Experiences and Outcomes:
I have listened to a range of music and can respond by discussing my thoughts and feelings. EXA 2-19a
Lesson Outcomes
After this lesson, pupils will be able to:
- Listen and reflect on a piece of orchestral music
- Invent their own musical motifs and structure them into a piece
- Perform as an ensemble
- Learn musical language appropriate to the task
Curriculum Checklist
Learners will:
- Play and perform in ensemble contexts, using voices and playing musical instruments
- Improvise and compose music for a range of purposes using the interrelated dimensions of music
- Listen with attention to detail and recall sounds with increasing aural memory
Activities
Prepare your class
Explain to your class that you are going to begin a 6-week music project focusing on a fantastic piece of music by a composer called Richard Wagner and full orchestral performance online. Try to keep the name of the piece a secret
Have a class discussion about what you have just heard and seen. Tell your class that the music is describing something. Can they work out what it is?
Discuss their ideas before telling them that the music is all about an epic journey: mythical creatures are transporting eight sisters through the night and into battle.
Watch the orchestral performance again. Afterwards, ask the following questions –
- What mythical creature might is the music be describing? (If they don’t know about mythical creatures, ask them to combine two animals to make a new one!)
- Is it travelling quickly or slowly?
- What kind of landscape are they passing through?
- Can you use two adjectives to describe the ride? Is it a calm and safe, or something else?
Listening task
Give out paper and art materials. Ask your children to draw this dangerous ride through the night that is being described by the music. They must draw up to eight sisters travelling on the back of mythical beasts and also fill in their surroundings. As your class work on this keep the music playing in the background for inspiration.
When this is achieved, encourage some of your children to introduce their artwork and ideas to the class and discuss them.
Now play the recording one last time. This time ask your class to listen out for short musical ideas that describe the movement of the beasts, (i.e. the swirling violins at the beginning). Encourage them to add a gesture or mark on their drawing for every one of these sounds to make their art-work ‘move’.
Finish your lesson by watching the introductory film with Christopher Eccleston and discuss what Wagner is actually describing – the eight sisters (warrior women) are being transported by winged horses, through woodland and towards a battlefield.
Additional resources and a more detailed lesson plan can be found here on the BBC Ten Pieces website;
https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/ten-pieces/classical-music-richard-wagner-ride-of-the-valkyries/zdyfmfr
