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Lesson 4

We learn a body percussion sequence for the 'Russian Dance'

1

talk about music

whole class

2

body percussion

whole class

3

body percussion

whole class

Preparation

Print materials (for the entire series):

Nutcracker-printing-material-DINA4.pdf Nutcracker-lesson-transparency-DINA4.pdf Nutcracker-teaching-series-transparency-DINA3.pdf

Teacher:

“What musical instruments do you know? Maybe some of you even play one? Do you have your own musical instrument with you right now?"

Children will probably answer no when asked whether they have their own musical instrument with them.

Teacher:

“We all have our own musical instrument which cannot be separated from us: our body! How can you use your body as a musical instrument? How many different ways of playing music with the body can you think of?"

One by one, children present their ideas, and other students imitate the sounds. Together, the class discovers that musical sounds can be produced with the voice, as well as with various types of rhythmic body percussion.

Teacher:

“Together, we've found many different ways of making music with our bodies. We are now going to use the following sounds to play along to a piece of music from 'The Nutcracker': stamping the floor with our feet, slapping our thighs with our hands, tapping our hands on our chest, and clapping our hands together. Let's try out those body percussion actions together one after the other.”

Teacher:

“I'm going to show you a body percussion sequence to play along to the 'Russian Dance' from 'The Nutcracker'. You will be able to see where we are by following the symbols on the right handside of the screen.”

Teacher:

“Now let's learn the sequence together. First, let's watch the different parts separately again and imitate the movements.”

Teacher:

“Now that you can do all the parts of the body percussion sequence separately, we’ll try to put them together while the music is playing in the background.”

P.I. Tchaikovsky: Russian Dance from The Nutcracker (op. 71)A2

Instead of using the soundtrack, the video of the 'Russian Dance' can be played in the background for the children to follow.

... 'The Nutcracker' story can be read to the class again.

It's Christmas Eve. Clara and her little brother Fritz are sitting by the Christmas tree surrounded by their family and eagerly await for presents. How exciting!

Suddenly, there is a knock on the door and Uncle Drosselmeyer enters. His coat is covered with a few snowflakes. Uncle Drosselmeyer, who is a well-known watchmaker, has brought wonderful presents with him. Clara receives a nutcracker and is very happy about it, but Fritz is jealous. He also receives a present, but would have preferred Clara's nutcracker. Fritz is so angry that he grabs the nutcracker and throws it against the wall. Clara is shocked and very sad. She picks up her nutcracker, but one arm is broken. Luckily, Uncle Drosselmeyer finds some glue and, with his amazing watchmaker skilled hands, repairs the nutcracker. Clara is very happy.

But it's now getting late and Clara feels very tired. She hugs her nutcracker lovingly and goes to bed. Tonight the nutcracker will sleep next to her doll in the doll's bed.

Clara is fast asleep and her dreams are slowly coming to life! Clara finds herself in an enchanted dining hall: the Christmas tree gets bigger and bigger, and the candle lights on the walls start dancing. Then, out of nowhere, an army of mice invades the ballroom. The Mouse King is in charge and tries to take Clara's nutcracker away, but the nutcracker suddenly comes to life. He summons all the Fritz's soldier figures from the toy box to the rescue and leads them to drive the mice away.

Everyone fights against each other until the Nutcracker faces the Mouse King. The Mouse King gets the Nutcracker into a lot of trouble. But luckily Clara is there: she takes her left shoe and throws it at the Mouse King. It hits him and the Mouse King falls on the ground. The Nutcracker is saved and... he turns into a prince! Clara and the Nutcracker Prince are overjoyed. They joyfully dance together and somehow find themselves in the kingdom of sweets, where they are welcomed by the Sugar Plum Fairy. After hearing the story of the two young heroes, the Sugar Plum Fairy decides to throw a big party to celebrate Clara's bravery.

Ending 1: As Clara twirls around the ballroom dancing to the Waltz of the Flowers with her prince, she starts feeling dizzy and realises she is really very tired. She then sinks into a wonderful four-poster bed and falls asleep comfortably. When she opens her eyes the next morning, she finds herself in her own bed. The nutcracker is next to her. Everything was just a dream. Clara feels a little sad. She climbs out of her bed and makes her way to the breakfast table. A big surprise awaits her: Uncle Drosselmeyer has invited his nephew to spend Christmas Day with the family and he looks just like the prince of Clara's dream...

Ending 2: At the end of the party, the Sugar Plum Fairy makes an important announcement, calling Clara and the Nutcracker Prince by her side. To thank them for freeing the kingdom from the Mouse King and his army, she crowns the two of them as the new governors of the kingdom of sweets. The honey bees perform a celebratory dance and Clara and the Nutcracker Prince live happily ever after in the kingdom of sweets. They welcome guests from all around the world with great joy and dance the 'Waltz of the Flowers' with everyone to show their gratitude to the Sugar Plum Fairy.

Ending 3: To show her gratitude to Clara, the Sugar Plum Fairy frees the Nutcracker Prince from his nutcracker existence forever and allows him to go back to the human world with Clara. A magical sleigh pulled by reindeer comes flying in. The sleigh takes them away from the Kingdom of Sweets and in the morning they arrive in front of Clara's house. Clara and the prince thank the reindeer and wave goodbye. They are welcomed home by Clara's parents, Uncle Drosselmeyer and Fritz who are all overjoyed. To celebrate Christmas morning, everyone happily dances around the Christmas tree.

And so ends the adventure of Clara and the Nutcraker. Which was your favourite ending?