Empress of the Pagodas from Mother Goose Suite Composed by Maurice Ravel in 1908 The music was originally written for 4 hands on a piano. Ravel later orchestrated it. Listen for the flutes, harp, glockenspiel, xylophone and gong Ravel uses dazzling and glorious sounds, full of oriental harmonies and different musical colours, creating many layers of sound. Pagodas are tiny porcelain people with bodies made of jewels who play instruments made from nut shells.

Listening and Responding Create illustrations for the story Read the story as you listen to the music. Create illustrations for the story. Think carefully about the details of the delicate style, colour, light and shade you might use. Once upon a time twin daughters were born to a happy king and queen. As it came to pass, a jealous fairy put a curse on one of the twins and she was made so ugly that nobody could look at her. She was named Laideronnette– little ugly one. However, the princess was a sweet child, and in order not to cause distress to the rest of her family, she offered to go off and live alone in a remote castle by the sea. Roaming about the castle grounds one day she caught the interest of the Green Serpent who tried to engage her with kind words. Terrified of him, Laideronnette fled and was nearly drowned in the sea. Upon awakening, she discovered that she had been rescued and was in a bed in the most splendid palace in a faraway land– the land of the Pagodas (tiny porcelain dolls with bodies made of jewels and instruments made of nutshells). Having been appointed Empress of the Pagodas, Laideronnette was treated with kindness and respect, and was provided with the most luxurious place to bathe and dress herself. Pagodas and Pagodinas began to sing and to play on musical instruments. In the end, the girl becomes a pretty princess again, and marries the serpent (who is transformed back into his original form, King of the Pagodas).

Create your own Music using the Pentatonic Scale In The Empress of the Pagodas, Ravel uses pentatonic (5 note) melodies to create an oriental feel using flutes, harp, glockenspiel, xylophone and gong to great effect.   Task 1 Explore the pentatonic scale on the different tuned instruments. Use the notes FGACD. Task 2 Practise these short musical motifs. (Make sure you are able to repeat each motif whilst keeping a steady beat.)

Perform, record and appraise your music. Now try to: Repeat each motif four times. Sequence the motifs 1 -6 in different ways. Start with one motif and keep repeating it; add another whilst the first continues to play. Gradually add more to create a varied musical texture made up of different musical layers. Explore different ways of starting and stopping each motif. (You may need a conductor.) Listen carefully to the sound the whole group is making. Consider: Is it too loud/quiet? Can you hear all the different motifs? Should they all play at once? How many times should they repeat? Add e.g. Indian or Tibetan bells, gongs, triangles on beat 1 Explore! There are lots of different possibilities. Perform, record and appraise your music.