PLAY WITH MUSIC LET'S GET MOVING ACTIVITY GUIDE
SUMMER 2020
Hi! We're so happy to be able to share music with you this summer. This Activity Guide offers fun, at-home activities that correspond with the music you'll hear in Summer Tiny Tots. From an exploration of musical concepts to hands-on crafts, there are great ways for your family to get involved, no matter the age of your children. Here are some helpful tips as you navigate this packet. About the Music includes information about the history of the piece as well as the prompts that children will engage with during the video performance. Have Fun With Music presents an activity for you to get hands-on! Each activity is categorized by four tags, so that you can look for the type of experience you want to have: No-Prep No-Mess, Musical Concepts, Hands-On, and Outdoors. Want more ways to engage with music and the arts at home? Check out our searchable activity database here or find full activity guides on specific topics here, or search our library of kid-friendly playlists.
We hope you enjoy Summer Tiny Tots!
MORNING MOOD ABOUT THE MUSIC Edvard Grieg - 1843-1997 Morning Mood is from Peer Gynt, the music for a play about a main character named Peer and his unfortunate adventures. It depicts the gentle rising of the sun and, along with In the Hall of the Mountain King, it’s some of Grieg’s most famous music. Stretch and warm-up your body as you listen and watch us start our Tiny Tots performance with Morning Mood.
HAVE FUN WITH MUSIC NO-PREP NO-MESS
MUSICAL CONCEPT
Moods in Music As young children learn about the fundamentals of music listening and enjoyment, they start to grasp on to the emotional qualities and moods in music. It is simple and fun to explore the moods of music. Use this mini-playlist (or search our full playlist library here) to engage your children with the following prompts and questions. This is a great activity on a car ride or when you and your little one(s) need a moment to reconnect in a calmer fashion. -Do you think this music sounds happy? Sad? Scary? -How does this music make you feel? -Can you show me using your face what mood this music has? -Use your body to show the feeling of this music. And for older children: -What do you think makes this music sound happy/sad/etc.? -Do you think the mood would change if the music was faster/quieter/etc? Check out our full activity guide on moods in music here.
SAINT PAUL'S SUITE ABOUT THE MUSIC Gustave Holst - 1874-1934 The first movement of Saint Paul’s Suite is a jig. A jig is a traditional song and dance that is upbeat and bouncy. The music from this jig comes from traditional Irish and Scottish folk tunes. While watching Summer Tiny Tots, bounce up and down along with the music.
HAVE FUN WITH MUSIC NO-PREP NO-MESS
OUTDOOR
High-Energy Playlist After months inside, with the weather warming up, kids are bouncing off the walls with excitement and energy. Saint Paul’s Suite is the perfect backdrop to some energetic playtime, whether it’s running around outside and playing tag, swimming in a pool, or chasing a puppy around a park. We’ve created this high-energy playlist to bring outside (or keep indoors) with you when your little ones are ready for some bounce-off-the-walls, fullspeed-ahead fun.
FLIGHT OF THE BUMBLEBEE ABOUT THE MUSIC Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov - 1844-1908 This piece is a small snippet from a large opera, though the full opera itself is not often performed anymore. In the opera, this piece happens when a character is turned into a bumblebee so he can fly away sneakily to visit his father. You can hear the fast wings of the bumblebee in the melody, buzzing and bobbing about. As you listen and watch our musicians perform Flight of the Bumblebee, put on your bee mask and buzz and fly along with the music.
HAVE FUN WITH MUSIC HANDS-ON Bumblebee Mask During this piece of music, kids will get to buzz around like bumblebees. Print out and color this mask before watching the performance and put it on as you buzzzzz around.
RONDA ALLA TURCA ABOUT THE MUSIC Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - 1756-1791 This very famous piece of music is the final movement of a piano sonata written by Mozart in 1784. Although traditionally for piano, it has been adapted for a variety of different instrument groups. This is a piece of music that just never stops – from the first note to the last, it keeps on going. In our Tiny Tots program, children can run in place (or outside in your yard) along with the fast music as you listen.
HAVE FUN WITH MUSIC NO-PREP NO-MESS Red Light Green Light Take that energy outside for a musical game of “Red Light, Green Light.” Listen to Rondo alla Turca and have your kid(s) run around when they hear the music and stop as quickly as they can when you press pause.
HOKEY POKEY ABOUT THE MUSIC The Hokey Pokey is a well-known song in English-speaking countries around the world. It started as a British folk dance in the early 1800s and has had many lyric changes throughout the centuries. In our Tiny Tots program, children will be asked to use their right hand, left foot, and whole body to shake and be silly.
HAVE FUN WITH MUSIC OUTDOOR Outdoor Twister Encourage your little ones to work on their rights and lefts with a game of outdoor Twister! Make your own outdoor version of the original Twister or create a new, musical Twister. 1) Original - Create a 4 by 5 grid of circles. Each row of circles should be its own chalk color. 2) Musical - Instead of making each of the 4 rows different colors, instead make them each a different music symbol. Your could use treble clefs, bass clefs, quarter notes, and half notes. Then create two bags filled with paper slips you can take turns randomly selecting. One bag should have the body parts: right hand, left hand, right foot, left foot, and the other bag should either have the four note colors or the four music symbols. To play, just pick one slip from each bag , like “right foot” and “treble clef” and then put your right foot on the treble clef, and so on.
ALSO SPRACH ZARATHUSTRA ABOUT THE MUSIC Richard Strauss - 1864-1949 Also Sprach Zarathustra is a tone poem. A tone poem is a piece of music that depicts the content of another non-musical work, like a poem, story, or painting. Though the full work is much longer than the piece in summer Tiny Tots, this beginning portion, called Sunrise, is the best-known and most performed part of the piece. As this piece goes from soft to loud during our Tiny Tots performance, use your body to grow with the music – crouch down small and get taller and taller as the music gets louder.
HAVE FUN WITH MUSIC NO-PREP NO-MESS
MUSICAL CONCEPT
HANDS-ON
Play With Dynamics How loud or soft a piece of music is is called dynamics. Dynamics are one of the most basic building blocks of music and a very easy concept for children of all ages to engage with and understand. Depending on the age and ability of your child, try one of the following simple activities. 1. Put the sound in your body using this playlist with soft and loud music. Have your child(ren) use their body to show how loud or soft the music they’re hearing is by tiptoeing (soft) or stomping (loud), crouching down to the ground (soft) or reaching up towards the sky (loud), waving their arms small and close to their body like a tiny baby bird (soft) or big and wide like a giant eagle (loud), etc. Get creative with your movements. 2. Simply listen. For your youngest child(ren), just listen along to the playlist. Talk to them about what you’re POKEY hearing. ForHOKEY example, “This music is loud! I can hear the loud drums banging away.” 3. Make different sounds at various dynamics. Write down sound words or noisy action items on strips of paper and put them in one bag. In another bag, put strips of paper with different dynamics written on them. Choose one action item slip and one dynamic slip and act out the command at that volume. Print out and use the ideas below or create your own.
HUNGARIAN DANCE ABOUT THE MUSIC Johannes Brahms - 1833-1897 Johannes Brahms’ Hungarian Dances are a set of 21 upbeat tunes based on Hungarian folk themes. These short pieces are some of his most famous works and have been arranged for many different types of ensembles, though they were originally composed for a piano duet. His Hungarian Dance no. 5 is the best-known of them all. Much of this music is fast, listen for the spots where it becomes slow. While watching Hungarian Dance at Summer Tiny Tots, move your body quickly to the fast music and slowly to the slow music.
HAVE FUN WITH MUSIC NO-PREP NO-MESS
MUSICAL CONCEPT
OUTDOOR
Tempo Fun In Hungarian Dance, kids will get the chance to dance and move their bodies at different tempos along with the music. Encourage the child(ren) in your life to use their bodies to explore tempo even further with a fun animal walk activity. This chart shows four different musical tempo markings and animal walks that match the speed. There are many ways to have fun with this, including: 1. Simply practice your animal walks to explore the speed. 2. Practice your animal tempos along with this playlist, featuring a song to match each tempo word on the chart.
Check out a full activity guide about tempo here.
EINE KLEINE NACHTMUSIK ABOUT THE MUSIC Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - 1756-1791 Eine Kleine Nachtmusik is one of Mozart's best-known pieces of music. Though the title is commonly translated to mean "A Little Nightmusic," it actually means "A Little Serenade" and was just a generic title Mozart gave to the piece. This piece was written for a string orchestra only, featuring violin, viola, cello, and bass. During Tiny Tots, watch as a dancer from the Hannah Kahn Dance Company joins our musicians
HAVE FUN WITH MUSIC HANDS-ON Tempo Fun Make your next dance party even more fun with these dancing ribbons. You can make them out of so many different types of materials, depending on what you have at home. Once you're done, listen to Eine Kleine Nachtmusic or search our playlist database and get dancing!
HUMORESQUE ABOUT THE MUSIC Antonín Dvořák - 1841-1904 A humoresque is a genre of music that is whimsical, fanciful, and generally light-hearted. Dvorak’s Humoresque is part of a series of eight Humoresques he originally wrote for the piano. It’s by far the best-known of the eight pieces, having been used regularly in pop culture in movies and tv shows, like the 1990s children’s show Animaniacs. Before watching our Tiny Tots performance of Humoresque, grab a scarf or flowing fabric and spin and twirl along as you listen to this piece.
HAVE FUN WITH MUSIC NO-PREP NO-MESS Zen Out Humoresque is a calming piece of music – the melody sounds smooth and relaxed but also happy and content. Because of this, it makes a great piece to use as calm-down music for children and adults alike. Bring some Humoresque zen into your home with these steps: 1. Turn on the music, sit down, and close your eyes. 2. Breathe slowly along with the melody and listen to it lilt around the orchestra. 3. Focus on the melody to take your mind off everything around you. 4. Let your body move gently along with the music. 5. At the end of the piece, stand up and give a big stretch.
HEAD, SHOULDERS, KNEES & TOES
ABOUT THE MUSIC
Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes is an English-language nursery rhyme that dates back to at least 1950, though its true origins are unknown. As you watch our Tiny Tots version, sing and do the motions along with the music as Malcolm Ulbrick, a touring artist from Central City Opera Joins us.
HAVE FUN WITH MUSIC NO-PREP NO-MESS Yoga and the Voice - From Our Partners at Central City Opera Yoga is a great way to calm your mind while strengthening your body. Parents, this is especially for you - feel free to try it with your kids or wait until they are asleep. Opera singers are like professional athletes – because their bodies are their instruments, they need to stay healthy. One of the ways opera singers stay in shape is with yoga. Join Central City Opera Teaching Artist Ruth L. Carver as she leads you through “Cat/Cow” and “Robin’s Breath.” Find the full “Yoga and the Voice” video series on their site here and learn more about Central City Opera here. Founded in 1932 and located near Denver, Central City Opera is the fifth oldest professional opera company in the country and is renowned for its exquisite world-class productions, competitive and robust young artist training program, and creative education and community engagement activities.
WHEN THE SAINTS GO MARCHING IN
ABOUT THE MUSIC This piece is a traditional Black spiritual. A spiritual is a piece of music that was written and sung by the African community in the United States, predominantly in the southern US, in the 1800s to early 1900s. Many spirituals developed over years of being sung and passed through different communities and the origins are often unknown. This piece likely evolved in the early 1900s from a combination of gospel songs. March and dance along as you listen to the music during our Tiny Tots rendition.
HAVE FUN WITH MUSIC HANDS-ON Trumpet Painting One of the best-known recordings of When the Saints Go Marching In is by the incredible talented jazz trumpeter and vocalist Louis Armstrong. Watch him perform his important and iconic version here and then make your own jazzy trumpet painting inspired by the music you hear. This blog post has the trumpet template and instructions as well as some fun children’s book suggestions about famous jazz musicians, including Louis Armstrong.
WILLIAM TELL OVERTURE
ABOUT THE MUSIC Gioachino Rossini - 1792-1868 The Overture to the opera William Tell has become a huge part of pop culture and is often the backdrop for movie scenes, TV shows, and commercials. The full piece is over 12 minutes long, but the finale at the end is the part that is most used and recognized by modern audiences. As you listen during summer Tiny Tots, pretend to climb on your horse and gallop off into the sunset (or bring out your sock stick horse if you made one).
HAVE FUN WITH MUSIC HANDS-ON Sock Stick Horse You can gallop off into the sunset while listening to this piece when you make your own stick horse. We think this sock stick horse is super fun and you can create it with things you already have around the house. Watch the video for instructions on how to make your own at home, inspired by this post.
FOR SCHOOLS
@InsideOrchestra