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YOUNG PEOPLE’S CONCERTS
2016-2017 STUDY GUIDE
Edwin Landseer, Scene from A Midsummer Night's Dream. Titania and Bottom (1848)
Clayton State University
Department of Visual & Performing Arts
A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM
(abridged version)
Friday, November 4, 2016
6th-12th Grades
Compiled by students in Clayton State University’s Music Drama Workshop
Edited by Melanie Darby
Table of Contents
About the PERFORMERS..................................................................................................................... 2
About the ORCHESTRA and INCIDENTAL MUSIC ............................................................................. 2
Special Topic: COLLABORATION IN MUSIC DRAMA ........................................................................ 3
Program Focus: A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM ......................................................................... 3
VOCABULARY ....................................................................................................................................... 5
CROSS CURRICULAR CONNECTIONS and STANDARDS .................................................................... 5
REFERENCES and RESOURCES ............................................................................................................ 7
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About the PERFORMERS
Clayton State University’s Department of Visual and Performing Arts serves the community through its
excellence in teaching, research, and creative endeavors. The department’s diverse programs are linked
by their commitment to nurturing creativity and professional expertise. Working with a professionally
active faculty, students learn, create, and develop skills in a supportive environment. Graduates of our
programs are equipped to excel in advanced studies or professional careers.
The 2016 Shakespeare Festival is a collaborative effort of Clayton State University’s Music Drama
Workshop and Chorale, the Southern Crescent Symphony, and the Theatre Program.
In the Department of Visual and Performing Arts’
Music Drama Workshop, students learn techniques of
musical acting appropriate to all forms of Western
music drama (including opera, operetta, and musical
theatre) and apply them to public productions. The
philosophy of the ensemble is that all these forms of
music drama are equally valid expressions of acting
through the medium of music.
As the premier vocal ensemble at Clayton State, the
Chorale is an auditioned ensemble comprised primarily of
Performing Arts Majors with concentrations in Music and
Music Education. This ensemble provides intensive and
thorough per-professional training for the next generation
of vocal performers, music educators, and choral enthusiasts.
The Southern Crescent Symphony Orchestra is a community orchestra devoted to meeting the cultural
needs of audiences and performers in the Southern Crescent area of Metro Atlanta. Members of the
orchestra include professional musicians, music educators, amateur musicians and students, all of whom
strive to utilize their full potential in presenting a quality musical product.
The Theatre concentration in the BA Performing Arts is a versatile program that allows students to
pursue theatre studies in the context of a liberal arts curriculum. Our program is designed with an eye
toward the realities of professional theatre and is directly connected to professional theatre in Georgia.
Each faculty member is a working artist in the world of professional theatre. Students work closely with
faculty to develop new work and/or discover new interpretations of classical works.
About the ORCHESTRA and INCIDENTAL MUSIC
An orchestra is a group of performers on various musical instruments which usually come from all four
instrument families — brass, percussion, strings, and woodwinds. Orchestras can be different sizes from
twenty to over one hundred people. A large orchestra is called a symphony orchestra. Smaller
ensembles may be called chamber orchestra and may concentrate on one instrument family such as
strings. The conductor is the person who directs an orchestra or chorus, communicating to the
performers by motions of a baton or the hands his or her interpretation of the music. Orchestras play
all kinds of music and perform in a variety of locations.
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2016-2017 STUDY GUIDE
Incidental music is music used in a play, television program, radio program, video game, film, or some
other presentation form that is not primarily musical. This music can enhance a scene or perform a
theme. Themes are usually a recognizable melody.
Special Topic: COLLABORATION IN MUSIC DRAMA
This production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a collaboration, two or more people working
together to create something. In theatre or drama, music is often in the background, an enhancement
to the action on stage like the costumes and the scenery. The music is created by a sound system or an
orchestra located in a ‘pit’, out of sight of the audience. In music, you rarely see actors or the theatre of
the music. If you do, it plays ‘second fiddle’ to the creation of the music on stage. Musicians in an
orchestra often dress the same to help give focus to the music they are playing.
Collaboration isn’t easy. It demands creativity, problem-solving, understanding, and practice. For this
special production, music and drama both have an important focus. The arts are woven together to
create a concert with strong theatrical elements. You will see instrumental and choral musicians on
stage and actors and singers in costume. Both groups of artists are in the spotlight. Everyone must play
his or her part. ELAGSE6-12RL7
ELACC6-12RL7
TAMS6-12.7
M6-12GM.8
Program Focus: A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM
About the Play: A Midsummer Night's Dream is a comedy written by William Shakespeare between
1590 and 1597. It portrays the events surrounding the marriage of Theseus, the Duke of Athens, to
Hippolyta. These include the adventures of four young Athenian lovers and a group of six amateur actors
(the mechanicals) who are controlled and manipulated by the fairies who inhabit the forest in which
most of the play is set. The play is one of Shakespeare's most popular works for the stage and is widely
performed across the world. TAMS6-12.8
About the Playwright: William Shakespeare (1564-1616) is one of the
most well-known and loved playwrights of all time. Born in England, He
was also a poet and actor. Shakespeare wrote comedies, tragedies, and
histories. Some of Shakespeare’s the best known plays include Romeo and
Juliet, Hamlet, Macbeth, and Julius Caesar. Shakespeare wrote his plays in
a poetic form and stylized language that was popular for his time. He
created many famous phrases in our language such as ‘dead as a doornail’,
‘heart of gold’, ‘for goodness sake’, ‘love is blind’, and ‘knock, knock, who’s
there?’. His characters and plots influenced many people over the
centuries. For example the story of Romeo and Juliet was the basis for the
famous modern musical West Side Story. His stories also inspired artists
and composers like Felix Mendelssohn. ELACC6RL4
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About the Composer: Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847) was a German
composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic period.
Like Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Mendelssohn was considered a child
prodigy. At age 17 Mendelssohn wrote his Overture to Shakespeare's A
Midsummer Night's Dream, which is one of the best-known of his early
works. Later, in 1842, he extended the overture to complete incidental
music for the play, including the famous “Wedding March”. Mendelssohn
wrote symphonies, concerti, oratorios, piano music and chamber music. He
played piano and organ.
What to listen for:
About the Piece: At two separate times, Felix
After the first four chords (performed
by wind instruments) listen for a
scurrying, busy motif representing
the dancing fairies.
Mendelssohn composed music for William Shakespeare's
play, A Midsummer Night's Dream. First in 1826, near the
start of his career, he wrote a concert overture (Op. 21).
Later, in 1842, only a few years before his death, he wrote
incidental music (Op. 61) for a production of the play, into
which he incorporated the existing Overture. The incidental
music includes the world-famous “Wedding March.”
http://www.npr.org/sections/decep
tivecadence/2014/05/23/315246245
/marin-alsops-guide-tomendelssohns-a-midsummer-nightsdream
The Overture is noted for its striking instrumental effects, such
as the emulation of scampering 'fairy feet' at the beginning and
the braying of Bottom as a donkey.
The famous "Wedding March," which we still hear
accompanying brides down aisles, was adopted by
Princess Victoria in 1858 for her wedding to Prince
William of Prussia. The bride's mother, Queen Victoria,
loved Mendelssohn's music. It is one of the most
frequently used wedding marches, generally being
played on a church pipe organ.
Listen to the wedding march by clicking on this
picture. M6-12GM.9
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VOCABULARY
Collaboration is two or more people working together to create something.
Conductor is the person who directs an orchestra or chorus, communicating to the performers by
motions of a baton or the hands his or her interpretation of the music.
Incidental music is music used in a play, television program, radio program, video game, film, or some
other presentation form that is not primarily musical. This music can enhance a scene or perform a
theme.
Orchestra is a group of performers on various musical instruments which usually come from all four
instrument families — brass, percussion, strings, and woodwinds.
Overture is an orchestral piece at the beginning of an opera, suite, play, oratorio, or other extended
composition.
Romantic period was an artistic, literary, musical and intellectual movement that originated in Europe
toward the end of the 18th century and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate period from
1800 to 1850. Art and music from the era are characterized by a heightened interest in nature and an
emphasis on emotion and imagination.
Themes are usually a recognizable melody.
CROSS CURRICULAR CONNECTIONS and STANDARDS
PageStandard
M6-12GM.6
M6-12GM.7
M6-12GM.8
M6-12GM.9
Explanation
Listening to, analyzing, and describing music a. Identify specific music events in an
aural example, given appropriate terminology. b. Identify characteristics of musical
elements in music which represent diverse genres and cultures.
Evaluating music and music performances a. Critique musical performances and
compositions using specific criteria. b. Evaluate the quality and effectiveness of
their own and other’s performances, compositions, and arrangements,
implementing constructive suggestions for improvement. c. Compare various uses
of music in daily experiences. d. Cultural and Historical Context
Understanding relationships between music, the other arts, and disciplines outside
the arts a. Compare two art forms and their characteristics to describe the
transformation of related subject matter into art. b. Assess the interrelated principles
and subject matter between music and other core curriculum. c. Compare various
career paths in music.
Understanding music in relation to history and culture a. Describe distinguishing
characteristics of representative music genres and styles from a variety of cultures.
b. Classify exemplary musical works by genre and style and define their identifying
characteristics. Compare music of various world cultures identifying the function
and role of music, their musicians and their ensuing performance conditions. d.
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Demonstrate appropriate performance etiquette as a performer and a listener in a
variety of performance settings.
Program Focus
ELACC6-12 RL4
Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including
figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of a specific word choice
on meaning and tone.
ELACC6-12 RL5
Analyze how a particular sentence, chapter, scene, or stanza fits into the overall
structure of a text and contributes to the development of the theme, setting, or
plot.
Compare and contrast the experience of reading a story, drama, or poem to
listening to or viewing an audio, video, or live version of the text, including
contrasting what they “see” and “hear” when reading the text to what they
perceive when they listen or watch.
Compare and contrast texts in different forms or genres (e.g., stories and poems;
historical novels and fantasy stories) in terms of their approaches to similar
themes and topics.
ELACC6-12 RL7
ELACC6-12 RL9
ELAGSE6-12
RL3
ELAGSE6-12
RL4
ELAGSE6-12 L5
ELAGSE6-12
RL7
ELAGSE6-12
RL9
TAMS6-12.1
TAMS6-12.7
TAMS6-12.8
TAMS6-12.11
Analyze how particular elements of a story or drama interact (e.g., how settings
shape the characters or plot).
Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including
figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of rhymes and other
repetitions of sounds (e.g., alliteration) on a specific verse or stanza of a poem or
section of a story or drama.
Analyze how a drama’s or poem’s form or structure (e.g., soliloquy, sonnet)
contributes to its meaning
Compare and contrast a written story, drama, or poem to its audio, filmed, staged,
or multimedia version, analyzing the effects of techniques unique to each medium
(e.g., lighting, sound, color, or camera focus and angles in a film).
Compare and contrast a fictional portrayal of a time, place, or character and a
historical account of the same period as a means or understanding how authors of
fiction use or alter history.
Analyzing and constructing meaning from theatrical experiences, dramatic
literature, and electronic media a. Identifies the elements, themes, and structure of
drama b. Identifies, describes, and classifies character traits c. Interprets meaning
within the context of a dramatic text d. Explores the connections between theatre
and real life e. Compares and differentiates between various forms of media
Integrating various art forms, other content areas, and life experiences to create
theatre a. Identifies similarities between theatre and other art forms b. Draws
conclusions about the relationships between theatre and life c. Identifies theatre’s
multi-disciplinary aspects d. Utilizes a variety of sources to create original theatre e.
Demonstrates a variety of types of theatre performances
Examining the roles of theatre as a reflection of past and present civilizations a.
Describes the origins of theatre b. Creates a table summarizing the ways in which
the role of theatre has changed over time c. Identifies ways in which theatre
influences a culture d. Identifies ways in which a culture influences theatre e.
Analyzes ways in which theatre reflects the culture of a society
Engaging actively and appropriately as an audience member in theatre or other
media experiences a. Models appropriate audience behaviors b. Analyzes the
relationship between an audience and a performer
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REFERENCES and RESOURCES
https://www.playshakespeare.com/midsummer-nights-dream/synopsis
http://www.biography.com/people/william-shakespeare-9480323
http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.570794
http://www.npr.org/sections/deceptivecadence/2014/05/23/315246245/marin-alsops-guide-tomendelssohns-a-midsummer-nights-dream
http://cso.org/uploadedfiles/1_tickets_and_events/program_notes/programnotes_mendelssohn_mids
ummer.pdf
www.georgiastandards.org
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