Part 8 Composing

In this part of ‘The sound of art’, students will compose a piece about the ‘Four seasons’ by drawing (using pictures or symbols developed in the key) that express the words and meanings of a set poem. This will involve the students analysing poetry and discussing its meaning, then extending this into creating their own compositions.

Focus is on the meaning of the poetry and the creation of a graphic notation score to record a musical composition. This footage explores ways of composing to reinforce meaning and with graphic notation.

Part 8 – composing

Duration 1:34
Video transcript – Part 8 – composing

Creative Arts K-6 outcomes

Part 3 addresses these outcomes from the Creative Arts K-6 Syllabus (NESA)

Stage 2

Making

VAS2.1 Represents the qualities of experiences and things that are interesting or beautiful* by choosing among aspects of subject matter.

VAS2.2 Uses the forms to suggest the qualities of subject matter.

Appreciating

VAS2.3 Acknowledges that artists make artworks for different reasons and that various interpretations are possible.

VAS2.4 Identifies connections between subject matter in artworks and what they refer to, and appreciates the use of particular techniques.

Performing

MUS2.1 Sings, plays and moves to a range of music, demonstrating a basic knowledge of musical concepts.

Organising sound

MUS2.2 Improvises musical phrases, organises sounds and explains reasons for choices.

MUS2.3 Uses commonly understood symbols to represent own work.

Listening

MUS2.4 Identifies the use of musical concepts and musical symbols in a range of repertoire.

* ‘Beautiful’ within this outcome does not simply mean ‘pretty’ but rather something that excites and arouses awe, wonder, fascination and delight.

Stage 3

Making

VAS3.1 Investigates subject matter in an attempt to represent likenesses of things in the world.

VAS3.2 Makes artworks for different audiences assembling materials in a variety of ways.

Appreciating

VAS3.3 Acknowledges that audiences respond in different ways to artworks and that there are different opinions about the value of artworks.

VAS3.4 Communicates about the ways in which subject matter is represented in artworks.

Performing

MUS3.1 Sings, plays and moves to a range of music, individually and in groups, demonstrating a knowledge of musical concepts.

Organising sound

MUS3.2 Improvises, experiments, selects, combines and orders sound using musical concepts.

MUS3.3 Notates and discusses own work and the work of others.

Listening

MUS3.4 Identifies the use of musical concepts and symbols in a range of musical styles.

Teaching and learning intentions

Students will:

Explore how music can aurally represent words and concepts.
Use pictures or symbols to visually represent words or concepts.
Analyse poetry for content and meaning.
Create a piece of music by drawing a picture.

Teachers will:

Revise ‘The Four Seasons’ by Antonio Vivaldi.
Draw connections between music, art and poetry to assist students to create their art and music works.
Participate in artmaking and compositional processes.
Watch the teaching footage to assist in understanding composing to reinforce meaning and with graphic notation.
Re-explore this footage is of a beautiful version of ‘Spring’ by Vivaldi.

Assessment suggestions include:

Explores how music can aurally represent words and concepts and how through the use of pictures or symbols, artworks can visually represent words or concepts.
Creates a piece of music and an artwork that reflect an understanding of the content and meaning of the poem or narrative discussed.
Uses sound and symbol as a means of communicating a story through musical composition and artmaking.
Demonstrates an awareness of several musical concepts when creating, interpreting and performing musical compositions.
Demonstrates an awareness of appropriate artmaking techniques and forms when creating an artwork as part of a musical score.

Music and art activities

Read this poem ‘Four Seasons’, or have the students write their own poem about the four seasons.
Discuss and revise the composition ‘The Four Seasons’ by Antonio Vivaldi. The music was inspired by paintings of the four seasons by an artist named Marco Ricci, but in addition, either Vivaldi or a colleague of his (no one is quite sure which) wrote poems called sonnets about the seasons that correspond with the music.

These are some of the highlights of the correspondence between words and music – the words are actually written in the sheet music above these specific passages (very loosely translated here from Italian).

0:01 Springtime is here!

0:35 The birds celebrate their return with festive song

1:15 And murmuring streams are softly caressed by the breezes

3:30 Pleasant meadows, murmur of fronds and plants, goatherd sleeps next to dog

6:02 Rustic bagpipes, nymphs and shepherds dance.

10:25 Summer – harsh season burned by sun, languish, scorched

15:44 Weary limbs robbed of rest by fear of thunder and by furious swarm flies

17:52 Furious summer weather.

21:00 Autumn celebrates with dance and song and good harvest

24:25 End their enjoyment by falling asleep

28:42 Huntsmen come out at the crack of dawn

30:07 Animal flees and they chase.

32:05 Winter – shiver, frozen icy snow

32:38 Bitter blast of wind

33:08 Run stamping feet

34:21 Teeth chatter

35:22 Restful happy days at fireside with rain outside

37:00 Walk on ice with slow steps

37:30 Cautious for fear of falling

37:46 Go fast, slip and fall

38:38 Until ice cracks and opens up

39:29 Winds at war.

Alternatively explore the arrangement created by Max Richter in his Vivaldi interpretation ‘Recomposed’.

Vivaldi: Four Seasons/Quattro Stagioni - Janine Jansen - Internationaal Kamermuziek Festival

Duration: 48:54

Recomposed by Max Richter - Vivaldi - The Four Seasons - Summer (Official Video)

Duration: 4:42

Composing art

To help the students compose their four seasons, use the poem discussed previously or alternatively use student created poems.

If the students have written their own poems, make sure they include general descriptions, sounds that one hears, emotions that one feels and activities that match that season. Use the following steps to assist in planning and preparation:

The students can either create a group composition as a class and make one giant mural or create individual works. For individual compositions, each one needs its own key but for a group mural, there can be one key.
If creating a group mural, either compose altogether as a class or separate the class into four groups and assign each group a season. If creating individual compositions, choose all or just one of the seasons.
Use the poem to guide the students’ narratives. As they paint, they should be imagining how they would like this story to sound. The students should be reminded to use all of the techniques and concepts that they learned throughout this resource: emotions, sound imitations, dynamics, articulation, shapes, tempo and so on.
Consider the musical concepts before the students commence their compositions. Discuss their use of pitch, duration, dynamics, texture and structure and tone colour. This will obviously depend on the instruments available.
As a class, consider which way the compositional process will occur. Will it commence with a musical composition or with the artwork?
Allow the students the time to compose their pieces or to think about how they might structure their artworks. Planning is an essential stage to ensure success.

Musical art

This art activity will involve the students in creating their own ‘Four seasons’ musical compositions and artworks. The students will need paper of any size, pens or pencils, colored pencils, markers or crayons, or paint. The subject of the students' creations will be the four seasons.

To assist in the composition of art and music works:

Encourage the students to connect and combine activities, emotions, sounds and techniques (for example, summer could include swimming with loud splashing and happy music).
Be sure that it is clear how to read the painting (in what order do the events happen)?
When the painting and the key are complete, swap with other groups or classes and read and perform each other’s works.

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