2011 Young People’s Discovery Concerts

Carnival of the Animals

South Bend Symphony Orchestra

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Welcome!Welcome to the 2012 Young People’s Discovery Concerts presented by the South Bend Symphony Orchestra. We are proud to present this year’s concerts featuring Carnival of the Animals by Camille Saint-Saens.

Please use the following information, lessons, and activities to help prepare your students for this exciting concert.

A special component to this year’s concerts will be the reading of student poetry for each of the animals represented in Carnival of the Animals. Please send us the best examples of your students work so that they may have the chance to have their poetry read at the concert your school will be attending. A lesson plan regarding this is included in this teacher guide.

I would also like to acknowledge Melina Yeh for her assistance in preparing the teacher guide for this year’s concerts.

We look forward to seeing you at the concert!

Yours truly,

Guy HarrisonDirector of Education

The South Bend Symphony Orchestra

The South Bend Symphony Orchestra, currently in its 79th season and led by Music Director Tsung Yeh, is one of the finest regional orchestras in the central United States. The 78-member ensemble performs both Masterworks and Pops concerts each season at the Morris Performing Arts Center, as well as chamber orchestra programs at the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center on the campus of Notre Dame. The orchestra also performs a number of educational programs throughout the Michiana area. Educational programs include our travelling Symphony-to-Go chamber ensembles, the Side-by-Side Orchestra, the Young People’s Discovery Concerts, and the Dake Summer Music Academy for aspiring young musicians and conductors.

Meet Maestro Tsung YehShanghai-born conductor Tsung Yeh has the distinction of being the first conductor ever to hold music directorships of both a western symphony orchestra and a major Chinese instrument symphony orchestra. He presently serves as Music Director of the Singapore Chinese Orchestra, and Music Director of the South Bend Symphony Orchestra in his 22nd season.As Music Director and Principal Conductor of the South Bend Symphony Orchestra since 1988, Maestro Yeh has helped build the organization into one of the finest regional orchestras in the central United States. He previously held posts as Exxon/Arts Endowment Conductor of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, Resident Conductor of The Florida Orchestra, Principal Guest Conductor of the Albany Symphony Orchestra, Music Director of the Northwest Indiana Symphony Orchestra, and Music Director of the Hong Kong Sinfonietta. Maestro Yeh has appeared with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, The Minnesota Orchestra, Rochester Philharmonic, Singapore Symphony, China National Symphony, Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, and Calgary Philharmonic.

Meet David VisserDr. David Visser loves animals and has dedicated his professional life to keeping pets healthy and safe. He is Veterinarian and Director of Roseland Animal Hospital in South Bend and Center for Animal Health in Edwardsburg, MI. A 21-year Resident of Michiana, Dr. Visser is well known Locally as the “Pet Vet,” appearing weekly on WNDU-16 Saturday Morning Show and sharing pet health tips on radio and in several local print publications. He has given veterinary career presentations at local schools, professional clubs and youth groups. Dr. Visser is not new to the stage. He regularly performs as a first violinist with our South Bend Symphony Orchestra, is a singer and plays electric bass guitar in a local praise band, and recently was a lead actor in a stage play in Niles, MI. Dr. Visser’s wife, Karen, is also a veterinarian. They have two sons in high school, and share their home with two beautiful cats named Simon and Peter.

Concert Program

John, Elton - Orchestra Suite from The Lion

King

Scott, Raymond - The Penguin

Saint-Saens, Camille - Carnival of the Animals

The South Bend Symphony Orchestra is proud to present Carnival of the Animals, an exploration of animals and their musical representations. From frolicking penguins to elephants, and even an old fossil or two, this concert will take you on an exciting musical safari.

The Composers

Elton JohnBorn March 25, 1947

Nationality: English

Style: Rock

Famous Music: The Lion King, Aida

Sir Elton Hercules John’s birth name was Reginald Kenneth Dwight. His parents often listened to music at home, creating a love for music in John. He fell in love with rock and roll when his mom brought home music by Elvis Presley. John started playing the piano when he was three.

When he turned 15, he started getting jobs as a pianist and later on, formed a band called Bluesology. John got his first big break when he met the manager of a record company and wrote music for lyrics written by Bernie Taupin. After that, John and Taupin became songwriting partners and have worked together to this day. John began going by the name of Elton John. Both names were the names of some of his bandmates from Bluesology.

One of John’s biggest albums was Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. It is his most popular album and also made John a star. In 1994, John worked together with Tim Rice to write songs for The Lion King. Can You Feel the Love Tonight and Circle of Life became hits and won Academy and Emmy awards. John is considered one of the most successful artists of all time and was knighted by the Queen of England for his works.

Raymond ScottSeptember 10, 1908 – February 8, 1994

Nationality: American

Style: Jazz, Film Soundtracks

Famous Music: The Penguin, The Toy Trumpet, and Powerhouse

Raymond Scott (born Harry Warnow) was an American composer, band leader, pianist, and inventor of electronic musical instruments. His music has become familiar to millions of people through its use in over 120 classic Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig, Daffy Duck, and other Warner Bros. cartoons. Scotts music has even been used in The Simpsons and Ren & Stimpy episodes.

Raymond Scott was a graduate of the famous Julliard School of Music in New York City where he studied piano, music theory, and composition. After graduating in 1931, Scott began writing numerous compositions, many with unusual titles, such as New Year’s Eve in a Haunted House and Dinner Music for a Pack of Hungry Cannibals.

Apart from all the jazz compositions he wrote for his jazz band, many of which were subsequently used by Warner Bros., Scott’s true fascination lay in inventing electronic musical instruments. He was known to spend hours in a recording studio experimenting with all the ways in which he could capture and manipulate sound. He then used this knowledge to create electronic instruments that could produce all kinds of different sounds. His most famous of these was the Electronium.

Camille Saint-SaensOctober 9, 1835 in Paris, France – December 16, 1921 in Algiers, Algeria

Nationality: French

Style: Romantic

Famous Music: Carnival of the Animals, Piano Concerto No.2

Camille Saint-Saens was born in Paris, France. His aunt taught him to play the piano when he was only two years old. He wrote his first piece of music for the piano when he was four. He performed at his very first public concert when he was five. Later on, Saint-Saens learned to write music and won many top prizes.

He wrote his first symphony when he was sixteen. Saint-Saens continued to study music as well as other subjects. As an adult, Saint-Saens became famous as both a composer and an organ player. He taught piano at the École Niedermeyer, a school for the study of church music. In 1886, Saint-Saens introduced one of his most famous pieces of music, The Carnival of the Animals. Saint-Saens was a great scholar. He studied and was an expert in many subjects other than music, such as math, science, and philosophy. As an older man, Saint-Saens travelled all over the world and performed for people in California and Panama. During his travels, he wrote a famous series of books under the pen name Sannois. Saint-Saens is known as a musical pioneer. In Paris, there is a street named after him, and he was also awarded the Grand Cross of the French Legion of Honor.

The Pieces

Suite from The Lion King

Elton John and Tim Rice (lyricist) wrote the songs for the film, The Lion King. Much of the music in the Lion King, such as the Circle of Life, utilizes African music and choral elements. The film premiered in 1994 and was released by Walt Disney Pictures and was loosely inspired by Shakespeare’s Hamlet. It is the sixth highest grossing animated film. The musical of the same name has been nominated for numerous Tony Awards and won the award for the Best Musical in 1998.

The PenguinThe Penguin was a tune from the record Reckless Nights and Turkish Twilights originally recorded between 1937 and 1940. Like many of Raymond Scott’s most famous pieces, this one was used in a number of Warner Bros. cartoons. The sly, wacky little tune The Penguin occurs in the hilarious and surreal Duck Amuck (1953) in which Daffy is at the mercy of constantly changing background scenery and inappropriate sound effects. In Operation: Rabbit (1952), a muted trumpet plays the tune while Wile E. Coyote applies his pressure cooker to a rabbit hole as Bugs Bunny watches. The tune is heard in four other cartoons including Waikiki Wabbit (1943) and Acrobatty Bunny (1946).

Carnival of the Animals

The Carnival of the Animals was written by Camille Saint-Saens during his vacation to a small Austrian village in 1886. It was originally written for a chamber group. Saint-Saens did not allow the whole piece to be published or publicly performed during his lifetime. It is believed that the composition was written to make fun of some of his composer friends. Saint-Saens himself considered the piece to be a “private joke” for his family and close friends, and believed it to be too frivolous to publish during his lifetime. He thought it would hurt his reputation as a serious composer. He allowed it to be published after his death, however, and it is now considered to be one of his most famous works.

The piece is made up of 14 movements, or sections. The most famous movement is The Swan. The other movements represent other animals such as lions, tortoises, elephants, and roosters. Parts of the piece have been used in movies such as Babe,

Charlotte’s Web, and Beauty and the Beast.

The Poetry by Ogden Nash

IntroductionCamille Saint-SaensWas wracked with pains,When people addressed him,As Saint-Sanes.He held the human race to blame,Because it could not pronounce his name,So, he turned with metronome and fife,To glorify other kinds of life,Be quiet please – for here beginsHis salute to feathers, fur and fins.

The LionThe lion is the king of beasts,And husband of the lioness.Gazelles and things on which he feastsAddress him as your highoness.There are those that admire that roar of his,In the African jungles and velds,But, I think that wherever the lion is,I’d rather be somewhere else.

Cocks and HensThe rooster is a roistering hoodlum,His battle cry is cock-a-doodleum.Hands in pockets, cap over eye,He whistles at pullets, passing by.

The Wild JackassHave ever you harked to the jackass wild,Which scientists call the onager?It sounds like the laugh of an idiot child,Or a hepcat on a harmoniger,But do not sneer at the jackass wild,There is a method in his heehaw,For with maidenly blush and accent mil

The TortoiseCome crown my brow with leaves of myrtle,I know the tortoise is a turtle,Come carve my name in stone immortal,I know the turtoise is a tortle.I know to my profound despair,I bet on one to beat a hare,I also know I’m now a pauper,Because of its totley, turtley, torper.

The ElephantElephants are useful friends,Equipped with handles at both ends.They have a wrinkled moth proof hide,Their teeth are upside down, outside,If you think the elephant preposterous,You’ve probably never seen a rhinosterous.

KangaroosThe kangaroo can jump incredible,He has to jump because he is edible,I could not eat a kangaroo,But many fine Australians do,Those with cookbooks as well as boomerangs,Prefer him in tasty kangaroomeringues.

The AquariumSome fish are minnows,Some are whales,People like dimples,Fish like scales,Some fish are slim,And some are round,They don’t get cold,They don’t get drowned,But every fishwifeFears for her fish,What we call mermaidsThey call merfish.

MulesIn the world of mulesThere are no rules.

The Cuckoo in the WildCuckoos lead bohemian lives,They fail as husbands and as wives,Therefore, they cynically disparageEverybody else’s marriage.

BirdsPuccini was Latin, and Wagner Teutonic,And birds are incurable philharmonic,Suburban yards and rural vistasAre filled with avian Andrew Sisters.The skylark sings a roundelay,The crow sings “The Road to Mandalay,”The nightingale sings a lullaby,And the sea gull sings a gullaby.That’s what shepherds listened to in ArcadiaBefore somebody invented the radia.

PianistsSome claim that pianists are human,Heh, and quote the case of Mr. Truman.Saint-Saens on the other hand,Considered them a scurvy band,A blight they are he said, and simian,Instead of normal men and wimian.

FossilsAt midnight in the museum hall,The fossils gathered for a ball,There were no drums or saxophones,But just the clatter of their bones,Rolling, rattling carefree circus,Of mammoth polkas and mazurkas,Pterodactyls and brontosaurusesSang ghostly prehistoric choruses,Amid the mastodonic wassailI caught the eye of one small fossil,“Cheer up sad world,” he said and winked,“It’s kind of fun to be extinct.”

The SwanThe swan can swim while sitting down,For pure conceit he takes the crown,He looks in the mirror over and ovea,And claims to have never heard of Pavlova.

The Grand FinaleNow we’ve reached the grand finale,On an animalie, carnivalie,Noises new to sea and land,Issue from the skillful band,All the strings contort their features,Imitating crawly creatures,All the brasses look like mumpsFrom blowing umpah, umpah, umps,In outdoing Barnum and Bailey, and Ringling,Saint-Saens has done a miraculous thingling.

Orchestra Seating Chart

Concert EtiquettePlease review these guidelines thoroughly with your students.

• Upon arriving inside the O’Laughlin Auditorium, everyone is expected to speak in a moderate tone of voice. It’s fine to talk, but no yelling, please.

• When you enter the performance hall it’s time to whisper only. The orchestra may be warming up on the stage and need to be able to hear themselves, too.

• When the lights dim, all whispering should stop. The concertmaster is about to tune the orchestra and the conductor will be entering next.

• It is now time for the conductor to enter the stage. Feel free to applaud. No whistling or stamping feet, please. Just polite applause is fine.

• Once the music begins, everyone should concentrate on the music. Between pieces of music, someone may speak about the next piece. Listen carefully.

•Show your appreciation for the music at the end of each piece by applauding. Watch the conductor carefully to make sure the music has really ended.

• Avoid yelling on the way out of the hall. This is the moment when your teacher and the ushers need your attention most. Watch and listen!

If you can remember these simple tips, and use your own good manners, everyone will be able to enjoy their concert experience.

Audio TracksThe Lion King Suite

Unfortunately the audio track for this orchestral arrangement is not available to the public.  However, there are numerous Lion King medleys available on youtube that highlight the famous themes that are found in the suite we will be performing for your students.

The Penguin Playlisthttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCD-PU5Evn8&feature=related

Carnival of the Animals Playlist

1. Introduction & Royal March of the Lionshttp://www.youtube.com/user/meinevvelten#p/search/0/CBZ4zFfbweA2. Hens & Roostershttp://www.youtube.com/user/meinevvelten#p/search/2/Qwqu9fRCSmU3. Wild Asseshttp://www.youtube.com/user/meinevvelten#p/search/1/_9UajSQ8EqY

4. Tortoiseshttp://www.youtube.com/user/meinevvelten#p/search/9/x2NHC0x-93w

5. The Elephanthttp://www.youtube.com/user/meinevvelten#p/search/7/8HlTkc9mD98

6. Kangarooshttp://www.youtube.com/user/meinevvelten#p/search/13/7T7zVYQsDm4

7. Aquariumhttp://www.youtube.com/user/meinevvelten#p/search/11/3A5lsWFhdsU

8. Persons With Long Earshttp://www.youtube.com/user/meinevvelten#p/search/12/Wz133DK_F3I

9. The Cuckoohttp://www.youtube.com/user/meinevvelten#p/search/8/khHu-6833ZQ

10. Aviaryhttp://www.youtube.com/user/meinevvelten#p/search/10/GRKuC1EqrEc

11. Pianistshttp://www.youtube.com/user/meinevvelten#p/search/6/xo706XDpuLk

12. Fossilshttp://www.youtube.com/user/meinevvelten#p/search/5/6yMHbc6lt7k

13. The Swanhttp://www.youtube.com/user/meinevvelten#p/search/3/cQTIxuH6hFo

14. Finalehttp://www.youtube.com/user/meinevvelten#p/search/4/dJ1Ekl2brdU

Other Information•Please visit http://www.southbendsymphony.com/education-links.php for more great educational website links. •Check out some of our other educational programs at www.southbendsymphony.org. Other programs include our Practice Challenge, the Dake Summer Music Academy, Symphony-to-Go, and the Side-by-Side Orchestra.

Activities & Lessons•Animal Safari•Carnival of the Animals - Student Poetry•Fossils•Musical Journal•Understanding Concert Etiquette•Composer Clipboard•Make Your Own Instruments•Instrument Tic-Tac-Toe•Concert Review

•Listening& Learning Activities•Smart Ears•Think Like a Composer