Charles Ives 2005

Fourth Graders meet Ives and discover new sounds,

new ways of thinking about music and how

music impacts other art forms.

Unit Throughlines

• How do we build understanding about music which is so unfamiliar to us?

• How can we create meaning, using sound in unusual ways?

• How might we discover the meaning and uses of rules and of breaking them?

George Ives, the father

Charles Ives’ father was a key figure in the composer’s life.

The trumpet is heard in many of Ives’ pieces, a kind of homage to his father. When you listen to Ives, notice the trumpet.

Understanding Goals

• Students will understand the varieties of purposes and ways to listen to music.

• Students will understand the uses of rules and rule breaking.

• Students will become aware of meaning in various forms of music.

• Students will understand how music, poetry and dance can be used as partners in creating meaning.

• What in Ives’ music is unique?

Young Charlie

Charlie displayed talent at an early age. The fourth graders listened to “Variations on America” which he composed in his teen years. They liked it. Some of it sounded like a battle scene.

Fourth Graders, Composers and Critics

The fourth graders became beginner composers after hearing the story of little Charlie banging on the piano. As it turns out he was banging the drum part in perfect rhythm but while using clusters of notes. Their pieces were “clusterpieces”.

During the first week each group created the first part of their music. Two or more lines of music played, sometimes making dissonant sounds, sometimes harmonic.

In the second and third week the students added a second part and also a glockenspiel part. Some students created songs that were A B A, they played their first part twice.

“The Pond”

A sound of a distant horn,O’er shadowed lake is borne,My father’s song.

After hearing the music that belongs with this poem, the students answered these questions:

What did you Notice?What did you Feel? Did you like it?

Symbol Systems

During this process some students figured out a way to keep track of their work. They created “scores” that were unique and useful.

More symbols

Some students even color coded their symbol system in order to show two different parts. This piece also had more than one section. Some students created very complex work.

Music and Art

Students created art work to demonstrate the feelings in their music. Through simple analysis the students found how pitch, rhythm and harmony or dissonance create feelings and images.

Students chat about their piece and share ideas….

Students decide how the second section will sound.

Humor

Some of the music the students created sounded cheery and bright, almost humorous. And in this picture you can see that humor, pigs flying??

Where do ideas come from?

Some fourth graders didn’t always know what their music meant. An idea from another student might give them an inspiration. In this picture the art demonstrates hurried and stressful feelings. Those feelings are clearly heard in the corresponding music.

Tropical Paradise

Laughing and singing playing alongWe’re just kids we don’t have playtime for longWe should stay up and aboutLeave us alone to makeOur own route….

Fourth graders do not yet know about complex analysis of music. But by paying close attention to what the music does the students were able to find poetic images to match.

Using sounds in unusual ways

There were many kinds of sounds that students used to make their music colorful and interesting. In this poem the students could hear a tropical, jungle kind of sound. And the end of a party.

Festivals of the TribeDeep in the jungle

there is a tribe dance,Around the fire they all prance

They party all nightUp until the first lightWith drums galoreYou

always want moreAt dawn,

The party is gone.

Sounds,Words and Music

Musical Fish sings his songBubbles floating up Suddenly when they reach

the top The musical notes arise

Bubbles blowing Blowingbubbles

Bubbles floating Floating bubbles

Bubbles popping Popping bubbles

Musical Fish sings his song

Sometimes the unusual sounds made the students see unusual pictures in their minds. Can you imagine the sounds of bubbles played on a glockenspiel? Can you imagine the sounds of popping bubbles?

Another response to student music

Another Day

The day has begun The birds are singing The bells are ringing The clocks are ticking

The flowers were blooming The birds were cooing

As I looked out the windowI said with a sigh

Another day has gone by

More student poetry

Seasons is to changing as winter is to snow.Seasons is to changing as spring is to flowers.Seasons is to changing as summer is to fun.Seasons is to changing as fall is to leaves.

NATURE HAS CHANGED!!

The Unanswered Questions

Charles Ives thought deeply about important questions. He wondered why we are here and what we are supposed to do with our lives. He wondered about questions that really have no answer. The fourth graders came up with some of their own questions. They wondered if the universe would go on forever, if the sun would ever die, if we are the only thinking creatures in the universe. We listened to Ives’”The Unanswered Question”. It is powerful, sad and peaceful music.

The end of our exploring?

We shall not cease from explorationAnd the end of all our exploring Will be to arrive where we started And know the place for the first time.T.S. Eliot

Now we have returned from our journey, our exploration. We are home. What new adventures in understanding music await us? I hope many.