Firewalk

Sean OLoughlin String Orchestra Carl Fischer LLC CMP teaching plan written by Kelly Schmidt Kaschmidt28@gmail.com

Background Information
Sean OLoughlin is a composer, arranger, and conductor who was born in 1972. He is currently the Principal Pops Conductor for Symphoria. He grew up in Syracuse, New York, and attended Syracuse University. He has been commissioned for many works and has collaborated with many big artists of today such as Sarah McLachlan, Adele, and Kelly Clarkson.

Analysis Form
The form of Firewalk resembles rondo form, but deviates slightly from that form. It is comprised of four different ostinati, which are traded throughout the sections. The form is as follows: Introduction A(measures 9-14) Bridge B(measures 15-16) Bridge A1(measures 19-22) C(measures 23-26) A1(measures 27-29) Bridge B1(measures 31-32) Bridge D(measures 35-42) A(measures 43-48) - CODA

Rhythm
The meter of Firewalk is 4/4, but is mostly comprised of syncopated rhythms. These rhythms also work together in a way that there are very few beats that are pure silencebecause the syncopated rhythms are interwoven, one part is generally playing at all times.

Melody
The melody of this piece is modal and is comprised of one main ostinato. Throughout this piece, there are 4 different ostinati, although 2 of them are mostly accompaniment. The main ostinato gets traded through the sections, but is mostly seen in the first violin part.

Texture

Starting off with just upper strings, the texture does not get to its full size until 9 measures in. The rise and fall of dynamics help change the texture and make it seem fuller versus not. The pizzicato style in this piece can draw back how full the texture can be.

Harmony
Although this piece is D modal, the piece uses the chord structure of the key of A Major.

Timbre
The timbre of Firewalk is fully pizzicato. The accented beats add to the style of pizzicato used, which is different for each ostinato. The short eighth notes versus the longer quarter notes have differing sounds due to the different lengths of ring that the notes get.

Expression
The varied dynamics of this piece help draw attention to the different ostinati and helps shape the passing of rhythmic phrases between the different sections. The different ostinati also will call for different types of pizzicatoespecially those marked with accents versus those that are not.

The Heart
The heart of this piece is the syncopated ostinati that occur throughout the different instrument sections.

Skill Outcome
Students will be able to identify syncopation and will be able to apply that knowledge to performing rhythms that are syncopated.

Skill Strategies
Writing in counts Students will use their knowledge in writing counts for rhythmic phrases. We will utilize this skill during our daily warm-ups, in which they play a scale on a rhythm that is written on the board. The students will be asked to raise their hand to write in the counts for these rhythms. Afterwards, the students will be asked to raise their hand to demonstrate how to play the written rhythm. By slowly introducing syncopated rhythms to these warm-ups, students can begin to get the idea of syncopation engrained into their brains and memory. We will take this one step further and students will be asked to write in rhythms where counts are given.

Rhythm Book Exercises The students have begun to use a rhythm book this year in their regular curriculum. This book is called Rhythm Basics. Students will be assigned one or two rhythm exercises on different days that are representative of a syncopated rhythm. The students will write in the counts for these rhythms. Students will be called to the white board to write in the counts on the rhythms, which will already be provided on the board. We will check answers as a class. Students will also clap and count the rhythms. This will get students used to the idea of writing in counts for extended syncopated rhythms. Writing in Rhythms from Counts Students will essentially be doing the same thing as when they are writing in the counts for rhythms, except backwards. The students will see the counts of a rhythm and will have to write in the note values for the counts. The students will know that counts that are underlined means that all of those counts belong to one note, and will also know that counts in parentheses mean that note is a rest. This helps to see that the students understand why they count certain ways for different note values. Other Rhythmic Exercises and Activities - Students will play their rhythms while stomping on the rests. This helps the students by helping them not hold their rests for too long, and gives them something to do on the rests so that they do not come in too early. The students will also clap their rhythms while counting out loud. This helps the students learn how to subdivide, because they get to count out loud. Eventually this will help them learn to count internally while they are playing. Syncopation Identification Activity Students will use their rhythm book and on assigned exercises, will be told to write in counts and to circle the parts of measures that are syncopated. This will be done as part of our warm-up as a class also, so that the students will get some practice before they are expected to try this by themselves. Rhythm Cards to a Beat Students will clap and count different rhythms that are written on cue cards to a beat (either a metronome or a chosen song). The cue cards will have syncopated rhythms on them, so students will need to subdivide to figure out where they need to clap and where they dont.

Assessment
When writing in counts for rhythms in class, I will call on different students so that I can assess their understanding of counting rhythms. I will also assess these skills when I watch the students clap their rhythms that we have written in counts for. I will assess how well students can count rhythms by having them write in the rhythms to given counts. This helps the students think of these rhythms in a different way and will assess how well they connect counting to different note values.

I will do an informal assessment by walking around the room while students are doing their syncopation identification activity, and I will be able to see who is able to identify the syncopated rhythms and correctly write in counts. This quiz is a good way to assess who understands this concept and who might need more help.

Knowledge Outcome
Students will be able to understand musical structures and will be able to analyze and compare them.

Knowledge Strategies
Locating Ostinati Within Firewalk - Students will define, identify, and locate ostinati and transitions within Firewalk. First, I will define the word ostinato for the class. Because of my prior score study, I know that there were 4 main ostinati in this piece. The first ostinato will be written on the board for visual reference. The students will be directed to find examples of this ostinato in their piece, and will label this as ostinato #1 when it shows up in their parts. The students will also be shown the accompaniment for ostinato #1, which they will label as ostinato #2 when it shows up in their part. In a different lesson, the students will look through their parts to try to locate the last two ostinati. When these have been located, the students will label these in their parts as well. The students will discuss as a class what a Coda is, and where the coda in this piece might begin. We will find the different transitions in the piece, which in this case directly relate to the coda. The students will label all of these as well in their parts. These labeled areas will help the students be set up to analyze the form of the piece. Analyzing Form - As a class, students will analyze the form of Firewalk. The students will have been analyzing form in their other pieces, but the idea is still fairly new to them. We will use an analogy that is easy for them to understand. In this case, we used the analogy of cake. The students identified what type of cake each section was and whether the frosting stayed the same or changed. The frosting represented whether the section would be A versus A1. The students were engaged in this analogy and were able to start to see the connections inside a piece and how a piece is formed. Why is Form Important? As a class, students will discuss why the form of music and knowing about the form of music is important. An analogy to a book will be made. The students will be told to imagine they are reading a picture book that is in a different language than they speak. I will use an example from a page of Le Petit Prince, which is a childrens story in French. They will told that they are going to take a quiz based on the picture book and the contents. The quiz will be about the storyline. Students will discuss how they might be able to get the general idea of the story based on the pictures and so they may do ok on the quiz, but if they understood the words, then they would understand the story much better. Students will discuss how this relates to form. Students can play through a piece of music and get the idea of the piece.

Form Drawings Students will have assessed form in their pieces that they are playing in orchestra. They will have learned about rondo form, ABA form, and theme and variation. The students will be partnered up in class and will use crayons, markers, colored pencils, etc to create a form drawing. They will be assigned one of these three types of forms and will draw pictures to represent these forms.

Assessment

After introducing the concepts of ostinati and transitions, I will assess how well the students understand these by seeing how well they are able to locate other examples of these in their piece, Firewalk. I will assess how well students understand the basic concept of form by seeing how well they understand the cake analogy. I will see if students can find sections of the music that is similar and sections that are different, and how this connects to cake or to letters. The form drawings will be a way to see if the students understand how the three chosen types of form work.

Affective Outcome
Students will compare this example of contemporary classical music with other contemporary music examples and will consider the connections between them.

Affective Strategies
Drawing Connections - Students will listen to and analyze the form and rhythmic ideas of another popular contemporary music example. I will choose a song that the students have likely heard before. The students will listen and try to identify syncopated rhythms. They will also analyze the form of the piece as a class. The students will use the knowledge that they have from analyzing the form of their pieces in class to listen to a piece and hear different sections. They will listen for areas that sound the same as other areas, and those that sound different. They will identify if there is an introduction or a coda in the piece that they listen to. We will map this out on the board while the students are writing this on pieces of paper individually. Classical Music Comparison We will spend a class period or two comparing Firewalk to a few contemporary classical pieces. Examples from John Cage, Claude Debussy, and Igor Stravinsky will be used. We will use a Venn Diagram to draw conclusions. The students will have paper copies of Venn Diagrams given to them and one will be drawn on the board for reference. Students will listen to Firewalk and to the examples given from the above composers. As a class, we will draw conclusions about similarities and differences between the pieces. The pieces we will use are as follows: Excerpts from Igor Stravinskys Rite of Spring Claude Debussys La Mer John Cages Variations IV Live Comparing Forms and Styles Following the Venn Diagram comparison in class, students will be assigned a worksheet to work on for homework. They will choose three different contemporary songs (not necessarily classical) and will be asked what conclusions they can draw about links between contemporary classical music and other contemporary styles. The students will use the strategies that we develop during our inclass discussions of form and style.

Assessment
I will assess how well the students understand form and can draw connections from this pieces form during our group discussion and use of a Venn Diagram. I will further assess the students individual understandings through their worksheet that they will do for me as an assignment. I will also assess how well the students understand form with our analysis of a popular tune that they know. This is a form of informal assessment to see how the whole class understands the basic idea of form.