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Young People’s Concert Series
ANATOMY OF THE ORCHESTRA
TEACHER’S GUIDE
November 16, 17 & 18, 2010
9:45am & 11:10am
LAURIE AUDITORIUM
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Young People’s Concert Series
ANATOMY OF THE ORCHESTRA
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Concert Program: Anatomy of the Orchestra
3
COMPOSER INFORMATION
Bedřich Smetana
Aram Khachaturian
William Grant Still
Richard Wagner
Felix Mendelssohn
Mikhail Glinka
4
6
8
10
12
14
CONDUCTOR BIO
Ken-David Masur, Resident Conductor
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ADDITIONAL TEACHING INFORMATION
Vocabulary Page
Systems of the Body: Families of the Orchestra
Orchestra Map
Four Families of the Orchestra
Instrument Families Information Sheet
17
18
23
24
25
TEACHING ACTIVITIES
Instrument Families
Concert Etiquette
Concert Sponsors
Laurie Directions & Trinity Map
26
27
28
29
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Young People’s Concert Series
ANATOMY OF THE ORCHESTRA
Ken-David Masur, conductor
CONCERT PROGRAM:
Overture to The Bartered Bride
Bedřich Smetana
(1824-1884)
“Waltz” from Masquerade Suite
Aram Khachaturian
(1903-1978)
from Danzas de Panama
I. Tamborito
William Grant Still
(1895-1978)
“Arrival of the Guests at Wartburg” from Tannhäuser
Richard Wagner
(1813-1883)
from Symphony No. 3, “Scottish”
II. Vivace non troppo
Felix Mendelssohn
(1809-1847)
Overture to Ruslan and Ludmila
Mikhail Glinka
(1804-1857)
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Young People’s Concert Series
ANATOMY OF THE ORCHESTRA
Bedřich Smetana
Born: March 2, 1824 - Litomyšl, Bohemia
Died: May 12, 1884 - Prague
Famous Works: Ma Vlast (My Homeland), The Bartered Bride (opera)
B
edřich Smetana was
born into a poor family in a
German-speaking area of Bohemia. His father had the job
of Master Brewer, and when
not working Bedřich’s father
enjoyed hunting and playing
the violin. On many evenings
Bedřich heard his father and
Bedřich Smetana
his friends playing music. His
father taught young Bedřich
to play the violin and it was soon clear that Bedřich
was a very talented musician. His father, however, did
not want his son to become a professional musician
and instead he was sent to school in Prague.
At this point in history, Bohemia (now the
Czech Republic) was controlled by the Hapsburg
Empire. Much of the language and culture, especially
in larger towns such as Prague, was heavily influenced
by Austria and Germany. As the son of a brewer from
the countryside, Smetana had a difficult time making
friends and finding money to live on while he was in
Prague. This was partly because he didn’t understand
the Czech language as well as he did German.
In order to make ends meet, he began to
compose a few small works for one of the many
string quartets that performed for parties in Prague.
In 1840, Smetana first heard a recital by the great
pianist, Franz Liszt. Smetana was awed by Liszt and
decided to work at music with more enthusiasm.
Soon, however, his father visited him in Prague
and discovered that young Smetana was not doing
his non-musical studies. His father sent Bedřich to
live with his uncle in a small farming town called
Plzeň [pronounced “Pilzen”].
During his time in Plzeň, Smetana managed
to continue in his formal, non-musical studies while
spending a great deal of time performing on the piano for members of the local society. When he graduated, he decided he wanted to become a professional
musician so he moved back to Prague to begin his
career. Once in Prague, he found he was too old to
be accepted to the conservatory and too poor to afford private lessons. On top of that, he had recently
come to understand that his lack of formal training
was holding him back from being a successful musician.
Eventually he found a position as a music
teacher and continued his own piano and compositional studies at a small local music school. For years
he tried to expand his career. He had a few pieces
published, taught students and would sometimes
play recitals. He was unable, however, to achieve the
respect and income he was hoping for.
In late 1856, he traveled to Göteburg [“Gahthen-burg”], Sweden where he started a new music
school. The school was a mild success and Smetana
stayed there for six years. Smetana returned to Bohemia for a short time when his first wife became ill,
but unfortunately, she died on the voyage home.
After only three months back in
Prague, Smetana met and became engaged to Betty
Ferdinandi, the young sister of his brother’s wife. He
had returned to work at his music school in Göte-
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Bedřich Smetana
Born: March 2, 1824 - Litomyšl, Bohemia
Died: May 12, 1884 - Prague
Famous Works: Ma Vlast (My Homeland), The Bartered Bride (opera)
burg, but when he married Betty she helped to convince him to return permanently to Prague.
Smetana was also interested in returning to
Prague because of Count Harrach, a Czech patriot who
was Chairman of the Committee for the National Theatre. Count Harrach hoped to help the Czech national
movement by offering a large prize for the best libretto
and opera by a Czech composer on Czech historical
and musical themes. Smetana was interested in producing uniquely Czech music, though he had a hard time
properly speaking the Czech language. He immediately immersed himself in the musical activities of Prague
and composed his first opera, “The Brandenburgers in
Bohemia,” for Count Harrach’s competition.
By the time the judging of the competition had
been completed, “The Brandenburgers in Bohemia” had
already made its first appearance in the Prague Provisional Theatre and it achieved a fair amount of favorable praise and financial success. The judges had little
choice but to award the first prize to Smetana.
Even before the premiere of his first opera,
however, Smetana had begun to compose another opera
based on a comical tale from the Czech countryside. The
Bartered Bride was based on a short script by a friend
of Smetana. The plot takes place in a village where Jeník, a farmer’s son, has fallen in love with Mařenka, another farmer’s daughter.
Mařenka’s parents don’t
approve and use a marriage broker to promise Mařenka to Vašek,
the son of Micha, a
rich man. As the story
unfolds, Mařenka and
Jeník use lots of tricks
A Scene from The Bartered Bride
to fool her parents, Vašek,
and the marriage broker. Soon enough, the two lovers end up fooling each other and they fight. At the
last minute, it is revealed that Vašek and Jeník are halfbrothers, and as a “son of Micha” Jeník is allowed to
marry Mařenka. Jeník and Mařenka end up happily together.
The Overture to The Bartered Bride was actually composed well before Smetana completed the entire
opera, and therefore it uses only three themes from the
opera itself: the marriage broker’s theme, the contract
theme, and Jeník’s theme.
The Bartered Bride did not have much success during its first performances and Smetana decided to rewrite some of the opera. Over the next four
years, Smetana changed a lot of the opera to prepare
for opening performances in France and Russia, among
other places. It wasn’t until his fifth version of the opera
was performed in Prague that the work found success
with audiences.
Today it is a part of the standard opera repertoire and is admired all over the world for its humorous
descriptions of life in the Czech countryside. After The
Bartered Bride, Smetana’s fame grew and he was soon
known as the father of Czech opera. By 1874, however, Smetana had gone deaf and found himself isolated
from the world and from music.
His response to this tragedy was to write another of his greatest and most important works, Ma
Vlast (My Homeland). He continued to compose and
teach until his death in 1884.
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Young People’s Concert Series
ANATOMY OF THE ORCHESTRA
Aram Khachaturian
Born: June 6, 1903 - Tbilisi, Georgia, Imperial Russia
Died: May 1, 1978 - Moscow, Russia
Famous Works: Sabre Dance, Spartacus, Gayane
A
ram Khachaturian, a Soviet-Armenian composer, was
born in Tbilisi, Georgia, Imperial Russia in 1903. His father
was a bookbinder and the family had very little money, which
limited Khachaturian’s musical
experiences as a child.
In 1922, Khachaturian enAram Khachaturian
rolled in the biology department
at the Moscow State University,
however soon after his arrival, music instructors at
the University noticed he had a unique musical gift.
He enrolled in a cello class at the Gnessin Institute
and his musical talents soared. While at the Institute, Khachaturian also found that he had a talent for
composition. He continued his compositional studies
at the Moscow Conservatory under Nikolai Myaskovsky in 1929.
In 1933 Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev
visited the Conservatory leaving a lasting impression
on Khachaturian. Prokofiev was equally impressed
with Khachaturian, taking some of the young composer’s work with him to Paris where it was instantly
well received. Khachaturian’s trio for Clarinet, Violin
and Piano was among the works performed in Paris.
Khachaturian was accepted into the Soviet
Composers Union in 1932 and held many important positions within the organization throughout his
career. The Union had control over all musical conservatories, concert halls, theatres, and orchestras.
Power over the musical profession was handled by
the Union and was carefully monitored by the Communist Party. During the Communist rule musical
freedom did not exist. Art and music were to be supportive of Communist principles and had to include
patriotic and folkloric elements. Any change from
these regulations considered as lacking anything that
would appeal to the common people and was punishable. Khachaturian joined the Communist Party of
the Soviet Union in 1943.
Khachaturian’s music is very much like Armenian folk music yet stylistically follows traditions
of the Russian National School. His earliest works,
written in the late 1920s, consist mainly of incidental music for plays, some of those created by his
brother Souren. Throughout his career, Khachaturian
explored many different types of music. He wrote
three ballets of which Gayane includes his most famous work, Sabre Dance. Khachaturian also wrote
a handful of works for solo instrument and orchestra
in which he follows the form and musical traditions
of fellow Russian composers Alexander Borodin and
Alexander Glazunov.
His compositions also include three symphonies, a string quartet, a number of sonatas, several
works for solo piano, and many vocal pieces. Additionally, Khachaturian had a soft spot for the theatre, composing music for over 20 dramatic plays in
his career. He especially had a fondness for Shakespeare, writing music for three different Shakespearian plays: Macbeth, Otello and King Lear.
In addition to his admiration for Shakespeare, Khachaturian also had deep respect for other
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Aram Khachaturian
Born: June 6, 1903 - Tbilisi, Georgia, Imperial Russia
Died: May 1, 1978 - Moscow, Russia
Famous Works: Sabre Dance, Spartacus, Gayane
Russian artists including Russian Romantic poet and
writer Mikhail Lermontov. In 1836, Lermontov wrote
a play for the theatre titled Masquerade. The story is
considered by many to be Lermontov’s best drama and
is full of jealous misunderstandings. Inspired by the
play, Aram Khachaturian composed the incidental music for a production in 1941. In 1944, selections from
the music were pulled together to form the Masquerade Suite. Movements from the suite include a Waltz,
Nocturne, Mazurka, Romance and Galop. The Waltz
has a distinctively heavy Russian sound and the minor
key is indicative of the jealousy and turmoil occurring
in the story.
Aram Khachaturian died in Moscow on May 1,
1978 and was buried in Yerevan, Armenia. His funeral
was attended by thousands. Rather than the traditional
funeral march, mourners at the funeral listened to music from Masquerade, music that he will forever be remembered by.
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Young People’s Concert Series
ANATOMY OF THE ORCHESTRA
William Grant Still
Born: May 11, 1895 - Woodville, Mississippi
Died: December 3, 1978 - Los Angeles, California
Famous Works: Symphony No. 1 “Afro-American”; Danzas de Panama
W
illiam Grant Still,
an only child, was born in
Woodville, Mississippi in
1895 into a family of very
well-educated parents of
mixed-racial descent: African, Native American, Spanish, Irish and Scottish. His
father was a math profesWilliam Grant Still
sor and performed as a local
bandmaster. His mother was
a teacher.
William was very young, just a few months
old, when his father died. His mother moved to Little Rock, Arkansas with William, and she took a job
teaching literature in the high school there. William’s
mother remarried in Little Rock, and her second husband loved music. He took William to many concerts
of operettas and brought him recordings of classical music. As he was growing up, William’s grandmother sang African-American spirituals to him, so
his musical experiences were quite varied.
At the age of 14, William began taking violin lessons. When he was 16 years old, he graduated from high school and at the encouragement of
his mother, he enrolled at Wilberforce University as
a pre-medical student. Wilberforce was founded by
the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1856 and was the
first predominantly African-American private university in the nation.
Although he had high grades in his pre-med
studies, soon he was spending most of his time in the
musical activities at Wilberforce. He conducted the
band and joined a string quartet. He also taught himself to play a number of other instruments, including
the clarinet, oboe, double bass, cello and viola. He
started writing music and began to think about a career composing classical music instead of a career as
a doctor.
When he was 20, William dropped out of
school, got married and began making a living by
performing jazz and ragtime, which were types of
music his mother disliked. William and his wife,
who eventually had four children, struggled to earn
enough money to feed the family. Later, during the
1920s he worked for the dance-band leader Paul
Whiteman and as an arranger in a band organized
by W.C. Handy, who was known as “father of the
blues.”
William studied music for a time at Oberlin
Conservatory of Music, but enlisted in the United
States Navy in 1918, and served in World War I. He
worked on a large ship and there met another sailor who played piano. William had his violin along
aboard the ship and the two would sometimes play
to entertain officers during dinner.
He only stayed in the Navy about nine
months, and then returned to Oberlin on a scholarship. By 1919 he was persuaded to go live in New
York and work as an arranger at a music publishing
firm. While there he also studied composing with the
ultra-modern French composer, Edgar Varèse [pronounced: Var-aze]. William originally tried to write
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William Grant Still
Born: May 11, 1895 - Woodville, Mississippi
Died: December 3, 1978 - Los Angeles, California
Famous Works: Symphony No. 1 “Afro-American”; Danzas de Panama
music in a modern style, but soon blended sounds from
his African-American musical heritage with customary European classical ideas, and developed his own
unique style of composition.
One of his most famous pieces was his Symphony No. 1 “Afro-American Symphony.” It contained
a mixture of African-American melodies that included themes from spirituals, jazz, and blues. It also had
themes based on “call-and-response” styles popular
in many forms of music, including spirituals and the
blues.
Although he was proud of his African-American heritage, William Grant Still wanted to be regarded
first and foremost as an American composer. He felt
that his race was just one part of him and he wanted to
be seen as a whole person and musician. From composing his first works, he went on to write more than 150
pieces of music for orchestra, chamber groups, operas,
and ballets, as well as songs and piano music.
Around the time that William Grant Still moved
to New York City, the “Harlem Renaissance,” an African-American
cultural and intellectual movement,
was flourishing in
Harlem. Many African-American
writers, artists and
musicians were profoundly influenced
by the “Harlem Renaissance.” William
was one of them,
and he also believed
the rich, exciting
culture of African
-American
literature,
music
and
art
An Artistic Scene from the
“Harlem Renaissance”
could change persistent ideas of racism in
American.
William Grant Still was greatly admired as a
composer. He was also the first African-American to
conduct a major American orchestra (the Los Angeles
Philharmonic), the first to have a symphony performed
by an American orchestra, and he was the first AfricanAmerican to conduct an orchestra in the Deep South,
when he conducted the New Orleans Philharmonic Orchestra in 1955.
William Grant Still wrote Danzas de Panama
based on a collection of Panamanian folk themes put
together by Elizabeth Waldo, a violinist and composer. Nothing like it was ever written for strings, as William try to give the instruments an interesting quality
of sound, like the native instruments of Panama. Danzas de Panama had a Caribbean flavor throughout the
piece, as well as reflecting melodic ideas from William Grant Still’s own mixed-race background. For the
first movement, Tamborito, the rhythm was syncopated and jazzy, suggesting music Africans slaves had
brought with them to various parts of the New World,
including Panama.
Eventually William Grant Still moved to Los
Angeles, California and arranged music for movies. He
spent the last few years of his life in a nursing home
because of ill health, and he died at age 83 of heart failure.
In 1974, when an interviewer asked William
Grant Still what young students of all races should do
if they wanted to be fine musicians, he responded that
they should listen to all different kinds of music and
from that experience, try to find their own individual
musical expression.
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Young People’s Concert Series
ANATOMY OF THE ORCHESTRA
R i c h a r d Wa g n e r
Born: May 22, 1813 – Leipzig, Germany
Died: February 13, 1883 – Venice, Italy
Famous Works: Das Rheingold, Siegfried, Die Valkyrie, Götterdämmerung, Parsifal, The Flying Dutchman, Tristan and Isolde
R
ichard Wagner was the
ninth child born to a German
police official named Carl
Friedrich Wilhelm Wagner
and his wife, Johanna. During this period, much of what
is present-day Germany was
controlled by Napoleon and
his French troops. Shortly after Wagner’s birth,
Richard Wagner
the combined forces of the
Prussian, Austrian, Russian
and Swedish armies drove Napoleon from the area.
As a result of diseases spread by unhealthy conditions
in the fields of battle, Wagner’s father, Carl Friedrich,
died of typhus only a few months after Wagner was
born.
The following year, Wagner’s mother remarried, to an
actor named Ludwig Geyer, who became a fatherfigure to Wagner and his brothers and sisters. Geyer was a painter, playwright and actor and inspired
a few of Wagner’s siblings to go into acting. When
Wagner was eight, however, Geyer died and Wagner spent nearly a year living with various relatives as
his mother struggled to find an income for the family. Eventually, Wagner returned home to his mother
and enrolled in a local school. When he was twelve
he started his first regular music lessons, which had
been delayed because Wagner’s mother did not want
him going into the theatre or the arts like his siblings.
Although he continued his studies, he often had to
change schools as his mother and siblings’ theatre careers took them to a variety of locations, including
Dresden and Prague.
Wagner was very interested in literature and read
works by many important writers, including E. T. A.
Hoffmann and Jean Paul. These writers were interested in combining and expanding all the arts and so
in addition to writing, they also composed. As Wagner grew older, he also became more and more interested in composition and began to study scores
of Beethoven symphonies by rewriting entire scores
by hand. In 1831, he enrolled at the University of
Leipzig as a music student.
Although Wagner’s interest in the university lay more
in social contacts and discussions of ideas than in actual study, he did work with a composition teacher
named Christian Theodor Weinlig who taught Wagner the basics of compositional methods. After only
six months of teaching Wagner, Weinlig decided he
had taught his pupil all he could and dismissed Wagner. By this point, Wagner was committed to the life
of a composer and went on a tour of Europe.
Eventually, he took a position as conductor of the
opera theatre at Magdeburg, a Germany city along
the Elba River. The opera company had little money
and the singers and musicians lacked talent or style.
However, the job offered Wagner the opportunity
to compose new operatic works. He only stayed in
Magdeburg for two seasons, but during this time he
met his first wife, the singer Minna Planer. Wagner
and Minna moved to several cities in Europe as they
both attempted to further their careers. Throughout
this period, Wagner and Minna often fought and
were always in debt.
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R i c h a r d Wa g n e r
Born: May 22, 1813 – Leipzig, Germany
Died: February 13, 1883 – Venice, Italy
Famous Works: Das Rheingold, Siegfried, Die Valkyrie, Götterdämmerung, Parsifal, The Flying Dutchman, Tristan and Isolde
In 1839, Wagner and Minna arrived in Paris where they
both hoped to find work. While Wagner was working
on his third opera, Rienzi, he also began writing articles
in Parisian musical magazines. His debts continued to
grow and in 1840 he was arrested and sent to debtors’
jail, where he finished the score of Rienzi. He managed
to borrow enough from friends to get out of prison and
soon thereafter he and Minna returned to Germany.
In 1842, with the help of a number of friends, Rienzi
was produced by the opera company of Dresden and
met with great success. The Prussian King attended the
second performance, and almost immediately Wagner
was one of the best-known opera composers in Germany. Wagner used this new-found fame to obtain a position as orchestra director to the Royal Court of Saxony
and to be sure his finances were in good shape.
Wagner completed his opera Tannhäuser in 1845. It
was one of three operas that helped make him a celebrity with
the audiences in
Germany
and other
countries.
For
his
o p e r a
Tannhäuser Wagner
Scene from Tannhäuser
made use of
folklore, legends, and
myths for the characters and settings. Based on a German medieval legend, the opera is about the knight
Tannhäuser, a sinner who in the end finds love and forgiveness. The grand march from Tannhäuser, “Arrival
of the Guests at Wartburg” portrays the arrival of the
nobles at a great castle.
In 1849, Wagner took part in an unsuccessful revolt
against the Saxon King and was forced to flee to SwitPage 11
zerland. For the next twelve years he lived in exile in
Switzerland where he continued to work on the four
operas that would be called his Ring Cycle based on
German mythology. Writing of these operas was an
enormous project that took Wagner over twenty-six
years to finish.
Wagner knew that his Ring Cycle was a important accomplishment and he wanted to present the operas in
a special location. He found a setting in the small town
of Bayreuth where he was able to build a wonderful
theatre for the operas.
After the completion of his Ring Cycle, Wagner continued to write operas. In 1877 he moved to Italy to
compose Parsifal, his final opera. The composition took
four years to complete and less than six months after
the work was premiered at Bayreuth, Wagner died of a
heart attack.
Young People’s Concert Series
ANATOMY OF THE ORCHESTRA
Felix Mendelssohn
Born: February 3, 1809 - Hamburg, Germany
Died: November 4, 1847 - Leipzig, Germany
Famous Works: Symphony No. 3, “Scottish,” Symphony No. 4, “Italian,” A Midsummer Night’s Dream
F
elix Mendelssohn was
born in 1809 in Hamburg, Germany, the son of a banker. His
family was full of scholars, artists, and bankers. There was always much music in the Mendelssohn house, and his mother
was his first music teacher.
From an early age, Felix and
his siblings received formal
Felix Mendelssohn
musical training. It quickly became clear however, that Felix
and his older sister, Fanny, were exceptionally talented musicians.
Fanny was a wonderful pianist and also composed music. In fact, she had some of her pieces published under Felix’s name. Since she was a woman it was harder for her to get her work published.
Mendelssohn’s younger sister Rebecca was a singer,
and his brother Paul was a rather good cellist. Local
musicians would often stop in and play music with
them. Mendelssohn could usually be found playing
the piano for this group or standing on a stool and
conducting them with a baton.
At age nine, Felix made his first public appearance as a pianist. He also studied violin and organ and began to compose by age ten. Some of his
other interests included learning several languages,
swimming, riding, bowling, billiards, painting with
watercolors, and dancing. By the time he was seventeen, he had already composed twelve symphonies, sonatas, concertos and lieder and was known
throughout Germany as a child prodigy.
When Mendelssohn was eleven, his teacher, Karl Friedrich Zelter, introduced him to Johann
Wolfgang Goethe, the poet-philosopher. The seventy-two year old Goethe was so impressed with Mendelssohn that he treated him as an equal and they became close friends. Mendelssohn had a phenomenal
memory, and probably remembered every word that
Goethe ever said to him.
Although he studied philosophy at the University of Berlin for three years, upon finishing school
he decided to become a professional musician. After
reading Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream
at the age of seventeen, Mendelssohn was moved to
write a musical transcription of the play. In 1826 he
composed what would become the overture to the
play; the rest of the play’s incidental music was not
written until seventeen years later. The Overture to
A Midsummer Night’s Dream was an instant success
and boosted Mendelssohn’s reputation as a composer.
When Mendelssohn was 20 years old, the
overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream was to be
performed in England. The score was carelessly left
in a coach and disappeared. Mendelssohn calmly sat
down and rewrote the entire score for the overture
form memory. Every note proved to be the same as
the orchestra parts.
1830, at the age of twenty-one and under the
strict direction of his father, Mendelssohn set out on
a “Grand Tour” of Europe. Now an extremely talented pianist and a well-respected conductor, he was,
perhaps most importantly, a nobleman who was able
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Felix Mendelssohn
Born: February 3, 1809 - Hamburg, Germany
Died: November 4, 1847 - Leipzig, Germany
Famous Works: Symphony No. 3, “Scottish,” Symphony No. 4, “Italian,” A Midsummer Night’s Dream
to move in all of the highest circles of society. Mendelssohn was sent on his “Grand Tour” in order to round
out his artistic education and help him to make a decision about his future professional life.
The first stops on Mendelssohn’s Grand Tour
included England and Scotland. He visited the chapel of Holyrood Palace near Edinburgh, Scotland and
wrote of his visit:
“This evening in the deep twilight we went to the
palace where Queen Mary lived and loved; there is
a small room with a winding staircase leading up
to it...The adjacent chapel has lost its roof; grass and
ivy grow thickly within; and on the broken altar
Mary was crowned Queen of Scotland. Everything
there is in ruins and ramshackle, open to the blue
sky. I think I have today found the opening of my
Scottish Symphony.”
After his visit to the palace, Mendelssohn immediately wrote down a few musical ideas for his Symphony No. 3, “Scottish.”
From Scotland, Mendelssohn traveled on to Italy in 1830 and set aside the “Scottish” Symphony No.
3. He wrote in a letter, “The loveliest time of the year
in Italy is the period from April 15 to May 15 . . . Who
then can blame
me for not being
able to return to
the mists of Scotland? I have therefore laid aside the
symphony for the
present.”
It took him
Hollyrood Palace
12 years to finish the
19th Century
“Scottish” symphony, and he himself conducted the first performance on
March 3, 1842.
Unlike his other symphonies, Mendelssohn indicated that the movements should follow each other without pause. He wanted the symphony to express musically what he felt when he visited the palace.
The piece opens with the slow, sad “Holyrood Palace
Theme.” Moving into an Allegro typical of a Romantic symphonic first movement, Mendelssohn builds the
shape with notes seemingly wrapped in dense Scottish
mist. The Scherzo movement, with an entirely different
mood is sunny and full of energy. This movement highlights the orchestra as a whole as well as the woodwind
instruments and includes the most obviously Scottish
melodic sounds. The Scherzo moves directly into the
slow, mournful third movement which is followed by a
lively finale that includes a look back at the “Holyrood
Palace Theme.”
As his fame grew, Mendelssohn was appointed
the administrator, music director and conductor of the
Leipzig Gewandhaus concerts in 1835 and founded
the Leipzig Conservatory in 1842. Between composing, conducting engagements and teaching, Mendelssohn soon became run-down by his frenetic schedule.
He passed away on November 4, 1847 from a series of
strokes, six months after the death of his beloved sister,
Fanny.
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Young People’s Concert Series
ANATOMY OF THE ORCHESTRA
Mikhail Glinka
Born: June 1, 1804 - Novospasskoye, Smolensk, Russia
Died: February 15, 1857 - Berlin, Germany
Famous Works: Ruslan and Ludmilla (opera), Life for the Tsar (opera)
M
ikhail Glinka’s father
was an ex-army officer who had
retired after getting married.
Soon after Mikhail was born,
he was put into the care of his
grandmother and seldom saw
his parents over the next few
years. During this period the
Mikhail Glinka
only music he was exposed to
was either church music or folk
music, often sung by his nurse.
After his grandmother died, his parents began caring for young Mikhail again and he was exposed to
a variety of arts, including drawing, architecture and
music. He began to have music training on the piano
and violin as a part of the general, well-rounded education that his parents hoped to provide him.
Eventually he went to a boarding school in
St. Petersburg where he started his musical studies
in a social and political environment that was full of
revolutionary ideas from Napoleon and the French
revolution. Many Russians had begun to examine
the social forces in Russia that provided great wealth
and power to a few select families, while keeping
most people poor as serfs and servants.
Glinka graduated from school in 1822 and
decided to remain in St. Petersburg where he hoped
to satisfy his growing love for music. He began seriously composing and took composition lessons paid
for by his father. His father eventually insisted the
Mikhail take a job and so, two years after graduating, he got a government job in the Council of Com-
munications. He worked short hours in this position
and continued to spend most of his energy composing. After a short-lived revolution against the Tsar
in December of 1825, Glinka took a leave of absence
from his job and began to travel. Soon after returning to work, he quarreled with his boss and quit the
job. From that point on he focused all of his energies
on the performance and composition of music.
He realized that in order to become a better
composer he needed better training and experience,
so he began to travel throughout Europe, spending
time in Italy and Germany. Upon his return to Russia
he began composing his first opera, Life for the Tsar.
When the opera was first produced in St. Petersburg,
with the Tsar in attendance, it was an immediate success both for the music and for the story, which was
a patriotic story of sacrifice in the name of Russia
and the Tsar. Almost overnight, Glinka became one
of the most famous composers in Russia and was appointed Choirmaster for the Imperial Chapel, a position that secured his social and financial position, in
1837.
Soon after receiving this appointment, Glinka began composing the opera Ruslan and Ludmilla. Based on a romantic fairly tale in verse by the
great Russian author, Puskin, Ruslan and Ludmilla provided Glinka with a vivid and suitably Russian story to set to music. The plot revolves around
Ruslan and Ludmilla who are about to be married.
During the feast before their wedding, Ludmilla is
kidnapped by the evil dwarf, Chernomor. After a series of trials along the way, Ruslan arrives at Chernomor’s castle. There he defeats the dwarf in battle
Page 14
Mikhail Glinka
Born: June 1, 1804 - Novospasskoye, Smolensk, Russia
Died: February 15, 1857 - Berlin, Germany
Famous Works: Ruslan and Ludmilla (opera), Life for the Tsar (opera)
by cutting Chernomor’s beard, the source of his evil
powers, with a magic sword he has discovered on his
journey. Unfortunately, Chernomor has put Ludmilla
under a spell and it is not until
they return to Kiev and Ruslan finds a magic ring that
Ludmilla awakens.
The complicated story
made the opera difficult for
audiences and it has never
had the same success as Life
for the Tsar. The Overture to
Ruslan and Ludmilla, however, has become a favorite
A scene from
in concert halls all over the
Ruslan and Ludmilla world. The Overture, with
two separate themes, is a fast
and sparkling portrayal of the main characters from the
opera. The first theme is taken from the same celebration music that comes at the very end of the opera. This
is quickly followed music from a lyrical aria by Ruslan.
Near the end of the overture, the brass play a
forceful downhill scale suggesting the evil Chernomor,
but this is soon drowned out in general rejoicing as
played by the entire orchestra.
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Young People’s Concert Series
ANATOMY OF THE ORCHESTRA
Ken-David Masur, Resident Conductor
Ken Masur, San Antonio Symphony’s Resident Conductor, is a “brilliant and commanding”
[from the Leipziger Volkszeitung] conductor with “unmistakable charisma” [from the Bild]. As
the San Antonio Symphony’s Resident Conductor for the 2010-2011 season, Masur will conduct performances in the San Antonio Symphony’s Classics Series, Young People’s Concert
Series, the Family Classics series, Educational and Community concerts.
During the 2004-2005 season, Masur served as Assistant Conductor of the Orchestre National de France and has since then been a frequent guest conductor of the Chœur de Radio
France. He led the Youth Orchestra of Opole, Poland as part of the 2007 annual EuroSilesia
Festival. Concerts in prior seasons have included Masur’s debut with the Orchestre National
de Toulouse, the Rio de Janeiro Symphony, as well as with the Fort Bend Symphony in Texas.
Born in Leipzig, Germany, Ken Masur began his comprehensive musical training at age 6
with the piano and at age 9 as boy-soprano in the legendary Gewandhaus Children’s Choir.
After obtaining his Bachelor of Arts in music from Columbia University in New York City
in 2002, he studied voice for five years as a master student of renowned bass-baritone Thomas
Quasthoff at the Hochschule für Musik “Hanns Eisler” in Berlin. Masur has given numerous
Lied recitals in New York, San Francisco, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Berlin, Detmold, and at the Festival “les muséiques” Basel.
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Young People’s Concert Series
ANATOMY OF THE ORCHESTRA
Ken-David Masur, Conductor
Vocabulary Page:
Folk Music: Music, usually of simple character handed down among the common people, with deep roots in the
culture of a nation or region.
Frenetic: Frantic, frenzied rapid or nervous action.
Incidental Music: Music composed to accompany the action or dialogue of a drama or to fill intervals between
scenes or acts of a play or opera.
Lieder: German art song for solo voice and piano.
Medieval: Pertaining to the Middle Ages; a period in European history from about 5th to the 16th century.
Opera: A theatre piece set to music, many times with scenery, costumes, and dancing.
Operetta: A theatrical production with many musical similarities to opera, but with a less serious and more popular musical style.
Overture: A musical introduction to an large work, such as an opera, or a similar orchestral work intended for
independent concert performance.
Prussian: Relating to a historical region and kingdom that at the height of its power was located in what is present-day northern Germany and Poland.
Scherzo: Meaning “joke” in Italian; a lively, playful movement in quick triple meter.
Serfs: A member of the lower class in medieval Europe, bound to work on a master’s land.
Syncopated: The temporary upsetting of the meter of a composition by shifting accents from strong beats to
weaker beats.
Tsar: A king or emperor, especially one of the former emperors of Russia.
Waltz: A very popular ballroom dance from the 18th and 19th centuries. It is in moderately fast triple meter, in
which the dancers revolve in perpetual circles, taking one step to each beat.
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Young People’s Concert Series
ANATOMY OF THE ORCHESTRA
Systems of the Body: Families of the Orchestra
The human body is a fascinating and complicated set of interrelated organs, structures and materials that work together to
do all of the wonderful things that a human being can do. When we talk about
certain aspects of the human body we often talk about different systems. A system is a group of interacting or interrelated elements
that form a complex whole. For instance, the digestive system includes everything within the body that
deals with the digestion of food; from the mouth that
initially helps to break food up into smaller chunks
to the stomach that helps transfer nutrients from the
food into the body. There are many specialized systems such as the nervous system, the respiratory system and the muscular system that have many individual components, but also work together with other
systems to allow the human body to function.
The Circulatory System and the Percussion Family: Heartbeat of the Orchestra
All living organisms are made up of tiny
self-contained units called cells. Just like
your body as a whole, each of the millions
of cells in your body needs nutrients (food) and oxygen
(air) to survive. The cells also produce waste which must
be taken away. In order to bring nutrients and oxygen to
your cells there is a system of a pump and tubes that runs
throughout your body. This is called the circulatory system because it circulates blood throughout your body.
In the circulatory system
there are three types of
tubes: arteries that carry
blood that is filled with
nutrients and oxygen to
your cells, veins that carry the blood back after
the cells have taken out
the oxygen, and nutrients
and capillaries which
connect the arteries and
veins, helping distribute
the nutrients and oxygen A Model of the Human Heart
to all of your cells. When you look at your wrist you can
probably see some blue lines and maybe some red lines
moving up towards your hands. Those blue lines are the
veins bringing blood back after feeding the cells in your
hand and the red lines are the arteries bringing blood
from the heart to all the cells in your body.
In many ways, the symphony orchestra works the
same way as the human body. When you attend an
orchestra concert, you see a group of about eighty
people on stage playing many different kinds of instruments. At first, you might hear the entire orchestra as only one sound, but if you listen carefully you
will realize that there are different parts of the orchestra that work together in different ways. All the
individual musicians of the orchestra are grouped
into four general families. Each of the four families
of the orchestra function in much the same way that
systems of the body function; within each family,
the individual musicians work together to make sure
their family is working. The orchestra only functions
correctly if all four families are working correctly.
The most important part of the circulatory system is he
heart. The heart acts as a pump to make sure that the blood
Let us explore how some of the systems of the hu- will flow through all the veins and arteries. The heart is
man body relate to the families of the orchestra.
divided up into two halves and each half has two secPage 18
Systems of the Body: Families of the Orchestra
tions, the ventricle and the
atrium. The
atrium helps
bring blood
into the heart and the
ventricle pumps it back
out. After being pumped
out of the heart, blood
travels through the lungs,
a part of the respiratory system, where it picks
up the oxygen that all the
cells of your body need to
survive. It also will pass
Arteries in the Body
near the small intestine, part of the digestive system, where the blood picks up nutrients to
pass to the cells.
The Percussion Family
In many ways, the equivalent of blood in the “body”
of an orchestra is rhythm. Rhythm is by definition
the movement of music through time and it provides the “pulse” that allows all of the instruments of
the orchestra to play together. Without rhythm, all
of the many individual instruments of the orchestra
would not be able work together, just as in the human body, without blood, the individual cells would
die. The instrument family that is usually most responsible for providing the rhythm of the orchestra is
the percussion family. The percussion family is made
up of all the instruments that produce
sound by being
struck. Percussion
instruments can either have a pitch,
like the xylophone,
or be un-pitched,
like the snare drum
The Marimba is in the
Percussion Family
or bass drum. With-
out a definite pitch, those percussion instruments are focused entirely on rhythm.
Composers know that because percussion
instruments can play quite loudly and are
not usually distracted by pitches, they provide an invaluable service by delivering rhythm to the
orchestra in much the same way that the circulatory
system delivers oxygen and nutrients to the cells in the
human body. In fact, many people consider the beating
of the human heart to have been the very first percussion instrument.
The Respiratory System and the Brass and Woodwind Family: Breathing Life into Music
As we have already learned, in order for the human body
to survive, oxygen and nutrients are required. The circulatory system brings these things in the blood to every
one of the
millions
of cells in
your body,
but how
does oxygen get
into your
body? The
respiratory system is responsible
A Diagram of the Lungs
for bringing oxygen from the outside world into your body and
then making it possible for the oxygen to be transferred to the blood. We are living in a sea of air. The air
that we live in is made up of many different kinds of
gases including oxygen, nitrogen and carbon dioxide.
Nitrogen doesn’t do much to the human body and carbon dioxide is actually poisonous to the human body
in large enough doses, but as we have seen, oxygen is
required to keep the body alive.
The respiratory system is made up of the nose, the
mouth, the throat, the windpipe and the lungs. When
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Systems of the Body: Families of the Orchestra
you breathe air in, it travels through your
nose or mouth, down your throat and
windpipe and into your lungs. Inside your
lungs, the tubes that have brought the air
into your body start branching out again
and again and soon they look like an upside-down tree inside your chest. At the
end of the smallest tubes there are small clusters of
tiny bags. Inside your lungs there are over three-hundred- million of these tiny bags. The bags are so small
and thin that the oxygen passes from inside the bag
to the tiny blood vessels on the outside of the bag.
Once the oxygen has been passed from the lungs to
the blood, it travels throughout the body and keeps
cells alive.
Unlike the heart in the circulatory system, the lungs
are not a muscle and cannot act like a pump for the
air. Instead, a sheet of muscle called the diaphragm,
that lies in your chest underneath the lungs ,expands
and contracts. When you breathe in, your diaphragm
pushes down into your chest, providing room for the
air to enter your body. When you breathe out, the
diaphragm pushes up and makes the air leave your
body.
The air around us not only has oxygen in it, is also has
tiny bits of dirt, dust and germs. When you breathe
in through your nose, some of the dirt and dust gets
filtered out as it passes over a layer of sticky mucus.
Inside the windpipe there are tiny hair-like surfaces
that also help to filter out bits of dust and dirt. By
the time the air gets to your lungs it has been well
cleaned by your respiratory system.
Woodwinds and
Brass Families
In the center of orchestra there are
two families of instruments that use
air to make music.
Both the woodwind
and the brass families make sounds by
The Brass Family
creating columns of vibrating air in their
instruments. Just as the lungs provide the
oxygen that is critical for the health of
the human body, the woodwind and brass
families often play solo lines that provide
beautiful melodies, the oxygen of the orchestra.
The woodwind family is made up of flutes, oboes,
clarinets and bassoons. There are usually two or three
of each of these instruments in the orchestra. The
brass family is made up of the French horns, trumpets, trombones and tuba. There are usually four
horns, three trumpets, three trombones and one tuba.
These instruments often play solo lines, but they also
work together as a unit to provide a vital part of the
overall orchestral sound.
The Skeletal and Muscular Systems and the String Family:
Backbone of the Orchestra
The skeleton is made up of 206
bones that form a strong, but
flexible framework for your
body. The skeleton supports the
body and protects important
organs within the body from
harm. Bones are actually living organisms that have their
own cells and blood supply.
In fact, inside your bones is a substance called bone
marrow that makes the red blood cells for the rest of
your body. Your bones fit together in many different
ways and are held together by tough, fibrous tissue
called ligaments. Although bones may be attached to
each other with ligaments, there is usually a soft material called cartilage between the bones to prevent
them from rubbing against each other. Cartilage is
found in many parts of your body, even in your nose!
There are different types of joints in your body where
bones connect. For instance, the joint in your neck is
called a pivot joint because the bones in your neck allow you to pivot your head around. The joint behind
your knee is called a hinge joint because it acts like a
door hinge, swinging back and forth. A third kind of
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Systems of the Body: Families of the Orchestra
joint is the ball and socket joint. This joint
can be found in your shoulder and allows
movements in many directions.
The Muscular System
Every movement that you make, from
jumping up and down to blinking your eye,
uses muscles. Your muscular system is connected directly to your skeleton in many places. The
more than 640 muscles in your body work in a very
simple way - when they get instructions from your
brain, they contract.
Every muscle has to work in a
pair with another muscle because muscles can only pull, not
push. For instance, when you
straighten your arm, the muscles, called triceps, on the bottom of your arm pull the arm
down. When you bend your
arm, your triceps relax and the
muscles on the top of your arm,
the biceps, contract and pull
your arm into a bent position.
Every muscle is connected to
two or more bones in your body by fibrous tissues
called tendons. By connecting your muscles to your
bones, tendons allow your muscles to work to move
your body.
Systems of the Body: Families of the Orchestra
The String Family
In many ways, the string family of the orchestra acts
like the muscular and
skeletal systems in the
body. When you look
at an orchestra, one of
the first things that
you will notice is that
are many string players all over the stage.
In fact, string players
make up more than
half of the entire orchestra.
The Viola is Part of the String Family
Unlike the woodwinds , brass and even
percussion players, in the string family
many people will play exactly the same
part. Like the skeleton in your body, the
string family often provides support for
the woodwind, brass or percussion family
to play their individual melodies.
The Nervous System, Concertmasters, Principal
Players and the Conductor:
Directing Things
The nervous system is a massive communication network that controls how the different parts of your
body work. All through your body there are long, thin
cells called neurons that use electricity to transmit information between your brain and all the many parts
of your body. Neurons first send their information
to the spinal cord, which is at the center of the nervous system is a large bundle of nerves in your spine,
and then up to
your brain where
the information
is processed and
stored.
The brain works
like a very complicated
computer that makes
The Brain is at the center of
the nervous system
billions of computations each second.
Your brain receives the information from your eyes,
hands and feet, and figures out what you are seeing,
hearing or touching. Different parts of the brain perform different functions. For instance, the large part
of your brain at the front of your skull is where you
think about things, while the large portion at the
back of your skull is where your brain interprets signals from neurons in your eyes.
The Conductor, Concertmaster and
Principal Players
Just as the body uses neurons to convey messages
from the body to the brain and from the brain and
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Systems of the Body: Families of the Orchestra
the body, in an orchestra there is a system
musicians of the orchestra to the conducIn many ways, the conductor acts as the
who usually decides how fast or slow to
conductor sends out his or her signals to
ton. If you watch a conductor’s hands and
be able to see when the conductor wants
faster or slower.
The Conductor is the
“Brain” of the Orchestra
of sending information from the individual
tor and from the conductor to the orchestra.
“brain” of the orchestra. It is the conductor
play a piece, or how loud or soft to play. The
the orchestra using his or her hands and babaton very closely during a concert you will
the orchestra to get louder or softer or to play
The musician who sits immediately to the left of the conductor and who
stands up when it is time for the orchestra to tune is called the concertmaster. The concertmaster is the leader of the musicians on stage. The concertmaster gets the signals from the conductor and tries to show the rest of his
or her section how to actually play the notes based on the signals the conductor is giving. Each section of the string family – first violins, second violins, violas, cellos, basses – has their own principal player who is in charge
of interpreting the signals from the conductor and the concertmaster. Each
member of the section must therefore follow the signals they get from the
conductor, concertmaster and most importantly, their principal player. Just
as the nervous system is responsible for receiving and sending the signals
that control every function of your body, there is an internal system of conductor, concertmaster and principal players within an orchestra that is set up to
control all the functions of the orchestra and the music it performs.
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Four Families of the Orchestra
Woodwind Family
Brass Family
French Horn
Clarinet
Trumpet
Bassoon
Trombone
Tuba
Flute
Oboe
Percussion Family
String Family
Timpani
Violin
Xylophone
Viola
Triangle
Harp
Cello
Snare Drum
Bass
Page 24
Bass Drum
Young People’s Concert Series
ANATOMY OF THE ORCHESTRA
Instrument Families Information Sheet
The BRASS family is one of the oldest families of the orchestra and includes the trumpet, French
horn, tuba, and trombone, which are all made of brass! Sound is produced when a brass player buzzes
his or her lips into a cup-shaped mouthpiece to produce vibrating air. The vibrating air then travels
through a long metal tube that modifies and amplifies the vibrations. In order to change pitch, brass
players use two techniques. One is to change the speed that they buzz their lips. The other is to change
the length of the tubing that they are blowing air through. They are able to change the length of tubing
either by pressing a key to open a valve, as with a trumpet, or by using a slide to physically increase or decrease the length of
tubing, as with a trombone. Brass instruments have a very sweet and round sound. Then can also play very loudly and are often
used in the most exciting parts of a piece.
The Woodwind family includes the flute, clarinet, oboe and bassoon. This family produces sound
by blowing a vibrating column of air inside some form of tube. In the past, woodwind instruments were
all made out of wood, but now some instruments, such as the flute, are made out of metal. Woodwinds
create the vibrating column of air in different ways. Flutes blow across the top of an open hole. Clarinets blow between a reed – usually a small, flat piece of bamboo – against a fixed surface. That is why
clarinets are sometimes called “single-reed” instruments. Bassoons and oboes blow between two reeds
that vibrate against each other. That is why bassoons and oboes are sometimes called “double-reed” instruments. Woodwinds usually change the pitch of their instruments by changing the length of the tube they are blowing the vibrating air through. They most often change the length by opening and closing holes using keys on their instruments. Woodwind
instruments have a very beautiful, singing sound. They are often used to play solo parts during symphonies when their unique
tonal qualities can be heard even if the entire orchestra is playing.
The String family is made up of the violin, viola, cello bass and harp. Instruments in this family produce sound by (you guessed it!) vibrating strings! The strings are vibrated in two ways. One way to produce
vibrations is to use a bow made out horsehair stretched on a wood stick to rub the strings and produce vibrations. The other way is to pluck the string, usually with the hand. This is called “Pizzicato.” The pitch is
changed on string instruments by adjusting the length of the string. This is usually accomplished by putting
fingers down at some point on the string to shorten the length of the vibrating string. String instruments
have a very mellow, rich sound. There are many string players in an orchestra because each instrument alone
does not have a very loud sound compared to other instrument families. Often strings will play a beautiful
melody, but sometimes the strings play the harmony parts.
The Percussion family is probably the most varied family in the orchestra. Sound on percussion instruments is created by physically hitting, rubbing or shaking either a solid material, like a metal triangle, or a
membrane, like the top of a snare drum. The membranes used to be made out of animal skins, but today most
drums use a synthetic material. Only a few percussion instruments produce a specific pitch. Pitched percussion
instruments that use a solid material, like a xylophone, change pitches when hit with different sized materials. Pitched percussion instruments that use a membrane, like a timpani, change pitch when the tension of the
membrane is changed. There are many different kinds of percussion instruments used in an orchestra, including
the snare drum, maracas, and sometimes even metal parts from a car! Percussion instruments produce many
different types of sounds, but they are usually used in an orchestra to provide rhythm for the music. Often at
the most exciting part of a piece there are many percussion instruments playing.
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Young People’s Concert Series
ANATOMY OF THE ORCHESTRA
Teaching Activity:
Instrument Families
Teaching Objective:
Students will learn to identify and understand the different instrument families and their place in the orchestra.
Materials:
Orchestra Map page from Teacher’s Guide
The Four Families of the Orchestra page from the Teacher’s Guide
Instrument Families page from the Teacher’s Guide
Recordings of an orchestra, especially upcoming Young People’s Concert repertoire
Preparatory Exercise:
Discuss with the class the meaning of “family.” Discuss different types of families; their immediate and extended family, the
“family” of the school or class, a “family” of cars by a car manufacturer, etc. Discuss how families are defined and how certain
characteristics are shared and others are not shared within a “family.”
Teaching Sequence:
1.
Hand out copies or display the Four Families of the Orchestra Page and the Instrument Families page.
2.
Go over these pages and discuss the various characteristics each instrument family.
3.
Divide the class into four groups, each representing one of the instrument families. Hand out copies or display the
Orchestra Map and have the groups arrange themselves in the same placement as they would be in the orchestra.
4.
Play a recording of an orchestral piece. Instruct the students to listen specifically to their instrument family. Have
them note when they heard their family, what kind of sounds they made, what type of timbre that produce, how
often they played, etc.
5.
Have the class sing a simple song, i.e. “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” or “Jingle Bells.” Instruct the class to sing the
song again and try to have each group sing the way they think their instrument family would sound.
6.
Have the class sing the song again and act as conductor, showing different groups when to sing and how loud or
soft to sing.
7.
Before attending the Young People’s Concert, remind the students of their instrument families and instruct them
to watch and listen especially closely to their family.
Culminating Activity:
After the concert discuss with the class the way their instrument family looked and sounded at the concert. Discuss how it
met or didn’t meet their expectations.
Co-Curricular Connection/TEKS: (All numbers refer to the Knowledge and Skills section of the TEKS)
Fine Arts - Music
Knowledge and skills
4th Grade –1 (A, B)
5th Grade –1 (A, B)
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Young People’s Concert Series
ANATOMY OF THE ORCHESTRA
Teaching Activity:
Concert Etiquette
Teaching Objective:
Students will examine, discuss and practice appropriate concert behavior in different settings.
Preparatory Activities:
1. Ask the students to list places or situations where they might be part of an audience. Solicit examples such as a rock concert, tennis match, football game, golf tournament, or sitting at home watching
television with the family. Create a list of answers where everyone can see them.
2. Discuss the way audience behavior in various settings would be different. Discuss how different venues or activities have different expectations for audience behavior. Discuss how an audience can positively or negatively affect the performer/athlete.
Teaching Sequence:
1. Assign a group of two or more students, in front of the class, to act as athletes or performers at various venues For example, have two students pretend to be playing tennis.
2. Instruct the rest of the class to pretend that they are the audience for the event being portrayed. Instruct the “audience” to show their appreciation for the pretend performers/athletes at the front of the class.
3. Critique the “audience” behavior and discuss why certain behavior was appropriate or inappropriate for
the situation. Talk about audience reactions such as applause, yelling or whistling and when it is appropri
ate or inappropriate.
4. Ask the performers to tell the class how the “audience” behavior affected their efforts.
Culminating Activity:
Talk to the students about the upcoming San Antonio Symphony concert. Discuss with them what they should
expect to happen and how they can appropriately show their appreciation for the Symphony.
Evaluation:
Were students able to understand how and why audience behavior might be different in different settings and
venues? Did they understand the importance of their role as an audience member?
Co-Curricular Connection/TEKS: (All numbers refer to the Knowledge and Skills section of the TEKS)
Fine Arts – Music
Grade 4 – 6 (C)
Grade 5 – 6 (C)
Fine Arts – Theater
Grade 4 – 2 (A), 5 (A)
Grade 5 – 1 (F), 5 (A)
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Young People’s Concert Series
ANATOMY OF THE ORCHESTRA
Ken-David Masur, Conductor
Sponsors:
G.A.C. Halff Foundation
George W. Brackenridge Foundation
Gilbert and Ruth Lang Charitable Fund
of the San Antonio Area Foundation
Citigroup Texas Foundation
Alfred S. Gage Foundation
and
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