Copland Hoe-Down Lesson Plan No.

2 Fiddle Tune Diagram

Blooms Taxonomy
Remembering recall, label
Understanding distinguish, summarize
Applying apply, show
Analyzing compare, contrast, differentiate
Evaluating critique, explain

National Music Standards (2014)

Responding Anchor Standard #8 Interpret intent and meaning in artistic work.
Connecting Anchor Standard #11 Relate artistic ideas and works with societal, cultural and
historical context to deepen understanding.

Multiple Intelligences (Gardner)

Musical (vocabulary, concepts)
Verbal-linguistic (manipulation of words)
Logical-mathematic (categorizing, recoginizing patterns)

Learning Objectives
The student will list differences and similarities between Bonypartes Retreat and the A section
of Hoe-Down using music vocabulary.

Lesson Plan

Materials:
Audio recording of Hoedown
Audio recording of Bonypartes Retreat (see RESOURCES list)
Audio recording of Miss McLeods Reel (see RESOURCES list)
Venn diagram of Hoe-Down and Bonypartes Reel, projected or written on board
Venn diagram of Hoe-Down (B section) and Miss McLeods Reel on paper
Pencils / clipboards

Warm-up:
Students in a seated circle pass a ball student-to-student as Hoedown (A section only) plays.
Teacher pauses the music and the student holding the ball must say something that describes
the music. (Teacher may have a bank of music vocabulary words available or may refer to an
existing word wall.) Once a word is said, teacher writes it inside the Venn diagram labeled Hoe-
Down.

Direct Instruction:
Students listen to a minute of Bonypartes Reel.

This song, called Bonypartes Retreat, began many years ago as an Irish march. It told the story
in music of one of Napoleons battles. The song crossed the ocean and was played as a march in
the Civil War.
Years later, in 1937, a man from America called William Hamilton Stepp, played the song twice
as fast as usual, turning it into a fiddle tune or a Hoe-Down, something people would dance to at
a party.

In 1942, Aaron Copland was asked to write music for a ballet called Rodeo. He found Stepps
fiddle tune written in a music book and decided to include it in a piece for the ballet called Hoe-
Down.

A hoe-down was a virtuoso display of footwork, where a succession of dancers each tried to
outdo the previous dancers. In contest fiddling, a hoedown is a tune in fast 2/4 time.

Source: Wikipedia Hoe-down

Guided Practice:
Teacher explains that in a Venn diagram, things that are different about each piece are listed in
their own circles, while things that are similar between the two are listed in the area of
intersection between.

Ask students if there are any words in the Hoedown circle that should be moved to the
intersection.

Listen to more of Bonypartes Retreat. (T) records student responses.

Independent Practice:
Distribute pencils, clipboards and Venn diagram of Miss McClouds
Reel and Hoe-Down (B section).

Play a few minutes of each, allowing students to demonstrate transference of learning to the
diagram of the new pieces.

Evaluation:
Students get into small groups and compare answers. Teacher
Circulates amongst the groups and informally notes those students who have demonstrated
understanding of the compare/contrast and musical terminology. If so desired, the papers can
be collected as a formal written assessment.

Resources:

From ITunes:
Bonypartes Retreat W. H. Stepp (1937) Library of Congress A Treasury of Field
Recordings
Miss McLeods Reel The Columba Minstrels from the album St. Patricks Day
Online:
Against the Modern World
http://againstthemodernworld.blogspot.com/2008/03/bonapartes-retreat.html

Bill Stepp, Aaron Copland and Bonapartes Retreat by Stephen Winick

http://blogs.loc.gov/folklife/2013/11/bill-stepp-aaron-copland-and-bonapartes-retreat/

Bonypartes Retreat Fiddle Lesson by Ian Walsh

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfk50L41Vpo

The Kentucky Fiddler Who Inspired Aaron Coplands Hoe-Down

(includes a photo of W. H. Stepp)
http://www.npr.org/2013/02/10/171501799/the-kentucky-fiddler-who-inspired-aaron-
coplands-rodeo