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Lesson 4

We follow the rhythms of 'The Clock' by Joseph Haydn

1
play as an orchestra
at the cinema

Preparation

Additional materials:

  • Percussion instruments (e.g. Orff Instruments)

Activity 1

Playing in the orchestra
Watch the video
45 min.
Rhythm instruments (e.g. - classroom percussion instruments or body percussion)

Give a rhythm instrument to every child. Ideally you'd have three different types of classroom percussion instruments to use.

Sit the children in three groups in front of the projector screen. The children with the same instruments should form a group. Each group should be assigned a colour (blue, red or pink).

Practice exercise: The teacher will call out the name of a colour and the corresponding group should play when their colour is called.

Optional

If you either don't have or have insufficient classroom percussion instruments, individual groups or all children can make body percussion sounds instead (e.g. - stomping, slapping, clapping, finger clicking, wiping etc)

Teacher:

'Now I'll play the video. A girl goes on a wonderful journey in a time machine. The girl collects time whilst on her journey. Whenever she collects a clock in your colour with her time machine, make sure to play your instrument.'

The above play-a-long activity (with background clapping as support) can be repeated a second time to help practice.

When pupils are able to securely play-a-long to the music, the activity can be repeated again without the clapping in the background. Please refer to the following video.

The play-a-long activity (without clapping) can be repeated. Alternatively, children can change colours (or instruments) and repeat the activity.

Discussion

The teacher discusses the following points with the class:

  • Do you have an idea which every day sound features in this piece of music?

Joseph Haydn depicts the gentle ticking of the clock in the second movement of his Symphony No. 101. The ticking sound is played by the orchestra; sometimes you hear the ticking, sometimes you hear the melody. Right from the beginning you can clearly hear the 'tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock'.

From this point, the beginning of the play-a-long activity can be listened to again.

  • When do you hear the 'tick-tock' particularly clearly and when do you hear the melody?

The play-a-long video is played again and the class join in softly with the words 'tick-tock' when they hear the ticking of the clock. Everyone should stay silent when the melody is played.

  • What name did the composer Joseph Haydn give to his symphony?

The symphony was named 'The Clock' because of the regular, ticking rhythm that features in the second movement.

  • What is a symphony?

A symphony is a big piece of music that is played by an orchestra.

  • Which instruments do you find in an orchestra and which instruments did you hear in the video?

The following instruments play in this symphony: violin, viola, cello, double bass, flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, trumpet, timpani.

Skills learned in this lesson:

Students:

... accompany the piece The Clock rhythmically with class percussion instruments and the help of simple graphic notation.