Concert Preparation Guide for the

Berton Family Young People’s Concerts

October 19 and 20, 2017

Jacobs Music Center/Copley Symphony Hall
750 B Street, San Diego, CA
Thank you for registering for the San Diego Symphony’s Berton Family Young People’s
Concert entitled “1001 Symphonic Tales: The Magic of Scheherazade.” The concert will
present music that depicts the elements of a story, connecting music to your English Lan-
guage Arts curriculum. This packet contains lesson plans that are designed to help you
prepare your students to attend the San Diego Symphony’s concerts on either October 19
or 20, 2017. We hope the lessons will be useful to both music and classroom teachers.
Feel free to adapt or change the lessons to suit the needs of your students depending on
their age and ability.

Each lesson addresses the following California Visual and Performing Arts Content Stand-
ards:
3.0 Understanding the historical and cultural contributions of music.
3.1 Explain the relationship between music and events in history.
4.0 Responding to, analyzing and making judgments about works of music.
4.2 Describe the characteristics that make a performance a work of art.
5.0 Connecting and applying what is learned in music to learning in other art forms and
subject areas.

If you have any questions regarding this packet please call the education department at
(619) 615-3911.

We hope you enjoy the concert!

Support for ticket underwriting is provided by the City of Encinitas/Mizel Family Foundation, Nordson Corporation
Foundation, Ellen G. and Edward G. Wong Family Foundation, Advocates for Classical Music, and the Community
Service Association, San Diego Unified School District.

The Education & Outreach programs of the San Diego Symphony Orchestra are generously supported by: The
City of San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture, County of San Diego, Bank of America, Marsh & McLennan
Foundation, The Berton Family Foundation, Charles and Ruth Billingsley Foundation, David C. Copley Foundation,
Samuel I. and John Henry Fox Foundation, Kinder Morgan Foundation, Dr. William and Evelyn Lamden, Linda and
Shearn Platt, Pratt Memorial Fund, Qualcomm Foundation, ResMed Foundation, Ryan Family Charitable Founda-
tion, Ellen Browning Scripps Foundation, SDG&E, and US Bank.

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Meet Your Conductor Sameer Patel 4

Meet the Orchestra 5

Musical Instruments Worksheet 6

Elements of a Story 7
Create Your Own Story 8
More Story Ideas 9

Let’s Talk About Music (learning basic vocabulary) 10

Live in Ancient Arabia 11

The Art of Storytelling/The Story of Scheherazade 12
Scheherazade Art Activity 13

Meet composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov 14

Scheherazade
Lesson 1: Theme in Music 15
Lesson 2: The Sea and Sinbad’s Ship 16
Lesson 3: The Kalendar Prince 18
Lesson 4: The Young Prince and the Young Princess 20
Lesson 5: The Festival at Bagdad 21

Tips for Active Listening 22

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Where did you grow up?
I grew up in a town called Port Huron in the state of Michigan. It gets pretty cold there during the winter-
time, so I’m definitely happy to be here in sunny San Diego!

What were some of your early experiences with music?

I started playing piano at the age of nine, and two years later I started playing the saxophone in band.
Even though I didn’t care for practicing when I started, I became very interested in music in high school
because I had really great teachers. I was lucky enough to have my first experiences conducting while in
high school, and I have been doing it ever since!

Did you study music in college?

Yes! I went to the University of Michigan, and to this day I’m a big fan of its football team! Go Blue!

What do you like about conducting?

It’s incredible how so many people on stage can make such a grandiose sound, and I love the teamwork
and creativity that goes into this. I also like that it allows me to get to know our audience members (like
you!) through our concerts.

What do you like to do when you’re not making music?

I’m a very curious person and enjoy learning about a variety of things. I’m constantly reading a book, for
instance! I also enjoy exploring San Diego and spending time with friends and family.

What is your favorite place in San Diego?

I love Balboa Park. I live pretty close to it, so I enjoy running through the park in the mornings or visiting
the many museums. I also love being by the water. Growing up in Michigan, I lived right on Lake Huron,
so I’ve always felt a sense of wonder when being near a large body of water. So because of that, I also
really enjoy going to Coronado and Sunset Cliffs and being near the Pacific Ocean!

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An orchestra is made up of many musicians (sometimes as many as 100!) who play
different instruments that can be grouped together based on how they make sound. The
San Diego Symphony consists of FOUR instrumental families.

STRINGS WOODWINDS
The instruments of the string family include the violin, The instruments of the woodwind family include the
viola, cello and bass. They are played with a bow that flute, oboe, clarinet and bassoon. The woodwinds
is made of wood and the hair from a horse’s tail. The have the most variety among their shapes and
musicians make sound by drawing the bow across the sounds. But they all use the breath (or wind) from
strings or by plucking the strings with their fingers. the musicians to make sound. Some of them have
The harp is considered a member of the string family. single reeds and some have double reeds.

BRASS PERCUSSION
The instruments of the brass family include the trum- Members of the percussion family include instru-
pet, French horn, trombone, and tuba. These instru- ments that make sound by being shaken, struck or
ments are made of brass and they each have a cup- scraped (such as tambourine, triangle and guiro).
shaped mouthpiece. The players buzz their lips Other percussion instruments have a tightly
against the mouthpiece, and the instrument amplifies stretched membrane like the timpani, snare drum,
the sound. By the time the sound reaches the audi- bass drum and bongos.
ence, it is smooth and beautiful.

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6
Setting: Time: Place:

Includes place, weather conditions, social conditions, mood or atmosphere.

Characters: The individual in a work of fiction and their attributes or features. It can be a
person, an animal or thing. (Think of some of your favorite movies or books: Harry Potter,
Charlotte’s Web, A Bug’s Life, Toy Story.) A character is developed by thinking about what
he says, what he does, what he thinks, what is said about him by other characters and
what he says about himself.

Problem/Conflict: Conflict can be external or internal. There are four kinds of conflict:

Man vs. Man Man vs. Circumstances Man vs. Him/Herself Man vs. Society

Plot: The series of events that the character goes through. The plot includes introduction,
rising action, conflict and resolution.

Resolution: How does the conflict get resolved? Is there a happy ending or a sad ending?

Also consider the following two elements:

Point of View: Who is telling the story?
Theme: What is the central idea or belief of the story?

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Use this guide with the various lesson plans to help you write a story. A good place to
begin is using this sheet to map out the one of the stories depicted in Scheherazade.

Setting: Time: Place:

Characters:

Problem/Conflict:

Plot/Events:

Resolution:

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Once you’ve learned the basic elements of a story, it might be fun to try one or more of the
ideas below. This is just a starting point; try some of your own!

♦ Write a story along with a piece of music.

♦ Improvise music along with a story that is being read.

♦ Create a “progressive story” where each student contributes one line to the plot.

♦ Go to https://www.storyboardthat.com/ to create your own comic strip or storyboard.

♦ Write a story based on another culture.

♦ Create a story about how Igor Stravinsky was commissioned to write The Firebird. Use
information you’ve learned from the composer page in this guide.

♦ Create a different beginning to a popular story.

♦ Create a different ending to a popular story.

♦ Bind all your activities together into a storybook.

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Use this list of new words to talk about the music you’ll listen to.

Melody: a string of notes (also called tones or pitches) that are played or sung one right after the other.

Rhythm: the alternation of short and long notes.

Harmony: two or more different notes played together.

Tempo: the speed at which a piece is performed (fast or slow).

Dynamics: how loud or soft the music is played.

Symphony Orchestra: a group of musicians playing different instruments. It usually consists of 60-80
people, but sometimes there are more. When it’s a smaller group, it is usually referred to as a “chamber
orchestra.”

Instrumental Families: Orchestral instruments can be categorized into four families based on how they
make sound. The four families are string, brass, woodwind and percussion.

String Instruments: instruments that have strings and are usually played with a bow.
Examples: violin, viola, cello, bass

Brass Instruments: metal instruments that are played by blowing into them while buzzing the lips on a
mouthpiece.
Examples: trumpet, French horn, trombone, tuba

Woodwind Instruments: instruments that you play by blowing air into them
Examples: piccolo, flute, clarinet, oboe, English horn, bassoon, contrabassoon

Percussion Instruments: instruments that are played by hitting, shaking, rubbing or scraping.
Examples: snare drum, maracas, tambourine, guiro, timpani, bass drum

Composer: A person who writes music.

Example: Igor Stravinsky is the composer featured in this concert.

Commission: a formal request to create a special piece of work for payment.

Conductor: A person who directs an orchestra. See page 4 for more information about what a conductor
does.

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Life in ancient Arabia was very different from what ours is like in modern times.

Food: The traditional staple foods of ancient arabia were dates; goat, camel, and cow's milk; ghee,
cheese, and other milk products; bread and other foods from wheat, millet, and barley; squash, eggplant,
okra, pumpkin, beans, leeks, onions, and a few other vegetables; mint, coriander, parsley, and cumin; and
occasionally mutton, goat, or camel meat and, on the coasts, fish. Elderly people remember meals of the
past as simple but adequate, without a morsel wasted. They regularly ate at home and started the day
with a breakfast of coffee and a few dates soon after the dawn prayer. A meal of dates, milk and/or milk
products, and bread was served at midmorning. The last and main meal often was taken before the sun-
set prayer and consisted of a hot grain-based dish, vegetables among sedentary people in oases, milk
among the nomadic Bedouin, rarely some meat, and dates.
Both areas grew legumes that are still used today such as bittervetch, lentils and chickpeas. Animals such
as goats and camels were domesticated for their meat and milk.
Literature: A large proportion of Arabic literature before the 20th century is in the form of poetry, and even
prose from this period is either filled with snippets of poetry or is in the form of rhymed prose. One of the
most common forms of literature was the compilation. These were collections of facts, ideas, instructive
stories and poems on a single topic and covers subjects as diverse as house and garden, blind people,
envy, animals and misers.
Art: Arabs were deeply interested in mathematics and astronomy and furthering the
knowledge they had inherited from the Romans. They applied this knowledge of geomet-
ric principles and an innate sense of rhythm (which also characterizes their poetry and
music) to the formulation of the complex repeat patterns seen in all Islamic decoration.
Transportation: Of particular significance to ancient Arabia was the domestication of the dromedary (one
-humped camel) in the southern part of the peninsula between 3000 and 2500
B.C.E. By 1000 B.C.E. , camels were important in the lucrative caravan trade,
especially for the transport of incense, between southern Arabia and markets in
the north. The invention of the north Arabian camel saddle between about 500
and 100 B.C.E. allowed tribally organized camel raisers to enhance their power
and influence.
Shopping: Armed camel raisers did not subsist on their own in desert Arabia
but depended on foods produced by farmers in the region's oases and on a wide range of products, in-
cluding weapons, manufactured by local craftspeople. The Bedouin obtained some of their necessities
through tribute in return for their protection of farmers and craftspeople. Market exchange also existed,
and the output of nomadic and sedentary producers was marketed locally and, in the case of camels and
horses, through long-distance trade.
Markets and their specialized personnel of merchants and traders are as indigenous to the culture of Ara-
bia as are Bedouin camel raisers and oasis-dwelling farmers. Knowledge of the state as an institution has
also long been present, although the exercise of effective state power was often lacking in the past.

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Before printed books and newspapers, storytelling was the way people shared information, traditions,
and entertainment. Storytellers traveled from village to village, bringing news and tales. Fairy tales were
first told by storytellers and later put into the book forms we know now.
The 1001 Arabian Nights were such stories, meant to entertain but also to teach a lesson about good
ways to live life and become a good person. One popular story from the Arabian Nights was the tale of
Scheherazade. This tale was set to music by the Russian composer, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov.

The Story of Scheherazade: This story takes place in ancient Persia

Scheherazade is the young bride of the Sultan. After one of his wives cheats on him, he decides to take
a new wife every day and have her executed the next morning. But it all stops with Scheherazade. She
marries the Sultan in order to save all future young women from this fate. She tells the Sultan fascinat-
ing stories, leaving him in such suspense each night that he can't execute her the next morning for fear
of not hearing the end of the story. After 1,001 of these well-told tales, the Sultan relents.
Everyday the Sultan would marry a new young bride and every day he would send yesterday’s wife to
be beheaded. This was done in anger, having found out that his first wife was betraying him. He had
killed three thousand wives by the time he was introduced to Scheherazade. Against her father’s pro-
testations, Scheherazade volunteered to spend one night with the Sultan. Once in the Sultan’s cham-
bers, Scheherazade asked if she might bid one last farewell to her beloved sister who had secretly
been prepared to ask Scheherazade to tell a story during the long night. The Sultan lay awake and lis-
tened with awe to Scheherazade’s first story and asked for another, but Scheherazade said there was-
n’t time as dawn was breaking, and regretfully so, as the next story was even more exciting. And so the
Sultan kept Scheherazade alive as he eagerly anticipated each new story, until one thousand and one
adventurous nights, and three sons later, the Sultan had not only been entertained, but wisely educated
in morality and kindness by Scheherazade who became his Queen.

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13
 Life Dates: 1844-1908
Country of Origin: Russia
Musical Era: Romantic

Rimsky-Korsakov was born on March 18, 1844 into a noble family who lived
in St. Petersburg, Russia. As a boy he took piano lessons and became ra-
ther good at playing the piano. Soon, he began attending concerts and oper-
as and his love of music grew. His piano teacher encouraged him to try writ-
ing his own music and she even taught him some of the basic rules of composition.

Despite his talents, Rimsky-Korsakov’s parents thought that a music career was not a good choice
for their son, so instead at age twelve, they had him attend the Russian Naval Academy in St. Pe-
tersburg.

At age eighteen, he set off on a ship that sailed around the world. During his travels, Rimsky-
Korsakov saw many different places whose images he later used in his compositions (for example:
“Scheherazade” contains depictions of rolling, unpredictable seas). He started to compose his
First Symphony, but while onboard he had little time for music and sadly, there weren’t any instruments to
play or other musicians to talk with.

Luckily, when he returned home, Rimsky-Korsakov met a teacher who reminded him
how important music really was, and also encouraged him to finish and perform his sym-
phony. When he did, the audience was so surprised to see that the person who wrote
the beautiful piece was such a young naval officer.

In time, Rimsky-Korsakov left the Navy to focus only on composition. Soon he even
became a professor of composition, where he taught many students who went on to be-
come great musicians during their own lifetimes. Rimsky-Korsakov also worked hard to preserve Russian
traditions at the school, and he remained a teacher there until his death at age sixty-four.

Rimsky-Korsakov is considered to be one of the most influential Russian composers throughout history.
In his writing, he enjoyed using fairy-tale subjects and melodies that sounded like folk tunes. Often times,
he even borrowed sounds from the neighboring Chinese and Japanese cultures. He was also very talent-
ed at orchestration (the way a composer combines different instruments at once), and became quite fa-
mous for his imaginative blend of musical sounds.

Another unique characteristic of Rimsky-Korsakov is that he was affected by a condition

called synesthesia, where two or more senses are connected (for example, a particular
sound might also have a color, smell or taste). For each note Rimsky-Korsakov saw a
specific color (E was “sparkling sapphire”). Other people in history who were affected by
synesthesia include Van Gogh, Einstein, Frank Lloyd Wright, as well as composers Bee-
thoven and Schubert.

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What is a theme? This is one of the easiest concepts in music to understand. A theme is just a
melody that is repeated throughout a piece of music. Sometimes, as in Scheherazade, it repre-
sents a character. So when you hear a specific melody or theme, you’ll know that the composer
is calling attention to a specific character in the story. Listen to the different themes of the char-
acters in Scheherazade. You will hear them over again in the following lessons.

Scheherazade’s Theme - played by a solo violin

The Sultan’s Theme - played by the brass section

The Kalendar Prince’s Theme - played by the bassoon

Announcement Theme - played by members of the brass family

Prince and Princess Love Theme - played by the string family

Processional Theme

Bagdad Festival Theme

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Essential Question: How does music depict characters in a story?

Materials: Recording of the piece and a device to play it on.

Listening Repertoire: “The Sea and Sinbad’s Ship” from Scheherazade

Prior Knowledge: In 1888–89, Rimsky-Korsakov composed Scheherazade, a set of orchestral pieces

based on various unconnected episodes from The Arabian Nights. Rather than recreate the actual stories
in his music, he set out to give an impression of certain characters and events, leaving his listeners to rec-
reate the details of the stories in their imaginations. Each of the four movements originally carried a de-
scriptive title, which the composer subsequently suppressed, explaining his decision by claiming “I meant
these hints to direct only slightly the hearer’s fancy on the path which my own fancy had travelled, and to
leave more minute and particular conceptions to the will and mood of each.”

New Vocabulary:
Theme: the main melody of a piece of music that is used repeatedly to represent an idea, emotion or
character.

Background Information: Two memorable themes represent the two main characters: “The Sultan,” ma-
jestic and fearsome on bass strings and heavy brass, and “Scheherazade”, gracefully played on solo violin
over harp accompaniment. The movement alternates three climactic passages predominantly scored for
strings and brass, casting the Sultan in the role of Sinbad, with three calm twilight episodes featuring both
mottos. The scoring of the two interstitial episodes, otherwise practically identical, is breathtaking in its
simple ingenuity: in the second episode the solo cello swaps places with the horn, likewise clarinet with
flute, while oboe and solo violin stay where they began.

Procedures:
• Tell students that you are going to tell them the story of Scheherazade (from page 11 in this guide).
Read the page to familiarize students with her story.
• Tell students that the first piece you’re going to play for them is entitled “The Sea and Sinbad’s Ship.”
Tell students that the composer of this piece, Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov loved to travel and came from
a family of Naval officers, so he was drawing on his own experience in writing this piece.
• Remind students that a “theme” in music is a melody that is used repeatedly in a piece of music to
represent an idea, emotion, or character.
• Play the first 20 seconds of this piece. Ask students if they remember hearing this theme during the
first listening activity.
• Ask students to identify the character that this theme represents. Have them give reasons for their
answer. (Possible answers could be instrumentation, music is played forte, sounds mean, minor
mode.)
• Play the music that represents Scheherazade. Ask students to identify the character “What do you
think her character/personality is like? Why? What instrument is playing this theme?”

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Procedure (cont.):
• One of the stories Scheherazade tells is “The Shipwreck on the Rock.” Play about 2 minutes of this
first movement and ask the students to listen for the sound of the ocean, as well as the Sultan and
Scheherazade. What instruments play the rolling waves? What instruments play the “shipwreck”?
• Ask students to listen carefully to the melody that plays the rolling waves. Does it sound familiar? It
should—it’s also the Sultan’s theme.
Lesson Extension:
1. Ask students write a list of attributes that both characters in this story, the Sultan and Scheherazade,
would have.
2. Ask students to write a short story of what it would be like to be a mate on Sinbad’s Ship using this
piece as inspiration.
3. Rimsky-Korsakov loved to travel. Think of places that you’d like to travel to. What would you like to
see? What kinds of people do you think you’d meet?
4. Have you ever been on a boat or ship? What body of water were you sailing on? Can you find it on a
map? Write down a story about what happened to you during your boat ride. Remember that it should
have a beginning, a middle and an end. Draw a picture to go with it. Share it with a classmate or your
parents.

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Essential Question: What is instrumentation?

Materials: Recording of the music and a device to play it on.

Listening Repertoire: II. “The Kalendar Prince” from Scheherazade

Prior Knowledge: Students should know the four instrumental families of the orchestra.

New Vocabulary:
Dervish: a member of a Muslim religious order noted for devotional dances (such as whirling); one that
whirls or dances with or as if with the abandonment.
Instrumentation: the particular instruments used in a piece of music;

Background Information: A Kalendar Prince is not one that keeps track of dates and times, it is one who
is magical. The Kalendars were wandering beggars who were, for some superstitious reason, celebrated
as royalty.

Procedures:
1. Begin by telling students that this movement is somewhat long, but is easily understood when you listen
to it in little bits. Tell students you will be playing a listening game with them using just the first part of the
piece. They will be listening carefully for a few themes that were introduced in the first lesson. They will
also listen for specific instruments. Follow the listening chart on the next page. You will be pressing “play”
and “pause” on your playback device and asking students to identify the theme and the instrumental fami-
ly. It can go like this:
• Play the first 38 seconds of this piece then press pause. Whose theme do you hear played by the
violin? (Scheherazade’s theme is played)
• Press play again and then press pause at 1:19. Whose theme do you hear played by the bas-
soon? (The Kalendar Prince’s theme)
• Press play again at 1:20 and pause at 1:59. Students should recognize the Kalendar prince’s
theme by now. What instrument is playing it this time? (oboe)
• Press play again at 1:59 and pause at 2:32 Again, students should recognize the Kalendar
prince’s theme. Which instrumental family is playing this theme? (the string family)
• Press play again at 2:33 and pause at 2:50. The Kalendar Prince’s theme is now being played by
which instrumental family? (the woodwind family)

Continue on through the piece, stopping and starting as the instrumentation changes. Then you can play
larger parts of the piece - perhaps the entire A section (00:00 - 2:50) stopping there to make sure the stu-
dents are hearing the various instruments playing the main theme.

Ask students: How does the feeling of the theme change when the instrumentation changes? Does the
sound of different instruments have differing emotional qualities?
Then have students listen the more of the piece and ask them to point out which instruments they hear
most.

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 Listening Chart for Scheherazade, movement II: The Kalendar Prince

Timing Whose Theme? Which instrument or Section

instrumental family is playing
the theme?

00:00 - 00:36 Scheherazade Solo violin with harp Introduction

accompaniment
00:37 - 1:19 Kalendar Prince Bassoon A

1:20 - 1: 56 Kalendar Prince Oboe A

1:57 - 2:32 Kalendar Prince String Family A

2:32 - 2:50 Kalendar Prince Woodwind Family A

Indicators of Success:
Students can identify the mail themes in this piece: Scheherazade, The Kalendar Prince and the
Announcing theme.

Lesson Extension:
1. Scheherazade’s violin theme is heard as an introduction to this faster movement, depicting
the adventures of a Prince who dresses up as a wandering dervish (Kalendar) and endures
great hardships in search of wisdom. The bassoon introduces the Kalendar theme, which is
subsequently taken up by a succession of solo instruments and full orchestra. Find a video
on YouTube of a whirling dervish.
2. Have students write their own storyline to accompany this piece. They can draw a picture to
go with it.
3. Have students learn the different parts of the violin.

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Essential Question: How can we use descriptive words to talk about music? How can we move to mu-
sic?

Materials: Recording of the music and a device to play it on, colorful scarves.

Listening Repertoire: “The Young Prince and the Young Princess” from Scheherazade

Prior Knowledge: Students should know what various parts of speech are, especially adjectives.

New Vocabulary:
Legato: smooth and flowing

Background Information: One of the loveliest stories in The Arabian Nights is the tale of the young
prince and princess who live in different kingdoms and who both refuse ever to marry. Two interfering ge-
nies decide to put them in the same bed for one night, and then whisk them away before they have even
been introduced. The two teenagers instantly fall in love, but are unable to find each other again and fall
ill. Eventually, as in all good fairy stories, they meet and marry, and everyone lives happily ever after. In
Rimsky-Korsakov’s version, the theme of the young prince is announced by the violins and the princess by
a dance-like melody on the solo clarinet.

Procedures:
• Start the CD at the very beginning. Ask students, What is different about this movement? (It doesn’t
begin with Scheherazade’s theme.)
• Ask students what instrumental family is playing the main theme? (The string family.)
• Ask students to suggest words that describe the sounds they are hearing: smooth, flowing, graceful,
fluid, elegant are all possibilities.
• What does the graceful music make them think of? (Water flowing, wind in the trees, ballet dancers,
etc.)
• Introduce the word legato to your class. Tell student that legato means smooth and flowing.
• Gather students in the middle of your classroom or outside give them all a scarf. Young students will
naturally start to move their bodies and scarves along with the movement. Older students might be
self-conscious, so they could sit and close their eyes and imagine the story that’s taking place.
• At 3:44, you’ll hear the percussion section playing and that introduces a new theme. Does the move-
ment of your students change to reflect the change in the music? Encourage them to think of different
movements that they could do to mimic the sounds they are hearing.
• At about 6:27, you’ll hear something that might sound very familiar. What theme is it?
(Scheherazade’s theme)

Indicators of Success:
The movement of students is smooth and flowing.
The movement of students changes as the sound of the music changes.

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Essential Question: How does a recap make us feel in music (or in a story)?

Materials: Recording of the music and a device to play it on.

Listening Repertoire: “Festival at Baghdad. The Sea. The Ship Breaks against a Cliff” from Scheheraza-
de
Prior Knowledge: Students should have a good grasp of the individual themes from previous move-
ments.

New Vocabulary:
Recap (Recapitulation): when a melody or theme (or more than one theme) from the beginning of a
piece of music comes back at the end of the music.

Background Information: At the beginning of this final section of the piece, the Sultan is very anxious to
hear more of the story, and his theme is very fast, and he keeps interrupting Scheherazade urging her to
get on with the story. At 1:12 she begins the story of the exciting Festival at Baghdad. Into this fast music
she also weaves the themes from the other sections of the piece (recap - bringing all the parts together at
the end), before ending the story with Sinbad’s sixth voyage, (Here he brings back the ocean voyage mu-
sic from the first part of the music.) At the climax, Sinbad’s ship crashes to pieces against the cliffs.
Procedures:
• Start the CD at the very beginning. Listen to the Sultan’s theme now faster, and Scheherazade’s
theme as they alternate
• At 1:13 the Story of the Baghdad Festival begins. Ask students if they can describe what might be
happening in the streets of Baghdad by listening to the music.
• At 1:59, the Kalendar Prince’s music from the second section comes back, but now fast to fit into this
Festival music. Play movement 2 (Kalendar Prince) from 2:12 - 2:34. Ask students if they recognize
that the music is really the same.
• At 2:25 The Prince and Princess music returns. Play movement 3 (The Young Prince and Young Prin-
cess) from 4:28 - 4:41. Ask students if they recognize that the music is really the same.
• Play from 7:32 to end. At 9:09, with the sailors now in the ocean, notice that Scheherazade ends the
story because it is late and we hear her voice again, as she gradually sends the Sultan to sleep.
Indicators of Success:
Students will recognize themes from the first three movements in this last movement.
Lesson Extension:
1. Ask students if the sounds of the orchestra (the cymbals) help them see the waves from 7:32. Do the
flutes help them feel the wind from 7:59? Can they feel imagine they are on a ship about to hit the
rocks from 8:53?
2. Ask students to draw a picture of ocean waves crashing against rocks.
3. Have them add a ship to the drawing
4. At 11:21, as the story comes to an end, do the woodwind chords make you think the stars are coming
out? Or has Scheherazade been telling stories all night and early morning light is beginning to come
into the sky?
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 Please share this information with all adult chaperones and students.
Going to a concert may be a new experience for your students. The following guidelines will help them
and those around them enjoy the concert more fully.
• The moment you enter the Jacobs Music Center you will begin to experience what it is like to attend a
concert of live music. You will be greeted by an usher wearing black and white, who will ask you to
form a single-file and and will lead you from the lobby into your seating area in Copley Symphony
Hall. The Jacobs Music Center is a big place and we don’t want you to get separated from your group.
• After you are shown to your seating area, we ask that you remain in your seats unless you need to
visit the restroom. This will help us to seat other groups of students more efficiently.
• This is the perfect time to watch the musicians warming up onstage. Just as an athlete warms up be-
fore a big game, the musicians have to also. Observe what they are doing and take note if they do
anything you don’t expect.
• When the lights dim, you’ll know the concert is about to start. Then the Concertmaster (first chair, first
violin) will come onstage. This is the time to clap enthusiastically! S/He will help the orchestra tune by
first nodding to the oboe, who gives the tuning note. You’ll first hear the woodwind and brass families
tune. Then the string family will tune.
• After the concertmaster sits down, your conductor, Sameer Patel, will walk onstage. Again, clap loudly
for Maestro Patel and the musicians. Then get ready to listen.
• While the music is playing, listen and watch carefully. Think about things you learned from your teach-
er and that you might already know. Keep your hands to yourself and do your best to sit still.
• Sometimes Maestro Patel might ask the audience or question or ask you to clap along. This is your
turn to add to the concert experience. Please answer him so he knows you are listening. When he
turns to face the musicians, you should be silent and get ready to listen actively again.
• If a neighbor is talking, try to ignore them or quietly get the attention of your teacher.
• After the orchestra plays the last piece, give them one last round of applause! You might even want to
stand in appreciation (this is called a standing ovation). Then take your seats again. At this time, the
head usher will come onstage with a microphone and dismiss each school. As you leave, make sure
you have all your personal belongings with you and be sure to stay together in a single-file line.
• On your way back to school, talk to your friends about what you saw and heard. Tell them your favor-
ite piece and ask them what their favorite piece was. Maybe your teacher will quiz you on instrumen-
tal families. You can write a letter to the musicians or Maestro Patel when you get back to your class-
room. Be sure and tell your parents about the concert when you get home.

No audio or video recording

or photography
(flash or otherwise)
is allowed. No food or drink

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