Incorporating+Visual+Pictures+In+Instrumental+Ensembles

This lesson was used with a freshman band, but could be used in any older (high school) ensemble. The purpose of this lesson is to help students play a selected piece of music in a way that allows them to convey a story. (The original lesson used the piece “Valley of Fire” by Michael Sweeney.) This lesson will work especially well if the music is written to depict a story. However, as the music interpreter, you can still implement this lesson by making up your own story and what you think the music does. Before introducing this lesson, the students need to be able to play the music very accurately and be able to incorporate musicality in their parts. You should plan this lesson about 2-3 weeks before a performance. This lesson helps bring the musicality and excitement to the piece and gives the students a better idea of the broader explanation of what the piece is about.

Preparation: Listen to the piece with the score and write down what image comes to mind in certain sections. You should have a modest amount of sections (I created 12 different pictures). However, if you want to make a simple story, you do not have to use as many pictures. Each section should depict a new idea, mood, or element to the advancement of the story. Keep in mind that this lesson is determined a lot by interpretation. Once you have the piece divided in certain sections, create a PowerPoint and find some images, which depict the story of the music. Take a look of the sample "Incorporating Visual Pictures Valley of Fire" PowerPoint in order to get a better idea of what a presentation could look like. (It will be even more helpful to listen to a recording of Sweeney's Valley of Fire and watch the PowerPoint.)

Lesson: -Begin the rehearsal by playing the beginning section of the piece. -Explain to the students that we will be see a series of pictures, which depict the piece as a story. Our goal is to play the music in a way that conveys the story to our audience. We want to rehearse with pictures so that we all have the same common goal that we are seeking to convey. -Show the first picture and ask the students how this sets the scene for the piece. -Play the section again encouraging the students to keep the image in mind. -There should be a change in the sound. If there was, ask the students what they did differently. If there wasn’t a change, ask why not or try again until they achieve the sound you desire. -Continue playing sections and showing pictures. If possible, conduct the piece while changing the pictures. Get the students to react to the change of picture. Keep in mind that you do not need to show all the pictures at once, but can space the pictures over several days of rehearsal. -Eventually, you should have the ensemble familiar with all the pictures and be able to play with the same character without the pictures in front of them.

Assessment: -After several days of working with the pictures, assess the students. Have them write out a brief paragraph describing the story. Choose 2-3 sections (example: measures 38-50, measures 96-105) and ask the students what is happening during this part of the story and what instruments in the ensemble are depicting the circumstances?

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