Program Book: CSO for Kids: Family Matinee, Oct. 23, 2021

Read the program book for CSO for Kids: Family Matinee, Oct. 23, 2021.

Welcome to the Promise of a New Day Parent Guide!

The Negaunee Music Institute has developed a series of fun and engaging activities for you and your child to explore the music before your visit to Symphony Center. Below you will find links to short seven- and ten-minute activities; activities you can do in the car on the way to the concert; and a playlist of the concert repertoire to listen to with your child(ren).

Before the concert you can listen to the tracks freely using the Spotify playlist or read the Kidsbook, both found above. You also can explore the activities below for an enhanced listening experience.

Have more time? Explore these short, at-home activities with your child before coming to Symphony Center.

2-minute activity: Instrument Families

Guide your child through a discussion about instrument families.

• Ask your child, “What makes up a family?” Explore the ideas of families in terms of similar looks/traits, common interests or hobbies and connections to one another.
• Let your child know that musical instruments also belong to families. In the orchestra, similar instruments are grouped together based on various shared characteristics.
• Ask your child if they know the names of any of the instrument families.
• Identify the families of instruments in the orchestra using this link.

7-minute activity: Exploring emotions. Britten’s Peter Grimes Four Sea Interludes

• Ask your children to listen to Storm from Benjamin Britten’s Peter Grimes Four Sea Interludes.
• Ask your children what kind of feeling they experienced while listening to it.
• Ask your children if they felt the same emotions throughout all of the music.
• Ask them to explain what happened in the music to make their emotions change?
• Use the chart in the KidsBook to identify what musical elements made your children feel this way.
• Using scarves or streamers, have your children wave the scarves and move to the music.

10-minute+ activity: Exploring teamwork. Prokofiev’s March in B-flat.

Listen to and watch this performance of Prokofiev’s March in B-flat.

• Ask your children to describe how the musicians worked as a team to perform this piece of music.
• Ask your children how they worked as a team member with their family or community to make a positive change in someone’s life during this past year.
• Ask your children how Prokofiev’s March in Bb made them feel. (positive, life-affirming, silly, etc.)
• What makes this music sound positive and affirmative? What makes other music sound negative or disagreeing? What musical elements demonstrate these feelings? Use the chart in the KidsBook to guide your thinking.
• Have your children create a story to accompany the music.
• Act out the story with the music. Each family member can be a character in the story. If that’s not possible, puppets or stuffed animals can perform the story like a silent movie. Here’s an example of a famous silent film for inspiration.