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YOUNG PEOPLE’S CONCERTS 2016-2017 STUDY GUIDE
CSU DIVISION OF MUSIC/MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM Page 1 of 7
Edwin Landseer, Scene from A Midsummer Night's Dream. Titania and Bottom (1848)
Clayton State University Department of Visual & Performing Arts
A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM (abridged version)
Friday, November 4, 2016 6th-12th Grades
Compiled by students in Clayton State University’s Music Drama Workshop
Edited by Melanie Darby
Table of Contents
About the PERFORMERS..................................................................................................................... 2
About the ORCHESTRA and INCIDENTAL MUSIC ............................................................................. 2
Special Topic: COLLABORATION IN MUSIC DRAMA ........................................................................ 3
Program Focus: A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM ......................................................................... 3
VOCABULARY ....................................................................................................................................... 5
CROSS CURRICULAR CONNECTIONS and STANDARDS .................................................................... 5
REFERENCES and RESOURCES ............................................................................................................ 7
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About the PERFORMERS Clayton State University’s Department of Visual and Performing Arts serves the community through its excellence in teaching, research, and creative endeavors. The department’s diverse programs are linked by their commitment to nurturing creativity and professional expertise. Working with a professionally active faculty, students learn, create, and develop skills in a supportive environment. Graduates of our programs are equipped to excel in advanced studies or professional careers. The 2016 Shakespeare Festival is a collaborative effort of Clayton State University’s Music Drama Workshop and Chorale, the Southern Crescent Symphony, and the Theatre Program. In the Department of Visual and Performing Arts’ Music Drama Workshop, students learn techniques of musical acting appropriate to all forms of Western music drama (including opera, operetta, and musical theatre) and apply them to public productions. The philosophy of the ensemble is that all these forms of music drama are equally valid expressions of acting through the medium of music.
As the premier vocal ensemble at Clayton State, the Chorale is an auditioned ensemble comprised primarily of Performing Arts Majors with concentrations in Music and Music Education. This ensemble provides intensive and
thorough per-professional training for the next generation of vocal performers, music educators, and choral enthusiasts.
The Southern Crescent Symphony Orchestra is a community orchestra devoted to meeting the cultural needs of audiences and performers in the Southern Crescent area of Metro Atlanta. Members of the orchestra include professional musicians, music educators, amateur musicians and students, all of whom strive to utilize their full potential in presenting a quality musical product. The Theatre concentration in the BA Performing Arts is a versatile program that allows students to pursue theatre studies in the context of a liberal arts curriculum. Our program is designed with an eye toward the realities of professional theatre and is directly connected to professional theatre in Georgia. Each faculty member is a working artist in the world of professional theatre. Students work closely with faculty to develop new work and/or discover new interpretations of classical works.
About the ORCHESTRA and INCIDENTAL MUSIC An orchestra is a group of performers on various musical instruments which usually come from all four instrument families — brass, percussion, strings, and woodwinds. Orchestras can be different sizes from twenty to over one hundred people. A large orchestra is called a symphony orchestra. Smaller ensembles may be called chamber orchestra and may concentrate on one instrument family such as strings. The conductor is the person who directs an orchestra or chorus, communicating to the performers by motions of a baton or the hands his or her interpretation of the music. Orchestras play all kinds of music and perform in a variety of locations.
YOUNG PEOPLE’S CONCERTS 2016-2017 STUDY GUIDE
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Incidental music is music used in a play, television program, radio program, video game, film, or some other presentation form that is not primarily musical. This music can enhance a scene or perform a theme. Themes are usually a recognizable melody.
Special Topic: COLLABORATION IN MUSIC DRAMA This production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a collaboration, two or more people working together to create something. In theatre or drama, music is often in the background, an enhancement to the action on stage like the costumes and the scenery. The music is created by a sound system or an orchestra located in a ‘pit’, out of sight of the audience. In music, you rarely see actors or the theatre of the music. If you do, it plays ‘second fiddle’ to the creation of the music on stage. Musicians in an orchestra often dress the same to help give focus to the music they are playing. Collaboration isn’t easy. It demands creativity, problem-solving, understanding, and practice. For this special production, music and drama both have an important focus. The arts are woven together to create a concert with strong theatrical elements. You will see instrumental and choral musicians on stage and actors and singers in costume. Both groups of artists are in the spotlight. Everyone must play his or her part. ELAGSE6-12RL7 ELACC6-12RL7 TAMS6-12.7 M6-12GM.8
Program Focus: A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM
About the Play: A Midsummer Night's Dream is a comedy written by William Shakespeare between
1590 and 1597. It portrays the events surrounding the marriage of Theseus, the Duke of Athens, to Hippolyta. These include the adventures of four young Athenian lovers and a group of six amateur actors (the mechanicals) who are controlled and manipulated by the fairies who inhabit the forest in which most of the play is set. The play is one of Shakespeare's most popular works for the stage and is widely performed across the world. TAMS6-12.8
About the Playwright: William Shakespeare (1564-1616) is one of the
most well-known and loved playwrights of all time. Born in England, He was also a poet and actor. Shakespeare wrote comedies, tragedies, and histories. Some of Shakespeare’s the best known plays include Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Macbeth, and Julius Caesar. Shakespeare wrote his plays in a poetic form and stylized language that was popular for his time. He created many famous phrases in our language such as ‘dead as a doornail’, ‘heart of gold’, ‘for goodness sake’, ‘love is blind’, and ‘knock, knock, who’s there?’. His characters and plots influenced many people over the centuries. For example the story of Romeo and Juliet was the basis for the famous modern musical West Side Story. His stories also inspired artists and composers like Felix Mendelssohn. ELACC6RL4
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About the Composer: Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847) was a German
composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic period. Like Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Mendelssohn was considered a child prodigy. At age 17 Mendelssohn wrote his Overture to Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, which is one of the best-known of his early works. Later, in 1842, he extended the overture to complete incidental music for the play, including the famous “Wedding March”. Mendelssohn wrote symphonies, concerti, oratorios, piano music and chamber music. He played piano and organ.
About the Piece: At two separate times, Felix
Mendelssohn composed music for William Shakespeare's play, A Midsummer Night's Dream. First in 1826, near the start of his career, he wrote a concert overture (Op. 21). Later, in 1842, only a few years before his death, he wrote incidental music (Op. 61) for a production of the play, into which he incorporated the existing Overture. The incidental music includes the world-famous “Wedding March.” The Overture is noted for its striking instrumental effects, such as the emulation of scampering 'fairy feet' at the beginning and the braying of Bottom as a donkey.
The famous "Wedding March," which we still hear accompanying brides down aisles, was adopted by Princess Victoria in 1858 for her wedding to Prince William of Prussia. The bride's mother, Queen Victoria, loved Mendelssohn's music. It is one of the most frequently used wedding marches, generally being played on a church pipe organ.
Listen to the wedding march by clicking on this picture. M6-12GM.9
What to listen for: After the first four chords (performed by wind instruments) listen for a scurrying, busy motif representing the dancing fairies. http://www.npr.org/sections/deceptivecadence/2014/05/23/315246245/marin-alsops-guide-to-mendelssohns-a-midsummer-nights-dream
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VOCABULARY Collaboration is two or more people working together to create something. Conductor is the person who directs an orchestra or chorus, communicating to the performers by motions of a baton or the hands his or her interpretation of the music. Incidental music is music used in a play, television program, radio program, video game, film, or some other presentation form that is not primarily musical. This music can enhance a scene or perform a theme. Orchestra is a group of performers on various musical instruments which usually come from all four instrument families — brass, percussion, strings, and woodwinds. Overture is an orchestral piece at the beginning of an opera, suite, play, oratorio, or other extended composition. Romantic period was an artistic, literary, musical and intellectual movement that originated in Europe toward the end of the 18th century and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate period from 1800 to 1850. Art and music from the era are characterized by a heightened interest in nature and an emphasis on emotion and imagination. Themes are usually a recognizable melody.
CROSS CURRICULAR CONNECTIONS and STANDARDS
Page Standard Explanation
M6-12GM.6 Listening to, analyzing, and describing music a. Identify specific music events in an
aural example, given appropriate terminology. b. Identify characteristics of musical elements in music which represent diverse genres and cultures.
M6-12GM.7 Evaluating music and music performances a. Critique musical performances and
compositions using specific criteria. b. Evaluate the quality and effectiveness of
their own and other’s performances, compositions, and arrangements,
implementing constructive suggestions for improvement. c. Compare various uses
of music in daily experiences. d. Cultural and Historical Context M6-12GM.8 Understanding relationships between music, the other arts, and disciplines outside
the arts a. Compare two art forms and their characteristics to describe the
transformation of related subject matter into art. b. Assess the interrelated principles and subject matter between music and other core curriculum. c. Compare various
career paths in music.
M6-12GM.9 Understanding music in relation to history and culture a. Describe distinguishing
characteristics of representative music genres and styles from a variety of cultures.
b. Classify exemplary musical works by genre and style and define their identifying
characteristics. Compare music of various world cultures identifying the function
and role of music, their musicians and their ensuing performance conditions. d.
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Demonstrate appropriate performance etiquette as a performer and a listener in a
variety of performance settings.
Program Focus
ELACC6-12 RL4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of a specific word choice on meaning and tone.
ELACC6-12 RL5 Analyze how a particular sentence, chapter, scene, or stanza fits into the overall structure of a text and contributes to the development of the theme, setting, or plot.
ELACC6-12 RL7
Compare and contrast the experience of reading a story, drama, or poem to listening to or viewing an audio, video, or live version of the text, including contrasting what they “see” and “hear” when reading the text to what they perceive when they listen or watch.
ELACC6-12 RL9
Compare and contrast texts in different forms or genres (e.g., stories and poems; historical novels and fantasy stories) in terms of their approaches to similar themes and topics.
ELAGSE6-12 RL3
Analyze how particular elements of a story or drama interact (e.g., how settings shape the characters or plot).
ELAGSE6-12 RL4
Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including
figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of rhymes and other
repetitions of sounds (e.g., alliteration) on a specific verse or stanza of a poem or
section of a story or drama.
ELAGSE6-12 L5 Analyze how a drama’s or poem’s form or structure (e.g., soliloquy, sonnet)
contributes to its meaning
ELAGSE6-12 RL7
Compare and contrast a written story, drama, or poem to its audio, filmed, staged,
or multimedia version, analyzing the effects of techniques unique to each medium
(e.g., lighting, sound, color, or camera focus and angles in a film).
ELAGSE6-12 RL9
Compare and contrast a fictional portrayal of a time, place, or character and a
historical account of the same period as a means or understanding how authors of
fiction use or alter history.
TAMS6-12.1 Analyzing and constructing meaning from theatrical experiences, dramatic
literature, and electronic media a. Identifies the elements, themes, and structure of
drama b. Identifies, describes, and classifies character traits c. Interprets meaning within the context of a dramatic text d. Explores the connections between theatre
and real life e. Compares and differentiates between various forms of media
TAMS6-12.7 Integrating various art forms, other content areas, and life experiences to create
theatre a. Identifies similarities between theatre and other art forms b. Draws
conclusions about the relationships between theatre and life c. Identifies theatre’s
multi-disciplinary aspects d. Utilizes a variety of sources to create original theatre e.
Demonstrates a variety of types of theatre performances
TAMS6-12.8 Examining the roles of theatre as a reflection of past and present civilizations a.
Describes the origins of theatre b. Creates a table summarizing the ways in which the role of theatre has changed over time c. Identifies ways in which theatre
influences a culture d. Identifies ways in which a culture influences theatre e.
Analyzes ways in which theatre reflects the culture of a society
TAMS6-12.11 Engaging actively and appropriately as an audience member in theatre or other
media experiences a. Models appropriate audience behaviors b. Analyzes the
relationship between an audience and a performer
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REFERENCES and RESOURCES https://www.playshakespeare.com/midsummer-nights-dream/synopsis
http://www.biography.com/people/william-shakespeare-9480323
http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.570794
http://www.npr.org/sections/deceptivecadence/2014/05/23/315246245/marin-alsops-guide-to-mendelssohns-a-midsummer-nights-dream
http://cso.org/uploadedfiles/1_tickets_and_events/program_notes/programnotes_mendelssohn_midsummer.pdf
www.georgiastandards.org
