A B C … Do Re Mi!

The Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra is excited to share its upcoming Classics for Kids concert on Sunday, May 30 at 2:30 at the Delta Bessborough Hotel in Saskatoon. 

We’ll be performing “Prairie Alphabet Musical Parade” which was written by Regina composer Elizabeth Raum and inspired by “A Prairie Alphabet.”  The book, a best-seller and award winner, was written by Jo Bannatyne-Cugnet and illustrated by Yvette Moore. 

There are twenty-six illustrations that depict each letter of the alphabet and apply to farm life in Saskatchewan.   As the story begins, the letter A states:  “We auction our Aberdeen Angus at Agribition.”

Click on the book cover and put a hold on this title at the Wheatland Regional Library!

Once you read through the book, check out the list of objects at the end that will challenge you to look again and find the things that begin with the featured letter for each letter of the alphabet.

The concert will also feature the song “Do Re Mi” from “The Sound of Music.”   Since you must learn your A B Cs before learning to read … likewise, you need to know Do Re Mi with music!  See the posting below for a video of this delightful song!

We hope to see you at this great concert on May 30th!

Lucky Lake and Beechy

Shows #7 and 8. 

The hills were alive with the sound of music!  On Monday we drove out to Lucky Lake and Beechy … a lovely drive into the country where the ‘flat prairies’ were actually very hilly.   Whoever said Saskatchewan was nothing but flat prairie-land?  

We watched “The Sound of Music” on the bus.  There are so many great songs in this movie … but “Do Re Mi” had most of us singing on the bus and even on our way into the Lucky Lake School!  This is the song that Fraulein Maria uses to teach the children the notes of a major music scale.  The notes are called Do, Re, Mi, Fa, So, La, Ti, Do and they make up the Solfege system.  

So, just like you having to know your A B C’s before learning how to spell, you need to know your Do Re Mi’s when learning music.

We were delighted to meet the grade 5/6 class in Beechy who are working on making their very own instruments.  The students gave us a peek at their works in progress and we were so impressed with their creativity that we’re including some of the creations on our blog! 

Check it out!

Here are some fun books worth checking out at your local library!  Some include a CD with the book, so you can read the story and then listen to the great music that highlights the story.    

If you click on the cover of each book, you’ll be linked to the Wheatland Regional Library’s catalogue.   You’ll need a library card from the Wheatland Regional Library to put a hold on these titles.  If you are visiting this blog from outside the Wheatland Regional Library system, make sure to ask for these titles at your local library!

Tubby the Tuba by Paul Tripp (picture book + CD)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Itsy Bitsy Spider read and sung by Iza Trapini (picture book + CD)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Marsupial Sue by John Lithgow (picture book + CD)

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Remarkable Farkle McBride by John Lithgow (picture book)

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Queen, the Bear and the Bumblebee by Dini Petty (picture book + CD)

Announcing more dates and locations!

We’re BACH!!!  Wait, no, we’re BACK.  That’s a little music humour for you!

We took a bit of a break and played a variety of great concerts in Saskatoon but we’re getting ready to hit the road again!  We’ll be performing the same show as last fall in these locations:

Monday, May 17, 2010

11:00 / Lucky Lake School, Lucky Lake 

1:30 / Beechy School, Beechy

Monday, May 31, 2010

11:00 a.m./ Eston Composite School, Eston

2:00 p.m. / Kyle Composite School, Kyle

Delisle and Outlook

Shows #5 and 6.  December 2, 2009.

Our third day of the Tatterhood Tour had us heading south of Saskatoon to Delisle and Outlook. 

It was great to see posters of our concert displayed so nicely in the Delisle Elementary School!  Kid from the Pike Lake School joined us for this show and we had a full house of  eager kids, teachers and community members.

Listen up!  The horn takes an important call while on tour:

After a great show in Delisle, we travelled on to Outlook!

Here’s a picture of the bassoon.  Did you know that a bassoon has 7 feet of tubing that is bent into a U shape to make it easier to play? 

Below is a picture of Richard playing his double bass.   The double bass is also known as a string bass or upright bass.  Oh, and its pronounced like “base.”  Its not a fish and it doesn’t rhyme with glass!   

This bass was made for Richard in 2009 by Darren Molnar, a talented instrument maker who lives in Saskatoon!  You can see pictures of a string instrument being made on Darren’s website by viewing his Workshop Gallery:  http://www.darrenmolnarviolinstudio.com/Pages/Workshop%20Gallery.htm

After the show, things got a little out of hand when it went for a slam dunk and got caught up in the basketball net!

Our 2009 tour of Tatterhood ended here BUT it’s not over folks!

We’ll be back in early 2010 so stay tuned for more dates and locations!

In the meantime, check back often for updates and fun stuff!

Wilkie and Unity

Shows #3 and 4.  Friday, November 27th, 2009.

We drove through a thick fog and emerged in Wilkie, Saskatchewan to our third show of the tour. 

A shot from our performance location!

A flute demo after the show:

While heading to the gymnasium in Unity, we passed by the library .. and saw a book of “Tatterhood” on display!

Below is a picture of tuning pegs on a double bass.  Turning the pegs on a string instrument loosens or tightens the strings which changes the pitch when the string is played.

Kindersley and Eatonia

Shows #1 and 2.    Monday, November 23, 2009.

Imagine our surprise to get off the bus in Kindersley and find the composer of “Tatterhood” waiting for us!  Regina composer Jonathan Ward was able to attend the performance of his composition.  It was an honour to have him there and a great way to start the Tatterhood Tour! 

“Tatterhood” composer Jonathan Ward

Our composer with Oxana on violin. 

“Tatterhood” begins!

A cello on the line …

The Saskatoon Symphony musicians in Kindersley:

Performing in Eatonia:

Did you know?  If you uncoiled the tubing in a French Horn, it would be about 12 feet long!  A typical basketball net is 10 feet high in an elementary school!

The Brass or ‘Brasswind’ Family

Like the woodwinds, all the brasswind instruments require the player to use their breath to make sound.  Very often they are made of brass, but even if they’re made of nickel, silver or wood, we still call them “brass instruments”.

note: Saxophones are often made of brass, but because they use a single reed attached to a mouthpiece to make sound, we consider them woodwinds.

The true distinguishing feature of the brass family is the use of the lips to make sound.  Brass players blow air through their lips to make the lips flap – this is called “buzzing”.  Here’s a video of someone alternately buzzing alone, and then into his trumpet.   Notice how the instrument makes the sound much louder and nicer?

There are 4 brass instruments commonly found in the orchestra:

The biggest difference between the brass instruments is size.  Just like the string and woodwind families, the larger the instrument, the lower the sound.  What gets a little tricky about the brass though, is that their tubing can be coiled up to make a very long instrument more compact.  Although the horn (sometimes called “french horn”) is a tube about 3.7 metres long, it is coiled up so it can fit nicely in the player’s lap.

Here’s the famous Canadian Brass playing flight of the bumble bee:

Wilkie performance update

Here, no there, no here!

Our concert in Wilkie will indeed be at its original location:  Norman Carter Elementary School on Friday, November 27th.  Sorry for the confusion!

The Woodwind family

Wood – because that’s what they were made of.

Wind – because players use their breath in the instruments to create sound.

There are 4 regular members of the woodwind family in the orchestra:

Flute: Though there still are wooden flutes around, most are made of metal now, because metal flutes are louder and match the volume of the rest of the orchestra better.

Flute players make sound by blowing over the top of a hole at one end of the instrument – just like when you blow over the top of a pop bottle.

Clarinet: They’re made of a very hard and black wood called grenadilla.

The Clarinet is a single reed instrument, which means the player attaches a reed (piece of shaped cane – like bamboo) to a plastic mouth piece to play it.  When they blow air through the mouthpiece, the thin reed flutters very fast which creates the sound.

Oboe: Oboes are usually made of the same grenadilla wood that clarinets are made from.

The oboe is a double reed instrument.  It also uses pieces of cane to make sound, but instead of vibrating against a mouthpiece, the double reed instruments have two pieces of cane which vibrate together.

You can see that the flute, clarinet and oboe are all of a similar size.

Bassoon: The bassoon is another double reed, but bigger and lower.  They’re generally made from maple wood.

Though the tube of the bassoon is bent around to make it easier to play, the full length of the tube is almost 3 metres!

Since these instruments use different techniques to make sound, they all have distinct characters, but they sound great together.  Check out this video to hear the double reeds together.  Can you tell which instrument is which?