5/26-5/29 Musical Activities 

1.) Introduction:
After visiting the Cincinnati Music Hall and reviewing the families of the Orchestra with the Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra by Benjamin Britten, you should feel like an expert on the four families in the Orchestra. This week, we are going to begin learning about a very special composer. You may not know his name, but I bet you can recognize a lot of the music he has written!

John Williams is an American composer. He has written all kinds of music in his lifetime, but is most famous for the nearly 80 film scores he’s composed. This week, we’ll explore the music he created for “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone”. He is very skilled at creating memorable themes and this one is no exception! A theme in music is the big idea, just like the theme of a book or movie. A good theme is one that gets stuck in your head or is something you find yourself humming around the house. 

​Watch a video introducing our composer!
2.) Listen: Hedwig's Theme
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​Hedwig’s theme is first played on the celesta which is a keyboard instrument that sounds like a cross between a glockenspiel and a piano. Then, it is passed around the orchestra and played by members of each instrument family.
This video shares a suite from “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” that Williams composed. There’s a cool laser light show happening too! A suite in music means a set of pieces that are related. Can you recognize the different parts of the movie based on the music alone?
Another very cool version of the song! Who played it better? ​

    Who played it better?
3.) Listening worksheet

Fill out this worksheet after listening to "Hedwigs Theme" (the first YouTube video above" Listen carefully to which instruments are playing and which instruments are the highlight of the song. 

Please send me a picture or a screen shot of your work so I can share it on our work share tab so we can see what people thought.