When it comes to art music, I’ve never been one to relegate pieces to specific times of the year. So, while In the Hall of the Mountain King may fit perfectly into your Halloween plans, there’s no reason you can’t extend the learning past the trick-or-treating holiday!
Today, I’m bringing you another freebie and more activities for In the Hall of the Mountain King. Let’s start with the most obvious….
TIMBRE
If you’ve already completed the first part of this lesson (read about that HERE), then your students will be familiar with the rhythm pattern. So, it’s a perfect time to direct their attention to another musical element, timbre.
Before playing the video below, ask the students to pay attention to the instruments they see and hear. Ask questions, such as: Do the instruments make high or low sounds? Are the sounds dark or bright? How does the size of the instrument affect the sound it makes? What two ways do the string players use their bows? What are the names of the instrument families you see and hear?
Play the piece again, this time asking students to follow along using their listening guide. I’ve created the following freebies, which you can use in your classroom.
This first one can be projected on your interactive whiteboard. It comes in both color and black and white. You can point to each instrument/group as it plays or you can ask a volunteer student to do the same. If they hear all the instruments playing together, they should place their entire hand over the listening guide. They’ll have fun trying to keep up as the tempo increases!
The following two worksheets can be used to assess instrument families or instrument names.
I hope you enjoy today’s ideas and freebies. If you aren’t already, be sure to sign up for my newsletter. I plan on sending it out tomorrow!