2018, Term , Week 2: More Mozart

     FREE CONCERT 

3 pm, SATURDAY, AUGUST 4 

at Vodafone Events Centre, 

MANUKAU 

Follow this link for more details  

Share this event 

Background music  to visual presentations (movies / slideshows, and so on) can create a significant atmosphere and arouse a range of emotions depending. 

New Zealand film maker Peter Jackson restored rare film footage from Gallipoli to make this short tribute to the ANZAC soldiers. The film footage was rare because it was in the very early days of moving pictures, and it was incredibly difficult - and extremely dangerous - to film anything at all in the middle of a war zone, and then get it back to safety to be developed.

The background music is Mozart's Requiem Mass in D minor (K. 626). It was composed in Vienna in 1791. It was still unfinished at the time of Mozart's death on December 5. A requiem is a special church service (called a mass) with special music to remember people who have died.
View a bit of this movie filmed in Gallipoli in 1915, and turn the sound off.  Then watch it with the volume up, and listen to Mozart's Lacrimosa from his requiem. Do you notice a difference?  Did the music change how you felt about what you were seeing.  (Note: stop the video at 2:50). 

Most religious music was written in Latin. If you listen carefully, you can follow the words as they are sung. Can you hear where the words are repeated?

Lacrimosa
Lacrimosa dies illaQua resurget ex favillaJudicandus homo reus.Huic ergo parce, Deus:Pie Jesu Domine,Dona eis requiem. Amen.

(translated from Latin)
Full of tears shall be that dayOn which from ashes shall ariseThe guilty man to be judged;Therefore, O God, have mercy on him.Gentle Lord Jesus,grant them eternal rest. Amen.

Some questions to think about while listening:
- Why do you think Peter Jackson chose this particular music to go with the film?- What is it about the music that you like or dislike?
- What does Mozart do to make the music sound more interesting?- Can you hear the sopranos singing the very high parts?- Can you hear the basses sing the very lowest parts?- Can you hear parts where just one group (soprano, alto, tenor, bass) is singing, or different combinations of those groups?
- Where are the crescendos and decrescendos?

                                 

This is Mozart's own writing of part of the requiem.

On November 20,1791, Mozart was so ill he had to stay in bed. Even so, he still worked frantically on the requiem - right up until his final hours.

At 2pm on December 4, Mozart sang the alto parts of the requiem with his friends and family singing the other parts. They sang through to the Lacrimosa which was as far as Mozart had got composing the requiem. Apparently the last thing Mozart did was to imitate the kettledrums in his requiem.

Because his illness, Mozart’s body was very swollen, so a doctor cut him regularly so he would bleed ( it was thought to be help lessen the swelling in those days). Mozart died shortly afterwards at 1:00 am on December 5 1791.

An artist's impression of what it looked like while he was working on his requiem.              

Because they were very poor, he was buried in an unmarked paupers’ grave ( grave for poor people). When his wife went back with flowers a few days later, she could not find his grave, so it remains a mystery where one of the greatest composers is buried.

It is thought that Mozart’s wife, Constanza, got several people to help finish the requiem, using notes and drafts left by Mozart, so that she could still get paid the rest of the money from the mystery person who commissioned the requiem.

An artist's impression of Mozart and his wife Constanze as he wrote his requiem.                     

Here's a movie interpretation of Mozart's death and burial  from the movie Amadeus - with Lacrimosa playing as background music.  

2018 Term 3, Week 1: Mostly Mozart and Musical Maths

Mrs Lee and Mrs Vincent are singing in this concert. Afternoon tea is included in the ticket price.

Welcome back to Term 3 music.  

Dances

Juniors: 

- Goodnight Moon 

- Can you point your finger and do the Twist 

- Can't stop the Feeling 

- Gummy Bear 

Seniors: 

 - All you Gotta Do is just Dance   (with some interesting new dance moves) 

- Bailar 

- Blue 

Songs: 

Wreck of the Diddley   By Fatcat and Fishface 

The Fox  (See lyrics on this blog post. Scroll down the page.) 

Sarasponda

  

MOZART: 

This term we are learning a bit about one of our favourite composers - Mozart.  Watch this  video of Dies Irae from Mozart's Requiem.   A requiem is a special mass (church service) asking for peace for the soul of a person who has died. It is Latin for rest or repose (sleep).  The lyrics (words) of Dies Irae  are in Latin, and they mean Day of Wrath (anger). 

 And here's a version Mozart could never have imagined - a heavy metal accompaniment! 

Mozart didn't compose Twinkle Twinkle Little Star - but he is well known for making an arrangement  (version) of that music.  Here's a Sesame Street version of the alphabet as if Mozart had done it. Note that in New Zealand we say zed instead of zee  - but, of course, it doesn't rhyme with "me"

And now - watch how a conductor leads the orchestra (with Sesame Street Connections). Murray Monster and Ovejita (Little Lamb in Spanish) travel to join the New York Philharmonic Music Director Alan Gilbert to find out just what a conductor really does. Ovejita plays timpani while Gilbert conducts Mozart's Eine Kleine Nachtmusik (A Little Night Music) with Juilliard student musicians. 

And on a similar note  . . . see what happens to Gonzo while he tries to play Mozart's Eine Kleine Nachtmusik on the bagpipes while sitting on a pole. 

And for those who think that playing the recorder is only for children, here's Mozart on a range of different recorders. 

Here's a young 7-year-old-boy conducting Mozart's Eine Kleine Nachtmusik. (Skip to 1:00 minute in.) Note that he conducts without reading the music. 

Here's an easy-to-understand short video about the life of Mozart. 

                                      

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) was an Austrian composer and musician. He was born in what is now Salzburg, Austria. His father Leopold Mozart was a choir master, a composer and a teacher.

Mozart's sister Nannerl began keyboard lessons  at  age 7,   and younger brother Wolfgang began lessons at age 4. By age 5 he was composing short pieces. In the following year Wolfgang and Nannerl began traveling through Europe with their father, giving concerts in the courts of Europe. Mozart learned to play the violin and the organ. At the age of 8 Wolfgang published his first two sonatas for the harpsichord. By the age of 13 he had composed his first opera at the request of an emperor. 
                                           
By the time Mozart was in his mid-twenties he had established himself as one of the most accomplished keyboard players in Vienna, and was recognized as an talented composer. 

On December 5, 1791, Mozart died at 35 years of age. He had no money and was buried in a paupers' grave. He left behind a collection of more than 600 compositions. Some of these pieces are considered to be the finest works in the Classical style.

                                     

Vocabulary: 

- requiem - special church service for the dead 

- wrath - anger 

- lyrics - words of a song 

- conductor - person who leads the orchestra 

- baton - a stick the conductor holds so musicians can see his or her movements 

- tempo - speed of the music 

- symphony - a longer piece of music made up of several parts

- opera - music that tells a story in song and acting

- pauper - a person who is so poor they have no money or home and very few possessions. 

Musical Maths: 

How many ways do you think music is mathematical?  How many ways do you think we could teach maths through music, or use music to help understand maths? 

Some vocabulary you might need: 

- whole note -  also known as a semibreve. It has 4 beats. 

- half note - also known as a minim. It has two beats. 

- quarter note - also known as a crotchet. It has one beat.

- equivalent - having the same value; e.g., $1.00 is equivalent to two 50c coins. A minum is equivalent to two crotchets. 

- pizza - a useful item to help explain fractions.  

Let's start with notation and fractions. 

Imagine the whole note  (or semibreve) is a pizza. It is four beats long. (Hold the note and count to four.) 

Now, imagine that half a pizza is like a half note  - half the value of a whole note, unsurprisingly. A half note has two beats long and is called a minim. Hold the note and count to two. 

                                                         

Then, a quarter of a pizza is like a quarter note (or crotchet)  - quarter of the value of a whole note, and half the value of a half note. Hold the note and count to  . . . one. 

Confused?  It will make more sense after we've done a few activities. 

We arrange our notes in groups - called a bar (or measure) so we can read them easily and keep in time.  For our purposes  this week, every bar will be equivalent to a whole note. 

Which of the following bars are equivalent to a whole note (four beats in a bar). 

Now, where would you put bar lines to make each bar equivalent to a whole note (4 beats). 

Here's a bit of a test. Play Level 1 of this video and see if you can keep in time with the rhythm.  You will need to know know what a quarter note (crotchet) rest looks like - but that's easy enough to pick up. 

2018, Term 2, Week 10 - Last week of term and Matariki

Matariki is the Māori name for the cluster of stars also known as the Pleiades. It rises in mid-winter and is the beginning of a new year. Matariki means the ‘eyes of god’ (mata ariki) or ‘little eyes’ (mata riki). 
Maori mythology says that the sky father, Ranginui, and the earth mother, Papatūānuku, were separated by their children. The god of the winds, Tāwhirimātea, became so angry that he tore out his eyes and threw them into the heavens.

It was a time for remembering the dead and for celebrating new life. In the 21st century, observing Matariki has become popular again

 Follow this link for more information about Matariki


Matariki
For 2018, June 7th is listed as the day that Matariki sets and July 6 - 9 as the rising, which is when you can see Matariki just above the horizon before the sun comes up. The celebration period  for 2018 has been set for 6 -13 July.

Here's the Matariki Macarena  
And here's a a tutorial to show you how to do it - with a boys' part as well. 

Here's the words so you can sing along.
Waiti
Waita
Waipuna - a - rangi
Tupu - a - nuku
Tupu - a - rangi
Ko Uru - a - rangi te potiki
O te whanau Matari 

Here's a story of Matariki 


Here's another Matariki song called Nga Tamaki O Matariki

Wai-ti, Wai-ta, Waipuna-rangi

Tupuanuku, Tupuarangi, Ururangi e

Koine nga tamariki o Matariki

Nga whetu e piataata i te rangi e

Nga whetu e piataata i te rangi e

Wai-ti, Wai-ta, Waipuna-rangi

Tupuanuku, Tupuarangi, Ururangi e

These are the children of Matariki

The bright stars that shine in the sky

The bright stars that shine in the sky

 Leopold Stokowski  (1882 - 1977) was one of the world's greatest conductors.  Her was known for not using a baton, and conducting with his hands instead. HE is also known for his appearance in Walt Disney's Fantasia  and is characterised by Bugs Bunny in this  cartoon video called Bugs Bunny Opera. 

---oo 🎼 oo----