1.2.3.1 2. Demonstrate knowledge

and use of the technical skills

of the art form, integrating

technology when applicable.

1. Read and notate music using standard

notation such as quarter, half and eighth

notes and rests, the lines and spaces of

the treble clef, and time signatures.

- http://www.pcae.k12.mn.us/pdr/standards/standards.html

Definition of Terms:

TEMPO: The speed of music - how fast or slow DYNAMICS: The volume of music - how loud or soft INSTRUMENTATION: The instruments used by a composer The four families of instruments are the woodwinds, brass, strings, and percussion. TIME SIGNATURE or METER: Number of beats per measure. What type of note gets the beat CUEING When a conductor points to an instrument or section of the orchestra to invite them to play.

http://irvingparkmusic.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/instru_families.jpg

You may want to play the full works of the pieces that Sarah Hicks conducted for your students for

further study or for your students to conduct along. The following YouTube clips would work well for

that exercise.

YouTube example full length works for further listening:

"Hnsel und Gretel" - "The Overture" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Fm60b0X51c The Overture is what is played on the MPR Class Notes Video. Runtime 7:52.

Hnsel und Gretel (Act 1, Scene 1 Highlights) - by Engelbert Humperdinck

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4PnURcL_RM Ottawa, March 20 2014 - Here is

the first part of the opening act of the Engelbert Humperdinck opera, Hansel and Gretel,

staged at the Richcraft Theatre by singers of the YTK Studio. This is a home video, but

is in English and can give students a flavor of the opera.

Witold Lutoslawski - Concerto for Orchestra, I-II

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YADvkF62nFo

Background on Sarah Hicks She was born in

Tokyo, Japan and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii. She is

the Principal Conductor of the Pops and Presentations

of the Minnesota Orchestra. She is an accomplished

violinist and pianist with a B. A. in composition from

Harvard University. Her musical focus switched from

piano to violin and then to conducting at age 17 after

battling tendonitis in her wrists.

http://sarahhicksconductor.com/web/bio.aspx

Photograph by Greg Helgeson

Sarah Hicks Videos:

Sting in Venice, 29.07.2011 - When We Dance

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=avDAejjkZ5s Ms. Hicks conducts

the orchestra for the Sting Concert.

Meet Sarah Hicks (presented by UNC-TV & John Dancy)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QgkrKfkMzk&feature=player_embedded Great video of Ms

Hicks current life traveling between conducting gigs.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Humperdinck_Postcard-1910.jpg http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Engelbert_Humperdinck_01.jpg

Engelbert Humperdinck (1854 1921) A German composer, he wrote his first composition

when he was seven years old. He took piano lessons as a child. Though he was discouraged

by his parents to pursue a carrier in music, he went on to become a professor of music. His

most famous composition was Hnsel and Gretel.

Hnsel und Gretel The music for this opera came from four songs that he wrote for his

nieces puppet show in their home. The story of Hansel and Gretel is adapted from the Brothers

Grimm which tells of a hungry brother and sister who are trapped by an evil witch in the candy

built cottage in the woods. They eventually outsmart the witch and find their freedom

Witold Lutosawski (1913 1994) A Polish

composer and conductor. He escaped German

capture during World War II. He then earned

money playing piano in the bars of Warsaw. He

was successful at writing music for the theater

and films. During the 1940s & 50s his more

serious works were banned by the Communist

government for being revolutionary in content.

The Concerto for Orchestra was composed

over a four year period from 1950 1954. This

piece is influenced by many folk songs from

Poland.

Witold Lutosawski. Courtesy of W. Pniewski and L. Kowalski.

http://www.dlib.indiana.edu/variations/scores/bgp3053/large/index.html

http://www.musicroom.com/se/id_no/010500/details.html

Classroom activities that support the

targeted standards:

Standard

Describe the elements of music including melody,

rhythm, harmony, dynamics, tone color, texture, form

and their related concepts.

Describe how the elements and their related concepts

such as pitch, tempo, canon, and ABA form are used in

the performance, creation or response to music.

Class Activities

1. Have your students try their hand at conducting. Below you will find the visuals of the basic

conducting patterns. They can conduct along with the video, mirror you (their classroom

music teacher) as you demonstrate the pattern, or conduct along with the full length audio

listed above through YouTube. You could take the student conducting one step further by

having your classroom play along with

individual student conductors. The class

ensemble could be playing hand drums, Orff

instrument, or clapping the pulse of the

pattern while a student conducts. Have your

students describe how these patterns relate

to the time signature. Does one of the beats

have more emphasis than the others?

2. Have your students listen to Hnsel and Gretel and then move to the dynamics of the piece.

Their bodies can grow with the louder volume and shrink for a decrescendo. This piece is

very fluid, expressive and undulating with its dynamics, proving a great vehicle for dynamic

exploration. Show the students the dynamic diagram at the beginning of this document as a

reference. Play excerpts of the piece and have them name the dynamic level that they are

hearing. Have your students describe feelings or images that come to them at certain

moments in the music tied to these dynamics.

Standard

Read and notate music using standard notation such as quarter, half and eighth notes and

rests, the lines and spaces of the treble clef, and time signatures.

Class Activities

1. Project the score for Hansel and Gretel for your students to see. If you are able to highlight

the instrument families with different colors in the score, this would be very helpful for the

students to see what the conductor sees. Point out the title, composers name, time

signature, and that this first page only represents eight measures of music in the score.

Have the students identify the note values of the whole note, half note, quarter note and

eighth note. Point out the dynamics of piano with crescendo and decrescendo. Then play

the recording of the beginning of the piece and have the students follow along to see

instrument entrances.

Woodwind

Composer

Title

Crescendo and

decrescendo

Piano

Time Signature

of 4/4

Brass

Strings

Percussion