Atlanta Symphony Orchestra presents
Students at the Symphony
Southern Landscapes

Program Overview

Southern Landscapes invites students on a musical journey through the rich cultural and geographic landscapes of the American South, featuring works inspired by rivers, mountains, and folk traditions. Join the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra for a program that highlights how composers translate regional stories and natural beauty into sound, while helping students connect music to history, place, and identity.

Preparing for Your Concert

Get to know the instruments of the orchestra and engage in classroom discussions to prepare for and reflect on the performance.

Click Here for Pre and Post Concert Activities

Concert Repertoire

Listen to musical selections from the concert and learn about the composers.

🔎 About the Composer: Ron Nelson

🎵 Listen to the Music

🔎 About the Composer: George Gershwin

🎵 Listen to the Music

🔎 About the Composer:
Emily Anne Klayman

🔎 About the Composer: Aaron Copland

🎵 Listen to the Music

🔎 About the Composer: Ferde Grofé

🎵 Listen to the Music

Classroom Connections

Explore the concert music and themes through these short, integrated lesson plans

Memorable Melodies

Explore what makes a melody memorable and discover how composers create variations on a theme to express new ideas and emotions.

Creative Perspectives

Explore how a landscape can inspire music, visual art, and literature, and discover how different artistic tools can bring the same subject to life in unique ways.

Musical Contrasts

Identify contrasting pieces from Gershwin's Porgy and Bess, and discover how elements of musical expression shape the emotional impact of a piece.

A Musical Field Journal

Explore various geographical locations while critically listening to the music featured in the concert and create a field journal.

Stops Along the Musical Journey

Savannah River

Learn more about the river

See the river on a map of GA

Charleston, SC (Lowcountry)

Exhibit- International
African American Museum

NOAA Office for Coastal Management- Salt Marsh Activity Book

Atlanta

Atlanta Parks and Rec

Atlanta: Bold & Beautiful
(Google Arts & Culture)

Appalachia

GPB Appalachian Plateau: GA Region

The Appalachian Plateau Region of GA (Google Arts & Culture)

Mississippi River

National Park Service "Mississippi & Minnesota River Confluence"

Georgia Standards of Excellence

ESGM5.RE.1 / ESBO.RE.1: Listen to, analyze, and describe music.

ESGM5.PR.1: Sing a varied repertoire of music, alone and with others

ESGM5.CN.1: Connect music to the other fine arts and disciplines outside the arts.

ESGM5.CN.2: Connect music to history and culture.

SS5MG.5: Using map scale to measure distances

SS5MG.9: Determining absolute location using latitude & longitude

SS5G1: Locating historically significant U.S. places on a map

ELAGSE5W3: Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences.

ELAGSE5SL1: Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 5 topics and texts, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.

ELAGSE5SL5: Include multimedia components (e.g., graphics, sound) and visual displays in presentations when appropriate to enhance the development of main ideas or themes.