NSO Music for Young Audiences: Beauty and the Beat

Hello, Teachers and Grownups!

Welcome to the NSO’s Music for Young Audiences Concert, designed to introduce children in pre-kindergarten through grade 2 to the wonders of music and musical instruments of the orchestra. Here are a few ways you can help your young concertgoers get the most out of their experience.

Beauty and the

Before the Show n

Help young concertgoers read and understand this Cuesheet.

n

Visit the Musical Instrument “Petting Zoo” in the Hall of States, where starting one hour before the performance, children can enjoy hands-on fun with instruments.

n

Take a quick virtual tour of the Family Theater: kennedy-center.org/Pages/VirtualTour/Familytheater

n

Discover lots more about orchestras, classical music, and the tools composers use in our Field Guide to the Orchestra: bit.ly/NSOGirlPower

Cuesheet Performance Guide

Beat

NSO Music for Young Audiences

After the Show n

elp young concertgoers make and play their own string and percussion instruments.

H To make a string instrument, use a small container without a lid (for the instrument’s body) and two or three rubber bands (the “strings”). Stretch the rubber bands around the container and across the open side. Have kids pluck the strings and notice how the bands vibrate and change sounds.

Here are a few quick percussion instruments to make: an upside-down soup pot or coffee can for a drum, a lidded plastic bottle filled with dried rice or beans for maracas, or small bells tied through punched-out holes on paper plates for a tambourine. n

n

ncourage and help children to listen again to recordings of E any musical pieces they enjoyed and notice how the music— especially the beauty and the beat—sounds with more or different instruments. lease come back and join us at these upcoming NSO Family P Concerts performed by the full NSO:

The Concert Program “Freda” by Kenny Baker “Aragonaise” from the opera Carmen by Georges Bizet “Oblivion” by Astor Piazzolla

February 16, 2020 Girl Power! Celebrating Women in Music

“The Typewriter” by Leroy Anderson

April 19, 2020 Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs (a Symphonic Spectacular)

No. 7 Aromatique by Benjamin Davies

Humoresque by Antonín Dvor̆ák

David M. Rubenstein Chairman

Additional support for NSO Music for Young Audiences is provided by A. James & Alice B. Clark Foundation; the Kimsey Endowment; The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation; Park Foundation, Inc.; and the U.S. Department of Education.

Deborah F. Rutter

NSO Music for Young Audiences are made possible in part by the generous support of Dr. Gary Mather and Ms. Christina Co Mather.

Jordan LaSalle

Major support for educational programs at the Kennedy Center is provided by David M. Rubenstein through the Rubenstein Arts Access Program.

Gianandrea Noseda

The contents of this Cuesheet have been developed under a grant from the U.S. Department of Education and do not necessarily represent the policy of the U.S. Department of Education. You should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government.

President

Interim Senior Vice President Education Music Director National Symphony Orchestra

© 2020 The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

Performed by NSO musicians: Marissa Regni, NSO Principal Second Violinist and Eric Shin, Principal Percussionist Presenting Sponsor of Performances for Young Audiences

David M. Rubenstein is the Presenting Underwriter of the NSO.

Making Beautiful Music L

ike to sing or tap your foot when you hear music? Well, you know what? That’s because of music’s beauty and its beat. At this performance, violinist Marissa Regni and percussionist Eric Shin show you just how melodies and more come together to make amazing music of all kinds. And our musician friends like having fun, so be on the lookout for a few surprises, too!

Meet the Musicians and Their Instruments Marissa Regni (left) started playing violin when she was just four years old, after admiring her older cousin’s violin playing. Marissa says, “If you want to be really good at something then you need to spend time on it, always finding ways to get better.”

To help you get ready, here are some musical ideas you’ll learn about:

Tempo, how fast

Melod y , you could

(like “when we-say-asmany-words-as-we-canin-one-breath”) or slow (like “when… we…take…our… time…talk…ing”) the music is.

call this the beauty of the music—in a song, it’s the part you want to sing along or hum to.

Early on, Eric Shin (right) discovered that he loved the drums and all the different instruments in the percussion section. He says, “There’s always something interesting and new to learn.”

Photo by Scott Suchman

Shhh.

Rhythm, patterns

of long and short notes that make up the melody.

YES! Dy namics, how

Neck

soft (like a whisper, shhh) or how loud (like a shout, YES!) the music is played.

Beat, a steady

repeating pulse— think of it as the heartbeat of the music, or the part you tap your TAP foot to.

Strings Fingerboard Grip

Pitch, how high

Tweet !

(like a bird’s tweet) or low (like a cow’s moo) the music sounds.

TAP

Stick F-Holes

Listen for… n

n

ow the violin and percussion h “talk” to each other.

n

ow the violin and percussion can h both play melodies and beats.

n

veryday objects played e as percussion instruments. ddling—a lively, country/ fi western style of violin playing.

Hair

Moo !

Chinrest Bow

The violin is a string instrument made of wood that can make a wide range of sounds. Notice the instrument’s four strings. When Marissa pulls the bow (a stick of wood with a tight ribbon of horsehair) across the strings, those vibrations create sound. That sound is loud and strong thanks to the instrument’s hollow center.

Watch for…other ways Marissa makes sounds—even percussion ones— on the violin.

Percussion instruments like drums and tambourines make sounds (both low and high) when you cause them to vibrate by hitting, rubbing, shaking, or scraping them. You’ll see and hear Eric play the tambourine and two types of drums—bongos, a pair of slightly different sized drums, and cajón (pronounced cah-HONE), a box-shaped drum. And you can’t miss the xylophone, which has a large set of wooden bars set up like a piano keyboard and is played using little hammers called mallets.

Watch for…some surprise instruments during the show.

Bongos

Cajón

Tambourine

Xylophone

Making Beautiful Music L

ike to sing or tap your foot when you hear music? Well, you know what? That’s because of music’s beauty and its beat. At this performance, violinist Marissa Regni and percussionist Eric Shin show you just how melodies and more come together to make amazing music of all kinds. And our musician friends like having fun, so be on the lookout for a few surprises, too!

Meet the Musicians and Their Instruments Marissa Regni (left) started playing violin when she was just four years old, after admiring her older cousin’s violin playing. Marissa says, “If you want to be really good at something then you need to spend time on it, always finding ways to get better.”

To help you get ready, here are some musical ideas you’ll learn about:

Tempo, how fast

Melod y , you could

(like “when we-say-asmany-words-as-we-canin-one-breath”) or slow (like “when… we…take…our… time…talk…ing”) the music is.

call this the beauty of the music—in a song, it’s the part you want to sing along or hum to.

Early on, Eric Shin (right) discovered that he loved the drums and all the different instruments in the percussion section. He says, “There’s always something interesting and new to learn.”

Photo by Scott Suchman

Shhh.

Rhythm, patterns

of long and short notes that make up the melody.

YES! Dy namics, how

Neck

soft (like a whisper, shhh) or how loud (like a shout, YES!) the music is played.

Beat, a steady

repeating pulse— think of it as the heartbeat of the music, or the part you tap your TAP foot to.

Strings Fingerboard Grip

Pitch, how high

Tweet !

(like a bird’s tweet) or low (like a cow’s moo) the music sounds.

TAP

Stick F-Holes

Listen for… n

n

ow the violin and percussion h “talk” to each other.

n

ow the violin and percussion can h both play melodies and beats.

n

veryday objects played e as percussion instruments. ddling—a lively, country/ fi western style of violin playing.

Hair

Moo !

Chinrest Bow

The violin is a string instrument made of wood that can make a wide range of sounds. Notice the instrument’s four strings. When Marissa pulls the bow (a stick of wood with a tight ribbon of horsehair) across the strings, those vibrations create sound. That sound is loud and strong thanks to the instrument’s hollow center.

Watch for…other ways Marissa makes sounds—even percussion ones— on the violin.

Percussion instruments like drums and tambourines make sounds (both low and high) when you cause them to vibrate by hitting, rubbing, shaking, or scraping them. You’ll see and hear Eric play the tambourine and two types of drums—bongos, a pair of slightly different sized drums, and cajón (pronounced cah-HONE), a box-shaped drum. And you can’t miss the xylophone, which has a large set of wooden bars set up like a piano keyboard and is played using little hammers called mallets.

Watch for…some surprise instruments during the show.

Bongos

Cajón

Tambourine

Xylophone

Hello, Teachers and Grownups!

Welcome to the NSO’s Music for Young Audiences Concert, designed to introduce children in pre-kindergarten through grade 2 to the wonders of music and musical instruments of the orchestra. Here are a few ways you can help your young concertgoers get the most out of their experience.

Beauty and the

Before the Show n

Help young concertgoers read and understand this Cuesheet.

n

Visit the Musical Instrument “Petting Zoo” in the Hall of States, where starting one hour before the performance, children can enjoy hands-on fun with instruments.

n

Take a quick virtual tour of the Family Theater: kennedy-center.org/Pages/VirtualTour/Familytheater

n

Discover lots more about orchestras, classical music, and the tools composers use in our Field Guide to the Orchestra: bit.ly/NSOGirlPower

Cuesheet Performance Guide

Beat

NSO Music for Young Audiences

After the Show n

elp young concertgoers make and play their own string and percussion instruments.

H To make a string instrument, use a small container without a lid (for the instrument’s body) and two or three rubber bands (the “strings”). Stretch the rubber bands around the container and across the open side. Have kids pluck the strings and notice how the bands vibrate and change sounds.

Here are a few quick percussion instruments to make: an upside-down soup pot or coffee can for a drum, a lidded plastic bottle filled with dried rice or beans for maracas, or small bells tied through punched-out holes on paper plates for a tambourine. n

n

ncourage and help children to listen again to recordings of E any musical pieces they enjoyed and notice how the music— especially the beauty and the beat—sounds with more or different instruments. lease come back and join us at these upcoming NSO Family P Concerts performed by the full NSO:

The Concert Program “Freda” by Kenny Baker “Aragonaise” from the opera Carmen by Georges Bizet “Oblivion” by Astor Piazzolla

February 16, 2020 Girl Power! Celebrating Women in Music

“The Typewriter” by Leroy Anderson

April 19, 2020 Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs (a Symphonic Spectacular)

No. 7 Aromatique by Benjamin Davies

Humoresque by Antonín Dvor̆ák

David M. Rubenstein Chairman

Additional support for NSO Music for Young Audiences is provided by A. James & Alice B. Clark Foundation; the Kimsey Endowment; The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation; Park Foundation, Inc.; and the U.S. Department of Education.

Deborah F. Rutter

NSO Music for Young Audiences are made possible in part by the generous support of Dr. Gary Mather and Ms. Christina Co Mather.

Jordan LaSalle

Major support for educational programs at the Kennedy Center is provided by David M. Rubenstein through the Rubenstein Arts Access Program.

Gianandrea Noseda

The contents of this Cuesheet have been developed under a grant from the U.S. Department of Education and do not necessarily represent the policy of the U.S. Department of Education. You should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government.

President

Interim Senior Vice President Education Music Director National Symphony Orchestra

© 2020 The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

Performed by NSO musicians: Marissa Regni, NSO Principal Second Violinist and Eric Shin, Principal Percussionist Presenting Sponsor of Performances for Young Audiences

David M. Rubenstein is the Presenting Underwriter of the NSO.