You have probably heard the music of an orchestra before, but composer R. Murray Schafer takes it to a whole new level. Would you believe he used a snowmobile as an instrument? On a concert stage? With an orchestra? We kid you not! Mr. Schafer’s music is full of wonderful surprises and great beauty.

Read on to find out more about this revolutionary Canadian composer!

Born in Sarnia, Ontario, July 18, 1933; passed away in his home near Peterborough, Ontario, August 14, 2021.

R. Murray Schafer is one of Canada’s pre-eminent composers who has won national and international acclaim not only for his achievements as a composer, but also as an educator, environmentalist, literary scholar, and visual artist. After receiving a Licentiate in piano through the Royal Schools of Music (England), he pursued further studies in Canada at the Royal Conservatory of Music and the University of Toronto, followed by periods of study in Austria and England. It’s notable that he was actually dismissed from the University of Toronto is his first year, and is largely self-taught as a composer.

He chose his rural home in order to work on artistic projects with his community. For example, Schafer founded the Maynooth Community Choir, with whom he wrote and produced the music theatre piece Jonah, and productions of his PATRIA 3: The Greatest Show included the participation of local amateur actors and musicians. Schafer encourages artists to draw on the riches of their local surroundings and culture.

R. Murray Schafer holds seven honorary doctorates from universities in Canada, France, and Argentina, and his music has won numerous national and international awards. Famed violinist and conductor Yehudi Menuhin praised “His strong, benevolent, and highly original imagination and intellect, a dynamic power whose manifold personal expressions and aspirations are in total accord with the urgent needs and dreams of humanity today.”

There is no such thing as a ‘typical’ work by Schafer. His compositions often result from special explorations into the worlds of sound, language, philosophy, psychology, mythology, theatre, ritual, natural history, or any combination of these things. Even audience participation is a possibility. His compositions range from the modest, four-minute Untitled Composition for Orchestra to Ra, an all-night musical/theatrical ritual involving all five senses. Schafer also composed for unusual and unorthodox combinations, as well as unusual instruments; for example, Theseus is for harp and string quartet, Music for Wilderness Lake is for 12 trombones, and North/White is for full orchestra and snowmobile(!).

One of the most significant aspects of Schafer’s wide-ranging catalogue is the series of string quartets he had been producing since 1970. His love for the female voice also inspired numerous works. Specifically for his partner Eleanor James’s rich mezzo-soprano voice, he wrote demanding chamber music (Tanzlied for voice and harp, Tantrika for voice and percussion) and works for voice and orchestra (Letters from Mignon and Thunder/Perfect Mind).

In addition, there is the monumental PATRIA cycle of 12 related music dramas, many of which are presented in unusual settings or at special times of the day or year. The beauty of Canada’s wilderness is the setting of the PATRIA prologue The Princess of the Stars, which has been performed several times at different outdoor sites across Canada. Other outdoor works include The Enchanted Forest and The Palace of the Cinnabar Phoenix, both performed in Ontario’s Haliburton Forest.

Schafer’s visual art can be seen in his musical scores that include illustrations and/or graphic notation. Many of these have been exhibited in art galleries.

Schafer also wrote some 20 literary works, of which E.T.A. Hoffmann and Music and The Tuning of the World are especially important and influential. The Tuning of the World describes Schafer’s research into the idea of soundscape, a term which he coined.

R. Murray Schafer is probably best known for his writings on music education, including The Composer in the Classroom (1965), Ear Cleaning (1967), Creative Music Education (1976), A Sound Education (1992), and HearSing (2005).

His works have been translated into multiple languages, and his innovative methods have been used in classrooms around the world. Schafer’s educational philosophy encourages children to consider how they themselves can create music by thinking outside the box to find interesting sounds from unexpected sources.

Sources consulted: Canadian Music Centre, Arcana Productions, and the Encyclopedia of Music in Canada.

Murray Schafer was interested in the sounds of the world around us as a source of ideas for creating. He coined the term soundscape to describe music that captures or imitates the sounds from any environment. He has led countless classrooms of children and adults in composing soundscapes, first through deep listening and moving on to creative improvisation.

Many wonderfully interactive exercises are available in his publications for teachers. A few are generously shared here. Use them with your students to clean out those ears and awaken the next generation of Canadian Composers!

Time to clean your ears

Step 1. Close your eyes for 30 seconds and listen to the sounds all around you. What different things can you hear? How many can you write down?

Step 2. Share your list with a partner. Did they hear the same sounds as you, or different ones?

Step 3. Try and group your sounds into different categories, such as sounds made by humans, technological sounds, or sounds from nature.

Step 4. Make a picture of each sound and use these to make a graphic score of your soundscape experience.

Interesting sound

Ask your students to bring an interesting sound to school. Have students share their sounds and explain why they found them interesting. What can you create together now? Consider the next exercise, Imitating Sounds, as a follow-up activity if desired. As Schafer says, “Then you have a repertoire of 30 sounds to create from. A homemade orchestra that didn’t cost anything.”

Imitating sounds

Sometimes composers write music to imitate sounds or feelings.

Step 1. Use your orchestra of interesting sounds or classroom instruments (recorders, Orff instruments, small percussion) to discover what you can imitate.

Step 2. Solicit student ideas – perhaps they will want to imitate a waterfall, laughter, or a bird call – let them suggest both the sound and the instrument they think will fit.

Step 3. Try it out. Keep asking “Anything else?” as long as the ideas are flowing.

Newspaper magic

Step 1. Take a single sheet of a newspaper and challenge the students to pass it around without any sound (very challenging!).

Step 2. Introduce the newspaper as a new musical instrument and ask a few students to try making three different sounds. Murray Schafer emphasizes that students should “make an original sound,” and as the paper gets passed, he challenges them saying “It’s going to get more difficult because I don’t want to hear the same sound twice!”

As the game progresses, students see the musical potential of an everyday object, or what Schafer refers to as “the music of the world playing around you all the time.”

I hear with my little ear…

A game based on “I Spy” in which a person says: “I hear with my little ear something that begins with…” The first letter of the object is given and everyone tries to guess what it is.

Follow that sound!

Step 1. Sit in a circle formation. Ask a volunteer to make a sound everyone can hear. It should be easy to repeat.

Step 2. The volunteer makes the sound while moving about the circle while the seated students follow the sound by pointing with their right hand, eyes closed.

Step 3. Teacher claps and says “Open!” after a few moments. Students open their eyes and check to where they are pointing to determine whether or not they were successful sound locators.

Step 4. Make the game a little more complex by adding a second volunteer. Students follow the first with the right hand, and the second with the left, eyes closed of course!

Locate the can

Step 1. Take a pop can, start crumpling it and ask students to close their eyes and point to the sound of the can. Move around the room as you do this.

Step 2. Drop the can and then tap a student on the head to go and find it, but they must keep their eyes closed. Murray Schafer learned this game at a school for the blind in Japan. It shows how our sense of hearing helps us locate ourselves in space.

Drawing sounds, sounding drawings

Step 1. A series of contrasted sounds is performed, using various objects at hand in the room: a ruler, a broom, a pail – any quite ordinary sounds.

Step 2. The class draws the sounds, beginning when each sound begins and ending when it ends. The drawings are short impressions only, but if the sounds are quite different, each drawing will have a different character. One sound might be a soft swish, another a loud rasping, another a steady tapping, another a falling crash, etc.

Step 3. Let the students compare their drawings. Are there any perceptible similarities?

Step 4. See if the drawings can be changed back into sounds. Ask your students to produce sounds with their voices to correspond with what they have drawn.

Interpreting a graphic score

Here is a graphic score R. Murray Schafer created. Ask the students, “How would you perform this?” Have them make up their version(s) using “found instruments” like keys, papers, shoes, etc. Give each student composition a title, and experiment with having students conduct some of the performances.

Listen to I Am Here to Sing Thee Songs from Gitanjali by R. Murray Schafer, a composition inspired by the poetry of Bengali artist Rabindranath Tagore.

The music starts with just rattles and a soprano singing. Then a new sound is introduced. Can you tell what it is? If you said a drum, you are correct! Now, can you be more specific? Here are some clues. The drum is goblet shaped and is often heard in Middle Eastern music. Yes! It is a darabukkah!

As you listen again, notice that some of the drum beats are heavy and some are light. The heavier sounds are played in the middle of the drum. You can practice doing this. Say ‘dum’ with a low voice and pat your left knee; say ‘tak’ with a high voice and pat your right knee.

Here’s how Schafer wrote it:

Download: Darabukkah Rhythm from Gitanjali by R. Murray Schafer

Darabukkah rhythm

Now try to tap the pattern along with the drum gently as you listen again to the music. Not easy, is it!

Keep listening carefully and you will hear that the darabukkah plays throughout most of the song. It is a very important part of the score!

Have students create a piece of visual art or a dance (or any other type of artistic expression!) inspired by Gitanjali. Share and discuss their creations with each other.

If time permits, seek out some of the other wonderful music by R. Murray Schafer on YouTube. Play some selections for your students, and have them decide what Schafer piece will inspire their choreography, drawings, poems, etc. Selected and suggested recordings of Murray R. Schafer’s work can be found below.

• String Quartet No. 8; Theseus; Beauty and the Beast, music by R. Murray Schafer performed by Marie-Danielle Parent, Julie Nesrallah, Jennifer Swartz, and the Molinari String Quartet (Quatuor Molinari)
• A Garden of Bells; Gamelan; Felix’s Girls; Miniwanka; Snowforms; Sun; Epitaph for Moonlight; Fire, music by R. Murray Schafer performed by the Vancouver Chamber Choir
• Gitanjali; The Garden of the Heart; Adieu, Robert Schumann, music by R. Murray Schafer, performed by Donna Brown, Judith Forst, Annamaria Popescu, and the National Arts Centre Orchestra
• Flute Concerto; Harp Concerto; The Darkly Splendid Earth; The Lonely Traveller, music by R. Murray Schafer performed by Robert Airken, Judy Loman, Jacques Israelievitch, the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra

YouTube is a wonderful resource! Many Schafer compositions can be heard here for free, including performances by choirs, orchestras, string quartets, and chamber ensembles.

As you listen to Gitanjali with your students, consider how Schafer uses the other elements of music in this piece. Here’s a list of definitions to get you started.

Teacher note: You can also use this list as you’re working with the Character Tunes for The Concert in Skywater Hollow.

Melody: This is the part of the music you can hum, whistle, or sing to yourself. You might call it a tune. Tiny’s Tune is a melody, and the soprano you hear in Gitanjali sings the melody most of the time.

Rhythm: This is the flow of faster and slower sounds, usually in relation to a steady beat. If you clap all the notes of a melody or all the words of a song you are clapping the rhythm. Rhythm can be complicated, constantly changing, or very simple and repetitive. The daraukkah player in Gitanjali repeats the same rhythm many times.

Metre: This is the part of the music you can tap your foot to – the steady beat. You will usually find that the main pulses fit into groups of twos, threes, or fours. The music for Tiny’s Tune, the Bully-Beast Chant and the River Ostinato are all in a 4 metre.

Tempo: This is the speed of the music. The speed may vary from very slow to very fast. Most composers use Italian words to describe the tempo: adagio, for example, means very slow; andante, moderate; allegro, lively; and presto, very fast. Try the Bully-Beast chant using different tempi (that’s plural for tempo). How does a change in tempo change the mood or the character?

Dynamics: Dynamics refer to how loudly or softly the music should be played. Do you think the Bully Beasts speak with piano (soft) or forte (loud) voices? What dynamics will you use for Tiny’s tune? Schafer’s Gitanjali is full of dynamic contrasts. Notice that gradually increasing or decreasing the number of instruments playing together causes the music to grow louder (crescendo) or softer (descrescendo).

Timbre: The specific kind of sound each instrument makes is its timbre or tone colour. Sometimes timbre is very obvious – a trumpet’s unique sound is very different from that of a harp, for instance. When the instruments are from the same family, the difference is more subtle. Think about how the bright violin sounds different from a darker-toned viola or from the deep, low cello, even if it’s playing exactly the same note. The Bully-Beasts have three different timbres: squeaking, snuffling and grunting!

Harmony: Underneath the melody are clusters of notes called chords, each of which sounds different. These chords can stand alone or they can support a melody. Some chords sound gentle and pleasant; some may sound harsh or unpleasant. The composer uses these to create the kind of mood she wants at each moment. When you play Tiny’s Tune at the same time as the River Ostinato, you are creating harmony.

An unusual group of musicians have made themselves at home inside the abandoned instruments that are scattered throughout Skywater Woods. Led by their conductor, Tiny, their delight in creating music together is marred only by the presence of the rather scary bully‐beasts who live across the creek. A hot dry summer brings the two groups a little too close for comfort and tensions rise until Tiny comes up with a musical solution.

Big ideas: Music surrounds us. Intention changes sound to music.

Educational activity: Students respond to a short story through predicting, drama structure, and soundscape.

Materials:

• Set of orchestra instrument cards (optional)
• Small percussion instruments and/or found sounds

Ask: What is music? What do you need in order to make music? Is music always written down? (You may want to chart some of the answers for later reference.)

Ask about orchestras: Have they heard an orchestra? Was it live or recorded? What instruments are in an orchestra?

Read aloud The Concert in Skywater Hollow by Tim Wynne-Jones.

Step 1. Before reading, ask students to let you know when they hear mention of an instrument.

Step 2. Pause at “What would they do with all those bully‐beasts running around chasing them and raising a ruckus and ruining everything?” Ask students to identify what the problem is, first from the point of view of the musicians, then from the point of view of the bully‐beasts.

Step 3. During this pause, stage a town hall meeting with the students acting in‐role as Tiny and the musicians. You may wish to be the Town Chancellor and lead the meeting by presenting the problem. Acting in‐role, have students come up with several solutions.

Step 4. Return to reading or listening to the story, through to the end. Ask: How did the problem get solved in the story?

Step 5. Ask: Before we read the story I asked you some questions about music. Let’s check those questions again and see if our answers have changed at all.

Step 6. Lead a discussion from the responses and see what conclusions can be drawn. Expect a variety of answers, such as:

• Sound is music.
• Music comes from sound that is planned.
• One person’s music is another person’s noise.
• Music doesn’t have to be written down.
• You can create music from just about anything!

Create a class version of Something a Little Different.

Step 1. Revisit the story and notice how the Skywater kids created their first version of Something a Little Different.

• They started by noticing all the sounds around them.
• Then they began to imitate the sounds.
• They made suggestions about what to add, and how loud to play it.
• Tiny conducted.
• Things got rowdy for a while.
• Then gradually, the sounds got softer…
• And slower…
• It ended with a lullaby.

Step 2. Ask the following questions:

• How was the second version (with the bully‐beasts) different?
• How can we create Something a Little Different?

Step 3. Have each student choose a special sound to make (could be something from the environment, small percussion instruments, or a new sound).

Step 4. Take turns conducting one another. 

Ask: How will you signal each other to get louder/softer, slower/faster?

Step 5. Stage a final “performance” once you have decided how to begin, what order sounds will be heard in and how to end.

Language Arts

Character Traits: Choose one of the characters from the story and list 10 things you know about him or her. Then make a list describing what your character looks like. Compare your lists with another classmate’s. What character traits have you found in common?

Social Studies

Using the information from the story, draw a map showing the layout of Skywater Woods. (Teacher Note: The map should include the hollow in the woods, the tall cliff, Skywater Creek, and the three gently sloping hills.)

Visual Arts

Use a large sheet of butcher paper and paint in the sky, trees, and creek. Make a list of all the instruments mentioned in the story and have students draw them using markers, coloured pencils or pastels. Have some instrument picture cards close by for reference. When the drawings are finished, cut them out and paste on to the butcher paper.

Music

Create a background score with music by R. Murray Schafer and/or other composers. Begin by noting places in the story where a special sound effect would be welcome, then listen and link those up with specific recording excerpts. Make a list with all correct timings and try a read through with sound added!

Character Education

Consider why the kids of Skywater Woods don’t get along well with the Bully-Beasts. How does Tiny change their relationship?

Play along on a recorder, flute or other instrument...

Tiny, the River and the Bully-Beasts are three very different characters. Here’s how composer Marcelline Moody imagines they might sound.

Download: Music Class: Musical Characters from Skywater Hollow (includes the additional versions of Tiny’s Tune and the River Ostinato)

Tiny’s Tune

Here is Tiny’s Tune for your recorder or other instrument. Can you think of words for this song?

Bully-Beast chant

Do the Bully-Beast chant with two friends! Read the grid below from left to right. Practice each voice separately and then try all three together at the same time. Start out by counting to 8 and clap on the beats that have symbols. Once you get the feel of the rhythm, each person can choose one voice (either High, Medium or Low) and use a squeak, snuffle, or grunt instead of a clap. It sounds great when all three voice go together!

River Ostinato for Tiny’s Tune

Here is the River Ostinato. You can sing it or play it on a recorder, xylophone or metallophone. Saying the words first will help you feel the rhythm correctly.

Can you try all three parts together (with help from your friends)?

Schafer’s Miniwanka uses words from several North American Indigenous languages to explore the space between traditional music and the sounds of water. The languages used to communicate the sounds of water include Dakota, Wappo, Crow, Chinook, Achomawi, Otchipwe, Salish, Natick, Klamath and Luiseno.

By exploring Schafer’s composition, students are engaged with music as listeners, composers and performers.

Educational Activity: Students listen to and study the score of Miniwanka, and then create their own water transition soundscapes.

Materials

• Overhead projection of score excerpts from Miniwanka and Epitaph for Moonlight. These excerpts are from Page 3 of Miniwanka and Page 5 of Epitaph for Moonlight.
• Audio recordings of Miniwanka: 
  Excerpt #1: Miniwanka, Opening
  Excerpt #2: Miniwanka, Plosh Page (4 mm before F to G)
• Full version (entire recording) of Miniwanka for use with the score study “Plosh” Page. Vancouver Chamber Choir recording: “Miniwanka” and “Epitaph for Moonlight” by R. Murray Schafer from A Garden of Bells. © Vancouver Chamber Choir, Grouse 101.
• Student copies of score study “Plosh” Page printed on 17”x11” paper, one copy for every four students per group of 4.
• Art materials for visual representations, including: markers, pastels, paper of varying sizes.
• An audio recording device.

Please note that the score of “Miniwanka” that appears in the abovementioned YouTube video by the Vancouver Chamber Choir – including the Plosh Page – is a different version than the score used for this lesson plan. Schafer revised the score several times since the piece was first published, and, though the music sounds the same, the scores look quite different. It’s interesting to observe the various ways that Schafer came up with to illustrate how he wanted the music to sound!

Step 1. Show the students the Miniwanka and Epitaph for Moonlight score excerpts.

Step 2. Play audio Excerpt #1: Miniwanka, Opening and ask students which score they think they are hearing. Teacher tip: Play the excerpt 2-3 times before taking answers.

Step 3. As students respond, ask them to explain their choices. Encourage them to describe what they are seeing and hearing, and how they drew their conclusions.

Step 4. Share the composer notes on Miniwanka or the Moments of Water.

Step 5. Listen to the full piece, asking students to notice where they think the water transforms from “rain to streams to quiet lakes, to broad rivers, to the ocean”.

Step 1. Distribute student copies of the score study “Plosh” Page to groups of four (“plosh” is the wonderful word that Schafer uses on this page to describe the water’s movement into the ocean).

Step 2. Have students locate and circle these music markings: piano, forte, ritard, crescendo, decrescendo, metre changes 4/4 to 3/4 to 4/4, glissandi, voicings.

Step 3. As they are located, listen to audio Excerpt #2: Miniwanka – Plosh Page. Challenge students to define what the markings mean, then share the traditional music definitions.

Download: Music markings and traditional music definitions

Step 4. Once students have located all the markings, have the whole class look closely at the score excerpt and ask students to suggest what kinds of sounds the composer wants.

• What musical point are we at in the score for the water changes described in the composer notes above?
• Note: at this point in the score, the music is portraying a broad river, just as it is moving into an ocean. Where you see the word “Plosh” in the score is where Schafer creates the sound of the water turning into an ocean.

Step 5. Try performing the page together as a whole class. Divide into three voice groups – Sopranos on an A, Altos on a D, and Tenors/Basses on a D.

Teacher tip: If you or your students don’t read music, create from what is suggested by the shapes of waves and what your students now know from the music markings.

Step 6. Listen to the audio Excerpt #2: Miniwanka – Plosh Page. Does it sound similar in any way to what the class created? Ask students to describe how it is the same and different.

Step 7. Finish by listening to the entire recording of Miniwanka (below). 

Step 1. Divide the class into four groups and invite them to create one of the four following water transitions:

• From rain to streams
• From streams to quiet lakes
• From lakes to broad rivers
• From broad rivers to the ocean

You may want to assign one per group, or let each group choose one and have the added listening value of the class later guessing which water transition it is.

Step 2. Suggest that students can create their water transition using words (invented or not), vocal sounds, and body percussion.

Step 3. Share performances and have students guess the water transition (if they have had free choice).

Step 4. Record each of the students’ water transition soundscape to revisit at a later class.

Challenge students to create a visual representation (a score) of their composition.

Step 1. Listen to the recorded versions of the student water transition soundscapes.

Step 2. Revisit the images from Schafer’s score to inspire use of graphic notation.

Step 3. Provide art supplies – markers, oil pastels, black markers with varying tip sizes, and a range of paper sizes. This works with individual renditions on letter size paper or group renditions on wall size lengths of butcher paper.

Step 4. Display the finished scores. Have a gallery walk, and then play the recordings while viewing each score.

Discuss: How does the score capture the essence of each soundscape?

Schafer’s Epitaph for Moonlight uses invented language to create a beautiful choral soundscape that is evocative of moonlight.

Educational Activity: Students use their own invented language to create a soundscape.

Materials: Audio for R. Murray Schafer’s Epitaph for Moonlight 

Step 1. Write “Epitaph for Moonlight” on the board. Ask students what they think it means. Probe the meaning of epitaph – a phrase or statement written in memory of a person who has died – and why the words epitaph and moonlight might be connected.

Step 2. Jot students’ thoughts on the board and share with students that Epitaph for Moonlight is actually the title for a piece of music.

Step 3. Ask: Based on the title, what do you think the music will sound like? Continue jotting down student answers.

Step 4. Explore the understanding of moonlight using a guided visualization. Ask students to think of a time when they have been aware of moonlight. Have students close their eyes and visualize that exact moment. Guide them with prompts:

• Where you are? Are you alone or are others with you?
• What sounds do you hear?
• Notice the moon. What does it look like? Where is the light from the moon shining?
• How are you feeling? What is your mood in this moment? What words come to mind that describe your emotions?

Step 5. Open eyes and have class describe what images they saw and what emotions were evoked. You may wish to jot down the descriptive words the students use.

Create new words for “moonlight.” Pretend that you are communicating in a private language. Make up words that make you think of moonlight. What words might you use to describe your own memory of moonlight?

Step 1. Begin by having students work individually to write down their invented moonlight language, then share with a partner.

Step 2. Model some of the ways that students can use their invented language to compose. Using one of their invented words, experiment by:

• Saying it softer-louder, higher-lower, faster-slower, or smoother-detached;
• Attempting to create the longest crescendo followed by abrupt silence;
• Saying the word from four directions in the room and comparing;
• Repeating the word with many different voices;
• Staggering the entries of the different voices;
• Chanting the word on one pitch, then having several voices chant on different pitches.

Step 3. Have students create in groups of four, working from their combined lists of invented language using these Composition Guidelines:

• Beginning – Choose a sound, tempo and dynamic to start with.
• Decide how you will vary your chosen words.
• Incorporate the use of one instrumental effect or found sound (sounds created from everyday objects such as shaking of a key ring).
• Ending – Choose a final sound, tempo and dynamic so that your ending is clear to the listener.

Step 4. Share the group compositions and discuss what effects each had.

Note: Many of the composition ideas above have been adapted from articles by Doug Friesen, a music educator who has worked closely with Murray Schafer.

Step 1. Introduce the backstory to Epitaph for Moonlight:

Murray Schafer once gave a grade seven class the assignment of finding suitable synonyms for the word “moonlight.” He suggested that these would be new words in a private language that were to be invented to express the concept of moonlight in sound. This is very similar to the work you just did! The words that this grade 7 class came up with formed the core of the text for Epitaph for Moonlight.

Step 2. Present some of their words to the students. Try saying a few!

• Lunious
• Sloofulp
• Shiverglowa
• Neshmoor

Step 3. Play Epitaph for Moonlight in its entirety.

Step 4. Ask students to describe how Schafer’s composition is similar to the class compositions, and how it is different.

Describe how the following statement applies to you: “I can be a listener, composer and performer by exploring the soundscape around me.”

Extension: Using your abilities as a listener, composer and performer, create a new soundscape. Instead of moonlight, consider a soundscape inspired by the playground, wind, sunlight, or a city corner. The possibilities are endless!

The working styles of composers vary greatly and this lesson uses works by three different composers to demonstrate this. The work of Mozart, Beethoven and Schafer took place over a span of 260 years and represents three very distinct yet similar processes.

Educational activity: Students use critical thinking skills to compare three score excerpts from three different composers.

Materials:

Overhead of three score images

Teacher information sheet: Comparing the scores of three composers

Images of each composer (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven, and R. Murray Schafer)

Audio for the three composer selections (videos below):

• W.A. Mozart’s Dies Irae
• Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 14 in C-sharp minor, Op. 131
• Schafer’s Sun, a composition for choir

Step 1. Show the overhead of the three scores, being careful not to mention the names of the composers.

Ask: Are the three scores written by the same person? Why or why not?

Step 2. When students agree that it’s likely three different composers, ask: What does each score tell you about the composer? Do you think the score tells us anything about how each composer worked? What’s your evidence?

Refer to the heading “What can you tell about the composer by looking at the music scores he creates” in the Teacher information sheet.

Step 3. Write Schafer, Beethoven, and Mozart on the board. Ask students if any of those three names are familiar and what they might know about each.

Step 4. Reveal that these are the names of the composers associated with the three score images. Can they guess which image belongs to whom? Ask students to support their answers.

If you have used either the Minewanka or Epitaph for Moonlight lessons, the students may identify the Schafer score first. After a few tries, confirm the correct answers.

Work together as a class to investigate the Challenge questions listed below.

Teacher tip: Guide this conversation using the Teacher information sheet: Comparing the scores of three composers. Your role is to guide the discussion and help students discover the richness of information that the primary source scores present. While the Teacher Information Sheet will be very helpful for confirming details, be careful not to fall into the role of “expert” too quickly. The students have the capacity to unlock much of what is contained in the images.

Challenge questions

1. Melody: Which score has singers on the main melody?
2. Rhythm: What different rhythms has the composer used?
3. Metre: What metre (number of beats in each bar) is the composition in?
4. Tempo: Is there a tempo marking (speed of the music)? What does it mean?
5. Dynamics: Which of these markings – piano, forte, fortissimo, crescendo, decrescendo – can you find, for which composer?
6. Timbre: What different instruments/singers do you see in each score? What quality of sound would they make?

Show the images of Mozart, Beethoven and Schafer. Does how they look correspond in any way to how their scores? (There are no wrong answers!)

Listen to the corresponding audio links provided and invite students to think about whether the music sounds the way it appears for any of these composers.