In the Hall of the Mountain King - Edvard Grieg - Lesson 1

This is a wonderful piece of music that kids love.  The very first step in teaching this piece is to tell the story that lies behind it.  The piece is from a suite called The Peer Gynt Suite.  The adult version of the story is much more complicated than this simple version but for young children here is their version.

THE LEGEND OF PEER GYNT

There once was a little boy named Peer Gynt. He was a bad boy. He stole things, played tricks, and never helped his mother. Everybody hated Peer Gynt. One day, he went to a wedding. There he met the most beautiful girl in the world. He knew the instant he saw her that he was in love. The girl's name was Solveig.

Peer wanted to marry this wonderful girl. But that would not happen because Solveig's parents had heard about Peer and they didn't like him. They told Peer to leave their daughter alone because she would not marry him.

Poor Peer's heart was broken. He knew that he could not stay in the village because seeing Solveig would be too painful to his heart. So he ran from the village and into the mountains where he could be alone forever. But little did Peer know that along his way he would have many adventures.

Here is the first adventure and the story of our piece of music.

I do NOT tell the children how this story ends.  The music will tell them the ending.  I just want to tell enough to set the stage for listening.

Peer Gynt arrived at the hall of the Mountain King. He was then surrounded by many ugly trolls, captured and taken before the king. At first the king is not happy to have an intruder in their kingdom but Peer assured him that he is looking for a new home and perhaps he would be allowed to live there.  The king finds that he likes this young man and suggests that Peer could marry his daughter. She was beautiful but not as pretty as Solveig. The king described what Peer would have to do to marry his daughter. The things he would have to do were: grow a tail, not see the light of day for the rest of his life, and, last but not least, slit his eyes to see the world as a troll does.

That night when he was alone in his bedroom Peer begins to think about the king's plan.  He decides he does not want to become a troll.  But now he has a problem.  How can he say "No" to the king without making him really mad.  He decided he had better sneak out of the mountain right then while it is still dark.

As the music begins you will hear Peer sneaking on his tip toes as quietly as he can.  Listen carefully to this piece of music and see if you can tell me how the story ends.

The children will have all kinds of ideas of what happens as they listen to this very exciting piece of music. When they have exhausted their ideas, you can share how the author ended the story.

Peer tip toes through the halls of the mountains so very quietly but unfortunately there were troll guards along the way who hear him.  A chase begins as Peer frantically tried to escape.  At last the trolls started to surround Peer. He is sure he is going to be captured and turns to face them.  Peer started to step backwards and he heard church bells ringing. When the sounds hit the eardrums of the ugly, hairy trolls, they melted away to never be seen or heard from again.

You might listen again to see if there is a bell there at the end.  They will want to know.  No, there is no bell. When Grieg wrote the music he just let it end with that wonderful big crash!

Here is a good version of the music on youtube.  Don't let the kids "watch" the video.  Just play it so they can use their imaginations.  Afterwards, you might want to watch the video.  Good pictures of Grieg and of his beloved home in Norway.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrIYT-MrVaI

Another lesson for this same music will follow.

Genie in a Bottle (Swan Lake Ballet by Tchaikovsky) Lesson 1

 Once again we have a marvelous story whose conclusion will be found in a piece of music.  I did this lesson with first and second graders.  I told the story while we listened to the music, pausing after each section.  

Here is the music http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ea90L91eZk

Here is our story:

Once upon a time there was a genie who was living in a bottle.  He had been in that bottle a very long time - over a hundred years!  How do you think he felt about this?  Maybe he likes it there but maybe he doesn't.  Let's listen to the beginning of the music and see how he was feeling:  Listen to the first 30 seconds of the music then hit pause.(You can watch the timer on the youtube video)

What did you find out about the genie?  Yes, he was sad wasn't he. Can you even imagine what that was like?  Kinda like if you had to stay in your bedroom for a long time.

Now listen to the next part of the music and see if he stays sad.  Listen to the next 30 seconds, hit pause again).  Is he still sad?  What do you think is happening?  Yes, this music is hopeful and there is only one thing that makes a genie in a bottle hopeful.  What is that?  Someone is rubbing his bottle!  Let's listen once again and raise your hand when you hear the genie come out.

(This will happen in just a couple more seconds but this time talk as the music continues)  It is so exciting to hear him free at last. As you listen to the music you can just imagine how good he feels.  He is stretching his arms and legs and neck and back.  (1:04-1:35)  Then you can just see him dancing.  He is free.  He is free.  He is so happy. (1:35-1:55)  Then stop the music.

Something bad is about to happen. It is almost as if our genie has forgotten how to be free.  He is going wild and crazy and when that happens to a genie, the bottle will start to pull him back.  Let's see if we can hear the bottle start to pull.  (This starts at about 2:05.  Stop it by 2:15 so you can ask this question:  Who wins?  Let's listen.  Thumbs up the genie wins.  Thumbs down the bottle wins.  Stop when the genie goes back into the bottle.

I see a lot of thumbs up.  Our poor genie is in the bottle again.  But don't worry, he is going to try once last time to get away from that bottle.  Let's listen to the ending and see what happens.

Play through the ending.  Then the children can tell the ending.  Our poor genie has lost his chance at freedom and now he is sadly back in his bottle.

I like this version of the music.  Nothing going on at all.  Just music playing.