• Refer to previous general questions and listening guide.

• The picture that inspired ‘The Gnome’ was supposedly a sketch of a little gnome “clumsily running with crooked legs”. What is a gnome? Discuss in the context of literature such as Harry Potter.

• Trolls are closely related to gnomes. To get a feel for gnomes and trolls, read this story about ‘Snidely the bridge troll’.

• What is the tempo of the music? Does the tempo change? Does the music move continuously or are there stops and starts?

• Listen for spots in the music that remind us of someone running clumsily with crooked legs. Does the music make this gnome seem friendly or unfriendly, scary or nice?

• What instruments can you identify playing in the video?

• Do you think the music is only describing the gnome or does it sound like there might be other characters interacting with the gnome? If so, can you imagine who they might be and what their interaction might be like?

Artwork to create: think about your picture as you listen to the music. What does your gnome look like? Is he or she short, tall, fat or skinny? What do its legs and arms look like? What colour(s) is it? What is the expression on its face? Where is it? What’s the environment around it? Is it alone or does it have company? If it has company, is it aware of the company? Is it friendly or menacing?

• Refer to previous general questions and listening guide.

• The picture that inspired this movement was of a ‘medieval castle before which a troubadour sings a song’.

• A troubadour was a travelling musician from the middle ages who sang songs, sometimes about love, and often accompanied himself on a guitar-like instrument called a lute.

• Explore medieval castles.

• Listen to some real troubadour songs (YouTube).

• Listen to or watch ‘The Old Castle’ (YouTube). A troubadour often sang while accompanying himself with another instrument; in the orchestra several different instruments share the role of the singer, and the other instruments play the accompaniment and create the atmosphere of the castle.

• Listen and identify which instruments are ‘singing’ the melody and which instruments are creating the background atmosphere.

Artwork to create: think about your picture as you listen to the music. Does the music make the castle seem like a happy, gloomy, bright or dark place? Does the song the troubadour sings sound happy or sad, excited or romantic? Is the weather outside the castle sunny or cloudy or rainy? Are there any trees, grass, water, animals or people? Are there windows? Is it a quiet or active place?

• Refer to previous general questions and listening guide.

• The picture that inspired this movement was of an avenue in the garden of the Tuileries, with many children and ‘nurses’.

• The Tuileries is a garden in the centre of Paris. It is near the Louvre museum. There are trees and sculptures and open space where children play football, and a little pond where children sail boats.

• In the summer time now, there is an amusement park with a Ferris Wheel and other rides, but that did not exist when Hartmann drew his picture.

• Explore the Tuileries.

• Do you notice any of the special instrumental effects or techniques, articulations such as pizzicato, bouncy bows, dynamics and so on? What instruments can you identify?

• Is the music fast, slow or both? Does the music change moods at any point? How and when does it change moods?

• Are there any specific moments in the music that inspire you to imagine a conversation amongst the children, amongst the grownups, or between the children and the grownups? What could they be talking about?

Artwork to create: listen to ‘Tuileries’ and think about your picture. Imagine children playing in a park. Is there a lot of energy and motion or is it calm and serene? Are the children running and playing or sitting in a circle? What season is it and hence what are they wearing? What does the park look like - is there grass and water? Are there animals or grownups and what are they doing?

• The picture that inspired this movement was supposedly of a large cart with big wheels, drawn by oxen. An ox is another word for a large bull or cow.

• Read the poem the ‘Ox Cart Man’ by Donald Hall.

• What instruments do you see or hear playing the melody? Are they generally high sounding instruments or low sounding instruments?

• What tempo is the music? Does it feel easy or plodding?

• Is the beat in the percussion steady or irregular?

• Notice how the music builds up and recedes again like something coming from a distance, getting closer, passing and then getting farther away again.

Artwork to create: think about your picture as you listen to the music. What does the cart look like? How many wheels does it have and how many oxen are pulling it? Are the oxen skinny or fat? What’s in the cart and where is it going? What kind of road it is it on – grassy, sandy, muddy, concrete or something else? Is it uphill or downhill or winding around? Is going towards something like a village or a house or is it in the middle of nowhere? Is anyone driving the cart? What is the weather like?

• Refer to previous general questions and listening guide.

• The picture that inspired this movement was a sketch of a costume for a ballet. The costume looked like an eggshell but had rooms for the legs and arms to be free to move and dance.

• Listen to or watch ‘The Ballet of Unhatched Chicks in Their Shell’ (YouTube). Is the music fast or slow? High or low? What instruments do you hear or see playing? Do you see the strings playing with their bow or doing pizzicato (plucking the strings with their fingers)?

• How do baby chicks move in real life? What kind of noises does it make? Can you hear in the music the sound of chicks chirping and the movement of them trying to get out of the shell?

• Look at this footage of a chick hatching (YouTube) and discuss the music in that context.

Artwork to create: think about your picture as you listen to the music. If the dancers were dancing to this music, would they be dancing fast or slow? Would the dance be heavy or light? What would be the feeling of the dancing chicks? Are they excited, nervous, calm, happy or sad?

• The picture that inspired this movement was of a market in Limoges. Limoges is a city in France and the market is a great meeting place where people come from the village to chat and buy all sorts of things from fruits and vegetables to clothes and other goods. The market can be both outdoors or indoors and is generally a very busy, bustling place.

• Watch this video of a typical French market and discuss the ways that the music relates to this type of scene.

• What instruments to you see or hear in the music or video? What is the tempo of the music? Is the music more in a high register or a low register? Are there a lot of instruments playing at once?

• Does the music sound busy or calm? Can you imagine people talking to each other or weaving in and out of the crowd?

• Can you imagine sellers shouting here and there about their products and people arguing or laughing? Point out instances in the music that sound like some of the above.

Artwork to create: think about your picture as you listen to the music. Imagine the market. Are there a lot of people around and so is there a lot of movement in the picture or is it calm? What kind of people are they? Are they sellers or buyers? Are there stands of goods to sell? What kind of goods? What’s the weather like?

Are there a lot of different colours or just a few and are they bright or dark? Is the perspective of your picture the whole market from above with a grand overview of everything happening, or just a part of it with focus on a specific scene?

• The drawing that inspired this movement was a sketch of Hartmann himself exploring the Catacombs in Paris by the light of a lantern. The Catacombs are a real set of tunnels and mazes underneath Paris. One particular section of the Catacombs which is open to the public, is a very old cemetery that contains thousands of skulls and bones from ancient Parisians.

• Read more about the Catacombs and discuss.

• Listen to or watch the movement Catacombs (YouTube) (warning this clip contains skulls and bones that may frighten some students). What instruments do you see or hear playing? How does the choice of instruments affect the mood of the music? Is the music low or high, fast or slow and light or dark?

• How do you think it relates to how Mussorgsky felt imagining his friend Hartmann exploring the Catacombs?

Artwork to create: think about your picture as you listen to the music. Are the catacombs light or dark? What do you see in the tunnels - are the passageways wide or narrow? Are the ceilings high or low? Are there people around or is it empty? What is the texture of the walls? Is there a lot of colour or is it black and white (monochromatic)?

• Refer to previous general questions and listening guide.

• Hartmann’s sketch that inspired this movement was supposedly a picture of a clock in the shape of Baba Yaga’s hut with chicken legs. Baba Yaga is a legendary witch from Russian folklore.

• Explore this narrated version of the legend of Baba Yaga

• Listen to or watch the Mussorgsky movement of 'Baba Yaga’ (YouTube). What instruments do you see or hear? What is the tempo of the music? What is the mood of the music? What special effects or dynamics do you notice the string instruments doing?

• This movement is in the form of a sandwich — it has two outer sections that are the same (the bread) and a middle section that is different. This is called ternary form. Listen for the change in sections and describe the difference in the mood between the outer sections and the middle section?

• Describe how and why the music sounds like the story?

• Why do you think Hartmann’s picture had a clock in it? Does the music have any clock-like characteristics?

Artwork to create: think about your picture as you listen to the music. What does Baba Yaga look like? Is it just her or are there other people in the picture? Can you see her hut in the picture and what is the background – is it inside or outside? Is there action in the picture? Is it a friendly picture or a scary picture - is it dark, light, colourful? Should there be a clock in the picture?

• ‘The Great Gate of Kiev’ was inspired by a sketch that Hartmann made of a huge, monumental gate that he designed to commemorate the fact that the Tzar (king) Alexander II had survived an attempted assassination attempt. There was a contest for architects to see who would win the prize for best gate and Hartmann won, but sadly the gate was never actually built.

• Gates or monuments are often built to honor heroes or celebrate national events. In Australia, the Australian War memorial was built to commemorate fallen soldiers. Explore many of the monuments and memorials in Australia.

• Listen to or watch ‘The Great Gate of Kiev’. What instruments to you see or hear playing? Describe the dynamics.

• What are some words to describe the feeling of the music? How does the feeling of the music match the picture of heroic gates that open up into a city to celebrate that the king is alive?

• Why does this movement sound like the end of the piece? What feeling does it give about Hartmann’s life and Mussorgsky’s response to his life?

Artwork to create: think about your picture. What do you think the gates look like - big or small? Can you see behind the gates into the city? Are the gates decorated with anything, like flags or other small monuments? Are there people in the picture or other animals around? What’s the weather like? What type of monument is best to celebrate your life - a monument or a gate? Depict whichever is more appropriate for you.