Simulations, games, and virtual learning:

Orchestration and Arranging!

http://www.nyphilkids.org/games/main.phtml

Subject Area: General music

Grade Level: 3-5
Appx. Lesson Time: One class period
Activity Description:
In this activity, students will orchestrate and arrange their own version
of Modest Musorgskys The Old Castle from Pictures at an Exhibition.
In this activity on he New York Philharmonic Kids website, students will
experiment with different tempi, instruments, style and volume to
explore the ways a piece of music can sound when played by different
instruments.

Procedures:
1. TSW be guided to
http://www.nyphilkids.org/games/main.phtml
2. Once reaching this link, TSW click on Orchestration Station

3. Orchestration Station will open and students will be asked

to read the directions about adding an instrument.

4. Next, they will click on the conductor and read about the
different styles available to them, (Legato, staccato,
special).
5. TSW listen to Musogskys original piano version of The Old
Castle from Pictures at an Exhibition.
6. TSW listen to how Maurice Ravel orchestrated The Old
Castle from Pictures at an Exhibition for orchestra.
7. Students may now begin experimenting with different styles
and instruments on their own. Instruments include
trombone, bassoon, violin, clarinet, cello, and trumpet.

Assessment:
Students can be assessed in a group or individually. Each student will
orchestrate their own version of the The Old Castle from Pictures at
an Exhibition and take turns sharing their excerpt with the class.
Accessing prior knowledge, students will be asked to demonstrate
staccato and legato (known for now in class as separated and smooth).
Students will also be able to recall the composer and arranger of the
piece.

ISTE Standards
1. Creativity and innovation

Students demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge, and develop

innovative products and processes using technology.
Students are applying existing knowledge of instrument families, creating original
arrangements of their own, using existing models in the form of already composed
music, and identifying new possibilities of musical arrangements.

4. Critical thinking, problem solving, and decision-making

Students use critical thinking skills to plan and conduct research, manage projects,
solve problems, and make informed decisions using appropriate digital tools and
resources.
Students are identifying and defining styles and composers, questioning existing
music, planning and managing their own arrangements of music, collecting data to
make informed decisions about arrangements, and using multiple processes to
create an arrangement after exploring multiple ways of orchestrating different
instruments.

How does the use of Technology benefit this project?

Without this existing technology that allows immediate aural feedback, it would be
very difficult for a teacher who was not proficient at the piano or several other
instruments to demonstrate different arrangements without simply playing a
recoding. This project benefits greatly from technology because it allows students to
quickly experiment with arranging a well-known piece of music literature. It would be
vey difficult for students in grades three to five to notate the same excerpt on paper
and arrange it for three different instruments, much less be able to have a live
example of the instruments playing the excerpt.