Catch The Vibe: National Symphony Orchestra Music for Young Audiences

For Teachers and Parents Dear Grownups: Welcome to the NSO Music for Young Audiences concert, designed to introduce children in pre-kindergarten through grade 2 to musical instruments of the orchestra. Please help your young concert-goers read and understand the information in this Cuesheet. The information and activity ideas below are designed to help you further the children’s concert experience.

The Concert Program After the concert, you may want the children to listen to some or all of these musical selections from the concert repertoire. Point out that some of the music will sound different because the musicians had adapted it for their instruments and sometimes used excerpts rather than the full piece. Ask children whether they can recognize the music when they hear it the second time.

“Fnugg” by Øystein Baadsvick “Sweet Georgia Brown” by Ben Bernie “Effie Suite” by Alec Wilder

Make Your Own Vibes

Here are some post-performance activities for children:

Take a small container without a lid (this will be your instrument’s body) and two or three rubber bands (these will be your “strings”).

Stretch the rubber bands around the container and across the open side (with help from a grownup).

Now pluck the strings with your fingers. Notice how the bands vibrate. This is what making music looks and sounds like. Discuss ways to change the sounds with your friends.

Sometimes people write music—like the music for Effie the elephant—to help tell a story or create a picture. Think about the music for Effie and which part you enjoyed the most. Draw a picture of what you imagined when you heard it.

Tune It

5

Musical Instrument “Petting Zoo” Before the concert, enjoy hands-on fun with the instruments that the musicians will play on stage in the Hall of States. A project of the Women’s Committee for the NSO.

“Preview ” the Concert Hall

“Flight of the Bumblebee”

by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov

More Fun with Music

Picturing Music

Wait! There’s More!

After the performance, test your vibe detectors (your ears, of course!) by visiting the Perfect Pitch Web site at: artsedge.kennedy-center. org/interactives/perfectpitch where you can hear short excerpts of different instruments in the orchestra. Have a partner “play” an instrument, and, without peeking, try to guess the instrument (or at least its size or type) based on its sound.

We hope you have so much fun at the concert that you’ll come back soon to hear a performance of the full National Symphony Orchestra—that’s 100 musicians!

When they all play together, they perform on the big stage in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall. Get a sneak peek at the Hall (and even go backstage) in the playful online tour led by former NSO Associate Conductor Emil de Cou at: artsedge.kennedy-center.org/nsoed.

CUESHEET PERFORMANCE GUIDE

Our Upcoming Family Concerts Please build on your Music for Young Audiences experience by joining us at this season’s National Symphony Orchestra Family Concerts, which are performed on the following Sundays by the full NSO:

February 12, 2017— Joshua Bell in The Man with the Violin May 21, 2017— P eter and the Wolf in Hollywood The NSO also presents full orchestra Young People’s Concerts for school groups in the Concert Hall each season during the school day for grades 3 through 6.

And Remember That…

A good audience stays seated, stays quiet, doesn’t eat, listens, and claps.

Have fun!

EXPLORE MORE! Go to KC Connections on ARTSEDGE artsedge.kennedy-center.org/students/kc-connections

Additional support for NSO Music for Young Audiences is provided by The Clark Charitable Foundation; the Kimsey Endowment; The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation; Park Foundation, Inc.; and the U.S. Department of Education.

David M. Rubenstein Chairman

Major support for educational programs at the Kennedy Center is provided by David and Alice Rubenstein through the Rubenstein Arts Access Program.

Deborah F. Rutter President

Kennedy Center education and related artistic programming is made possible through the generosity of the National Committee for the Performing Arts and the President’s Advisory Committee on the Arts.

Mario R. Rossero Senior Vice President Education

The contents of this Cuesheet have been developed under a grant from the U.S. Department of Education and do not necessarily represent the policy of the U.S. Department of Education. You should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government.

Christoph Eschenbach Music Director National Symphony Orchestra

©2017 The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

National Symphony Orchestra Music for Young Audiences

Catch the Vibe Performed by NSO Musicians Stephen Dumaine, tuba, and Eric Shin, percussion

Presenting Sponsor of Performances for Young Audiences

David and Alice Rubenstein are the Presenting Underwriters of the NSO.

Good Vibrations

Meet the Instruments

Get your ears and imagination ready—it’s time to catch some vibes! “Vibes” is a great word that is short for vibrations, those little movements that make sound. And you’ll be hearing some big sounds thanks to NSO musicians Stephen Dumaine and Eric Shin, who will introduce you to the tuba and a bunch of percussion instruments during the performance. And you know what? “Vibe” can also mean a good feeling, like the feeling you’ll get hearing all the fun and funny music these two instruments can make together!

Moving Parts

The Tuba

So how do we go from vibrations…to music to our ears? Here are some ways:

The tuba is the largest instrument in the brass family of instruments. This family also includes the trumpet, trombone, and French horn. These instruments are made of twisted metal tubing that opens into a bell shape. To make sound, players “buzz” their lips on the instrument’s mouthpiece. Players can change the sound of the instrument by:

■

Sound Effects To talk about music, we need to talk about where sound comes from. And that brings us back to those vibes. Sound happens when an object vibrates (moves back and forth quickly). Think about when your finger plucks a tight string. That string creates vibrations and moves the air around it, making an invisible wave of sound (imagine an ocean wave, but instead of water, it’s full of sound). You hear the sound when the wave travels through the air to your ear.

y adding rhythm, which B is repeating patterns of strong and weak beats.

Often the drums and other percussion instruments play the rhythm. But listen up for how even the tuba can create rhythm in the playful music called “Fnugg” (pronounced fa-NOOG), which is a Norwegian word meaning “speck of dust.”

■

■

y changing the tempo, or B the speed of the music. It can be slow, like a bedtime song that helps you fall asleep, or fast, like a song that makes you want to jump or dance.

y changing the dynamics, B or the softness or loudness of the music. Notice that both the tuba and the drums can play loudly or softly.

■

changing the shape of their lips against the mouthpiece

■

changing how strongly they blow air through the mouthpiece

■

moving parts of the tuba called valves

Tubas make the lowest and deepest sounds of the brass family. Watch for the many types of tubas (such as the sousaphone, especially made so musicians can play it while marching—or even riding a bike!). And listen for how Stephen uses his voice while playing to create a one-of-a-kind sound.

Percussion

Putting It All Together

Percussion instruments like drums and tambourines make sounds (both low and high) when you cause them to—you guessed it— vibrate by hitting, rubbing, shaking, or scraping them. A drum set is a group of percussion instruments played together by one musician.

The set includes:

Musical vibrations can sound good, but they can also tell a story. In the performance, you’ll hear music that tells about one day in the life of a brave and curious young elephant named Effie.

Listen for how the low- and big-sounding tuba as well as rhythm, tempo, and dynamics help you imagine one of the largest animals on earth and what she is doing. See whether you can picture her running, dancing, playing, and sleeping and dreaming.

Can you also tell from the music when Effie is happy, excited, or sad?

Your ears—we’ll call them your vibe detectors—are special parts of your body that help you understand, or “detect,” those invisible waves as different types of sounds. If you closed your eyes, your ears would still help you know the difference between all sorts of sounds, such as those from nature (a bird’s tweet or a dog’s bark), everyday life (such as footsteps or phones), and of course musical instruments like the tuba and drums.

2

Photo by Susan Shaffer

Vibe Detectors

When they are not having fun with you on stage, percussionist Eric Shin (left) and tuba player Stephen Dumaine (right) create great vibes with the National Symphony Orchestra.

And in another part of the performance, listen for a different animal the tuba can sound like.

Hint: It’s nothing like an elephant!

3

■

Drums

■

■

snare drum, a small cylinder with two heads a and wires (or snares) that create a buzzing sound when the player hits the drum with drumsticks bass drum, a larger drum with deep sound, a played using a foot pedal ymbals, round metal plates with a high c sound that the musician hits with drumsticks or clashes together with a foot pedal

On stage, you will see and hear Eric play a percussion instrument called the vibraphone (VAHY-bruh-fohn), which has a large set of metal bars set up like a piano keyboard. The bars vibrate when you strike them with little hammers called mallets.

Vibraphone 4

Good Vibrations

Meet the Instruments

Get your ears and imagination ready—it’s time to catch some vibes! “Vibes” is a great word that is short for vibrations, those little movements that make sound. And you’ll be hearing some big sounds thanks to NSO musicians Stephen Dumaine and Eric Shin, who will introduce you to the tuba and a bunch of percussion instruments during the performance. And you know what? “Vibe” can also mean a good feeling, like the feeling you’ll get hearing all the fun and funny music these two instruments can make together!

Moving Parts

The Tuba

So how do we go from vibrations…to music to our ears? Here are some ways:

The tuba is the largest instrument in the brass family of instruments. This family also includes the trumpet, trombone, and French horn. These instruments are made of twisted metal tubing that opens into a bell shape. To make sound, players “buzz” their lips on the instrument’s mouthpiece. Players can change the sound of the instrument by:

■

Sound Effects To talk about music, we need to talk about where sound comes from. And that brings us back to those vibes. Sound happens when an object vibrates (moves back and forth quickly). Think about when your finger plucks a tight string. That string creates vibrations and moves the air around it, making an invisible wave of sound (imagine an ocean wave, but instead of water, it’s full of sound). You hear the sound when the wave travels through the air to your ear.

y adding rhythm, which B is repeating patterns of strong and weak beats.

Often the drums and other percussion instruments play the rhythm. But listen up for how even the tuba can create rhythm in the playful music called “Fnugg” (pronounced fa-NOOG), which is a Norwegian word meaning “speck of dust.”

■

■

y changing the tempo, or B the speed of the music. It can be slow, like a bedtime song that helps you fall asleep, or fast, like a song that makes you want to jump or dance.

y changing the dynamics, B or the softness or loudness of the music. Notice that both the tuba and the drums can play loudly or softly.

■

changing the shape of their lips against the mouthpiece

■

changing how strongly they blow air through the mouthpiece

■

moving parts of the tuba called valves

Tubas make the lowest and deepest sounds of the brass family. Watch for the many types of tubas (such as the sousaphone, especially made so musicians can play it while marching—or even riding a bike!). And listen for how Stephen uses his voice while playing to create a one-of-a-kind sound.

Percussion

Putting It All Together

Percussion instruments like drums and tambourines make sounds (both low and high) when you cause them to—you guessed it— vibrate by hitting, rubbing, shaking, or scraping them. A drum set is a group of percussion instruments played together by one musician.

The set includes:

Musical vibrations can sound good, but they can also tell a story. In the performance, you’ll hear music that tells about one day in the life of a brave and curious young elephant named Effie.

Listen for how the low- and big-sounding tuba as well as rhythm, tempo, and dynamics help you imagine one of the largest animals on earth and what she is doing. See whether you can picture her running, dancing, playing, and sleeping and dreaming.

Can you also tell from the music when Effie is happy, excited, or sad?

Your ears—we’ll call them your vibe detectors—are special parts of your body that help you understand, or “detect,” those invisible waves as different types of sounds. If you closed your eyes, your ears would still help you know the difference between all sorts of sounds, such as those from nature (a bird’s tweet or a dog’s bark), everyday life (such as footsteps or phones), and of course musical instruments like the tuba and drums.

2

Photo by Susan Shaffer

Vibe Detectors

When they are not having fun with you on stage, percussionist Eric Shin (left) and tuba player Stephen Dumaine (right) create great vibes with the National Symphony Orchestra.

And in another part of the performance, listen for a different animal the tuba can sound like.

Hint: It’s nothing like an elephant!

3

■

Drums

■

■

snare drum, a small cylinder with two heads a and wires (or snares) that create a buzzing sound when the player hits the drum with drumsticks bass drum, a larger drum with deep sound, a played using a foot pedal ymbals, round metal plates with a high c sound that the musician hits with drumsticks or clashes together with a foot pedal

On stage, you will see and hear Eric play a percussion instrument called the vibraphone (VAHY-bruh-fohn), which has a large set of metal bars set up like a piano keyboard. The bars vibrate when you strike them with little hammers called mallets.

Vibraphone 4

Good Vibrations

Meet the Instruments

Get your ears and imagination ready—it’s time to catch some vibes! “Vibes” is a great word that is short for vibrations, those little movements that make sound. And you’ll be hearing some big sounds thanks to NSO musicians Stephen Dumaine and Eric Shin, who will introduce you to the tuba and a bunch of percussion instruments during the performance. And you know what? “Vibe” can also mean a good feeling, like the feeling you’ll get hearing all the fun and funny music these two instruments can make together!

Moving Parts

The Tuba

So how do we go from vibrations…to music to our ears? Here are some ways:

The tuba is the largest instrument in the brass family of instruments. This family also includes the trumpet, trombone, and French horn. These instruments are made of twisted metal tubing that opens into a bell shape. To make sound, players “buzz” their lips on the instrument’s mouthpiece. Players can change the sound of the instrument by:

■

Sound Effects To talk about music, we need to talk about where sound comes from. And that brings us back to those vibes. Sound happens when an object vibrates (moves back and forth quickly). Think about when your finger plucks a tight string. That string creates vibrations and moves the air around it, making an invisible wave of sound (imagine an ocean wave, but instead of water, it’s full of sound). You hear the sound when the wave travels through the air to your ear.

y adding rhythm, which B is repeating patterns of strong and weak beats.

Often the drums and other percussion instruments play the rhythm. But listen up for how even the tuba can create rhythm in the playful music called “Fnugg” (pronounced fa-NOOG), which is a Norwegian word meaning “speck of dust.”

■

■

y changing the tempo, or B the speed of the music. It can be slow, like a bedtime song that helps you fall asleep, or fast, like a song that makes you want to jump or dance.

y changing the dynamics, B or the softness or loudness of the music. Notice that both the tuba and the drums can play loudly or softly.

■

changing the shape of their lips against the mouthpiece

■

changing how strongly they blow air through the mouthpiece

■

moving parts of the tuba called valves

Tubas make the lowest and deepest sounds of the brass family. Watch for the many types of tubas (such as the sousaphone, especially made so musicians can play it while marching—or even riding a bike!). And listen for how Stephen uses his voice while playing to create a one-of-a-kind sound.

Percussion

Putting It All Together

Percussion instruments like drums and tambourines make sounds (both low and high) when you cause them to—you guessed it— vibrate by hitting, rubbing, shaking, or scraping them. A drum set is a group of percussion instruments played together by one musician.

The set includes:

Musical vibrations can sound good, but they can also tell a story. In the performance, you’ll hear music that tells about one day in the life of a brave and curious young elephant named Effie.

Listen for how the low- and big-sounding tuba as well as rhythm, tempo, and dynamics help you imagine one of the largest animals on earth and what she is doing. See whether you can picture her running, dancing, playing, and sleeping and dreaming.

Can you also tell from the music when Effie is happy, excited, or sad?

Your ears—we’ll call them your vibe detectors—are special parts of your body that help you understand, or “detect,” those invisible waves as different types of sounds. If you closed your eyes, your ears would still help you know the difference between all sorts of sounds, such as those from nature (a bird’s tweet or a dog’s bark), everyday life (such as footsteps or phones), and of course musical instruments like the tuba and drums.

2

Photo by Susan Shaffer

Vibe Detectors

When they are not having fun with you on stage, percussionist Eric Shin (left) and tuba player Stephen Dumaine (right) create great vibes with the National Symphony Orchestra.

And in another part of the performance, listen for a different animal the tuba can sound like.

Hint: It’s nothing like an elephant!

3

■

Drums

■

■

snare drum, a small cylinder with two heads a and wires (or snares) that create a buzzing sound when the player hits the drum with drumsticks bass drum, a larger drum with deep sound, a played using a foot pedal ymbals, round metal plates with a high c sound that the musician hits with drumsticks or clashes together with a foot pedal

On stage, you will see and hear Eric play a percussion instrument called the vibraphone (VAHY-bruh-fohn), which has a large set of metal bars set up like a piano keyboard. The bars vibrate when you strike them with little hammers called mallets.

Vibraphone 4

For Teachers and Parents Dear Grownups: Welcome to the NSO Music for Young Audiences concert, designed to introduce children in pre-kindergarten through grade 2 to musical instruments of the orchestra. Please help your young concert-goers read and understand the information in this Cuesheet. The information and activity ideas below are designed to help you further the children’s concert experience.

The Concert Program After the concert, you may want the children to listen to some or all of these musical selections from the concert repertoire. Point out that some of the music will sound different because the musicians had adapted it for their instruments and sometimes used excerpts rather than the full piece. Ask children whether they can recognize the music when they hear it the second time.

“Fnugg” by Øystein Baadsvick “Sweet Georgia Brown” by Ben Bernie “Effie Suite” by Alec Wilder

Make Your Own Vibes

Here are some post-performance activities for children:

Take a small container without a lid (this will be your instrument’s body) and two or three rubber bands (these will be your “strings”).

Stretch the rubber bands around the container and across the open side (with help from a grownup).

Now pluck the strings with your fingers. Notice how the bands vibrate. This is what making music looks and sounds like. Discuss ways to change the sounds with your friends.

Sometimes people write music—like the music for Effie the elephant—to help tell a story or create a picture. Think about the music for Effie and which part you enjoyed the most. Draw a picture of what you imagined when you heard it.

Tune It

5

Musical Instrument “Petting Zoo” Before the concert, enjoy hands-on fun with the instruments that the musicians will play on stage in the Hall of States. A project of the Women’s Committee for the NSO.

“Preview ” the Concert Hall

“Flight of the Bumblebee”

by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov

More Fun with Music

Picturing Music

Wait! There’s More!

After the performance, test your vibe detectors (your ears, of course!) by visiting the Perfect Pitch Web site at: artsedge.kennedy-center. org/interactives/perfectpitch where you can hear short excerpts of different instruments in the orchestra. Have a partner “play” an instrument, and, without peeking, try to guess the instrument (or at least its size or type) based on its sound.

We hope you have so much fun at the concert that you’ll come back soon to hear a performance of the full National Symphony Orchestra—that’s 100 musicians!

When they all play together, they perform on the big stage in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall. Get a sneak peek at the Hall (and even go backstage) in the playful online tour led by former NSO Associate Conductor Emil de Cou at: artsedge.kennedy-center.org/nsoed.

CUESHEET PERFORMANCE GUIDE

Our Upcoming Family Concerts Please build on your Music for Young Audiences experience by joining us at this season’s National Symphony Orchestra Family Concerts, which are performed on the following Sundays by the full NSO:

February 12, 2017— Joshua Bell in The Man with the Violin May 21, 2017— P eter and the Wolf in Hollywood The NSO also presents full orchestra Young People’s Concerts for school groups in the Concert Hall each season during the school day for grades 3 through 6.

And Remember That…

A good audience stays seated, stays quiet, doesn’t eat, listens, and claps.

Have fun!

EXPLORE MORE! Go to KC Connections on ARTSEDGE artsedge.kennedy-center.org/students/kc-connections

Additional support for NSO Music for Young Audiences is provided by The Clark Charitable Foundation; the Kimsey Endowment; The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation; Park Foundation, Inc.; and the U.S. Department of Education.

David M. Rubenstein Chairman

Major support for educational programs at the Kennedy Center is provided by David and Alice Rubenstein through the Rubenstein Arts Access Program.

Deborah F. Rutter President

Kennedy Center education and related artistic programming is made possible through the generosity of the National Committee for the Performing Arts and the President’s Advisory Committee on the Arts.

Mario R. Rossero Senior Vice President Education

The contents of this Cuesheet have been developed under a grant from the U.S. Department of Education and do not necessarily represent the policy of the U.S. Department of Education. You should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government.

Christoph Eschenbach Music Director National Symphony Orchestra

©2017 The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

National Symphony Orchestra Music for Young Audiences

Catch the Vibe Performed by NSO Musicians Stephen Dumaine, tuba, and Eric Shin, percussion

Presenting Sponsor of Performances for Young Audiences

David and Alice Rubenstein are the Presenting Underwriters of the NSO.

For Teachers and Parents Dear Grownups: Welcome to the NSO Music for Young Audiences concert, designed to introduce children in pre-kindergarten through grade 2 to musical instruments of the orchestra. Please help your young concert-goers read and understand the information in this Cuesheet. The information and activity ideas below are designed to help you further the children’s concert experience.

The Concert Program After the concert, you may want the children to listen to some or all of these musical selections from the concert repertoire. Point out that some of the music will sound different because the musicians had adapted it for their instruments and sometimes used excerpts rather than the full piece. Ask children whether they can recognize the music when they hear it the second time.

“Fnugg” by Øystein Baadsvick “Sweet Georgia Brown” by Ben Bernie “Effie Suite” by Alec Wilder

Make Your Own Vibes

Here are some post-performance activities for children:

Take a small container without a lid (this will be your instrument’s body) and two or three rubber bands (these will be your “strings”).

Stretch the rubber bands around the container and across the open side (with help from a grownup).

Now pluck the strings with your fingers. Notice how the bands vibrate. This is what making music looks and sounds like. Discuss ways to change the sounds with your friends.

Sometimes people write music—like the music for Effie the elephant—to help tell a story or create a picture. Think about the music for Effie and which part you enjoyed the most. Draw a picture of what you imagined when you heard it.

Tune It

5

Musical Instrument “Petting Zoo” Before the concert, enjoy hands-on fun with the instruments that the musicians will play on stage in the Hall of States. A project of the Women’s Committee for the NSO.

“Preview ” the Concert Hall

“Flight of the Bumblebee”

by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov

More Fun with Music

Picturing Music

Wait! There’s More!

After the performance, test your vibe detectors (your ears, of course!) by visiting the Perfect Pitch Web site at: artsedge.kennedy-center. org/interactives/perfectpitch where you can hear short excerpts of different instruments in the orchestra. Have a partner “play” an instrument, and, without peeking, try to guess the instrument (or at least its size or type) based on its sound.

We hope you have so much fun at the concert that you’ll come back soon to hear a performance of the full National Symphony Orchestra—that’s 100 musicians!

When they all play together, they perform on the big stage in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall. Get a sneak peek at the Hall (and even go backstage) in the playful online tour led by former NSO Associate Conductor Emil de Cou at: artsedge.kennedy-center.org/nsoed.

CUESHEET PERFORMANCE GUIDE

Our Upcoming Family Concerts Please build on your Music for Young Audiences experience by joining us at this season’s National Symphony Orchestra Family Concerts, which are performed on the following Sundays by the full NSO:

February 12, 2017— Joshua Bell in The Man with the Violin May 21, 2017— P eter and the Wolf in Hollywood The NSO also presents full orchestra Young People’s Concerts for school groups in the Concert Hall each season during the school day for grades 3 through 6.

And Remember That…

A good audience stays seated, stays quiet, doesn’t eat, listens, and claps.

Have fun!

EXPLORE MORE! Go to KC Connections on ARTSEDGE artsedge.kennedy-center.org/students/kc-connections

Additional support for NSO Music for Young Audiences is provided by The Clark Charitable Foundation; the Kimsey Endowment; The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation; Park Foundation, Inc.; and the U.S. Department of Education.

David M. Rubenstein Chairman

Major support for educational programs at the Kennedy Center is provided by David and Alice Rubenstein through the Rubenstein Arts Access Program.

Deborah F. Rutter President

Kennedy Center education and related artistic programming is made possible through the generosity of the National Committee for the Performing Arts and the President’s Advisory Committee on the Arts.

Mario R. Rossero Senior Vice President Education

The contents of this Cuesheet have been developed under a grant from the U.S. Department of Education and do not necessarily represent the policy of the U.S. Department of Education. You should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government.

Christoph Eschenbach Music Director National Symphony Orchestra

©2017 The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

National Symphony Orchestra Music for Young Audiences

Catch the Vibe Performed by NSO Musicians Stephen Dumaine, tuba, and Eric Shin, percussion

Presenting Sponsor of Performances for Young Audiences

David and Alice Rubenstein are the Presenting Underwriters of the NSO.