Lesson 1: Exploring “Rondo alla Turca”

• There are different categories, or families, of instruments. Using SG43, learn about the instrument families.
• Hollie and Bernard play instruments in the brass family. Unlike the other instrument families, brass instruments are made of metal. Using SG44, identify the different brass instruments.

• Listen to Hollie and Bernard and their friends play “Rondo alla Turca,” Track 41.
  
  This is a brass ensemble. In music, an ensemble is a group of people who play music together. Hollie, Bernard, and all of their friends in this ensemble play brass instruments.
• Listen to Hollie and Bernard and their friends each play their instruments. How do they sound alike? How do they sound different?
  • Track 42: trumpet
    
  • Track 43: French horn
    
  • Track 44: trombone (Hollie)
    
  • Track 45: tuba (Bernard)
    
• The timbre (TAM-bur), or tone color, of an instrument is the quality of the sound, and what makes it sound different from other instruments.
• Hollie and Bernard play the two lowest, and biggest, instruments in the brass family, the trombone and tuba. Listen again to the instrument excerpts and challenge your students to identify which are the trombone and tuba.
  • A good rule for hearing the difference between instruments is: the bigger the instrument, the lower the sound.
• Brass musicians make sound by buzzing into a mouthpiece.
• We buzz into the mouthpiece by vibrating our lips together. Practice buzzing by making an “okay” sign with your hand, cupping your lips with your first two fingers, and vibrating your lips together. See video on savannahmusicfestival.org/musicalexplorers for a demonstration.
• Listen to Hollie and Bernard’s friend play a melody with only his mouthpiece, Track 46.
  
  Next, listen to him play the melody with his mouthpiece and French horn, Track 47.

• Listen to “Rondo alla Turca,” Track 41,  again.
  
  This version of “Rondo alla Turca” was recorded at a live concert, with all of the musicians moving around the audience.
  • How does this music make you want to move?
  • What do you imagine when you hear this music?
• Now listen to a musical theme in “Rondo alla Turca,” Track 48.
  
  A theme is a small part of the melody that frequently occurs in a piece of music.
• Ask your students to create their own movement for the musical theme.
• Play “Rondo alla Turca,” Track 41,  again, this time encouraging your students to move around the room to the steady beat, like the musicians in the recording.
  
  When the students hear the theme, they can perform their special movement. Alternately, students can stand still (like a statue) when they don’t hear the theme, and move when they do hear the theme.

Add brass family, ensemble, theme, and timbre to the Musical Word Wall.

PDF Downloads

SG43 ↓ Download File

SG44 ↓ Download File

Musical Explorers Audio Tracks

Go to Lesson 2: Learning “Stars and Stripes Forever”