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Kathleen Echols, Kenneth Ellerbee
Lesson Plan for Cycle - April 13, 2010
Beethoven - His Symphonies and Stories
Materials:
- Classical/Romantic Packet
- Recordings of Beethoven’s 5th and 6th Symphonies
Grade: 6
Big Idea: Beethoven began a Romantic phenomenon with the idea of program music: music that
tells a story.
Enduring Understandings:
- Music that tells a story (program music) is a Romantic ideal
- How we can musically express feelings and ideas through music in the Romantic style
Process:
Kenneth:
- A recording of Beethoven’s 5th Symphony is playing.
- Raise your hand if you’ve heard this piece before
- Keep your hand up if you know who wrote this piece
- Keep you hand up if you can tell me the name of the piece
- Ludwig van Beethoven Worksheet
- Read questions at the bottom so we know what we’re looking for.
- Students individually read the passage and answer questions.
- Review answers as a class.
Kathleen:
- List on board ways in which Beethoven was “rebellious” and moved away from Classical
music.
- 5 movements (Draw boxes on board a la Pastoral Symphony Sheet)
- program music (a person walking through the countryside)
- much more expressive/romantic (Moonlight Sonata)
- less based on harmonies that sounded “right”
- including singers
- no breaks between mvts (demonstrate with Bumblebee Tuna ends. pause. start again)
- Beethoven also revolutionized the status of musicians. What do I mean by status?
- Justin Bieber analogy: If Justin Bieber were here, you would not say “Justin, play me a
song.” You would be respectful of such a celebrity!
- Short story about how Beethoven refused to remove his hat for the Empress (Picture)
- The Pastoral Symphony
- Drawing arrows between movements that did not stop
- Talking through the story: Reflects his love of nature & the countryside
- Listening to clips of the movements
Kenneth or Kathleen: (One may lead discussion while other is “secretary” on the board as class
comes up with ideas).
- Mapping our Class Symphony
- If we were to write a symphony ourselves that was “programmatic,” meaning telling a
story, what might it be about? Beethoven picked nature. What could we pick?
- Examples: How about a day in the life of a sixth-grader? A fight between two friends?
Gossip? Celebrities? Animals? Seasons? Summer vacation?
- Pick a title
- Have a vote if there are multiple preferences
- Ex: The Sixth-Grade Symphony
- “Secretary” writes this in a “bubble” in the middle of the map we will create.
- Name our 5 movements.
EXTENSION: Next day activity-writing our class symphony movements on instruments in
groups.