Embedded Files
Canadian Composers:
Quebec Folk Rhapsody: Robert Buckley
Quebec Folk Rhapsody: Robert Buckley
Students need to know:
- Off beat rhythms
- Trills
- Tempos changes
- An understanding of French Canadian folk music and French Canadian Heritage
LEVEL: 2
Lyric Essay: Donald Coakley
Lyric Essay: Donald Coakley
Students need to know:
- Lots of important details to musical expression and how to apply this to the song
- Lots of sustained playing, and players will need to learn how to flow with the music
- Syncopation
- Triplet figures that cannot be rushed
- Understanding of the form and sturcture of the song.
LEVEL: 4
Female Composers:
Awaken
Awaken
Students need to know:
- Lots of syncopation to make note of
- Pulse is important to understand
- How do we know what the melody is?
- Lots of articulation styles
LEVEL: 1.5
Chasing Sunlight
Chasing Sunlight
Students need to know:
- Understanding syncopation
- Rhythmic ostinatos
- Dotted quarter note values
- Trumpet Solo
LEVEL: 2
The Sweet Sounds of Snowfall
The Sweet Sounds of Snowfall
Students need to know:
- Holiday Song
- There are two traditional songs in this piece: "I Saw Three Ships" and "In Dulci Jubilo"
- Time signature is 6/8. Having students understand this time signature and how to count it, is crucial and what this difference is compared to 3/4
- Discussions about the differences between Melody, counter-melody parts, harmony, accompaniment
LEVEL: 2
Pop!: Tawnie Olson
Pop!: Tawnie Olson
Students need to know:
- Very rhythmic
- Time signature changes
- Tricky articulation
LEVEL: 3
African Folk Trilogy
African Folk Trilogy
Students need to know:
- Stomping for some parts
- Understanding ties
- Changing in styles
- Great percussion parts
- Canon between parts
- Understanding the meaning behind the three traditional African children's songs the song is based on
LEVEL: 0.5
Clouds
Clouds
Students need to know:
- Understanding switching between time signatures 3/4 and 4/4
- Conductor cues
- Ad. libbing parts
- Great percussion parts for the "thunder"
LEVEL: 0.5
Stars
Stars
Students need to know:
- Use of Metallic instruments/sounds
- This song is related to space, so particular knowledge and information should be about the constellations.
LEVEL: 0.5
The Red Balloon
The Red Balloon
Students need to know:
- An alternative lesson that can be done with this piece: Since the song is based off a painting of an older man with a child holding a red balloon, students can listen to the song and paint their own painting. They can do their own painting before even knowing the title of the piece, but only listening to the song, or the painting of the red balloon and child can mentioned, and they do their own painting based on that.
- Time signature 3/4
LEVEL: 1
Belah Sun Woman
Belah Sun Woman
Students need to know:
- Very rhythmic (using body percussion, speaking, hand gestures, rhythm sticks or drum sticks)
- Speaking part
- Very rhythmic
- Understanding cues from conductor
- Various movements
LEVEL: 1
Whirlwind
Whirlwind
Students need to know:
- Soundscape sections
- Cueing from a conductor
- Free time, and increased aural awareness.
- Uses only four notes and a repeated melody
- Focuses on sound, tone color, form and expression.
- Unusual percussion - handmade waterglass and rattle instruments, whirling tubes
LEVEL: 1.5
African Canadian Composers:
Hymn To Freedom: Oscar Peterson
Hymn To Freedom: Oscar Peterson
Students need to know/About the song:
- What kind of challenges would Oscar Peterson have had to face?
- What can you hear in his music?
- How does the music make you feel?
- What is the meaning of Hymn to Freedom
- How can musical expression and style communicate moods and feelings?
- How can we play this song using expression and emotion?
LEVEL: 3
African American Composers:
Carpathia
Carpathia
Students need to know:
- Lots of percussion parts
- Some body percussion (hissing, foot stomping)
- Sounds that try to imitate ship sounds
- Tempo changes, and sudden tempo changes
- Anvil/brake drum would be needed
LEVEL: 1.5
New Era (Concert March)
New Era (Concert March)
Students need to know:
- Understanding a march style in instrumentation and form
- Dotted quarter not values
- Ties
- Rhythmic percussion parts
- "Fanfare" moments
LEVEL: 1.5
2SLGBTQIA+ Composers:
Presto!
Presto!
Students need to know:
- Strong articulation
- What does Presto mean? What are other tempos called and how fast or slow are they?
- Accents
- Off beat ostinato
- Difference between slurring and tonguing
- Dotted quarter note value
LEVEL: 0.5
Renaissance Fair
Renaissance Fair
Students need to know:
- Understanding of ties
- Organ like accompaniment: What does this mean
- Call and Response
LEVEL: 0.5
Ah-free-kah!
Ah-free-kah!
Students need to know:
- Strong Percussion
- Strong Rhythmic piece
- Accents
- Ostinato
- Optional African indigenous percussion instruments to be included
LEVEL: 2
Amaranthine
Amaranthine
Students need to know:
- Emotion
- Passion in the song, and how can we play with passion?
- What is the story behind this song? Can you make your own personal story that can go with this song?
- How to depict the moment of the piece
LEVEL: 2
I'll Be Home A'fore Ye
I'll Be Home A'fore Ye
Students need to know:
- Understanding Time Signature 3/4
- This piece is a Scottish Farewell; undersanding Scottish traditions and musical styles
- Snare drum and tenor drum have a drone effect.
- There are a variety of colors within this pieces throughout the instruments. What does color mean and how do you play "color"?
LEVEL: 2
Affirmation
Affirmation
Students need to know:
- Understand time signatures and syncopated rhythms
- The piece features a range of dynamics and different articulations
- Key changes and accidentals, ensuring smooth transitions between sections.
- Balance within instrument sections and the entire ensemble is crucial, as different instruments will take turns with melodic or harmonic segments
- The title suggests a piece with uplifting and positive themes. Students should work on conveying emotion through their performance, aiming to match the composer’s intent for a sense of affirmation.
LEVEL: 3
Shadow Fire
Shadow Fire
Students need to know:
- Complex, driving rhythms, including syncopation and fast-paced passages.
- Percussion plays a prominent role in creating intensity and drama.
- Sharp contrasts in dynamics, students should practice maintaining control to bring out the intensity.
- Students should work on creating a bold, fiery tone, to convey the energy of the piece.
- Students should focus on conveying the sense of mystery, tension, and fire in their playing, bringing the narrative of the music to life.
LEVEL: 0.5
Santa The Barbarian
Santa The Barbarian
Students need to know:
- This piece has a fun, whimsical narrative, blending holiday cheer with an unexpected, adventurous twist. Emphasize the humor in their playing, exaggerating dynamics and articulations.
- The piece features contrasting sections that switch between traditional holiday rhythms and more bombastic, adventurous rhythms.
- Dynamic contrasts—from loud, dramatic moments representing the "barbarian" side of Santa, to softer, more playful holiday tunes.
- Students need to focus on articulations and adapting quickly to changes.
LEVEL: 1.5
Mi'kmaq Composers:
The Gathering of Eagles
The Gathering of Eagles
Students need to know:
- Rhythmic melodies
- Importance of organ like chords
- Inviting a community elder to present on the music and its symbolic meaning.
LEVEL: 3
Spirit of the Wolf
Spirit of the Wolf
Students need to know:
- Teaching students, or introducing students to North America's indigenous peoples.
- Pentatonic melody
- Ad lib in some parts, and following the conductor
- Introduction to sound painting
- Inviting a community elder to present on the music and its symbolic meaning.
LEVEL: 1.5
Eagle Song
Eagle Song
Students need to know:
- Bell tones and how to achieve the right tone
- Tempo changes
- Stacatto rhythms
- Inviting a community elder to present on the music and its symbolic meaning.
LEVEL: 1.5
Amazonia: Chad Taylor
Amazonia: Chad Taylor
Students need to know:
- Talk about the Amazon rainforest
- Strong and cool rhythmic grooves..
- Discuss and learn different dancing traditions
- Some tricky percussion rhythms, especially in bell parts
- Time signature changes
- Variety of tempos
- Lots of off beat strong articulations
LEVEL: 2.5
I Lost My Talk: John Estacio
I Lost My Talk: John Estacio
Students need to know:
- Mi'kmaw elder and poet Rita Joe
- Discussions about Residential Schools
- Cultural Signifcane: The Poem and the composition are expressions of loss and the impact of colonialism on Indigenous cultures.
- The composition has a narrative structure
- Has spoken-word of the poem, enhancing its emotional impact and intent
- Encourage reflection on reconciliation and the importance of Indigenous languages and cultures.
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