 Composers
- Find the composer which (1 for each): 1.
was the most creative 2. died youngest 3.
suffered a lot in his life 4. raised many
musical descendants 5. wrote over one hundred
symphonies 6. was addicted to alcohol 7.
owes his musical career to his revolutionary ballets 8.
heared one sound that accompanied all his actions 9.
was hampered by deafness 10. left Poland but
took its music with him into history
- Evaluate some of the composer's works and describe your feelings
toward them.
- Compare in a table, this composer with another one from the
same period but another country. Try to compare them on 5 factors at least
- their lives (where they lived, their families, etc.), musical work (forms
in which they composed, instruments and ensembles they wrote for, etc.).
 Periods
- Find a musical period and describe it in all its aspects (music,
art, science, political events) with examples and similarities between
different disciplines.
- Evaluate and decide what was the best period to live
in for a composer. Explain your answer.
- Compare notation systems through musical periods and describe
its development in each period.
 Forms
- Find the structure of these
musical works and describe them in an A,B,C scheme.
- Listen to Mendelssohn's
"Scottish" and
"Italian"
symphonies, and find images of these countries...
- Listen to some musical examples and try to find which one is
a... (Rondo, Canon, Fugue...).
 Musical
instruments
- Describe an instrument in terms of a family tree or a description
of its dynasty, including ancestors instruments and instruments that were
developed from it. Find information about each instrument you mention
and describe the exact connections between them all.
- Find the musical instrument behind each sound that you
hear...
- Listen to the Mid-Eastern Musical Instruments
and select which is the one you liked best. Could you explain
why you have liked its sound most.
- Compare the four members of the string family in all aspects.
Use a table to show the differences and similarities.
- Suggest a plan to build a musical instrument made of materials
around you, such as paper, sand, wood and everyday objects. Give a name
and draw this future instrument. Can you tell to what family
of instruments your new instrument belongs. Can you guess what kind
of a sound will it have.
- Find at least 10 good web sites, about this instrument. Try
to be selective in terms of quality and diversity of these web sites.
 Music
and art
- Find pictures from the history of art that resemble musical
forms and methods, such as Ostinato, Canon, Rondo etc.
- Match the musical parts you hear and the photographs
in here. Explain why
you matched each pair.
- Compare by listening to 3 of the programme works that are mentioned
in the text and decide: 1.
which has the highest fidelity to the subject it describes? 2.
which has the most interesting story? 3. which
one you like most, why?
- Listen to some musical examples and try
to find which one can "picture" images of rain, a calm sea, storm,
flight of birds...
- Draw your own pictures to describe Mussorgsky's
music for 3 of the different Pictures at
an Exhibition.
- Find information about this style
of art and look in the internet for 10 pictures or sculptures of
this style.
 Nationalities
- Search the internet for information about this country
and its culture. Describe its music, art and other cultural characteristics.
- Select two countries and compare them in terms of the
main composers, folk dances, popular folk musical instruments, etc. Find
on the Internet some musical audio or MIDI samples of their folk music.
 Listening
- Find a musical masterpiece that: 1.
was dedicated to the composer's doctor 2.
was written for a festive cruise 3. represents
the bee humming while flying 4. reached the
top of the pop charts 5. presents the instruments
of the orchestra 6. describes cocks and chickens
- Evaluate what the most beautiful classical work that you've
heard is and what the reasons are you liked it. If you did not like
any of the classical music works, explain why you don't like them.
- Compare the Four Seasons
of Vivaldi
and describe what the musical effects are he uses to describe each season.
 Music
in the movies
- Find musical parts, from the classical repertoire,
to accompany scenes of: 1. horror 2.
love 3. dream 4.
nature 5. storm 6.
race 7. comedy
- Watch a movie in which one of the musical works was played,
and describe how it was used in the movie, and your attitude toward
the results (was it suitable to the scene and why?).
- Compare from which period were the most used musical works in
the movies (Baroque, Classical, Romantic, 20th Century)?
 World
music & Styles
- Find what kind of ethnic music: 1.
is influenced also from Korean music 2. is
a Gypsy guitar music 3. is a form of worship
and meditation?.
- Evaluate what the ethnic music is you like most and explain
why. What do you know about this music? what are the musical instruments
and what are the characteristics of the music?
- Compare Arabic, Chinese, Indian and American country music and
try to describe the similarities and differences between them.
 Famous
Musical works
- Debussy's Prélude
à l'après-midi d'un faune - Draw the mythical creature,
the Faun, which is half man, half beast (goat's horns, tail and legs) -
at dawn, deep in the forest. After finishing, compare your drawing to your
pals' ones.
- Ravel's
Boléro - Create, with your friends, a musical
composition, which opens with a single drum repeating a fixed rhythm and
a repeating melody with changes of key. Do that in a live performance or
with musical software.
- Smetana's
Vltava - Select a folk song you know and make it into an
anthem for your school, by writing suitable words upon the original
melody.
- Vivaldi's
Four Seasons - Find 4 photos which might represent the 4
seasons of the year and create a computer presentation dedicated
to Vivaldi's works. Provide information upon the work, add musical selections
from it etc.
- Bach's
Double Violin Concerto - Listen to the first movement of
the concerto and try to draw a line representing each of the solo
violins in this work. Is it hard? Try to explain why.
- Handel's
Water Music - Compose, by yourself, the music to be played
while sailing on a boat on the river. Imagine the king with his people
listening to your music and use a sequencer or notation software to give
them the appropriate music.
- Sibelius's
Finlandia - Do research about the struggle for independence
of the Finnish people (use encyclopedias, books and the Internet) and write
a historic story about a Finnish kid like you during this period.
- Allegri's
Miserere - The boy Mozart once heard this complicated and long
piece and wrote its entire score from the memory. Could you do the same?
Write down the notes of a song you heard lately on MTV, or study
how to play it by heart, using the musical keyboard, in case you feel that
musical notes aren't perfect for you.
- J.S.
Bach's St. Matthew Passion - Write down your personal opinion
about music and religion - can religious music written by a church musician
such as J.S. Bach, telling the story of Jesus Christ, be heard by anyone
from any religion and still be as wonderful as it is for a Christian listener?
- Elgar's
Enigma Variations - We will never know what enigma Elgar meant
in his famous variations. Could you guess what kind of enigmatic
ideas he could have had while composing them. Listen to all the
parts of the work in order to decide.
- Beethoven's
Moonlight Sonata - The first part of this sonata was used in many
pop songs during the years. Could you invent a melody of your own
in which these chords
will be its accompaniment. You may also use Rap for the words along with
the music.
- Beethoven's
Symphony No. 5 - The motif that opens the symphony resembles the
letter "V" in Morse code. Find the code on the Internet
(or use encyclopedia) and write down the words "Ludwig van
Beethoven" in Morse code. Can you click the code as man had
done in the past, while using this code as a prominent means of communication?
- Beethoven's
Symphony No. 9 - Listen to the 4th movement of the symphony
and recognize its form (like A B A..).
- Britten's
Young Person's Guide - Britten has chosen quite an interesting
way to present the symphony orchestra. Think and offer a better way,
in your opinion, to expose these instruments to children of your age.
- Holst's
The Planets - Listen to "The Planets" and write
down the different characteristics of each movement of the work. Compare
the real characteristics of each planet (use encyclopedias, books and the
Internet to study about them) and decide if Holst did a good job in reflecting
the planets with the music.
- Mahler's
Symphony No. 1 - Mahler built the third movement of this symphony
on the melody of a French children's song known as "Frere Jacques".
Listen to this movement. Then select a children song you
like, and compose a second voice which sounds good with the melody
of the song you have chosen. You can do that with computer software (a
notation program or a sequencer) or write it down with notes and sing or
play it with a friend of yours.
- Mozart's
Requiem - Mozart student, Süssmayr, finished this Requiem,
after Mozart's death. Could you compose a tune which begins with
these 3 tones...
- Mussorgsky's
Pictures at an Exhibition - Mussorgsky's exhibition descibes some
interesting musical images. If you would compose such a piece, what 10
images would you like to describe.
- Rimsky-Korsakov's
Flight of the Bumble Bee - Rimsky-Korsakov's musical description
was not the only case of musical works which describe animals and other
living creatures. Find the names of other 5 musical pieces of such.
- Rodrigo's
Concierto de Aranjuez - Some pop writers used Rodrigo's famous
melody from the 'Concierto de Aranjuez' inside their music. Select
a classical theme you like from our Classical Jukebox
and write a song which uses this melody with your own words. Use
a sequencer to record the song.
- Schubert's
Trout Quintet - Make research on the trout (use encyclopedias,
books and the Internet) and find photos and even videos of this
fish.
- Schumann's
Scenes from Childhood - Part 2 of Schumann's work is called 'A
strange story'. Compose music of your own with the same programme.
Use a notation program or a sequencer to compose your music.
- J.
Strauss's Blue Danube - The famous music from 'The Blue Danube'
appeared in a lot of movies. Watch one movie from the
list and find the scene where Strauss's music is played. Explain
in your own words what the music adds the scene and how it is done.
- Stravinsky's
Firebird - This work has been written as ballet music. Plan
a ballet which uses this music and explain how you are going
to deal with the original idea and story of the work on your choreography.
- Tchaikovsky's
Nutcracker - Listen to the 'Waltz of the Flowers' from the
'Nutcracker' and recognize its form (like A B A..).
- Bizet's
Carmen - Listen to the melody of 'Habenera' from the opera
and write your own lyrics to this wonderful melody. The lyrics should
deal with love and what it is for you. Can you perofrm the final
song? Can you record it sung with the MIDI file using a sequencer
program?
 Music
Basics
- In the Tempo, Rhythm &
Meter lesson, you may study the rhythm. Using these
notes durations, write down the rhythms.
 Ensembles
- The symphony
orchestra - Examine the evolution
of the symphony orchestra between the 17th to the 20th century and
describe in your words what the differences between each century
to its predecessor were (what musical instruments joined the orchestra
and what instruments disappeared, how the orchestra sounds in each century
etc.).
- Select a type of musical ensemble and create a presentation
for your class, dealing with its history, instruments, active ensembles
of such in the world, etc. The presentation should include musical recordings,
images, videos and any suitable media to demonstrate this kind of ensemble.
- Select a type of musical ensemble. Find and download
at least 5 musical samples of this ensemble from the Internet. Now find
and download at least 5 musical samples which are played by other kinds
of ensembles. Let your pals guess which of the recordings was played by
this kind of ensemble and which was played by another kind. Was it hard
to guess? Think why.
 Music
Almanac
- Find what happened in the history of music on the day of the
year: 1. you were born 2. your music teacher was born 3. one of your pals
was born 4. December 31
 Educational
Metronome
- Select a tune you know how to play (or sing, if you cannot play
any musical instrument yet), go to the metronome
page and play it in the different tempi (tempos). Decide
which tempo is most suitable. Now play the same tune to your
pals and let them select. Compare your selection to theirs.
 Creativity
- Compose a full melody from these
first few notes and compare your musical composition with your
pals'.
- You have a melody without pitches
(only rhythmic part). Change the height of the tones using a notation
program or a sequencer in order to create your own unique melody.
- Compose a tune with only... (3
notes, 5 notes, 8 notes, the all chromatic scale)
- Compose an ostinato to accompany one
of these melodies...
- Compose a tune to play with this
ostinato...
- Select a classical theme you like
from our Classical Jukebox and write your
own words for this melody. Use a sequencer to record the song or
perform it with the accompaniment of the computer.
Improvisation
- Click on these rhythms (
 ,
)
and improvise with your voice (or your musical instrument).
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