I’m back with more ideas for bringing Western art music into your classroom. As the leaves keep falling, it’s the perfect time to share lesson ideas for Vivaldi’s Autumn. I’ve highlighted a few videos for students to watch along with some concepts that you can cover with this piece.
This movement video from Music with Miss Jen is perfect for introducing lower elementary students to Vivaldi’s Autumn. It features simple, relatable motions students can follow during their first listen. Afterward, have them repeat the movements, this time focusing on dynamics. Encourage big, bold movements when the music is loud and smaller, gentler motions when the music is soft.
One of my favorite ways to bring Western art music into the classroom was by isolating familiar rhythms so students could identify and perform them while listening to the piece. This image comes from one of my Classical Rhythms Sets on TPT. It highlights the isolated rhythm from Autumn and includes an audio clip so students can hear it in action.
Upper elementary students would benefit from watching the following video before listening to the full piece. It provides some context and highlights the unique quality of Vivaldi’s music.
Lead a class discussion about the different instruments your students can hear in the piece. This is a great opportunity to introduce them to the string family and help them notice how each instrument adds its own sound. You can also use this time to explain what a concerto is and why it was an important form in Vivaldi’s era. If you’re working with older students, take it a step further by exploring how the meaning and structure of the concerto have evolved over the centuries.
If you’re looking to do even more with The Four Seasons, the following free resource from Arts Alive is fantastic: Vivaldi and The Four Seasons Teacher Resource Kit.
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