Lesson 20: Innovative Strummers

Across the globe, instruments in the guitar family have been the go-to accompanying instrument for ages.  The instruments themselves, as well as the techniques used to play them, have changed and evolved over time.  Today we look at two people who were "instrumental" (pun intended!) in that evolution, one in the United States, and one in Turkey.

Robert Leroy Johnson was an American Blues singer-songwriter.  He played on street-corners and local community dances in Mississippi, but was never rich and famous.  These days he is known as "King of the Delta Blues."  He was born in Hazelhurst, Mississippi in 1911 and died at the age of 27 in 1938 in Greenwood.

A Gibson guitar, like the one that Robert Johnson played. 

Despite his anonymity in his short lifetime, many musicians consider him to be one of the best guitar players of all time.  When he first heard a recording of Robert Johnson, Keith Richards thought there were 2 guitar players, when in fact it was Johnson playing 1 guitar.

           

(left) A "juke joint" like the ones Robert Johnson played in.  
(right) "Delta Children" 1938 by Dorothea Lange

Robert Johnson made his only recordings in San Antonio and Dallas, Texas in 1936 and 1937.  "Love in Vain Blues" is about unrequited love. *Parents- when sharing other songs from Johnson's catalogue, you might want to listen to the song first.  "Love in Vain" is entirely appropriate for kids, but many others may not be for your family.

Kids in Mississippi today

Born 10 years earlier than Robert Johnson in Adapazari, Turkey, Udi Hrant Kenkulian also revolutionized the way of strumming his instrument.  He played the Oud,  which is a short-necked lute-type stringed instrument that can have 11 or 13 strings.  "Udi" is actually a term that means "Oud-player," so "Udi Hrant" means "Oud-player Hrant."  

Udi Hrant

In 1915 Udi Hrant fled to the city of Konya to escape the Armenian Genocide (his family was ethnically Armenian), and there he began to study the Oud.  Three years later he and his family moved to Istandbul, where he continued to study.  The earliest recordings we have of Udi Hrant are from 1927 (he was then 26 years old).  

Turkish Oud

Udi Hrant played traditional Turkish Classical Music, and was important in its shift into contemporary popular music.   He invented new ways of playing the oud that people had not used before, such as picking in both directions and using left-hand pizzicato (plucking a string with the left hand). He was also blind from birth, and so all of his musical education was done without sight.

Istanbul, Turkey

Udi Hrant lived much longer than Robert Johnson and was very successful and beloved in his lifetime.  He passed away in 1978.  He spent most of his life in Turkey, but did visit the USA in 1950 to see doctors about his blindness.  During that trip he performed for American audience and this started a career of touring all over the world, and playing often on Istanbul Radio.

Children in Istanbul

We heard the love song "Kalbimde Yaran", which translates to "In My Heart."  This song, like most of his songs, is written in Turkish.

Enjoy!

We heard

Love in Vain Blues, by Robert Johnson 

Kalbimde Yaran, by Udi Hrant

To use this lesson:

Find the lesson plan here.

Find the visual slideshow here.

Find the drawing pages here. 

Lesson 19: Broadway Musicals. And Revolution.

Les Misérables is one of the most famous Broadway musicals of all time.  I was surprised to learn that it only debuted on Broadway in 1987.  It's such canon, I feel it's been around forever.  The musical is based on Victor Hugo's classic French novel of the same name.  Originally the musical was written in French,  and if you search well you can find the original concept album from 1980. The musical was translated soon after it was written in French, and the rest is history.

Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Shönberg

Victor Hugo

The team behind Les Misérables (and many other successful musicals, including Miss Saigon) is the Tunisian writer Alain Boublil and French composer Claude-Michel Shönberg.



The novel and musical deal with the life stories of several characters struggling through unrest in France from the the time Napolean was defeated up until the June Rebellion.

Do You Hear the People Sing? is sung by students who are planning the rebellion in the streets of Paris. The song is all about people fighting for their freedom.

Arts Club Theater Company, Vancouver, CA
performing Do You Hear the People Sing?

Who else fought for their freedom from monarchy?  The American Colonies.  Possibly the most successful musical on Broadway today is Hamilton, by Lin-Manuel Miranda.

Lin-Manuel Miranda

Miranda wrote the musical after reading a biography of Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow.  I explained to the children that the American Revolution came before the French Revolution and that in both cases the people were fighting for a right to govern themselves instead of being ruled by a King.  Technically Les Mis takes place a few decades after the French Revolution, but in both cases the people were rebelling against monarchy.

The song Dear Theodosia is sung by Alexander Hamilton (Lin-Manuel Miranda) and Aaron Burr (Leslie Odom, Jr) to their newborn children.  They sing about their wish for their own children to have the loving family and better world that they did not have.  According to his twitter feed, Miranda actually did not write the song for his son.  He wrote it just after adopting a dog.  Aren't pets great?

a scene from Hamilton

a scene from Hamilton

*A warning to parents:
Many of the songs in Hamilton contain vulgarities.  Dear Theodosia, of course, does not. It is a phenomenal score, and I would encourage parents to listen to it on your own to enjoy and to screen for what you think is appropriate for your own children.

I hope that this lesson showed the kids that Broadway Musicals can be fun and exciting, as well as beautiful and dramatic.  It was difficult to pick 2 Broadway musical numbers from the myriad of classics.  I was especially surprised to find it was much easier to pick a non-explicit song from Hamilton than from some of the classics that I was obsessed with as a kid.  A Chorus Line?  No.  Not one song is school-appropriate.  But, it's good music!

Do You Hear the People Sing?, from Les Misérables  is available on Amazon.
Dear Theodosia, from Hamilton is available on Amazon.


Find the lesson plan here.
Find the drawing pages here.
Find the slideshow here.

Enjoy!

Lesson 18: Lilacs

Walt Whitman, 1887

When Lilac's Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd is by the American poet Walt Whitman.  It was written just after the assassination of President Lincoln in 1865, and is a reaction to his death and to the end of the Civil War.  The first stanza of the poem is:


1.
When lilacs last in the dooryard bloom'd,
And the great star early droop's in the western sky in the night,
I mourn'd, and yet shall mourn with ever-returning spring.

Ever-returning spring, trinity sure to me you bring,
Lilac blooming perennial and drooping star in the west,
And thought of him I love.


I started the lesson differently for this one, showing this part of the poem on the board, reviewing a few words (lilacs, mourn, trinity, perennial) and leading the class in a choral reading.  We talked about what the poet was trying to draw with its words. I focused on the image of the author talking to Spring- telling the three things that it brings: 1. lilac flowers that bloom again every year, 2. a western star, 3. the thought of someone the author loves.

Then I played two different settings of the poem.

The first is Lilacs for Voice and Orchestra, written in 1996 by the American composer George T Walker Jr.  Walker was born in Washington DC in 1922 and won the 1996 Pulitzer Prize for this composition.  The recording I shared is sung by the classical vocalist Faye Robinson.  I could not find a recording of the song on YouTube, but I did find this interview with the composer from 2012.

The second was composed in 1946 by the German composer Paul Hindemith (1895-1963).  It is for 2 solo voices (mezzo-soprano and baritone), full SATB choir, and full orchestra.  I played a recording sung by the famous classical vocalists Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Brigitte Fassbaender.

Paul Hindemith

We talked about how the same poem can inspire many different people, and how 2 different composers, at different times in history, can be moved to make a poem into music.  The children needed a little help at first to realize that the singers were singing in English (a mini-lesson in classical vocal technique ensued) but could then hear that the text was the same.  In some ways the songs were similar: voice, orchestra. In other ways they were different: one singer vs many, low voices vs high.

There is so much more in this poetry and music than can be covered in a short 25-minute first grade lesson.  Still, I see these lessons as glimpses through open doorways of what is possible with art.  I hope that it inspires my students to open the doors and enter these experiences more fully in the future.

When Lilac's Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd
       -George T Walker, Jr.
       -Paul Hindemith

Find the lesson plan here.
Find the slide show here.
Find the drawing pages here.

Enjoy!

Lesson 17: The New Year (take 2)

All over the world the new year is celebrated.  Our circular year is marked at different points depending on culture and calendar, but we all find some way to celebrate another trip around the sun.

Last year we listened to Jewish and Chinese new year's music.  This year we trotted out a Bach Cantata and traveled all the way to South Africa to find a very familiar New Year's tradition.

Philadelphia is known for it's New Year's Mummers Parade, a cacophony of brightly-dressed troupes performing periodically as they march through the city, casting beads and confetti as they make their way to Two Street.  The clubs spend all year making costumes and floats and developing their shows. Unfortunately, the music and form of performances have their roots in the old racist American minstrel shows.  Though the participants have attempted to remove racist stereotypes from the show since the 1960's, this is still clearly a journey that has a long way to go.

a performance by the Ferko String Band at the 2012 Mummers Parade

The Philadelphia Mummers Parade began in the mid-nineteenth century, with the first official parade occurring in 1901.  In 1848, an American ship traveled to South Africa and Javanese and Malayan indentured servants saw American minstrels perform.  They took what they had seen and created the "Kaapse Klopse" ("Cape Clubs"), also known as the Cape Town Minstrel Carnival. On the surface, this carnival is almost identical to the Mummers Parade, but the Kaapse Klopse celebrates Creole culture and the parade's African-American roots.

I chose a song that is often heard in the parade, in the style of the old minstrel songs.  Daar Kom Die Alibama ("there comes the Alabama") is a simple song about a ship arriving.  It is a traditional song dating back to around 1863 when the CSS Alabama (an American Confederate ship), stopped in Capetown for repairs.   The recording is by the Central Malay Choir.  Instruments that are commonly used in the bands are banjos, guitars, whistles, trombones and tubas, as well as African ghoema drums.

CSS Alabama

The Capetown parade is held on January 2nd (it is sometimes called "Tweede Nuwe Jaar"/ "Second New Year") because the enslaved people that celebrated were given this day off.

Cape Malay Choir Competition

I tried to speak with sensitivity to the history of this music, but I wanted to show the children how an art form can be used by oppressors, but also by the oppressed- to claim and celebrate their freedom and history.  Recently there was some objection to the parade's rowdiness in Capetown and the Kaapse Klopse participants successfully fought for their right to perform and celebrate.

New Years Capetown Carnival

Back in time and place to Germany in the early eighteenth century, we heard one of many Bach cantatas written in honor of the new year.  Bach was employed at several churches simultaneously, and in 1725 he wrote a Cantata in honor of the new year, Jesu nun sei epreiset (Jesus now be praised) BWV 41: Den is allein die Ehre (yours alone is the honor).  The piece is for orchestra and choir.

Johann Sebastian Bach

translation:

Yours alone is the honor,
Yours alone is the glory;
teach us patience in suffering,
direct all our actions,
until we happily depart
into the eternal heavenly kingdom,
to true peace and joy,
like the holy ones of God.
To that end do with us all
according to Your pleasure;
thus sings today earnestly
the faithful Christian flock
and wished with voice and heart
for a blessed new year.

St Thomas Church, Leipzig, Germany

Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra
(who performed recording)

Daar Kom Die Alibama (There comes the Alabama), Cape Malay Choir.

Jesu, nun sei epreiset (Jesus, now be praised) MWV 41: Den ist allein die Ehre (yours alone is the honor), Johann Sebastian Bach, performed by Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra and Choir

Find the lesson plan here. 

Find the slide show here. 

Find the drawing pages here.

Enjoy! Happy New Year!

Lesson 16: Lullabies

Lullabies are the first music we hear, and often the melodies most dear to our hearts. They are sung to children all over the world, but what is sung about can be very different from song to song, from place to place.

We have a young student who has recently arrived from Japan, and I wanted to make her language visible in the classroom.  One of my goals is to use music class to connect the children to their community.  I chose a traditional Japanese lullaby from Takeda (竹田の子守唄), which is near Kyoto. The YouTube link is to another recording I found that was lovely, , by the group "The Red Birds", but not available for purchase in digital music form.

Akiko Kozato and Walter Lupi

Takeda Castle ruins, sometimes called the "Castle in the Sky"

The recording I found was voice and guitar- a Japanese classical vocalist, Akiko Kozato, and Walter Lupi, an Italian guitarist.  The song is sung from the perspective of a young girl who has to work as a babysitter and cannot be with her family to celebrate the holidays.

Fushimi Inari Shrine, Kyoto

schoolchildren in Kyoto, Japan

The second lullaby, A La Nanita Nana, is also sung as a Christmas Carol in much of the world.  Again, the recording is voice and guitar- an Ecuadorean singer, Maritza Cedeño, who now lives in the United States.

Maritza Cedeño

There is some confusion as to the song's origins.  Many sources in Ecuador believe it to be by Segundo Cueva Celi (1901-1969), an Ecuadorean composer. The first edition published was by the Spanish composer José Ramón Gomis, with lyrics by Juan Francisco Muñoz y Pabón.  Considering this was published in 1904, it is more likely to be of Spanish origin.

Santuario Santa Magdalena, in Novelda, Spain (where the composer was born)

Spanish Historical Center, Quito, Ecuador

children in Ecuador

Takeda No Komoriuta (竹田の子守唄), ("lullaby from Takeda"), Akiko Kozato and Walter Lupi

A La Nanita Nana, ("come sing a lullaby") José Ramón Gomis, Juan Francisco Muñoz y Pabón, performed by Maritza Cedeño

Find the lesson plan here.

Find the slide show here.

Find the coloring pages here.

Enjoy!

Listening 15: The Pipe Organ

Pipe Organs are essentially a group of whistles.  Though they may not know what to call it, many children have heard Pipe Organs, especially in Philadelphia, where I live and teach.

a pipe organ in Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois, Paris

The Wanamaker Pipe Organ in the old Wanamaker building in Center City, Philadelphia is the biggest working pipe organ in the world.  Wanamaker's closed in 1995, but now there is a Macy's in its place that continues to host and maintain the organ.  There is an organist in residence and free concerts all year round.  Every winter since 1956 the department store has put on a light show with the organ accompaniment.  I remember seeing it as a child, and some classes at my daughter's school take a field trip to walk over to see the show.

Peter Richard Conte playing the Wanamaker Organ

Wanamaker light show

The first piece I shared is the Fugue sur le theme du Carillon des Heures de la Cathedrale de Soissons, Op. 12 ("Fugue on the theme of the hourly bell chime at the Soissons Cathedral").  The piece is by the French composer Maurice Durufle (1902-1986).  We talked about different clock chimes, and I sang the common clock bell chime that is heard in the USA (The "Westminster Chimes").  I explained that Durufle had listened to the chime tune from the clock tower at the Cathedral in Soissons (which began being built in 1177) and built his song around it.

Maurice Durufle

Soissons Cathedral

I couldn't introduce the pipe organ without playing a piece by the German Baroque composer Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750).  Besides being instantly recognizable to many as the "stereotypical spooky music", Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565 was included in Walt Disney's Fantasia, so some of the children already had a connection to it.

St Thomas Church, Leipzig, Germany
(Bach worked here from 17-23-1750)

Johann Sebastian Bach

We talked about the parts of the organ, the pipes and the keyboards/ manuals, pedals and the stops.  Kids like the idea of a wall of buttons and playing with your feet.  I showed them a picture of someone standing inside an organ to show how large they can be.

Professor Chip Ross of Bates College

Fugue sue le theme du Carillon des Heures de la Cathedrale de Soissons, Maurice Durufle
Toccata and Fugue in D minor, MWV 565, Johann Sebastian Bach

Find the lesson plan here.
Find the slide show here.
Find the drawing pages here.

Enjoy!

Lesson 14: Sleeping Beauty

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (painting by Nikolai Kuznetsov)

Though we recently heard the Russian composer Vasily Agapkin (when learning about marching bands), I couldn't leave Russia just yet.  Many children have already been exposed to quite a lot of classical music, without even being aware.  They didn't know it yet, but the kids knew a lot of Tchaikovsky.

Dancers at 1890 debut of Sleeping Beauty. (Aurora is in the middle.)

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky composed both The Nutcracker and Sleeping Beauty.  The music from Tchaikovsky's ballet "Sleeping Beauty" sounds familiar to many of us, even if we are not quite sure why or have never set foot in a dance studio.  Sleeping Beauty was composed in 1889 and debuted at the Mariinsky Theater in St Petersburg.  Act I: "The Spell": 6. Valse is a dance of the Villagers waiting to greet the young princess.  It is also sometimes called "The Garland Waltz" (you can see the garlands in the video link below). 

Next, I played a song that I knew many of the kids were familiar with: Once Upon a Dream from Walt Disney's Sleeping Beauty (1959).  This duet between the Sleeping Beauty and her Prince is based on the Garland Waltz, and arranged by American composer George Bruns.  It was recorded in Berlin, Germany due to a musician's strike in Hollywood at the time.  

After playing both, I replayed the Garland Waltz and encouraged the kids to sing along with me, showing them that the song was really the same.  We had a lot of fun!

Sleeping Beauty- Ballet Op. 66, Act I: “The Spell”: 6. Valse, Tchaikovsky

Once Upon a Dream, from Disney’s “Sleeping Beauty”, Tchaikovsky, arranged by George Bruns

Find the lesson plan here.

Find the slide show here.

Find the drawing pages here.

Enjoy!