Very Young People’s Concert

Teacher’s Guide

February 26 & 27, 2013

Knoxville Symphony Orchestra

Lucas Richman, Music Director

Music Can Make Your Life Complete

Lucas Richman

Mary Had a Little Lamb Contrasts

arr. Lucas Richman

“Surprise Symphony”, Movement II

Joseph Haydn

“Laughing Song”, From Die Fledermaus

Johann Strauss

Night on Bald Mountain

Modest Mussorgsky

Fiddle Faddle

Leroy Anderson

The Tortoise and the Hare

Daniel Dorff

Carnival of Venice Variations

Jean-Baptiste Arban

Symphony No. 2, “Little Russian”

Movement IV

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Program notes on our composers and pieces 2-8

Music Can Make Your Life Complete 3

Anatomy of a Symphony 9

Student Program Template 10-11

Surprise Symphony Lesson and activity 12-13

Meet the Musicians: 14

Meet the KSO/Concert Behavior 15

Acknowledgments 16

Table of Contents

Hi! I’m Picardy Penguin. Follow me through this

guide to give you interesting facts or exciting musical

examples to listen to! First, we are going to learn

about a composer.

A composer is a person that writes music. He or she

can write music for groups as large as a symphony

orchestra, or as small as a single instrument. A

composer can write a song based on many different

things, such as a dream, a place, a person, or a

poem. A composer has the ability to hear a tune in

his head and write it down as notes for instruments.

Music Can Make Your Life Complete

Lucas Richman

1

Lucas Richman has been Music

Director and Conductor for the

Knoxville Symphony Orchestra since

2003. Richman has also worked on

many movies as their conductor for

the soundtrack. In 2011 he was

awarded a Grammy in the Best

Classical Crossover Album category.

Mr. Richman loves to work with

young musicians and has conducted

many Youth Orchestras, including

the Disney Young Musicians

Symphony Orchestra.

The conductor of an orchestra is the

leader. They must know a great deal

about music, the great composers, and

their works. Also, conductors must have

the personality and skill to direct many

players at once and to turn them into a

team. They understand how each

instrument works and the special

qualities of each instrument. Most

importantly, the conductor learns each

piece of music well enough to guide all

the players in an exciting performance.

Often Conductors hold a

baton, a stick that they use

to mark the beats of the

music for the orchestra to

follow. Do you see the

baton that Meastro

Richman is using?

As a composer, Mr. Richman has had his music

performed by over two hundred orchestras across the

United States, including music he has composed

specifically for children. As music education has always

been a passion of his, he created the animated

character, Picardy Penguin, to introduce young children

to classical music. In 2005 he was named Composer of

the Year by the Tennessee Music Teachers

Association.

Mr. Richman always knew he wanted to compose and

conduct and when he was just 8 years old he wrote a

letter to one of his favorite composers and conductors,

Aaron Copland. To young Richman’s delight, Mr.

Copland wrote him back and encouraged him to follow

his dreams.

Music Can Make Your Life Complete Lucas Richman

1964-Present

2

“Music Can Make Your Life

Complete” is the theme song

for the KSO’s Very Young

People’s Concerts. Join me,

Picardy Penguin, to sing the

refrain of this piece.

3

Symphony No. 94,

“Surprise Symphony” Movement II

Joseph Haydn

1832-1809

Picardy’s Musical Joke:

“ Beethoven and Mozart

went to a concert together

and heard a song that they

thought was really clever.

So, they set out to find the

guy who wrote it. They

spent months looking for

the guy, and never found

him. Turns out, the whole

time, he was Haydn.”

In music, the dynamics tell us how loud or

soft a piece of music is. Forte is the

musical dynamic meaning loud. Listen in

the “Surprise Symphony” for the sudden

loud, or forte, brass and timpani sounds.

Joseph Haydn was born in Austria to a family of amateur

musicians who loved music. Though his father could not

read sheet music, he played the harp and his mother

sang. Haydn and his two brothers all became

professional musicians. By the age of six, Haydn was

playing the harpsichord, violin and singing. As a young

boy he was asked to sing with the famous Vienna Boys

Choir.

From a young age, Haydn loved to play jokes and one time he even snipped off the

ponytail of the boy who sat in front of him at school! He was also well loved as a

composer and director. Musicians came to study with him, including Mozart and

Beethoven and his orchestra called him “Papa.” He spent much of his life working for

the wealthy Esterhazy family.

Haydn’s Symphony No. 94 is on of the twelve symphonies in a group known as the

London Symphonies. Haydn composed them all in four years during his two visits to

London. This symphony has the nickname of the “Surprise Symphony.” It was written at

a time when Lords and Ladies would enjoy a huge meal before attending a concert.

Haydn wrote in this symphony soft sections that would lull the audience to sleep. Then

he wrote a very loud sudden sounds that would wake them up!

When Haydn was asked why he

wrote the “surprise” joke part of

the symphony, he said he wanted

to “surprise” the audience with

something new. The audience loved it!

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“Laughing Song” From Die Fledermaus

Johann Strauss

1825-1899

Composers can include sounds heard in everyday life within their

music. They also include sounds that show how they, or the

characters in the music, are feeling. Can you think of some ways

you could show how you are feeling in music? If something is

sad, or funny? Listen to how Strauss includes the sounds of

laughing within this piece to show how the singer finds something

funny!

HA HA HA!

Johann Strauss, Jr. was born in Vienna. His father, Johann

Strauss I, was a famous musician in Vienna. Despite being a

musician, he encouraged his son, Strauss II, to pursue banking

as a career. Johann Strauss, Jr. decided he wanted to be a

musician instead. When he was 19, he started his own

orchestra, and conducted his first public concert. Eventually,

people began to realize that the younger Strauss was even better than his

father.

Strauss toured internationally with his orchestra. He loved writing music

about all the places to which he traveled. Strauss is known for his dance

music and operettas. An operetta is a musical production with singing and

spoken lines in between the songs. The stories are usually funny and they

were a very popular form of entertainment during Strauss’s day. He

composed 16 operettas. The Laughing Song is from his operetta called Die Fledermaus, which means “The Bat.”

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If music is written in a minor key, it begins to sound dark. Add some sound effects

along with a full orchestration of high notes and low notes that are played softly and

then suddenly loudly, and you’ve got one pretty creepy piece. Listen to how

Mussorgsky sneaks in a scary dance through all the instruments of the orchestra.

Night On Bald Mountain Modest Mussorgsky

1839-1881

Modest Mussorgsky was born in the Russian village of Karevo. His mother was his first piano

teacher and from an early age, she knew Mussorgsky was a very good pianist. Modest went to

military boarding school, and when he graduated, he joined the army as an officer. Then,

Mussorgsky started studying music with Russian composer Mily Balakirev, and left the army to

become a composer. He was part of a group of five Russian composers known as "The Five," or

the "Mighty Handful." This group of composers wrote music that had a distinct unique Russian

sound.

Mussorgsky had a hard time making a living as a composer, so he got a government job, and

continued to compose in his spare time. Mussorgsky wrote instrumental music, songs and

several operas. Night on Bald Mountain was finished in 1867, but it was never performed during

Mussorgsky’s lifetime. Because Mussorgsky was not a professional musician, another Russian

composer, Rimsky – Korsakov, re-orchestrated many of his pieces. This means Rimsky-

Korsakov took the beautiful music that Mussorgsky had written and reorganized how the

orchestra would play the music. Rimsky-Korsakov is known as one of the greatest orchestrators

in history. The version of Night on Bald Mountain that is heard today is the one rewritten by

Rimsky-Korsakov.

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The Tortoise and the Hare Daniel Dorf f

1956- Pr esent

Daniel Dorff is an American composer

who, after having played bass clarinet for

the Haddonfield Symphony for 20 years,

now serves as their composer-in-

residence. Dorff has taken a great interest

in exposing young audiences to classical

music. He has written music for narrated

children’s stories, including; Three Fun

Fables, a setting for narrator and

orchestra of familiar Aesop tales; Billy and

the Carnival, a narrated guide to the

instruments of the orchestra; Blast Off!, a

travelog of a trip to outer space (the score

to which was flown by NASA on the 100th

mission of the Space Shuttle); and familiar

stories such as Goldilocks and the Three

Bears, The Three Little Pigs, and The

Tortoise and the Hare. These narrated

compositions entertain both children and

adults.

Tempo in music is how fast or slow

the music moves. Listen for the fast

music, for the Hare and how different

it is from the slow music, for the

torsoise.

Leroy Anderson was an American

composer, arranger, and conductor. He

studied piano, organ and double bass. His

parents were Swedish immigrants. His

father was a postal clerk and played the

mandolin and his mother played the organ

for a local church. He grew up with a

brother, Russ, and when they were older

the pair got a job playing music on cruise

ships. In High School he conducted the

Cambridge High School Orchestra and

orchestrated the school song. He went to

Fiddle Faddle is in a fast 2/2 time.

Listen to the strings play the fast

tempo and clap along! Then listen to

the strings play a slow pizzicato.

Pizzicato is a technique where the

string players use their fingers to pick

the strings.

college at Harvard, where he played the trombone in the band,

and after graduating conducted the Harvard University Band.

Anderson wrote the piece Fiddle Faddle for the Boston Pops

Orchestra. The piece became an instant favorite. Anderson

based the piece on the children’s Nursery Song “Three Blind

Mice.”

Fiddle Faddle Leroy Anderson

1908- 1975

7

Dynamics is how loud or

soft the music is. Listen to

how Tchaikovsky uses soft

and then loud dynamics to

build up the music to a big

finish!

Symphony No. 2, “Little Russian”, Movement IV

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky 1840-1893

Carnival of Venice Variations Jean-Baptiste Arban

1825-1889

Joseph Jean-Baptiste Arban was a French

conductor, composer and master cornetist. A cornet

is a brass instrument very similar to the trumpet. He

was deeply inspired by the solo violin playing of

Paganini and worked hard to prove that the cornet

could also be an exceptional solo instrument. He

was a great teacher and published a book about

methods on playing brass instruments. This book

has been referred to as the “Trumpeter’s Bible” and

is still being used to teach today. During Arban’s life recording equipment was

just being developed. He was thrilled to make a recording of his playing using

one of the earliest pieces of recording equipment called a phonograph cylinder.

Carnival of Venice Variations was originally written for a cornet soloist. We will

hear it on our concert with a flute soloist. It is based on a folk tune associated

with the words “My hat, it has three corners.” This piece is in theme and

variations form, meaning we will hear a melody in the flute repeated several

times, each a little bit different.

Can you hear the

contrast of the

melody’s slow notes

while the flute player

also plays very fast

notes in and around

the slow notes?

Tchaikovsky started learning music as a young

child and within just a few years had excelled

greatly. He attended boarding school and then

studied law but he continued to pursue music. It

was not long before he left his legal job to devote

himself to his music full time. Eventually, he began

teaching at the music conservatory in Moscow,

which is now named after him.

Tchaikovsky’s music won the support of a wealthy widow named

Nadezhda von Meck. For many years, she regularly sent him

money so that he could concentrate on composing without having to

worry about making a living. But Nadezhda von Meck didn't want to

meet Tchaikovsky. For 14 years they only communicated by writing

letters to each other. Tchaikovsky dedicated his Fourth Symphony to

his patroness.

Tchaikovsky traveled all over Europe for performances of his music.

In 1891, he even came to America for the opening of Carnegie Hall,

where he was invited to conduct his music.

Among those who loved Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 2, were the

group of Russian composers known as “The Five.”

Like many composers during his time, Tchaikovsky

uses several folk tunes with this symphony and

“The Five” loved this! Because of the use of

Russian folk music, Symphony No. 2 was given the

name “Little Russia.” We will hear Movement IV

from Symphony No. 2, which includes the folk song “The Crane.”

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For their generous support of our Very Young

People’s Concerts Program, The Knoxville

Symphony Orchestra gratefully acknowledges

The Boyd Family

Nancy and Kreis Weigel

SPECIAL THANKS TO OUR PARTNERS IN EDUCATION:

Richard Mitchell, Knox County Schools

Tracy Ward, A.L. Lotts Elementary, Concert Guide Assistance

Classics for Kids

KSO Education Advisory Council

The Knoxville Symphony Orchestra

Presents

“High-Low! Fast-Slow!”

Winter 2013

Very Young People’s Concerts

Lucas Richman, Music Director

10

Knoxville Symphony Orchestra

Presents

“High-Low! Fast-Slow!”

Music Can Make Your Life Complete Lucas Richman

Mary Had a Little Lamb Contrasts arr. Lucas Richman

“Surprise Symphony”, Movement II Joseph Haydn

“Laughing Song”, from Die Fledermaus Johann Strauss Jr.

Night on Bald Mountain Modest Mussorgsky

Fiddle Faddle Leroy Anderson

The Tortoise and the Hare Daniel Dorff

The Carnival of Venice Variations Jean-Baptiste Arban

Symphony No. 2, Movement IV Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

The teacher may begin the lesson by reminding the students of the theme

of the concert, “High-Low! Fast-Slow!” about musical opposites.

MOVE: Ask students to pretend they are trying to sneak into the kitchen

for a midnight snack without their parents hearing them. They will tiptoe

into the kitchen, turning to look to see if anyone sees them!

SAY and DO:

Tip-toe, tip-toe, tip-toe, look,

Tip-toe, tip-toe, tip-toe, look,

Tip-toe, tip-toe, tip-toe, look,

Tip-toe, tip-toe, look, look,

Tip-toe, tip-toe, tip-toe, look,

Tip-toe, tip-toe, tip-toe, look,

Tip-toe, tip-toe, tip-toe, look,

Tip-toe, tip-toe, look, AAAH!!

“Guess what happened on the AAAH! We got caught sneaking into the

kitchen!”

Now have the students tip-toe with their fingers and turn their heads to

look along with you as they listen to the music.

NOTE: You may wish to have them move around the room to this music.

Explain that this is the Surprise Symphony by Haydn, and they will hear it

at the concert.

READ: Write the complete rhythm of the theme on the board and have

the students read and clap with ta’s and ti’s (or whatever system you use

in your classroom). Having this already written on the board will save

time.

Surprise Symphony: Lesson by Tracy Ward

12

The Tortoise and Hare:

Have the students sing a song that should be performed slowly , such as Starlight Star bright .

First Sing it like a tortoise (slowly)

Second Sing it like a hare (quick tempo)

The teacher can use puppets of a tortoise and a hare to mark the beats – slow or fast in each version.

Ask the students which sounded correct. Repeat with a fast song, game songs would work great!

Visual Representation of Fast and Slow Tempos: | | | | |

Explain which of the beats is fast and which is slow. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

The Tortoise and the Hare Activity

•The story of the Tortoise and the Haire, told by Caroline Repchuk in The Race,

illustrated by Alison Jay, Chronicle books, San Francisco, 2006.

•The Music Connection, Haydn’s “Surprise Symphony”, Gr. 6, Pg. 308, CD 11-10.

•The Music Connection, “Three Blind Mice” from Baby Nursery Rhymes, Miles,

Gr. K. Pg. 124, CD 3-27.

•Rachlin, Ann. Famous Children Series. Children’s Press.

For younger readers, the books in this series tell in story fashion about the early

lives of several famous composers, including: Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Chopin,

Handel, Haydn, Mozart, Schubert, Schumann and Tchaikovsky. Ages 4 – 8

•Rubin, Mark and Alan Daniel. The Orchestra. Groundwood, Toronto. 1984. A

nice introduction to the instruments of the orchestra and the experience of

attending a symphony concert.

Additional Resources:

TN State Standards Addressed:

1.0 Singing 8.0 Interdisciplinary Connections

6.0 Listening and Analyzing 9.0 Historical and Cultural

7.0 Evaluating

•Classics for kids: http://www.classicsforkids.com

•Dallas Symphony Orchestra for Kids: http://www.dsokids.com/

•San Francisco Symphony, Keeping Score Lesson s:

Tempo In Your Feet: http://www.keepingscore.org/sites/default/files/lessonplans/KSEd_Tempo_in_your_Feet_JGrant.pdf

Adventures in Tempo: http://www.keepingscore.org/sites/default/files/lessonplans/KSEd_Adventures_in_Tempo_Cobler.pdf

Introducing Tempo http://www.keepingscore.org/sites/default/files/lessonplans/KSEd_Introducing_Tempo_VanOoteghem.pdf

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Katy Wolfe Zahn

Katy Wolfe Zahn has appeared

extensively in this region as well as

overseas as an active and versatile

performer fluent in both opera and

musical theater. She is a company

member of the Clarence Brown

Theatre where her favorite roles

include Kate in Kiss me Kate, Marian

in Music Man and Aldonza in Man of

La Mancha. Elsewhere she has

performed as Sally in Cabaret, the

title role in Suor Angelica,

Ebonee Thomas

Ebonee Thomas is a

native of Plano, TX.

She was previously

Principal Flute of the

Florida Grand Opera

and held a one-year

position as Second

Flute with the Houston

Symphony during their

2003-04 Season.

Ebonee completed a four-year fellowship with the prestigious New

World Symphony under the direction of Michael Tilson-Thomas.

She holds degrees from Southern Methodist University and the

New England Conservatory of Music. Ebonee was given the rare

opportunity to perform John Adams' Chamber Symphony in

Carnegie Hall under the composer's baton. Massachusetts. She

has also soloed with the New World Symphony performing Joan

Tower's Flute Concerto and the North American Premier of

Christian Lindberg's The World of Montuagretta. Other highlights

include performing as a soloist at the National Flute Association's

2006 and 2010 Annual Conventions, the International Festival at

Round-Top,with her current ensembles, Project Copernicus and

Seraphic Fire's Firebird Ensemble, and as guest artist of Flute

Fusion 2009 in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Ebonee was principal

flute for the Star Wars in Concert orchestra during their U.S.,

Canada, and Mexico tour. She most recently performed as

Principal flute in The Gershwin's Porgy and Bess: A Broadway

Musical with the American Repertory Theatre in Cambridge,

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Desiree in A Little Night Music, and appearing as Mercedes in

Carmen with the Knoxville Opera Company, and Jenny in

Three Penny Opera with the Oak Ridge Symphony. She has

frequently performed as a soloist with the Oak Ridge

Symphony including a performance of Haydn’s Lord Nelson

Mass, which she premiered at the Cathedral Music Festival in

Southwark, Coventry and Salisburry Cathedrals in England.

Ms. Wolfe Zahn has appeared with the Knoxville Symphony

Orchestra’s Chamber Classics and Pops Series as well as

singing for the Fourth of July Celebration in World’s Fair Park

and the 75th Anniversary of the Smoky Mountain National Park

concert in Cade’s Cove.

Ms. Wolfe Zahn holds a Bachelor’s degree from Belmont

University and a Master’s degree from University of Tennessee

where she was a graduate assistant and Knoxville Opera

apprentice. Katy is a private voice teacher, conductor and

artistic director of Sound Company, The Children’s Performing

Choir of Oak Ridge, and serves as the voice teacher for the

University of Tennessee MFA actors for the Department of

Theatre.

The musicians who are performing for you would like to have your help in making this a wonderful concert. It is important to remember that the

orchestra is in the same room with you, not in a movie or on TV. If you talk or make other noises, they can hear you. If you get up and leave in the

middle of the performance, they can see you. These things could make the musicians take their minds off of their music and they may not be able to

perform at their best. These things can also be distracting to those around you.

Today's symphony orchestra varies in size from city to city, but usually has about 100 players. Orchestras are different from

bands because they include string instruments. The string section is the largest section of players in the orchestra, with about 60

people. The woodwind section is made up of approximately 12 or more players, and the brass section typically has 10 players. Finally,

the percussion section ranges in numbers, depending on the amount of percussion parts used in a piece. The anatomy of a symphony

sheet included in your teacher's guide shows how you will see the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra seated when you come to the concert.

The players are seated in a semicircle facing the conductor, with the strings right in front. The woodwinds are usually behind the strings,

and behind them are the brass. The percussion is normally seated at the back of the orchestra on the right and left corners of the

semicircle. Now let’s meet members of our very own KSO!

Concert Behavior

Jeffery Whaley •Meet the KSO’s new

Principal Horn player!

•Jeffery grew up in Sevierville,

Tennessee.

•A long time ago he played in

the Knoxville Symphony

Youth Orchestra.

•Teaches French Horn at East

Tennessee State University

Sara Matayoshi •In her second year playing

violin with the KSO.

•Studied at Northwestern

University and the Longy

School of Music.

•Sarah said she loves

playing the violin because

“of the way it is able to

become an extension of my

voice. It can express so

•Has played with the Symphony of the Mountains, Wichita

Symphony Orchestra, Wichita Opera, and Omaha

Symphony Orchestra

•Enjoys performing new music and recently played new

pieces written for horn, oboe and piano.

many things I feel that I cannot communicate in any other way.”

•Was thrilled to perform in concerts in Japan this past summer!

•Along with music, Sara enjoys being a Forrest Yoga instructor,

traveling, trying new foods and meeting new people.

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Sponsors Audience Job Description

Please help make this a good performance by

showing how to be a good audience.

Be quiet as the lights dim and the concert

begins.

Clap when the concertmaster enters at the

beginning of the concert.

Clap when the conductor enters at the

beginning of the concert.

Clap to welcome any soloists during the

concert.

During the performance watch the conductor.

When the conductor puts his hands down and

turns to face the audience the piece is

completed.

At the end of a piece, clap to let the

musicians know you like what you hear.

Knoxville Symphony Orchestra

P.O. Box 360

Knoxville, TN 37901

865-523-1178

www.knoxvillesymphony.com

The Boyd Family

Nancy and Kreis Weigel

SPECIAL THANKS TO OUR PARTNERS IN EDUCATION: Richard Mitchell, Knox County Schools

Tracy Ward, A.L. Lotts Elementary, Concert Guide Assistance Classics for Kids

KSO Education Advisory Council