Posts Tagged ‘orchestra’

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Design Your Own Opera

March 26th, 2022

The Creative Kids Education Foundation: Hansel & Gretel: Learning about Opera

(goclassical.org/kids/opera/opera-game)

All grades, with parental supervision

The Creative Kids Education Foundation offers this free interactive game called “Hansel and Gretel Design Your Own Opera” that provides players with music education while they pick different settings for the technical elements of creating an opera.

When you get to the site the game will launch. Try your hand at being:

  • A Costume Designer
  • A Choreographer
  • A Property Manager
  • A Lighting Technician
  • A Set Designer
  • A Technical Director
  • A Stage Director
  • A Technical Effects Director

With each scene, as you engage in activities, the music from the opera “Hansel and Gretel” is played and the meaning and nuances are pointed out by a narrator. Not only that, the lyrics that are being sung are on the screen making it easier to understand the storyline.

During Intermission, you get to try your hand at being an orchestra conductor! Learn about the instruments including strings, percussion, and brass.

When the show is over, take a virtual trip backstage and see how the production was put together. Use the spotlight menu to learn all about:

  • The Composer – Learn about the German composer, Engelbert Humperdinck.
  • Opera – Find out what an opera is and explore links to opera websites.
  • Fairy Tales – Get links to sites about Fairy Tales along with some downloadable activities.
  • Voice Studio – Learn the definitions of a Soprano, Mezzo Soprano, Tenor, and Baritone. Visit a Master Class with Placido Domingo. Meet famous opera singers.
  • Teacher Resources – Download free lesson plans for the opera along with games and activities to enhance learning. Take a fun quiz to see what you’ve learned.

This activity takes about 45 minutes to complete. It is SO WORTHWHILE – and fun, educational, engaging, and entertaining for the whole family!

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Explore the Symphony Orchestra!

September 25th, 2021

London Symphony Orchestra – Play

play.lso.co.uk/

All grades, with parental supervision

Explore the world of orchestra music with this portion of the larger London Symphony Orchestra website.

After arriving at the home page, click through the panes to the “Explore” slide and locate the “Select a performance” link. On this page, search through the slides to find a desired performance you would like to select. Currently there are seven choices:

  • Britten’s Four Sea Interludes
  • Elgar’s Enigma Variations
  • Debussy’s Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune
  • Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony
  • Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring
  • Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique
  • Ravel’s Bolero

Once a selection has been made, chose the “Start watching” link to see multiple camera angles of the performance. There are 4 views visible on your screen that you can set for the specific angles you wish to see. In the upper left of the window there is a menu button. Select this to reveal additional options including “Explore Orchestra” where visitors can learn about the instruments in the orchestra performance, read biographies of the musicians, view Masterclass videos, as well as download teacher resource information.

This website provides a wonderful introduction to orchestral music for students of all ages.

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The Best of Classical Music for Kids!

July 31st, 2021

ClassicsForKids.com: Best Classical Music Website For Kids!

(www.classicsforkids.com/)

All grades, with parental supervision

ClickScholar Gayle reminded me of this website that we featured in 2007 and is worth revisiting. She wrote, “ClassicsForKids.com has live radio recordings as well as worksheets and interactive games highlighting various composers, styles of music and music elements. It is practically the only site we have used for music.”

The site, which is continuously updated, is a supplement to the “Classics for Kids” radio program. You will find information on stations that air the show at the website, and you can listen to the archived programs that bring great composers to life through music and stories. You can also download activities and lessons (pdfs) that focus on National Standards for the Arts and Music.

When you get to the site you will see the current week’s featured composer, and a horizontal menu tab below it that includes:

  • Composers – Read biographies of about 90 different composers (across a timespan from 1685 to 2010) including Bach, Bernstein, Brahms, Britten, Chopin, Debussy, Gershwin, Handel, Joplin, Liszt, Mozart, Prokofiev, Rachmaninoff, Schubert, Sousa, Strauss, Stravinsky, Tchaikovsky, Verdi and more!
  • Games – Play fun, interactive, online games that teach rhythm and notation.
  • Music – Hear music, learn the instruments of the symphony orchestra, explore a musical dictionary, and learn about musical careers.
  • Parents & Teachers – Access free lesson plans, activity sheets, and get tips and advice for music education.

Bookmark this one, you’ll want to return often!

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Keeping Score for Classical Music

May 9th, 2020

 

It’s Saturday, May 9, 2020, and time for Music at ClickSchooling!

 

Recommended Website:

Keeping Score

(www.keepingscore.org/)

Age Range: 5-18 (Grades K-12, with parental supervision)

 

Created by Michael Tilson Thomas with the San Francisco Symphony and based on the PBS television series, this website provides visitors the opportunity to learn more about the life and music of the composers featured in the series.

Through the use of audio, video, interactive materials as well as downloadable lesson plans specially created by teachers who have experienced the Keeping Score Education program, students take an in-depth look into the composers’ political, social, and cultural backgrounds.

When arriving at the website, in the “Explore The Music” box, choose one of the following tabs to see what lessons are available: 

  • Composers
  • Musical Technique
  • History
  • Musical Scores
  • Staff Picks

The composers covered are: 

  • Gustav Mahler
  • Hector Berlioz
  • Charles Ives
  • Dmitri Shostakovich
  • Ludwig van Beethoven
  • Igor Stravinsky
  • Aaron Copland
  • Pyotr Tchaikovsky

Using the upper navigation bar, select “Education” to find more resources and lessons plans created by teachers in California, Arizona, and Oklahoma. 


Select “Interactive” to dig even deeper through images, videos, and text. Follow along with musical scores, experiment with various musical techniques, try your hand at conducting a symphony, discover the instruments and musicians of an orchestra, and much more.

Not only does the website provide a wonderful educational resource in the study of symphonic music, but it is a feast of sight and sound sure to encourage your student’s interest.

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Symphony Orchestra for Kids

October 5th, 2019

 

It’s Saturday, October 5, 2019, and time for Music at ClickSchooling!

 

Recommended Website:

DSO Kids

(www.mydso.com/dso-kids/)

Age Range: 6-13 (Grades 1-8, with parental supervision)

 

DSO Kids is the educational music site for the Dallas Symphony Orchestra located in Dallas, Texas. The site offers a wide variety of free music appreciation activities for kids!

You’ll find an introduction to famous composers and their music, lessons that teach you how to build your own instrument, practice tips for playing instruments, and more. There is also a great teacher resource section on the site that includes a huge database of archived music appreciation lesson plans that you can download and print out for use at home including: 

  • Families of Instruments Listening Maps
  • Meet the Composers Scavenger Hunt
  • The Role of the Conductor
  • Puppet Theater
  • Music Can Tell a Story
  • The Character of Instruments
  • Music and Motion
  • Meet the Percussion Instruments
  • and more!

This is a great resource to learn all about music!

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Classical Music and Games

August 24th, 2019

 

It’s Saturday, August 24, 2019, and time for Music at ClickSchooling!

 

Recommended Website:

Sphinx Kids

(www.sphinxkids.org/index.html)

Age Range: 6-13 (Grades 1-8, with parental supervision)

 

This website is a companion to the Sphinx Organization that “transform lives through the power of diversity in the arts.” Sphinx Kids bring classical music into underserved schools nationwide.


The website, partially sponsored by AT&T and the New York Philharmonic, provides free interactive games that introduce kids to the world of classical music, instruments of the orchestra, and the diversity of many composers of classical music.


When you get to the website you’ll see a menu that includes: 

  • Minority Composer’s Forum – Learn about the lives and musical compositions of renown minority composers such as Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Undine Smith Moore, Heitor Villa-Lobos and more. Listen to samples of their compositions.
  • Practice Room – Pick a stringed instrument (violin, viola, cello, or bass) and watch videos of minority musicians playing scales and etudes.
  • Minorities On Stage – Watch videos of performances by minority musicians, and be sure to click on “See What’s Going On Backstage” to watch video-interviews with the musician-laureates. Their stories are inspirational.
  • Music Match: Composers – Match the classical composers to their musical compositions.
  • Music Match: Instruments – Play a match game with instruments of the orchestra.
  • Instrument Storage Room – Take an animated tour of the storage room and learn about each instrument and hear it played.
  • String Instrument Gallery – Learn about each part of the violin, viola, cello, and bass and what it does.
  • Composer’s Gallery – Take an animated tour of a gallery of composers born from the 1600s through the 1900s. Read their bios and hear samples of their music. Includes: Vivaldi, Bach, Handel, Gershwin, Ellington, Debussy, Danielpour, Chopin, Britten, Brahms, Bernstein, Beethoven, Beach, Handel, Mozart, Lindberg, Leon, Kolb, Kodaly, Joplin, Prokofiev, Stravinsky, Sheng, and many more.

This is a terrific way to introduce children and their families to classical music and to the diversity of the composers of that music.

NOTE: Since Shockwave is no longer available, some of the links are not accessible, but there is enough here to keep you busy learning about the orchestra and its beautiful music!

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