Listening Assignment for The Planets

Listening Assignment for The Planets

Mars, Bringer of War_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Venus, Bringer of Peace_____________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________

Mercury, Winged Messenger_________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________

Jupiter, Bringer of Jollity_____________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________

Saturn, Bringer of Old Age___________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Uranus, The Magician_______________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________

Neptune, The Mystic________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________

Draw a Picture of What you Hear, or What the music inspires you to draw, Choose one or more of the Sections to draw..use the back if you need to..

Cool Poem by one of my students about Venus from The Planets

Poem About the Venus music piece

Air goes in, Air goes out.

Life is hard, without a doubt.

Not a care in the world,

Just you, and the music.

Feel the steady beat of the blow of the trombones,

Feel the rhythm of the mallet banging against the drum

Feel yourself get pulled out of reality,

And in to the air.

Forget all of your worries,

All of your struggles

All of the darkness,

And come into the light.

Here you are free

Here you can be yourself

Dreams can be whatever you want,

Dreams can go however you want,

Here is you dreams.

Change and twist reality.

Here is wherever you want.

Here goes however you want.

Here is your dreams.
Never give up on your dreams.

Or else, they will become fears.

Petrified...new UNIT!!

I am creating and teaching a new unit this quarter with my sixth graders.  This is a unit that I have been meaning to work on for years, and it is just happening now.  The opera project has died a long and dramatic death, and it is time for something new.  However, creating this project is taking some time and energy and a lot of gumption.  The good news is that I can use it as one of my smart goals, and I can also work on it during our professional development days because we are working on The Backwards Design and creating units using this method. 

Stage 1 - Desired Results

Established Goals (standard(s)):  1.) - Explain that the visual/performing arts help people understand history and/or world cultures. 2.)  Create their own compositions, using their understanding of notation, dynamics, and symbols. Enduring Understandings (big ideas):  1.)Students will remember how a composer’s life and experience affects his/her art, writing, and compositions. 2.)Students will remember how a composer connects astronomy, astrology with a piece of music.   3.)Students will remember how to approach creating their own compositions.

Brand new project on Gustav Holst and The Planets..

https://www.classicfm.com/composers/holst/guides/holst-facts/astrology-12/

1.)Where and when was Gustav Holst born?

          2).What made it impossible for Holst to become a pianist?

3.)What other instruments did he play?

4.)Which composers influenced Holst and in what ways?

5.)Who is Isobel Harrison and how is she important to Gustav Holst’s life?

6.)What other career did Holst have other than being a composer and musician?

7.)What made Holst want to write The Planets?

8.)What other facts do you know or can you find out about the piece, “The Planets”?

9.)Was Holst excited about his fame and fortune with his famous piece “The Planets”?

10.)When did Holst die, and where and why?

EXCEEDS OPTION:

Create a composition/ song/rap using facts about Holst and a few short phrases of his music to show your understanding of his style and his life and influences.

My Dear Companion

Because I had to take a sick day, I was able to assign the kids one of my favorite songs and projects for while I was away.  We sing a beautiful song, "My Dear Companion" and then the students write letters to people in their lives that they miss, or who moved away, or who are gone for one reason or another.  This time I wrote an exemplar for the first time that I read to them, instead of using exemplars of other students' work, and I think it made a difference.  Here I insert the Exemplar.

                    Exemplar for My Dear Companion                     11/2/2018
LETTER TO SOMEONE I NO LONGER SEE

Dear Betty,
Things have changed around here, you wouldn’t believe it if you saw it.  So many things have happened since you went away, since you transformed and moved on.  I will try to fill you in, so if you ever return, you will know what to expect. 

First of all, our mutual friend actually retired two years ago from teaching fifth grade.  I thought it would be the end of the world as we know it.  However, he wasn’t actually gone that long.  The following fall he began substituting, and now he is a full-time ed tech.  I don’t see him much, because he works upstairs now, but last year he was in my class most days, and I really appreciated his help with the students.  I never forget to write him a poem every year for his birthday, and it always has to do with you, and our threesome, and often all the times we had together all those years here.  The poems make me both grateful, and sad: Grateful because of what we had together for all those years, and sad that it is gone..like the colors of the leaves in autumn, the roses in spring, the way babies smell when they are newborn, the beginning of every new friendship. 

Well, time has flown since you moved on, and I have become a grandmother! Four times already!  I have three little girls that are strong and healthy and beautiful and one gorgeous baby boy.  Olive and April are seven and four, and live in Chicago, and Sibby and Wilder are 21 months and 1 month old, and live in Brooklyn, NY.  Louis has become a fifth grade teacher, (can you believe it?? Remember when he was just a little boy in middle school, waffle-eating his way through life?) Sarah is a high school teacher at a charter school on the south side of Chicago, David is still a professor, and Chloe is staying home with her babies at this writing.  They all came home for my big birthday celebration this summer, and they always visit me in the summer and at Christmas time at the old farm house in Kennebunk.  They are amazing and interesting and brilliant people, and three of them have partners/wives/husbands that are also equally as brilliant and amazing and interesting.

I am still teaching music here at YMS, but I don’t teach chorus anymore the way I used to.  Instead, I play piano for chorus, and play at the concerts.  You should see the beautiful new auditorium and the amazing piano that they bought for the concerts there, I love playing it and I love hearing the students sing, they are incredible!!  So much talent in this town, so many kind and intelligent students, so much to learn from them!  I wish you were still here to work with them, it just hasn’t been the same since you moved on.  I miss you terribly, but I think of you every single day, and all of my work is inspired by all the things you taught me about life, love, kindness, bravery, courage, humor, and the meaning of life.  I wish you were here, and will always wish you were here. 

All my love,
Susan

Hope it helps with the idea if you want to use it in your classroom..

more questions for your perusal

Maddy’s & Fabiola’s
Questions & Answers
Why does the Queen of Night, Pamina’s mother, ask Pamina to kill Sarastro, the King of  Light?
Answer: The Queen of Night asks this of her, because, as the Queen of Night, she thinks that light is dangerous or evil. As for Pamina, she knows that to kill is wrong, but wants to obey her mother. Sarastro assures her that the reason for her kidnapping is for her safety, saving her from her mother.   

 2. Why does Tamino remain silent even though Pamina arrives?
Answer: Tamino remains silent because he is under a vow, which Pamina does not understands, and is heartbroken, which she states her the song “Now my heart is filled with sadness.” He keeps his silence, also, because he is worried about Pamina’s safety, and does not want to do anything that might put her in danger.


3. Why does the Queen of Night think she has the right to try to kill, Sarastro, the King of Light?
Answer: The play is set in a fantasy world and time, which is a land between sun and moon. As in most fairytale stories, there is always a good and evil. The evil will think the good is weak and pathetic, which will make them think they can take them on (the good), finish them off and rule the land. As she is the Queen of Night, she thinks of the same, and asks Pamina to kill the King of Light. 


4.  Who’s the play about?
Answer: You might be saying that the play is about Pamina, or maybe about Tamino or the Queen of Night or Sarastro, but really, the play is about good and evil, and Pamina is the gap between those two. Pamina is the daughter of the Queen of Night, but is kidnapped by the King of Light, and her mother sends Tamino to rescue her. Sarastro, the King of Light, assures Pamina that he is trying to save her from her mother. Then her mother asks her to kill Sarastro, but Pamina knows that killing is wrong, even though she wants to be loyal to her mother. Pamina is the only thing between her mother and Sarastro. So, basically, the play is about Pamina because she is the daughter of the Queen of Night and she is asked to kill the good guy, but wants to obey her mother. She needs to make the right decision for the plot to turn out right.


5. What did Papageno do after he gives up on the initiation? 
Answer: Papageno broke the vow that he and Tamino made by drinking water. After that he gave up on the whole idea about the initiation and longed for a wife instead. He settles for the old lady and when he says he’s going to be faithful to her a young and beautiful Papagena appears but disappears immediately. He tries to hang himself but is saved by three spirits and they remind him that if he rings the bells he will be happy. He rings the bells and Papagena appears and in the song “Pa-pa-pa-papageno!” they start family plans. 


         6. Why does the Queen of the Night and her
three ladies, and Monostatos attack the temple but fall into a hole and disappear?
Answer: You might think because she wanted the girl to kill her but the true statement is that the lady wanted the girl into her own hands that she can have the power so she could control It. 




7. Why does Monostatos
tries to kiss the sleeping Pamina but all of a sudden the Queen of the Night appears?
Answer: Why the Queen walked in is because in the story she was coming to check on Pamina but then she sees that Pamina was trying to get kissed by  Monostatos.


8. Why does Papageno tries to hang himself on a tree but is saved by the three spirits, who remind him that if
he uses his magic bells he will find true happiness?
Answer: Why he wanted to hang himself is because he wanted to
commit suicide and why the three spirits was actually trying to save him and remind him that if
he uses his magic bells he will find true happiness.


9.Why did  the ladies give a magic flute to
Tamino?
Answer: The ladies give a magic flute to
Tamino because in the text is says, “ The ladies give a magic flute to
Tamino and silver bells to Papageno to ensure their safety on the journey and appoint three
spirits to guide them (Quintet: “Hm! hm! hm! hm!”). And so that shows the answer to my question.


 10. Why did Tamino want to know who killed the creature
Answer: It says in the texted that He boasts to Tamino that it was he who killed the creature.
The ladies return to give Tamino a portrait of the queen’s daughter, Pamina, who they say has
been enslaved by the evil Sarastro.

How do you teach people to ask profound questions?

I have been trying to teach my students to ask profound questions for several years.  I have studied how to do this, and I have worked on asking my students to think about asking questions that could not be answered in one word.  This does not mean that students find this easy, or even worthwhile to do.  I gave this group many days to complete their questions about The Magic Flute, and here they are today, most of whom did not even start these questions.  I am giving them today to work on them, even though I gave them a week of tlts to complete them last week, or at home, or at any other time, ..

so I was losing it that day, and now the world is redeemed.  Read these amazing examples of questions created and answered by some students.

Q: Why didn’t Tamino break his vow of silence when he meets up with Pamina, the woman he loves?
A: He is determined to be accepted into the brotherhood, even if it means that Pamina becomes upset with him. He values his loyalty to the brotherhood, and will complete the trails, even if it means breaking Pamina’s heart.

Q: Why do Papageno’s bells grant him true happiness? How does this relate to Mozart?
A: Papageno’s bells give him true happiness because the bells play music. This relates to Mozart and his life because one of the only things that could bring him happiness was music.

Q: Why does Papageno break his vows almost immediately?
A: Papageno is more of a care-fee, “go with the flow” person. If he prefers to drink a glass of water, he will. He isn’t as loyal to the brotherhood as Tamino.

Q: What could be a reason that the spirits are incorporated into the story?
A: It is known that Mozart was scared of the paranormal. In his last years, he wrote funeral music that was requested by a man he thought was a ghost. This could tie into the part near the end, where the ghosts tell Papageno to play his bells and make music.

Q: Who is Tamino?
A: Tamino is a prince, who is saved by the three lady servants of the Queen of the Night. Once he is shown
A picture of Pamina, he falls in love. He eventually helps defeat the Queen on the Night.

Q: Why did Pamina refuse to follow the Queen of the Night’s -her mother- orders to kill Sarastro?
A: Although Pamina loves her mother and would obey her, she knows that murder is wrong, and those kind of morals that could affect someone’s life so dearly like that come before her obedience to her mother. I believe when the Queen of the Night asked her to do this and she refused, it made her see how evil her mother could be.