Musik, Serious Gaming und Konzentrationsfähigkeit – mit der App entdecken die Kinder die Magie der klassischen Musik mit interaktiven Spielen.
Activity 1
Talk about music
Whole class
5 min.
Teacher:
"During the last lesson, you played the ‘Child Prodigy’ level on the Fortissimo app. What did you learn? What can you remember?"
Talk about some of the games with the children.
Questions about the app
General questions
1. What did you learn?
2. What can you remember?
Specific questions
1. Where was Mozart born?
Answer: Mozart was born on 27 January 1756 and grew up in Salzburg, Austria.
2. What is Mozart's full name?
Answer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
3. What is Mozart's nickname?
Answer: Wolferl.
4. Who was part of Mozart's family?
Answer: Father Leopold (a music teacher), mother Anna Maria and older sister Nannerl.
5. How old was Mozart when he started playing the piano?
Answer: He started playing the piano at the age of 4.
6. How did Mozart travel around?
Answer: By horse and carriage.
7. Who did Mozart perform for on his concert tour?
Answer: For the Empress of Austria and the King of England.
8. Which cities did Mozart visit?
Answer: Paris, London, Prague and Vienna.
9. How do you play the Cello?
Answer: With the bow.
Activity 2
Meet the composers
Whole class
15 min.
A bag
M2 printout
M2: Mozart Taboo cards (cut out and placed in a bag)
Teacher:
"We’re now going to play a game called Taboo. In the bag, there are cards representing events which happened during Mozart's life (M2). I will designate someone to draw a card from the bag. Make sure you don’t show it to anyone. When you are ready, describe what’s on the card you picked without saying the secret word written on it. Everybody else has to guess what’s on the card. Feel free to give away small hints, but don’t reveal too much too quickly. You can, for example, describe small details that you see in the picture."
When they think they have guessed what’s on the card, pupils can raise their hand and say what they think the secret word is. If the answer is correct, explain what happened during Mozart’s life using the description of the relevant Mozart taboo card. Then choose someone else to draw a new card.
At the age of five, Mozart could play so well that he gave his first concert.
Mozart's father is called Leopold. He is a music teacher.
At the age of six, Mozart went on his first concert tour together with his father Leopold and his sister Nannerl. They travelled by horse and carriage. Concert tours sometimes lasted for years.
Mozart started playing the piano at the age of four.
When visiting London, Mozart and his sister Nannerl played for the King and his wife at their palace. Although Mozart played for kings and emperors, he always remained somewhat vulgar when he spoke. A good example of this is his song called "Leck mich im Arsch", which literally means "kiss my bottom". (You will have noticed that in the app, Mozart keeps farting. This refers to this song…).
Mozart wrote 626 musical works in his lifetime. This corresponds to about 8 kilometres of sheet music put next to each other.
Mozart always had money problems. He always spent too much!
One of Mozart's best-known pieces is called 'A Little Night Music'. It was always played outside in the evening, under a starry sky. That is why Mozart called it 'A Little Night Music'.
Activity 3
Rhythm
In a circle
10 min.
M3 printout
M3: Rhythmic words (pictures and words to be displayed on the board)
- Demonstrate how to pronounce words in rhythm - first concert, horse and carriage, Mozart and shooting star. At the same time display the corresponding images on the board. Then, ask students to repeat the words using the same rhythms. The difference between the rhythm for ‘first concert’ (long-short-short) and ‘shooting star’ (short-short-long) is particularly important to get right.
- Once they feel confident, children can start tapping the rhythms on their lap with both hands at the same time they say the words. Voices can then gradually be reduced until only the rhythms can be heard. Practice tapping the rhythms without saying the words a few times.
- Finally, ask individual students to tap one rhythm of their choice and the rest of the class to guess the corresponding word.
Tip
It might be easier for the children to still mouth the words silently while tapping the rhythms. When they try to guess the word associated with a rhythm, it can be helpful to count the beats.
A2: Rhythmic words (for teacher to practise)
Activity 4
Rhythm
In groups
10 min.
Teacher:
"Now let's play a Chinese whispers rhythm game."
Divide the class into groups of 6-8 students and explain the rules using the instructions. You can demonstrate with one group first.
Chinese whispers rhythm game instructions
SET UP:
- Divide the class into groups of 6-8 pupils.
- Children sit on the floor behind each other to form a line. They need to be able to touch the back of the person in front of them. It’s important there is enough space between them as they are likely to gradually move backwards during the game.
RULES:
- The person sitting at the end of the line silently picks one of the rhythmic words: first concert, horse and carriage, Mozart or shooting star.
- From the back of the line, they then gently tap the rhythm of the word they have chosen on the back of the person in front of them.
- Similarly to the Chinese Whispers game, the rhythm then slowly travels to the front of the line. Each at a time, children play the rhythm on the back of the person in front of them until it reaches the first person in line.
- The person sitting at the front of the line must then clap the rhythm and say the word they think the last person originally picked.
- If they guess correctly, the first person in line then moves to the back and chooses a new word. If they guess incorrectly, the person sitting at the end of the line picks another word and starts again.
Activity 5
Talk about music
Whole class
5 min.
Teacher:
"What did you find easy during the Chinese Whispers Rhythm game? And what did you find challenging?"
If there's still time...
… children can take a physical break (e.g. 15 jumping jacks, 10 squats, etc.).
Skills learned in this lesson:
Students…
... learn more about the life of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
... associate words and rhythms using their voice and body percussion.
... learn about note values and are able to reproduce rhythmic patterns.