Music+Lesson

** Olympic Fanfare and Theme **
Students will learn about form and instrumentation.
 * Objective**

Song: Olympic Fanfare and Theme Composed by: John Williams

6. Listening to, analyzing, and describing music.
 * National Standard**

Sound clip: [] Listen to sound clip from link above while students are entering the class. I will then pass out the slips listed below and we will listen to the recording 1-2 more times.
 * Anticipatory Set**


 * Differentiated Independent Practice**

Group 1: Students will get a slip of paper telling them to listen to the instruments being used throughout the piece and asked to record this information.

Group 2: Students will get a slip of paper telling them to listen to the group of instruments being used together throughout the piece and asked to record this information.

Group 3: Students will get a slip of paper telling them to listen for a theme and what instruments play it and if it comes back or not.

These slips will be used as exit slips.

I will then read segments of the quote below to give the students background on the piece and information about the form and instrumentation.

"By 1984 John Williams' film music was familiar to audiences the world over and it was only natural that the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee would turn to the city's most famous composer of popular instrumental music when they decided to commission a fanfare to be used during the Games. While it was an honor to be asked to compose such a piece of music, the prospect was not without its challenges. Leo Arnaud's fanfare (from his // Bugler's Dream // suite written in the 1930s) had become synonymous with the Olympics since ABC began using it for its televised coverage of the Olympics in 1968. Any new composition would necessarily compete with the attachment listeners had developed to Arnaud's theme. At the same time, the opening fanfare was to be played by herald trumpets at all of the medal ceremonies and official Olympic events, so it had to be based on the harmonic overtones these instruments were capable of producing. The music was also needed to be broken into small chunks and used as "bumpers" by ABC before and after commercial breaks.

Williams met all of these challenges with aplomb, creating a piece that is the very definition of "goose bump" music. The composer told Jon Burlingame in 1992 that his music was intended to musically represent "the spirit of cooperation, of heroic achievement, all the striving and preparation that go before the events and all the applause that comes after them." Williams conducted the premiere of the work at the opening ceremonies of the 23rd Olympiad on July 28, 1984 at the Los Angeles Coliseum.

The opening fanfare is in two pieces, a triad-based ascending motive for full brass adorned by thirty-second notes from trumpets, followed by more vigorous response from trumpets supported by an accented low brass pedal that generates additional excitement by entering on the second half of the fourth beat of each 4/4 measure. These two sections are then repeated (so that the fanfare section has an A-B-A-B form). A crescendo on the final chord leads to a quiet snare drum figure that is repeated throughout the following section.

Strings and horns state the broad, noble "Olympic Theme" with the "B" portion of the fanfare answering quietly in trumpets and woodwinds. Low woodwinds and strings, supported by horns, then state a jauntier melody, which is followed by a syncopated horn bridge colored by glockenspiel, before the jaunty tune returns and is briefly developed over scurrying string passages. This crescendos to a reprise of the "B" portion of the fanfare. Low brass now joins in with percussion on the rhythmic ostinato and orchestra sings the noble theme in full force. In the exciting coda, pieces of the "B" fanfare are passed around between horns and trumpets.

The score of the work calls for three flutes (one doubling piccolo), three oboes, three clarinets (one doubling bass clarinet), three bassoons (one doubling contrabassoon), four horns, four trumpets, four trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion (snare, field drum, cymbals, bass drum, suspended cymbal, chimes, glockenspiel, vibraphone and triangle), harp, piano and strings." From:[]

As a class we will discuss the link between the form and the instrumentation in this piece. We will also have an opportunity to review vocabulary such as dynamics (crescendos) and instrument families(percussion, woodwind, brass, string.) We will then learn about different types of form for ex: ABA or AAB. As a class we will write a 12 bar song in ABA binary form. And we will play this song on the Orff instruments.

Next class students would write their own song in binary form in small groups and perform for the class.

At the end of class the students will hand in their exit slips and this will be used as assessment.
 * Assessment**

During our class discussion about form we will need to talk about previous knowledge. This will include instruments, instrument families and listening for a theme or melody. I can assess students on what they write on their exit slips but also assess them on what they say during the discussion. I can also look to see if students are making connections to others because they each had a different exit slip that told them what to listen for. This information will tell me if I need to go back and review information or if I am on track with my learning goals and can move on.
 * Formative Assessment**