Goals for Student Learning At the conclusion of this lesson, you will: -Have a deeper understanding about Percy Grainger. -Know how to play the harder parts of this piece. -Know which instrument has the melody at all times and be able to adjust your dynamics to bring the melody out. -Recognize the basic form of Marching Song of Democracy. -Be able to play C major, Eb major, Db major, and Gb major scales. -Understand what all was going on in the world to inspire Grainger to write this work. National Standards Addressed 1) Singing, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music. 2) Performing on instruments, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music. 3) Improvising melodies, variations, and accompaniments. 4) Composing and arranging music within specified guidelines 5) Reading and notating music. 6) Listening to, analyzing, and describing music. 7) Evaluating music and music performances. 8) Understanding relationships between music, the other ares, and disciplines outside the arts. 9) Understanding music in relation to history and culture. This unit is designed to help any music teacher present the piece Marching Song of Democracy by Percy Grainger. It is intended that all examples and lessons in this unit are presented by the teacher and the student guide should serve merely as a reference point for the students. Keys are included in the Teacher Guide and everything is adaptable to the needs of any specific situation. Analysis Unit 1- Composer Percy Aldridge Grainger was born on July 8, 1882 in Brighton, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. He spent the first 13 years of his life under the directions of his mother, Rose, who instilled in him a love for the arts. In 1894 he debuted his career as a musician as a pianist in Melbourne, the following year his mother sent him to Frankfurt where he studied at the Hoch Conservatory from 1895-1901. There he studied piano with James Kwast and composition and theory with Iwan Knorr. During this same time, he was strongly influenced by the writings of Rudyard Kipling and Walt Whitman.Grainger's output is very large, with tow main types of works; original compositions and folk music settings. Most, whether original or settings, are small in scale and last between two and eight minutes. Other notable works by Grainger include: Lincolnshire Posy, Early One Morning, Molly on the Shore, Irish Tune from County Derry, and Ye Banks and Braes O' Bonnie Doon. Unit 2- Composition Grainger wrote A Marching Song of Democracy after attending the Paris Exhibition in 1900. He first wrote the work for voices and whistlers only, to be performed by a chorus of me, women, and children whistling and singing to the rhythmic tramping of their feet as they marched along. Grainger realized later that he needed the contrast available with an instrumental ensemble and began scoring the piece for band in 1948. Form the program notes in the beginning of the score "...a sprawling tone poem which encapsulates the post-romantic expressive qualities of Wagner, Richard Strauss, Mahler, and Bruckner. But the music is infused with Grainger's own original composition techniques and humanistic spirit." This is a one movement, Grade IV piece with a very thick texture. Grainger also uses nearly every possible band instrument including piccolo, Eb Clarinet, Alto Clarinet, Contrabassoon, Soprano Saxophone, Bass Saxophone and Cornet. He also uses a very extensive percussion section. The work starts out building with the Theme and goes into a legato lyrical section with thinner instrumentation. It ends with the entire ensemble sounding like a bell tower and crescendoing to the final note. Unit 3 - Historical Perspective A Marching Song of Democracy was composed in the early 1900's during the Post Romanticism, Impressionism, and Expressionism periods, though not scored for band until 1948. Grainger lived in London at the time that he composed this work, but was in Sweden at the time he finished the band score. One might almost think while listening to this piece that it was written to be specifically patriotic for America. But Grainger composed it only with American influences in mind such as the poetry of Walt Whitman, and a vision of a statue of George Washington. Unit 4 - Technical Considerations Scales of C Major, Db Major, Eb Major, and Gb Major are required for everybody in the ensemble. Rhythmic demands include quarter notes and eighth notes as well as a few sixteenth note runs. As with all Grainger works, play exactly what he has written on the page very literally. Keep in mind that Grainger writes a lot of thick harmonies that could be uncomfortable for younger musicians to play. Unit 5 - Stylistic Considerations The styles required for this piece are legato, tenuto, and marcato. Nearly the entire piece is written in a connected style, with the melodic lines having heavier accents at times. This is a contemporary piece written in the early 1900's so a very strong brass section is needed. When the woodwinds have the melody, the brass need to very conscious to who has the melody so they don't cover it. All member of the ensemble, including percussionist, should think of playing everything like they would sing it since this was first written for a choral setting. The tempo does not change throughout. Unit 6 - Musical Elements This piece was opens with a vigorous and energetic theme that sets the on-going-march mood for the rest of the piece. The melody rises from the C in the bass and spreads into 4 independent, yet very closely related parts. There are 5 main themes that are presented throughout, with many of the themes related to each other very closely. Compositional devices included are the use of counter-melodic material in measures 69-84. As identified before, the brass section needs to be very strong for the majority of the piece. Unit 7 - Form and Structure Theme 1-A (1-7) Interlude (8-10) Theme 1-B (10-13) Theme 1-C (14-30) Interlude (35-37) Theme 2 (38-50) Theme 1-C (50-61) Theme 1-A (62-69) Theme 1-B, 2, 1-C (70-84) Theme 1-C (85-103) Theme 3 (91-99) Theme 4 (104-116) Theme 4-A (117-131) Theme 5-A (132-136) Theme 5-B (137-142) Modulation (141-155) Chord Sequence (160-170) Coda (Based on Theme 3) (171-207) Unit 8 - Suggested Listening It is important to get used to the thick texture and harmonies that Grainger uses in his works. The best way to do that is to listen to Grainger's other works. (The following are by Grainger unless otherwise noted) Lincolnshire Posy Irish Tune from County Derry Molly on The Shore Funeral March, Edvard Grieg Symphonic Dances, Edvard Grieg Action in Brass, Henry Cowell Thundersticks, Henry Cowell Shepherd's Hey Ye Banks and Braes O' Bonnie Doon Unit 9 - Additional References and Resources Portrait of Percy Grainger, (eds.) Malcom Gillies and David Pear (Eastman Studies in Music), University of Rochester Press, Rochester, NY, 2002, pp. 99-103 Student Activities Guide The following are brief explanations of the intent behind each activity in the Student portion of this site. These are my interpretations of the activity and activities can be modified in any way to suit the needs of individual instructors. Composer Information Students are given a short biography of Percy Grainger and asked to complete a crossword puzzle. All the answers can be found in the biography, or help from the internet is encouraged. The key is in the Teacher's attachment section and is titled "GraingerKey." Students are asked to find other pieces of music that are inspired by poetry. Much of today's pop music started as poetry, so as long as a student supports their choice it will be correct. Rhythm Students are asked to identify note values that are used by Grainger in Marching Song of Democracy. Key is titled "Note Worksheet (key)." For the "Student Time Sheet" assignment, as long as the number of beats in each measure is correct, assignment will be acceptable. Melody Students are asked to find a picture either on the internet or in a book (if found in a book, please make a color copy of the picture), and describe what in the picture sticks out to them. As long as the explanation is grammatically correct and covers the correct subject, assignment will be acceptable. Harmony Students are asked to listen to 3 different sections of Marching Song of Democracy and fill in boxes on a worksheet. This is a participation grade, worksheet just needs to be complete (no white boxes allowed). Form Both of these worksheets are participation grades. As long as the worksheets get filled out, full credit should be given. Glossary of Terms The following words are given to the students. Words are to be included on the Unit Exam and definitions put into the student's own words. Grading of this part will be subjective, but it will be obvious if the student understands the definitions or not. Rhythm Melody Harmony Form Dynamics Timbre Ensemble Warm up Ideas I personally really like the idea of taking the major scales of the piece and playing them with a variety of articulations. Also, taking the melody and transposing it for all the instruments will help students to focus on the melody in particular spot. An activity that could be used closer to performance time would be to take some of the chords and re-score them with the instruments playing a different part of the chord than before. This would allow students to hear what inversions do to the quality of different chords. Assessment The intention of this unit is to allow the individual instructor to assess many different elements of music. The actual break down of points is dependent on each director, but and example would be: Completion of all Worksheets attached - 10 pts Completion of the Webquest - 15 pts Completion of quizzes, playing tests, and participation in rehearsals - 20 pts The overall unit assessment could be a single essay question. This will allow students to communicate the information they learned in their own words and should be more comfortable |