Download galliard brass quintet - Young Audiences Western New York

GALLIARD BRASS QUINTET
Philip Christner, Trumpet
Lowell Shaw, Horn
Rich Riederer, Trumpet
Lon Gormley, Trombone
Mark Jones, Tuba
ABOUT THE ARTISTS:
The Galliard Brass Quintet was founded in 1978 with the purpose of bringing
brass chamber music to the people of Western New York. The group performs
throughout the area for young and old alike. The Quintet has been in residence
at Artpark and is affiliated with the Arts Council in Buffalo.
Philip Christner earned his degree at SUNY at Buffalo and has played with the
Charleston Symphony and the Pittsburgh Symphony. He is a member of the
Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra.
Rich Riederer received degrees at the Hartt School and at Bowling Green. He
comes from a musical family and is a very active freelance musician.
Lowell Shaw was a member of the Air Force Band after receiving a degree from
Northwestern. He is former director of the UB Jazz Band and is a member of the
Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra.
Lon Gormley received a degree from Indiana and has played with the Chicago
Ballet, Honolulu Symphony, Rochester and Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestras.
Mark Jones studied in Buffalo and has played with all musical organizations in
Western New York.
ABOUT THE PERFORMANCE:
GRADE LEVEL: The performances can be tailored to three age groups:
Performances for Pre-K to 3, 3 to 8, and 9 to 12.
CURRICULUM CORRELATION:
Social Studies
Standards 1 and 2: American and World History - Especially in the Instrument
History show, the exploration and development of instruments correlates with
the history of our culture and the cultures of people all over the world. Students
will gain a better understanding of the developments of American and world
history from the perspective of musical history.
The Arts
Standard 1: Creating, Performing and Participating in the Arts
Students will participate and actively be engaged in the processes that constitute
creation and performance of music.
Standard 2: Knowing and Using Arts Materials and Resources
Students will become knowledgeable about musical instruments.
Standard 3: Responding to and Analyzing Works of Art
Students will respond critically to the performance. They will be able to make
comparisons between what they witness during the performance and other
aspects of their experiences.
THE PERFORMANCE:
There is a choice from among three different programs:
1. History and Development of Brass Instruments - The group explains,
demonstrates and performs on instruments from sea shells and cow horns and
Civil War horns right up to our modern day instruments.
2. Uses of Music - The Quintet demonstrates how music is heard and used in all
of our everyday lives (TV, radio, movies, etc.).
3. Holiday Program (Thanksgiving to Christmas only) - The Quintet incorporates
both of the above programs and adds music especially for the holiday season.
Audience members are called up for all three of the above performances to help
out during the performance.
GOALS:
• To become familiar with the shapes, sounds and sizes of instruments in
the brass family and with the way sounds are produced by the individual
instruments and by an ensemble
• To be aware of the incorporation of these brass sounds into almost all the
music we hear
• To relate certain aspects of different historical periods to the resulting
cultures
• To realize that music can affect or enhance daily life and customs
OBJECTIVES:
• Seeing that the instruments look and sound different
• Hearing the variety of the different types of music
• Discovering the history of music, especially brass, in our country
• Learning to listen closely to the music that is all around us and to
recognize it in the components which are demonstrated by the Quintet
• Developing an understanding of the concepts of consonance and
dissonance
GETTING READY FOR THE PERFORMANCE: With the following activities,
incorporate the terms from the VOCABULARY section.
A FEW WEEKS PRIOR TO THE PERFORMANCE:
1. Have the students collect pictures, from many sources, of the instruments
that they think belong to the brass family,
2. Familiarize the students with the names of the instruments (trumpet,
trombone, French horn, tuba). Be prepared for the question, "What is the
largest or lowest instrument in the quintet?" Have the students try to
decide which instruments play lower or higher, softer or louder.
3. Have the students keep a record of the music they "listen to." Have a
discussion about the differences between "listening" and "hearing." Then
list such background or "wallpaper" music as that heard in news
broadcasts, shopping malls, "hold" on telephones, elevators, joggers'
headphones, etc.
4. Choose a historical period and have students outline or graph the
highlights of that particular period, i.e., social, technical, economic,
literary, musical, religious, etc.
5. Compare the uses of music in one particular historical period to current
uses, e.g., signaling, hunting, sporting events, etc.
ON THE DAY OF THE PERFORMANCE:
Review and discuss the concepts that have been introduced.
Tell the students that there will be audience participation and that if there are
any questions during the show, the Quintet will have a question/answer session
(hands only!).
HAVE YOUR STUDENTS WATCH AND LISTEN FOR:
The differences in the sounds of the instruments
How the instruments have changed in shape and materials throughout the years
The changes in the types of music styles throughout the course of history
AFTER THE PERFORMANCE:
1. Give the students a list of musical or brass instrument-related items in one
column and their definitions in another, but in a different order from the
first column. Have the students relate them, e.g.:
antiphonal brass
the lowest pitched brass instrument
piccolo trumpet
creating or elaborating on an idea
improvisation
the highest pitched brass instrument
tuba
live stereo brass
2. Develop a project to explore differing lengths of tubes or air spaces as they
determine high versus low pitches (e.g., tubing of plastic, brass, rubber,
etc. of greatly varying lengths is "buzzed" on or blown across and
compared one to the other). Bottles can be filled with water to different
heights and be either struck or blown across, and the resulting sounds
compared. Notice that the quality of the sound is affected by the material
with which the sound is made as well as by the instrument's volume and
shape.
3. Develop a riddle project as a written or oral game. As a group project the
students can make their own riddles to put in their own words the
differences of the instruments in sound and appearance, e.g., Which brass
instrument has no valves and gets longer and shorter? (trombone) Which
of the instruments in the brass quintet is the largest? (tuba)
4. With the use of recordings, develop a project or game requiring students
to recognize the differences between the various historical periods in
terms of the quality of instrument sound or chamber music played on
original instruments and the Duke Ellington Big Band.
5. Do a visual recognition project. Present pictures of both ancient and
modern musical instruments, including those of the brass quintet. Ask
students to identify and name the ones they heard at the Young
Audiences concert.
EVALUATION:
Do the students have any ideas or beliefs as a result of the show?
Are there any students who now may wish to learn to play a brass instrument?
Do the students now recognize the brass instruments when they hear them in
everyday music (TV, radio, movies, etc.)?
VOCABULARY:
quintet - a group of five
antiphonal brass - live stereo brass
improvisation - creating or elaborating on an idea
piccolo trumpet - highest pitched brass instrument
tuba - lowest and largest brass instrument
trombone - oldest member of the brass family; changes notes with a slide
horn - middle ranged voiced member of the brasses; uses hand to change the
"quality " of the sound
REFERENCES:
Baines, Anthony. BRASS INSTRUMENTS: THEIR HISTORY AND
DEVELOPMENT. Faber Music, 1976.
Eliason, Robert. EARLY AMERICAN BRASS MAKERS. The Brass Press,1979.