K-3 Program

HOME / Learn & Connect / Digital Education Series /

K-3 Program

Adding Up the Orchestra


Through an introduction to the orchestra and interaction with a variety of classical music, students will experience how addition, numeracy, and patterning is an integral part of how music is made and performed.

Skills Focus

Addition, numeracy, and patterning

Music

  • Bedřich Smetana – The Moldau from Ma Vlast
  • Gioachino Rossini – Overture to The Barber of Seville
  • Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov – Caucasian Sketches (mvt II): In the Village
  • Pyotr Illich Tchaikovsky – Symphony No. 4 (mvt III): Scherzo: Pizzicato Ostinato
  • Jean Sibelius – Symphony No. 5 (mvt II) – Andante mosso, quasi allegretto
  • Ludwig van Beethoven – Symphony No. 5 (mvt I): Allegro con brio focus piece

Module #1: Introduction to the Orchestra

Pre-Concert: What kind of sounds do you hear? An exploration in how sound is made.

Concert: Members of the WSO will virtually introduce their instruments. At the end students will see the entire orchestra on stage while they perform.

Post-Concert: Students will compare and contrast the instruments of an orchestra using the following classifications: size, pitch, family. Using the focus piece for reference, students will create their own orchestra by drawing/cutting out instruments and dragging them to the stage.

Module #2: Adding Up the Musicians

Pre-Concert: Exploration of sounds found in nature. We will add animals and the sounds they make to complete a soundscape.

Concert: Music featured adds musicians from various parts of the orchestra as it progresses. Each piece of music is paired with a work of art as a visual representation.

Post-Concert: Using the focus piece as inspiration, students will create their own work of art by using one of three methods of addition learned in the module. Students will select shapes, represent musicians being added together.

Module #3: Adding up the Sounds

Pre-Concert: Using a spectrogram, students will discover long and short sounds that are found in everyday life.

Concert: Music featured explores the difference between long and short sounds, and how composers add them together. Each piece of music is accompanied in by a spectrogram in real time to help students visualize long and short sounds.

Post-Concert: Using the focus piece as inspiration, students will create their very own mosaic. Students will choose shapes to represent long, short, and silent sounds. Students will then be asked to add up how many of each sound they used.

Module #4: Adding Up the Volume

Pre-Concert: Using the colours of the spectrogram, students will explore various loud and quiet sounds found in everyday life.

Concert: Music featured will focus on adding quiet and loud sounds together. Each piece of music is accompanied in by a spectrogram in real time to help students visualize loud and quiet sounds.

Post-Concert: Students will create their very own spectrogram while re-listening to the focus piece. Students will be asked to add up how many quiet and loud sounds they drew.

Module #5: Ask Maestro Wiley

Virtual question and answer session with Maestro Wiley. Questions can be submitted from students in advance and/or be asked and answered in real time.

Buy Now

To purchase the Digital Education Series please contact:

Rebecca Ng, Education & Community Outreach Manager
education@windsorsymphony.com