Teach-Primary-Issue-19.2

Playing classical music to your pupils doesn’t have to elicit groans, says Ann Bryant . In fact, with some practice, they could become aficionados... W hen it comes to classical music, we can be forgiven for thinking that our pupils will just find it boring. After all, it’s not often that we’re talking to our class about what they’re listening to at the moment, only for them to pipe up about how much they love Bach, or Chopin (not in my world, anyway!). But classical music is such an enduring genre for a reason – not only is it beautiful (to some of us), but it’s packed with technical and creative flair that makes it perfect for teaching all ages. If there’s one golden rule for listening to classical music to remember, it should be that familiarity breeds enjoyment. In my experience, the more pupils listen to classic pieces, the more likely they will come to appreciate them. So, when choosing songs for your class: • Try short pieces of music (just two or three minutes) that you like. (See the list on the right to get started.) • Always play the piece three times within the same day. • Listen to one or two pieces per week, and you can repeat them all the following term if you like, or pop in some new pieces. By then you’ll all be loving it! Getting hands on is also a good way to purposefully engage pupils. When you listen to a piece of music during your planning, you’ll immediately ascertain whether it has a definite beat. If it does, see if you can clap along to a repeated count of eight. Is there a slower beat you can clap to? What about a faster one? Can you make a short repetitive pattern mixing two or three different beats? What about if you introduce finger clicks, leg pats, toe taps, crossed-arm pats, head taps, miming beating a drum with alternate hands, miming stirring, tick-tock heads, shoulders raised and lowered, finger shakes? When you do it with the children, either let them echo/repeat your improvised body percussion/actions, or just set up a repeated pattern and see if they can join in as they grasp it. Don’t do actions/sounds the whole time, though; sometimes, just listen to the music. If the beat is less discernible but the music evokes atmosphere or emotion, see what words pop into your head when you listen, and turn them into a very short story. You could either tell your story to the class before you play them the music, then ask them to close their eyes and imagine that story as the music plays, or tell the story while the music is playing. Don’t narrate throughout, but try and leave periods of five to 10 seconds with just the music. You are basically giving the children a visual prop for their listening. You’ll become quite the master at this after a few goes. The second time you play the music, leave longer gaps between actions/ sounds for listening. The third time you play the music, give every child paper and coloured pencils, and invite them to draw anything that the music makes them think of. This might be from your story or could be just a pattern. To combine this with a writing lesson, you could then ask them to write their own music-inspired story. Try following the six-word short story convention if you have confident writers, though a looser structure might be better to start with. There are plenty of places you can access official recordings of classical music, including free-to-access sites such as YouTube, and paid subscription services like Spotify Premium and Naxos Music Library. If you’re not sure where to start, here are some of my favourites: • ‘After the Cakewalk’ by Nathaniel Dett • Any section of ‘Carnival of the Animals’ by Saint-Saëns, e.g. ‘The Giant Tortoise’, ‘The Elephant’, ‘The Aviary’, or ‘Fossils’ • ‘Hungarian Dance no 5 in G minor’ by Johannes Brahms • ‘La Musica Notturna delle Strade di Madrid (4: Los Manolos)’ by Boccherini • ‘Maple Leaf Rag’ by Scott Joplin • ‘Can-Can’ from Orpheus in the Underworld by Offenbach • ‘In the Hall of the Mountain King’ from ‘Peer Gynt’ by Grieg • ‘Radetzky March’ by Johann Strauss 1 • ‘Winter’ from ‘The Four Seasons’ by Vivaldi (the Largo section) • ‘Jean de Floret Theme’ by Jean-Claude Petit • ‘Montagues and Capulets’ from Romeo and Juliet by Prokofiev Good luck! TP Moulding MAESTROS www.teachwire.net | 53 T EACH PR I MARY MUS I C SPEC I A L I N AS SOC I A T I ON W I TH “Classical music is an enduring genre for a reason” Ann Bryant is the author of over 125 books, including a mix of children’s fiction and primary music educational resources. annbryant.co.uk