Slavonic Dance Op. 48 No. 6 Antonin Dvoล รกk
Introduction
Antonin Dvořák Born: September 8, 1841 in Prague Died: May 5, 1904 in Prague ● Though his father was (and wanted him to be) a butcher, he recognized Dvořák’s musical talent and provided violin and organ lessons ● Won a composition competition on his second try, giving Dvořák to the money to compose as his fulltime job! ● Taught in New York City for a couple of years ● Wrote music for opera, vocal ensembles, and orchestras ● Folk music of his native Czech Republic influenced his compositions
Activity #1 - Leitmotif Leitmotif = a recurrent theme throughout a musical or literary composition, associated with a particular person, idea, or situation.
Activity #1 - Leitmotif Dvoล รกk as told by the Looney Tunes!
Watch/listen here!
Activity #1 - Leitmotif Sylvester
Tweety Bird
(1:51-1:59)
(2:19-2:28)
Bugs Bunny
Granny
(2:00-2:09)
(3:08-3:34)
Activity #1 - Leitmotif
WORD BANK Fast (allegro/presto) slow (adagio, andante) high low frazzled gentle dark light long sounds short sounds connected (legato) choppy (staccato)
Overall FORM: ABA(coda)
A:
Overall FORM: ABA(coda)
B:
Overall FORM: ABA(coda)
A: CODA :
?
Move it like...
Have student groups (1 group per character) create a movement that “matches” their assigned character based on what they heard/wrote.
Then:
-
Perform in homogenous groups (like-characters) Perform in mixed groups (1 of each character) -
-
Debrief: why did this group choose this movement based on what they heard in the music?
(Optional) Perform again—students can be 1 character or 2, 3, or 4!
Activity #2 - Telling a Story with Leitmotif Dvoล รกk as told by the Looney Tunes...and YOU!
Activity #2 - Telling a Story with Leitmotif Dvořák’s organization of the leitmotifs of the characters tell a story. It’s up to you to figure out what is happening.
Use the information you inferred about the characters from Activity #1 and create a story based on their personalities and how Dvořák organized his song!
Activity #2 - Telling a Story with Leitmotif How to format your story:
A Section
B Section
A Section
Coda
How does the story begin? What are the characters doing? Is there some sort of conflict or change you feel building?
What conflict or change happens?
What happens AGAIN during this familiar music?
Whose music do we hear last? How does the story end?
Overall FORM: ABA(coda)
A:
Overall FORM: ABA(coda)
B:
Overall FORM: ABA(coda)
A: CODA:
?
Activity #2 - Differentiation If your students are OK with the general “What happens during the A section?” question to create a story arc, great! Visual learners could benefit from something like this:
B
A
A
CODA
Some groups or classes may need more concrete “steps” to follow within that lengthy A section (see next slide).
Activity #2 - Differentiation (example) Students can break down the A section by telling what’s happening in each picture on the map
A:
Tweety teases Sylvester and flies around him Sylvester chases Tweety again
Bugs Bunny stops Sylvester
Sylvester is chasing Tweety
Sylvester and Tweety are fighting
Activity #2 - Telling a Story with Leitmotif Presenting the story WITHOUT technology ● Create a comic strip. Use 1 panel for each section of the music (ABA coda) or one for each picture in the listening map. ● Write your story, focusing on narrative transition words to help show how the story changes with the music.
● Create speech bubbles for the different sections or music or different pictures on the listening map—add the speech bubbles to the listening map, or bring back the character groups from Activity 1 and hold up life-size speech bubbles while the music is playing.
Activity #2 - Telling a Story with Leitmotif Presenting the story WITH technology ● Create a comic strip using sticky notes in Google Jamboard. Use 1 panel for each section of the music (ABA coda) or one for each picture in the listening map.
● Using an app like Draw and Tell or Flipgrid, have students use the listening map as a background and they can tell what is happening in the story in each section. Students can choose to use different voices for the characters, or can work in a group of 4—1 voice for each character.