I teach music appreciation at the community college level. Our classes often include the "early college" high school students who are on our campus as well. I highly recommend experiential activities. You don't indicate a period on which you want to focus, so I will just list some suggestions:

 

1) Allow your students write their own poems in the fixed forms of the middle ages (for example, rondeau).

2) Write a brief libretto for an opera.

3) Compose using ostinati (an example of a Baroque composition based on a basso ostinato would be Dido's Lament. I have found the story behind this opera to be very engaging for modern day students. It has lots of "soap opera-type" drama:) Orff instruments will come in handy for this activity, or you can use world percussion, body percussion, small percussion or found sounds.

4) Teach a simple Renaissance dance.

5) Bring in recorders for students to play.

6) Make a "top ten" program for a given year in history (for example, the "greatest hits" of 1750

7) Students could write the dialogue for a job interview with Mozart.

8) Seek publications that involve the Orff approach, as they will be accessible, but they may include historical styles as well. I suggest West music as a place to start. Here is a link to a book on their website. This music is highly accessible and even if you don't have the Orff instruments, use your piano, and have the students sing the recorder parts.....Make it work for you! Sounds like fun!!

 

Here's that link - There are other works by these authors on that website too.

 

Hi, Pamela.  I guess I'm not the best person to answer, since as it happens I teach music history at the college level with readings, listening assignments, and lectures!  I haven't found any better way to approach what is, after all, a HISTORY course with a highly technical subject.

 

So let me just ask what your goal is?  What do you hope to accomplish?  What do you hope your students will learn?  (I'm assuming that you are at the high school level, and I also have to assume that you hated the music history courses you had in college!)

 

The Survey course I teach (which happens to be a Core Curriculum course aimed at non-music majors) barely covers the basics in two full semesters, so obviously you can't teach actual HISTORY in 10-11 school days!  So what DO you want to teach that doesn't involve any facts or understandings of developmental processes?

 

How about the development and growth of the symphony orchestra?  And a few (a VERY few!) of the musical forms associated with it.  Understanding what an orchestra is, how it developed from private entertainments for the wealthy and important, how popular it was in the 19th and early 20th centuries, and how it can be heard in most of the large-scale blockbuster movies they will be familiar with might make an interesting Unit, and aiming it at movies they know might provide the "fun" you want.

 

Or a similar Unit on the development of the modern chorus and choir?  That would absolutely have to get into the use of music in the medieval and renaissance churches, of course, and discussion of why women were forbidden to sing, and of how men and boys managed the several ways to cover the cantus and altus parts, but that would open up some very interesting discussions.

 

I wouldn't try a survey of composers, because without the historical context of their time and place or the musical context of listening to and discussing their music it's just a random bunch of names.

 

Getting them to create their own music could be great "fun," but wouldn't teach anything about music as history at all.

 

Gee, with all respect for your desire to enrich your students' lives, perhaps it really isn't possible to teach history without, well, actually teaching history!  Although if this is a choral class you're talking about, you could certainly make the history of the specific pieces you'll be working on into very relevant learning, even though it would, again, lack context.

 

All the best, and I look forward to reading other replies.  I'm always looking for ways to improve my own teaching, and sometimes an old dog CAN learn new tricks.

 

John

 

 

Projects do take time. 

 

 

 

 

Dear Pam,

 

I have taught musicology, theory, etc. to a number of different ages and for varying lengths of time.  Albeit I generally gear things for college level much of this can work for any age group.  I would suggest making the class about them.  What type of music do they listen to?  Then compare it with what you are trying to teach them.  You didn't mention what you are trying to accomplish so I would bring in many different examples, and use some that have visual components so that they can see the instruments being played.   How does this differ from the music they listen to now and at the end of the session, perhaps ask if learning about some of these new styles of music makes any difference to them.  I realize 10-11 days is not very long, but I encourage you to incorporate a world view with culture in some of what you do, whether it is older music, traditional music, or classical music.

 

Good luck,

 

Dr. Anne Kilstofte

Hi Pamela,

 

I teach a music history elective at the high school level.  I make my kids do a project on Mozart opera.  This is how this works.

 

Divide kids into groups of 3 or 4

 

Assign each group a Mozart opera.  I have used Marriage of Figaro, The Magic Flute, Don Giovanni, etc.

 

As a group they are required to give a multimedia presentation about the opera that is 10-20 min.  I know this sounds like a long time, but it is very doable.  Here's how I break it up:

 

Each member of hte gorup is required to choose a piece of music from the opera that they feel is important in the opera.  They must give a translation of the lyrics, and do an analysis of their piece. Again, this is at the high school level, so I try to focus on things like tonality, form, instrumentation, etc. 

 

As a group, they must present a brief historical context of the opera, and a plot synopsis.  This must be done using some kind of a visual such as a poster, or powerpoint.

Then, each group member presents their chosen piece of music.  They often use youtube and show us just a short clip of their piece so we can have an idea of what it sounds like.  Then they use their analysis to guide their presentation of the piece.

 

I have done this unit twice now.  We have block scheduling so it fits in our schedule nicely to do large projects like this, but the kids really seem to enjoy it.  I even had one group who made a flow chart to illustrate the many paths of love interests in the Marriage of Figaro!