The Boston Symphony Orchestra Education Advisory Committee and" S n a z z y Snare" welcome you to the world of percussion. We hope as youuse the materials in the packet that you and your students become excitedabout using percussion to enhance activities across the curriculum. We hopethat you will build upon the sample activities and ideas and that “SnazzySnare” becomes a permanent member of your classroom.

Myran Parker-BrassBoston Symphony OrchestraEducation Department

Carlton DoctorNewton Public Schools

Maurice DowneyFramingham Public Schools

Henry KearsleyVisual ArtistRetired Teacher

Murphy LewisBoston Public Schools

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Carol NicolucciNewton Public Schools

Sandra NicolucciWellesley Public Schools

Edith RoebuckChelsea Public Schools

Susan SmithMelrose Public Schools

ARTS EDUCATION STANDARDS

This packet has been designed with the following information from theNational Standards for Arts Education and the Massachusetts Arts CurriculumFrameworks as a guide:

National Standards

CORE CONCEPT: Performing, creating and respondingto the arts is the fundamental process in which humansengage. Every student should know and be able to dothe following:

Standard 1: Sing alone ad with others, a varied repertoireof music.

Standard 2: Perform on instruments, alone and with othersa varied repertoire of music.

Standard 3: Improvise melodies, variations andaccompaniments.

Standard 4: Compose and arrange music within specifiedguidelines.

Standard 5: Read and notate music

Standard 6: Listen, analyze and describe music

Standard 7: Evaluate music and music performances

Standard 8: Understand relationships between music,the other arts, and disciplines outside the arts.

Standard 9: Understand music in relation to history andculture.

Massachusetts Arts Frameworks

CORE CONCEPT: Learning in, through and aboutthe arts develops understanding of the creative processappreciation of the importance of creative work

Strand I: Creating and PerformingLifelong learners:

LS 1. Use the arts to express ideas, feelings andbeliefs

LS 2. Acquire and apply the essential skills ofeach art form.

Strand II: Thinking and RespondingLifelong learners:

LS 3. Communicate how they use imaginative andreflective thinking during all phases ofcreating and performing.

LS 4. Respond analytically and critically to thierown work and that of others.

Strand III. Connecting and ContributingLifelong learners:LS 5. Make connections between the arts and other

disciplines.LS 6. Investigate the cultural and historical

contexts of the arts.LS 7. Explore the relationship between arts, media

and technology.LS 8. Contribute to the community’s cultural and

artistic life.

Source for background materials:

Diagram Group. 1976. Musical Instruments of the World, AnIllustrated Encyclopedia. New York: Fax on File

Explore pitched and non-pitched percussion instruments

Have students invent a new percussion instrument and present it to class withdirections on how to use-instruments can range from one sound to multiplepitches.

Have students develop sound effects using percussion instruments for a short storyor poem, e.g., "The Snowy Day" by Ezra Keats

Explore the history of percussion instruments

Explore all the different ways you can play percussion instruments

Have students create a mural using percussion instruments

Discuss how people have adapted everyday objects and their bodies as percussioninstruments

Trace percussion instruments across cultures-playing, decoration, have studentsmake instruments thinking about their culture, what would they do to make thisinstrument “beautiful”

Have students recreate the percussion sounds they hear visually-this can lead toinventive notation

Translate abstract paintings into percussion sounds

Make own painting and interpret with sound - this could lead to art exhibit

Use clips from videos showing - making of steel drums- creating a native drum

Create a card game using description of percussion instruments

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POETRY AND PERCUSSION

Poetry and percussion instruments provide the creative teacher with hours of fun, interestingand imaginative classroom activities. The following “shapes” for poems offer numerous avenuesfor exploring and writing poetry in combination with percussion instruments, for percussionsounds can be selected to accompany each creatively written poem.

The haiku is a three-line, unrhymed Japanese poetry form composed of five syllables inthe first line, seven in the second, and five in the third. Here is an example:

February

The bus breezed by mesplashing mud and icy slush

that stuck to my coat.

The tanka is another Japanese form of poetry, similar to the haiku, only it is longer. It isfive lines, and it does not rhyme. The first line has five syllables; the second, seven; the third,five; the fourth, seven; and the fifth, seven. Here is an example:

Thunderstorm

The weirdly coloredSilent dark oppressive sky

Threatening to stormSoftly groans, grumbles, then cracks

And it gives its flashing grin.

Rhyme, rhythm and number of syllables are not important to this form of poetry.Following the line-by-line directions, students can create a poem in the shape of a diamond:

Line 1: NounLine 2: Two adjectives describing the nounLine 3: Three participles ( -ed, -ing)Line 4: Four nouns, or a phrase about the nounLine 5: Three participles that begin to show a change in the subjectLine 6: Two adjectives which continue the idea of changeLine 7: Noun, the opposite of the subject (the noun in Line 1)

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In a who-what-when-where-why poem, each line answers one of these questions:

1. Who is the subject?2. What is he/she/it/they doing?3. When does the action take place?4. Where does the action take place?6. Why does the action take place?

Here is an example:Migration

A cloud of dark, swift birdsFlying against the windSweeping across the sky

Because the wind keeps getting colderWhen the leaves blow off the trees.

A contrast poem has two parts. Each part shows a different side of a subject. To create acontrast poem, students are to think of a person, a thing, or an idea. They are to choose twodifferent ways of looking at the subject or choose two different ways of describing it. They canuse the subject as the title of their poem. Here is an example:

Bock Concert

Amplify the words and musicfor thousands of fans

Every second must be filledwith sound.

Hours later, everyone is goneMy footsteps echo

through the empty hall.

A cinquain is a five-line poem. Each line follows a rule. Here is how to write each line:

Line 1: A word for the subject of the poemLine 2: Two words that describe itLine 3: Three words that show actionLine 4: Four words that show feelingLine 5: The subject word again, or a synonym for it.

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Here is an example:

ClockTime keeper

Turning, reaching handsFat, ugly-faced reminder

Timer

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PICTURE BOOK PERCUSSION

Picture books certainly lend themselves to percussion dramatization. The following annotatedbibliography represents a sampling of possibilities to link literature and percussion music.

Alexander, Lloyd. 1992. The Fortune Tellers. New York: Dutton Children’s Books.

A young carpenter hears that a fortune-teller has come to the next town. He immediatelysets off to learn of his future. After promising predictions from the old man seer, the young man’sfate takes a turn that offers much wise and witty fun for the reader.

Brown, Craig. 1992. City Sounds. New York: Greenwillow Books.

Farmer Brown comes to the city to pick up an important package. As he hurries to the postoffice, he hears many city sounds: trucks, fire engines, jackhammers, and train whistles, amongother things. He hears a surprising noise which gets his important package home.

'Bunting, Eve. 1987. Ghost's Hour, SpookHour, .New York: Clarion Books, Ticknor &Fields: A Houghton Mifflin Company,

Readers’ hearts will jiggle along with Jake’s and Buff’s as they confront that scary time.. .“Ghost’s Hour, Spook’s Hour.” The world of night is filled with scary things, especially scarysounds. What is that Woooo outside the window?

Duff, Maggie. 1978. Rum Pum Pum. New York: MacMillan Publishing Co., Inc.

A lively retold Indian folktale in which Blackbird’s preparing to make war on the King whohas stolen his wife. Beating on his walnut drum, rum pum pum, rum pum pum, he marchesdown the road with Cat, Stick, River and Ants to the palace. How Blackbird and his friends gettheir revenge makes a story packed with surprises.

Emberley, Barbara and Emberley, Ed. 1967. Drummer Hoff. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey:Prentice-Hall, Inc.

An adaptation of a folk verse all about the building of a cannon. Corporal Farrell brings thebarrel, Sergeant Chowder brings the powder. General Border gives the order-but it’s DrummerHoff who fires the cannon off and explodes the whole rhyme into a glorious burst of color.

Lester, Julius. 1989. How Many Spots Does a Leopard Have? And Other Tales . NewYork: Scholastic, Inc.

Acts of vanity, trickery, quiet courage and fraternal loyalty enrich this collection of vividAfrican and Jewish folktales, retold by a master storyteller.

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ADDITION4 RESOURCES

Diagram Group. 1976. Musical Instruments of the World, An Illustrated Encyclopedia.New York: Fax on File

.Bramer, Mary. 1978. The Desperation Day Book, New York. Scholastic Book Services, adivision of Scholastic Magazines, Inc.

Macmillan. 1994. Music and You Resource Book, New York: Macmillan/McGraw-HillSchool Publishing Company

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We would like to thank the following people for their special contributions tothis curriculum packet:

Creation of "Snazzy Snare"

Henry KearsleyVisual Artist

Boston Symphony Orchestra Education Advisory Committee

Layout for cover and poster:

Richard ChiarellaBoston Symphony OrchestraGraphic Designs

Layout for curriculum packet:

Eleanor McGourtyBoston Symphony OrchestraProgram Department