Suggestions for Teaching Music History to Students

[hornteacher]

Most of you know that I'm a middle school band teacher, and I always include lessons on Music History with my beginners (12 year olds).  I don't have time to cover a whole lot but we get many of the basics.  However, every year I end up not being satisfied with how I approach post-WWII music.  Does anyone have some suggestions on which trends, composers, and pieces should be covered in my lessons?

One disclaimer, as I teach an instrumental performance class, I usually focus on the history of instrumental music as opposed to vocal music.  They get that from the Chorus teacher.


Here's VERY generally what I cover:

Medieval Period - Gregorian Chant (Hildegard of Bingen)

Renaissance - Consort Music (Praetorius)

Baroque - Vivaldi (Seasons), Handel (Royal Fireworks, Water Music), Bach (Brandenbergs, Toccata and Fugue, Violin Concertos)

Classical - Haydn (Symphony 94, Trumpet Concerto), Mozart (Eine Kleine, Symphony 40, Clarinet Concerto), Beethoven (Symphony 3, 5, 6, 9, Moonlight Sonata, Emperor Concerto)

Romantic - Schubert (Symphony 8, Trout Quintet), Mendelssohn (Violin Concerto, Midsummer Night's Dream), Schumann (Piano Concerto), Brahms (Symphony 1, Hungarian Dances), Dvorak (Symphony 9, Slavonic Dances), Tchaikovsky (Romeo and Juliet, Symphony 4)

Modern - Holst (Planets, Suites for Band), Stravinsky (Rite of Spring), Shostakovich (Symphony 5), Prokofiev (Symphony 1), Copland (Appalachian Spring, Rodeo), Bernstein (Candide, West Side Story)


OKAY NOW I'M STUCK ON WHERE TO GO FROM HERE.   Adams?  Reich?  Crumb?  Cage?  Glass?  Any ideas would be helpful.

[Bogey]

I enjoy the idea of the likes of Glass because he is still alive and it might be enjoyable for your students to listen to some of his film music as well.  I would further recommend our Karl Henning.  Maybe he would be willing to correspond with some of your students at some level via the internet and discuss his compositions with them and what it is like to compose in "post-modern times".  Just a thought, but I am not aware of his daily schedule and he has not retained my services to be his agent, so I may be talking out of turn.

[PSmith08]

The way I see it, there's a big problem. You have to reckon with serialism as the dominant musical force for the first half or so of the 20th century after the war (i.e., 1945-1970). After 1970 or so, you start to get the rise of minimalism and music that sounds - shall we say - in line with what the kids heard before. Serialism, of course, is the logical conclusion of what Wagner launched in earnest with Tristan und Isolde, but tracing the rise of serialism is a class in and of itself. Probably not for 12-year-old kids, though.

The problem is that most adults wouldn't sit through a masterpiece of serialism like Pli selon pli or Quadrivium, to say nothing of preteens. So, you can lose them with the complexity and forbidding style of one of the most important postwar musical grammars - or you can gloss over it, not solving your problem at all.

Play them something like Pli selon pli and explain a little bit about the style of music and its origins and then, if you're feeling saucy, the third movement of Berio's Sinfonia, which represents postmodern music and something beyond serialism. It's just too daunting for middle school students beyond a point. Then, get to minimalism through Adams' Shaker Loops and Glass' Koyaanisqatsi.

[hornteacher]

The way I see it, there's a big problem. You have to reckon with serialism as the dominant musical force for the first half or so of the 20th century after the war (i.e., 1945-1970). After 1970 or so, you start to get the rise of minimalism and music that sounds - shall we say - in line with what the kids heard before. Serialism, of course, is the logical conclusion of what Wagner launched in earnest with Tristan und Isolde, but tracing the rise of serialism is a class in and of itself. Probably not for 12-year-old kids, though.

The problem is that most adults wouldn't sit through a masterpiece of serialism like Pli selon pli or Quadrivium, to say nothing of preteens. So, you can lose them with the complexity and forbidding style of one of the most important postwar musical grammars - or you can gloss over it, not solving your problem at all.

You are very correct.  That's EXACTLY the problem.  Maybe I should be asking which compositions of Serialism and Minimalistic music would be good as introductions to the genres?

[The Mad Hatter]

I think Cage is a good idea because you can get them to perform 4'33" and shut up for five minutes (no, seriously, if you approach this right, it works, and they'll never forget it). You can use that as a way of introudcing aleatoricism and the emphasis on originality which (I believe, anyhow) is the dominant force in post-war music.

Glass is one of the most approachable composers going, and high-schoolers in particular like him, I think, so it's worth going with.

I think it's important to explain the concepts of the more prominent schools, and maybe to remind them that it's all so recent that we can't really distinguish what the most important trend going at the moment.

[bwv 1080]

Perriot Lunaire is always good because the class can identify with the craziness in the text, same with Berg's Wozzeck.  Penderecki's Threnody is another piece with a program the class can identify with.

[hornteacher]

These are very helpful suggestions.  Thanks.

[hornteacher]

I think Cage is a good idea because you can get them to perform 4'33" and shut up for five minutes.

It's crossed my mind on more than one occasion.

[Kullervo]

Some vital figures worth teaching about...

Debussy....Le Mer, Prelude to Afternoon of a Faun etc etc...Ravel as well. (Daphnie & Chloe, Gaspard etc.)

Same goes for the 3 viennese...Schoenberg (Piano Piece Op. 9, Five Piece for Orchestra, Chamber Symphony, SQs, Variations etc), Berg (Violin Concerto, Chamber Concerto etc) & especially Webern (Symphony Op. 21, Variations for Orchestra, String Quartet Op. 28).

Bartok is a must too. The 6 String Quartets...Concerto for Orchestra....Music for Percussion, Strings & Celeste, Piano Concertos etc..

Stockhausen is very important for 20th century music, a pioneer of electronic music...Gersang der jungling, Kontakte etc...but also Klavierstucke, Gruppen etc

Messiaen  ...Organ Works...end of time quartet, Turanglila, Exspecto, Vingt Regards etc etc

Boulez...Le marteau sans Maitre, Repons, Domaines, Piano Sonatas etc...

Ligeti of course too. Piano Etudes, Chamber Concerto, Piano & Violin Concertos etc...

Coincidentally, all mentioned get the Boulez™ seal-of-approval. Hmmm... 

[Larry Rinkel]

Coincidentally, all mentioned get the Boulez™ seal-of-approval. Hmmm... 

And all are very good pieces of music. But whether they're the best choices for 12-year-olds is another matter. Do you really plan to expose very young teenagers to Stockhausen's Gruppen or Messiaen's Turangalila? Something is amiss here. For ages 16-18, that's a different story.

I do think it's good for them to get some atonal sounds in their ears, but I'd go more gently with a few fairly short pieces. Schoenberg's 5 Pieces Op. 16, Webern's Concerto for Nine Instruments, the first and last movements of Ligeti's Piano Concerto, one or two Ligeti etudes. For a longer work, Bartok's Sonata for 2 Pianos and Percussion or Concerto for Orchestra might do the trick. And then - basta. Forget Wozzeck, forget Pierrot Lunaire, forget Pli Selon Pli. Not at this age. If any of the kids shows an unusual interest in this music, then you can offer additional suggestions. But I'd see how they react first.

If you want to introduce some minimalists, Adam's Chairman Dances and Short Ride in a Fast Machine are good ideas. Maybe Steve Reich's Music for 18 Musicians, but don't be surprised if half of them fall asleep and the rest zone out.

[hornteacher]

Yes, I usually do about 8-10 minutes of listening per lesson.  That's about all the ADD kids can take.

BUT, I do have a listening library in the school's media center with about 150 CDs the kids can check out on their own.  Some really get into certain composers.  I've got a little clarinet player that's just wild about Dvorak.  I've had to buy more CDs just for her.

[PerfectWagnerite]

I don't think any survey of 20th century music is complete without Berg's Violin Concerto or Schoenberg's 5 Orchestral Pieces. If you are pressed for time I suggest you cut some of your other pieces. Works like Dvorak's 9th Symphony and Holst's The Planets, while very enjoyable masterpieces, aren't really indispensable listening. In Dvorak's case I think the 9th is the least interesting of his final 4 symphonies.

[hornteacher]

I don't think any survey of 20th century music is complete without Berg's Violin Concerto or Schoenberg's 5 Orchestral Pieces. If you are pressed for time I suggest you cut some of your other pieces. Works like Dvorak's 9th Symphony and Holst's The Planets, while very enjoyable masterpieces, aren't really indispensable listening. In Dvorak's case I think the 9th is the least interesting of his final 4 symphonies.

I take your point, but you just named two of the kids absolute favorites.  They are rivted to the chair when I talk about the Planets or New World and many go out and purchase their own copies.  Plus I use New World as an introduction to the "American" school of music and the Planets to show the influence it had on John Williams' film music.

Berg's VC is a great idea as I think it is probably one of the most accessible atonal/12-tone compositions.

I guess I'll just have to find more time!

[Larry Rinkel]

I don't think any survey of 20th century music is complete without Berg's Violin Concerto or Schoenberg's 5 Orchestral Pieces. If you are pressed for time I suggest you cut some of your other pieces. Works like Dvorak's 9th Symphony and Holst's The Planets, while very enjoyable masterpieces, aren't really indispensable listening. In Dvorak's case I think the 9th is the least interesting of his final 4 symphonies.

It's the age level that must always be taken into account. Much as I love Berg, his tendency is to be very expansive, and you won't find much in the way of brief, self-contained pieces as with Webern. And "enjoyable masterpieces" is in itself a very good criterion for what to choose. This is an introduction to music for 12-year-olds, not a scholarly survey of music history.

But since HT provided his whole listening list, if there's any objection, I would say it seems disproportionally symphonic. Other than the Trout Quintet and Moonlight Sonata, there's no piano or chamber music. I would think a Haydn or Beethoven quartet could be substituted for one or two of the symphonies on the list; and some Chopin polonaises, mazurkas, and the like added. Personally I'd far rather hear Schumann's Carnaval for solo piano than the Concerto, which I consider one of the Big Bores of the Romantic period. By including primarily orchestral music, you tend to reinforce the unfortunate stereotype that orchestral music is somehow "better," an attitude that prevails not only in music appreciation classes but among large segments of the listening public.

[Larry Rinkel]

yeah I agree with that...also perhaps teasing listeners with an excerpt or section of a much larger/longer work may be worth considering as well though...a section from stuff like turangalila, pierrot lunaire, gruppen, repons etc etc etc...

He could use one of the three central Improvisations from Pli selon pli. Maybe.

[Anne]

Give them a list (or post it in the school library) of musical selections and their recommended recordings.

This will help them expand/explore music on their own and might include some of the works now being suggested for which the time constraint in the classroom is too great.  Maybe you could create a listener's guide for each of those pieces you're unable to cover in class.

[PerfectWagnerite]

Two of my modern favorites are Varese's Ionizations and Ligeti's Atmospheres. Both are relatively short and kids may like Atmospheres from 2001: A Space Odyssey.

I don't think Berg's VC is terribly long (around 20 minutes). The fact that it is not as concentrated as Webern's works kind of make it a little easier to listen to. You space out for a few seconds here and there and no big deal. The beauty of Berg VC is such that you don't really think it as atonal and difficult music. It is almost like Romanticism a la Wagner and Schoenberg (Gurrelieder, Transfigured Night, Pelleaus and Melisande) where the chromatisism is taken to the extreme. I know when I first listened to it I didn't think it was difficult at all and I was no more than 12 or 13 then.

[Larry Rinkel]

Stravinsky's Agon is a great primer to serialism...

Except that it is serial only in parts.

[Kullervo]

No mention of Sibelius or Scriabin? I think they are two examples of a very different kind of modernism.

[orbital]

No mention of Sibelius or Scriabin? I think they are two examples of a very different kind of modernism.

Just playing Scriabin's 5th and 6th sonatas back to back will give them a clear example of how music changed in recent times.