Schwerdle Irish Tune Lesson

National Core Arts Standards

Anchor Standard #2. Organize and develop artistic ideas and work.
Anchor Standard #4. Analyze, interpret, and select artistic work for presentation.
Anchor Standard #5. Develop and refine artistic work for presentation.
Anchor Standard #6. Convey meaning through the presentation of artistic work.

Objectives
Strengthen ability of smooth connected playing of legato/slurred articulation
Continue development of core wind instrument skills
Build musicianship and personal intuition on phrasing

Materials
Irish Tune from County Derry by Percy Grainger Score
Bach Choral Score Book
Conducting Baton
4 Copies Danny Boy Lyrics
4 blank pieces of paper
Personal Laptop with Danny Boy and Irish Tune audio recordings
Trombone
Tuner/Metronome

Procedures
1. Warm-up will commence for 10 minutes using the following:
a. Thomas Caneva patented tuning exercise of F Remington Major Chords until concert
Eb.
b. Slurred and legato tongued concert F double octave and concert C single octave scales
c. Tuning on concert A and Bb (from principal oboe, clarinet, or tuba)
d. Bach Chorale No. 12
i. Play 1st phrase, sing 1st phrase, buzz/sing 1st phrase, play whole chorale
2. The instructor will provide a very brief history lesson on Irish Tune from a County Derry and the
Irish ballade Danny Boy
a. Londonderry Air melody and text by Frederic Weatherly
b. Many versions of Irish Tune created. This version is 1918
3. The instructor will demonstrate on their primary instrument how the main melody sounds
a. A small reminder of the style that was used on the scales is also stated.
4. The instructor will start at the beginning of the piece and ask the students to pay close attention
to whom they think has the melody.
a. The trombones, euphonium, and tenor saxophone.
b. Play until bar 17
5. Upon successfully pinpointing the melody, the instructor will then ask the students if they can
find anywhere in their music where they have the melody.
6. The students will then all sing together the melody on a neutral syllable (do)
7. After successfully singing the melody, the students will then be asked to play the melody all
together on their instruments
8. After playing the melody together, the instructor will ask the students to take out the lyrics to
Danny Boy and the blank piece of paper.
 Schwerdle Irish Tune Lesson
9. Students will divide into small groups to discuss what they believe the lyrics mean and the
emotions they associate with the text/music.
a. The teacher will have a recording of Danny Boy and Irish Tune playing in the
background quietly.
10. After 10 minutes of discussion, the teacher will ask the students what they came up with.
a. What do you think Grainger did to invoke some of these emotions?
b. Rhetorical question: What could do to bring that to the music?
11. The students and instructor will then go back to Irish Tune with those thoughts in mind with
everyone playing the main melody once again.
12. To round out the lesson, the students will then play at bar 49 where the full scoring of the
ensemble takes place adhering to the decisions and ideas they came up with.

Assessment and Closure

Upon completion of the lesson, students should be able to understand more about Irish Tune from
County Derry and its source material in Londonderry Air and Danny Boy. The instructor will ask the
students to put their names on the paper where they wrote notes on the lyrics of Danny Boy and will
collect them for further review. To lesson will conclude with playing Irish Tune at a different part so
that students can apply their knowledge of the music and legato playing as a full ensemble. As a final
review, the instructor will ask the students if there was any other parts in the music that they felt further
aligned with their initial thoughts and if they found musical devices in the music that helped explain the
lyrics of Danny Boy.