The Nutcracker Ballet
Peter Tchaikovsky
1st Grade
25 minutes
Purpose: Enjoy the story andmusic of The Nutcracker Suite
Learn to feel that some music has beats in groups of 3 and some music has beats in groups of 4. For example, the Nutcracker’s “March” of the toy soldiers is in 4, and the “Waltz of the Flowers” is in 3.
Learn to recognize the sound of certain instruments: the celesta, harp, and woodwinds.
Equipment:CD/ Player
Pictures of Instruments
Optional: Nutcracker picture book (from the library)
Today we’re going to listen to part of the Nutcracker ballet, written by Peter Tchaikovsky (chai-KOV-skee)
I.Introduction to a Ballet
Has anyone seen the Nutcracker ballet?
On stage? As a movie? Ask the children to describe what they remember.
What is a ballet? (It’s a dance set to music that tells a story. Dancers in costumes, an orchestra, Stage sets with special effects).
Is there talking or singing in a ballet? (No.)
Then how do we know what is happening in the story? (Dancers show us with their movements.)
Can music by the orchestra tell the story? (Yes, music can tell us what is about to happen and what people are feeling. For example, the orchestra might play a march before the toy soldiers march out to fight)
II.Nutcracker Story:Go through this quickly, with student participation.
When the curtain opens, we see a Christmas party. It is time for the children to open gifts. A girl named Clara gets a box from her godfather and finds a nutcracker inside. It looks like a little man. Show picture of nutcracker.
Clara loves the Nutcracker, but she happens to have a little brother, and what do you think happens? (He breaks it.)
Clara is upset as she goes to bed, but at midnight, she goes downstairs to check on the nutcracker, and all the toys under the tree have come to life! The toy soldiers are battling some mice. A big mouse starts to attack the nutcracker, but Clara sees it just in time, takes off her shoe, and throws it at the big mouse.
When the shoe hits the mouse, the nutcracker turns into a Prince who then takes Clara on a journey to the land of sweets.
Would you like to go there?
There they meet a fairy and people from many different countries dance for them.
III.Excerpts from the Nutcracker Suite
Peter Tchaikovsky was a Russian composer (Russia is across the ocean and is the biggest country in the world). He wrote the music more than 100 years ago. In those days, people did not travel very much, but Tchaikovsky traveled a lot because he was a famous musician, so he was able to write music in the styles of many different countries. In the Nutcracker, we’ll here several pieces of music that represent different countries.
We don’t have time to listen to the whole ballet, but Tchaikovsky chose eight of the most popular pieces and made them into a “suite,” a group of pieces to be played in a concert hall. We will listen to a little of each part of the suite.
First we’ll listen to the Overture. An overture is the opening music played when the curtain is still down. The orchestra plays music to help people in the audience get their imaginations going. The music gives them clues about what is going to happen.
Play Excerpt 1, Overture
Next, we’ll here the March. A march has a beat that goes 1-2-3-4, 1-2-3-4, with emphasis on the first beat. A beat is a pulse, like a heart beat. It is regular and steady. (Clap and say 1-2-3-4 and have the kids try it.)
Play Excerpt 2, March
Who do you think is marching? (Toy soldiers, about to fight the mice.)
Clara and the prince have arrived in the Kingdom of Sweets. The beautiful Sugarplum Fairy dances for them. You will hear an unusual instrument, a celesta. It looks like a small piano and sounds like bells. In the middle of writing “The Nutcracker,” Tchaikovsky took a trip to Paris and discovered this instrument. He liked it so much that he found a place for it in the Nutcracker ballet.
How does a piano make sound? What happens when you press a piano key? (A felt-covered hammer hits a piano wire.)
With a Celesta, a little metal hammer hits a metal bar. When metal hits metal, it sounds like a bell.
Play Excerpt 3, Dance of the Sugarplum Fairy
Russian Dance. When the next dance begins, Russian dancers leap on stage. The music has a fast tempo, or speed. It isexciting and athletic, with twirls and leaps and big, black boots. Listen for thestamping of heavy boots at the end.
Play Excerpt 4, Russian Dance
Next is an Arabian Dance. Let’s listen and tell me what it makes you think of.
Play Excerpt 5, Arabian Dance
What did the music make you think of? (Desert nights, Aladdin, snake charmers.)
What instruments did you hear? (Clarinets and other woodwinds)
Show woodwinds on instrument sheet.
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Next we’ll hear the Chinese Dance. We will hear the highest woodwinds in the orchestra (piccolos) playing at the same time as the lowest woodwinds (contrabassoons). SHOW PICTURE. The contrabassoon is HUGE.
Play Excerpt 6, Chinese Dance
Next is the Dance of the Toy Flutes. These dancing flutes are funny little characters.
When you hear the music, guess what the characters look like and how they move.
Play Excerpt 7, Dance of the Toy Flutes
How do you think they moved?
Finally, we’ll hear the Waltz of the Flowers. This music has the style of the famous Viennese Waltz, a dance that was very popular for couples to dance to at parties. When people dance, they move to a beat. Now, before we heard a March, and there were how many beats when we counted?
Four beats to a group.
In a waltz, there are three beats to a measure, or group. (Clap 1-2-3 and maybe say “strong-light-light, strong-light-light.”)
Before the waltz begins, we will hear an introduction played by one instrument alone.
Play Excerpt 8, Waltz of the Flowers
While the excerpt is playing, ask…
Which instrument do you hear? (Harp.)Show picture of harp.
IV.Summary
What did you learn from the Nutcracker?
- (What music sounds like in other countries,
- Beat (pulse),
- Meter (Groups of beats, like three or four),
- Tempo (Speed of music, slow or fast)
- Celesta, a piano-like instrument that makes bell sounds.)
Happy Holidays!
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