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Carnival of the Animals – Camille Saint-saens

Week 1: Carnival of the Animals – Bird SongsTeaching Objective

Listen and respond to music that imitates the sound of birds and learn about the instruments thecomposer chose to represent their songs, exploring the characteristics of Carnival of the Animals.

Resources

Recording of Carnival of the Animals by Camille Saint-SaensPictures of flute, bassoon, violin, clarinet, and pianoPictures of hens, roosters, the aviary, a swan and a cuckoo

Vocabulary

Aviary - A place where flying birds can be kept confined

Lesson

Discuss the physical characteristics of birds, where they live, and what they do. The composer useddifferent instruments to create sounds of different birds. Listen to the different movementsshowing pictures of instruments that represent the different birds. Children to name andmatch theinstruments used to describe the birds.

Week 2: Carnival of the Animals- FossilsTeaching Objective

Discover what a fossil is and how it can be portrayed by music.

Resources

Recording of "Fossils" from Carnival of the AnimalsSoundclip of a xylophoneImages of fossils and xylophone

Vocabulary

Fossil - A remnant or trace of an animal or plant of long ago that has been preserved in the earthArcheologist - A person who studies the fossils and remains of past human life

Lesson

Explain to the children that in many places, bones from animals and the remains of plants that livedlong ago can be found in the earth. These are called fossils. The people who study fossils are calledarcheologists. An archeologist puts fossil pieces together to discover what kind of animal or plant theywere. He/she looks at everything found at the fossil site and is able to describe what life may havebeen like a long time ago. Listen to movement ‘Fossils’ whilst looking at pictures of fossils.Fossils – xylophone

(hollow brittle wooden sound that is perfect to describe a fossil.).

Week 3: Carnival of the Animals- Animal Safari Teaching Objective

Students will research, listen to music, and present information to the class about an animal fromCarnival of the Animals, as well as evaluate whether or not the music portrayed its characteristics.

Resources

Books about animalsToy animalsRecording of Carnival of the Animals

Lesson

Have children choose an animal from the following list:, Elephant, Lion, Kangaroo, Fish, Donkey,Tortoise. Look at book and toy of chosen animal. Each child to draw a picture of their chosen animal.Listen to Carnival of the Animals, telling children when the music for their animal is being played.

Week 4: Carnival of the Animals- How Many Ways?Teaching Objective

Discover that animals can be described in both verbal and nonverbal ways.

Vocabulary

Describe- tell aboutPantomime- imitate (pretend to be) without speaking

Resources

Drawing paperCrayons or markersExcerpt from Carnival of the Animals

Lesson

Write the name of an animal (chosen from Carnival of the Animals) known to the children on the board.Children to find the corresponding picture, listen to that piece of music and show the correspondinginstrument. Repeat for the other animals. Children to match animals and instruments.

Week 5: Carnival of the Animals- Move Like AnimalsTeaching Objective

Explore the concepts of fast-slow, big-little, and high-low while moving to music.

Resources

Recording of Carnival of the AnimalsPictures of animals featured in Carnival of the Animals

Lesson

Using pictures of animals from Carnival of the Animals, children to choose an animal. How big is it?How does it move? Does it move fast or slow? What kind of sound does it make? Ask children toact/move like the animal - big, little, flat, round, etc; very fast or very slowly. Practise making highsounds (like a bird) and low sounds (like an elephant). Children to imitate the animal while the musicfor that animal is playing. Watch the finale.

Background information for Carnival of the Animals (taken from Wikipedia)Hens and Roosters -

Strings without cello and double-bass, two pianos, with clarinet:This movement is centered around a pecking theme played in the pianos and strings, which is quitereminiscent of chickens pecking at grain. The clarinet plays small solos above the rest of the players atintervals.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52qZaOdDo9w&feature=related(52 seconds)

Wild Asses; quick animals -

Two pianos:The animals depicted here are quite obviously running, an image induced by the constant, feverishlyfast up-and-down motion of both pianos playing scales in octaves.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmdddyedNJc&feature=related (40 seconds)

Tortoises -

Strings and piano:A slightly satirical movement which opens with a piano playing a pulsing triplet figure in the higherregister. The strings play a maddeningly slow rendition of the famous 'Can-Can' from Offenbach'soperetta Orpheus in the Underworld, as mentioned below.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPvyVkbsRYY&feature=related (1 min 51)

The Elephant -

Double-bass and piano:This section is marked Allegro Pomposo, the perfect caricature for an elephant. The piano plays awaltz-like triplet figure while the bass hums the melody beneath it. Like "Tortues," this is also amusical joke - the thematic material is taken from Felix Mendelssohn's Incidental Music to AMidsummer Night's Dream and Hector Berlioz's Dance of the Sylphs. The two themes were bothoriginally written for high, lighter-toned instruments (flute and various other woodwinds, and violin,accordingly); the joke is that Saint-Saëns moves this to the lowest and heaviest-sounding instrumentin the orchestra, the double bass.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOEYhQvRSE0&NR=1(1 min 34)

Kangaroos -

Two pianos:The main figure here is a pattern of 'hopping' fifths preceded by grace notes.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J81BUcphm3E&feature=related(59 seconds)

Aquarium -

Strings without double-bass, two pianos, flute, and glass armonica:This is one of the more musically rich movements. The melody is played by the flute, backed by thestrings, on top of tumultuous, glissando-like runs in the piano. The first piano plays a descending ten-on-one ostinato, while the second plays a six-on-one. These figures, plus the occasional glissando fromthe armonica—often played on celesta or glockenspiel—are evocative of a peaceful, dimly-lit aquarium.According to British music journalist Fritz Spiegl, there is a recording of the movement featuringvirtuoso harmonica player Tommy Reilly - apparently he was hired by mistake instead of a player of theglass armonica.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdJm_WmwNOs&feature=related(2 mins 01)

Characters with Long Ears -

Three violins:This is the shortest of all the movements. The violins alternate playing high, loud notes and low,buzzing ones (in the manner of a donkey's braying "hee-haw").http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Qo0SHyqDew&feature=related(44 seconds)

The Cuckoo in the Depths of the Woods -

Two pianos and clarinet:The pianos play large, soft chords while the clarinet plays a single two-note ostinato, over and over; a Cand an A flat, mimicking the call of a cuckoo bird.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zv7bbr4s7N0&feature=related(2mins)