Mendelssohn “Overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream” Texture Mendelssohn “Overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream” By: Luke Arno

About Felix Mendelssohn Feb. 3 1809-Nov. 4 1847 The Mendelssohn family held regular Sunday afternoon concerts at their house, so Felix grew up with music all around him. Mendelssohn was very close to his older sister, Fanny, who also played the piano and composed. The two of them not only made music together, they also put on plays -- like A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare. Mendelssohn loved to travel. His trips to other countries inspired some of his best music, like his Scottish and Italian Symphonies.

Activity 1 - Mapping the Plot

Activity 1 - Mapping The Plot What do you know about William Shakespeare? What do you want to know about William Shakespeare? What did you learn about William Shakespeare?

Mapping the Plot Information about Shakespeare: https://www.readworks.org/article/Renaissance-Artists-and-Writers/85acfeaa-3f1e-4141-a43f- e55ac9f6efd6#!articleTab:content/contentSection:0aa47371-a936-4aa1-87f4-0b2f77c02174/ Information about “A Midsummer Night’s Dream:” https://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/short-stories/midsummer-nights-dream Story Mapping: http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/storymap/

Activity 2 - Moving Like a Character

Activity 2-Moving Like a Character Fairies - Sneaky, like to play tricks on the human world Human world - very ordered.

Moving Like a Character Teenagers- Want to be free of the restrictions from their parents. Run away. Actors - Kind of silly, they fumble around a lot

Moving Like A Character Texture in music is determined by what instruments are playing, how loud or soft the music plays, and generally how the music sounds. When you hear the different sections of the piece for the different characters, how are the textures different? How could you demonstrate those textures through music?

Moving Like a Character Each character gets a different prop Fairies: Balloons/Scarves Teenagers: Stretchies/Balloons Actors: Racquetballs Human World: tap rhythm sticks with another person

Move to the Music

Activity 3 - Instrument Four Corners

Activity 3-Instrument Four Corners What are the instruments in the orchestra?

Strings/Woodwinds

Brass/Percussion

What do you call each size ensemble? Solo-1 person Duet-2 People Trio-3 People Quartet-4 People Quintet-5 People Sextet-6 people Icosatet-20 people

Woodwind Quintet

Brass Quintet

String quartet

Percussion Ensemble

What type of ensemble? http://viewpure.com/7pxobW63BPs?ref=bkmk http://viewpure.com/9gwnMj4D-ts?ref=bkmk http://viewpure.com/DJY7bRzU_tI?ref=bkmk http://viewpure.com/Zv5-BooE9E8?ref=bkmk http://viewpure.com/ahJS5EEZu7E?ref=bkmk http://viewpure.com/3EpfB-slIA4?ref=bkmk http://viewpure.com/kn2TnCmEZ7w?ref=bkmk