Whimsical Woodwinds and Boisterous Brass Woodwinds and Brass    

Lesson 1: Flute - Flute Sonata in A Minor, H. 562

by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach

Performer: Marco Granados

Directions

Study the musical selection for one week.

Over the week:

• Listen to the music daily.
• Recite the composer and composition names.
• Read the synopsis.
• Review the vocabulary terms.
• Read about the instrument or topic category.
• Complete the enrichment activities.
• Study the review questions.

Synopsis

Lessons group musical instruments into five major categories: strings, keyboards, percussion, woodwinds, and brass. While Under the Home's second grade music lessons focused on strings, keyboards, and percussion, third grade features woodwinds and brass. Lessons first cover woodwind instruments, which musicians play by blowing to vibrate air within tubes. The next four weeks highlight a woodwind instrument called a flute. Flutists play by blowing across an opening to cause the air inside the flute to vibrate. Unlike other types of woodwinds, such as clarinets, flutes have no reed. The musical composition for this lesson, 'Flute Sonata in A Minor, H. 562,' by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, features a solo flute. As you enjoy the music, absorb the sounds of the flute. The Japanese woodblock print featured in this lesson entitled 'Young Man Playing Flute,' by Japanese artist, Suzuki Harunobu, features a Japanese man in traditional garb playing the flute.

Vocabulary

Vibrate: Move or cause to move continuously and rapidly to and fro.
Flutist: A musician who plays the flute.
Reed: A piece of thin cane or metal, sometimes doubled, that vibrates in a current of air to produce the sound of various musical instruments, as in the mouthpiece of a clarinet or oboe.
Embouchure: The way in which a player applies the mouth to the mouthpiece of a brass or wind instrument.
Pitch: The degree of highness or lowness of a tone.

Category

1. Music lessons group musical instruments into five major categories: strings, keyboards, percussion, woodwinds, and brass.
2. Woodwind instruments in an orchestra typically include flutes, oboes, clarinets, and bassoons.
3. Woodwind instruments produce sound when the musician blows across an opening or through a tube to vibrate air inside the instrument.
4. Most woodwind instruments incorporate a reed to produce their distinctive sounds. Study the two reeds.

5. Reeds are attached to the mouthpiece of instruments, where musicians blow to vibrate the reed and the air inside the instrument.

6. Woodwind instruments also have keys or open holes that musicians press to alter the sound. See the keys on the flute and both keys and holes on the clarinet.

Enrichment

Activity 1: Learn the Parts of a Flute

Study the parts on the labeled picture of the flute.

Activity 2: Study How to Hold and Play a Flute

Examine the picture of the flutist and answer the following questions:

• How does the flutist use her right hand?
• How does the flutist use her left hand?
• What do the flutist's fingers press down?
• How does the flutist use her mouth and lips?
• How does the flutist change which sounds the flute plays?

Activity 3: Quiz Yourself: Identify Flute Parts

Quiz yourself, and identify the following parts from memory on the flute:

• Embouchure Hole
• Head Joint
• Middle Joint
• Foot Joint
• Keys

Activity 4: Can You Find It?

Study the lesson print, 'Young Man Playing Flute,' by Japanese woodblock print artist, Suzuki Harunobu, and find the following:

• Young Man
• Flute
• Sword Hilt
• Geta (Japanese clog/flip-flop)
• Screen
• Japanese Characters

Activity 5: Make Your Own Pan Flute

Materials: Bottles of Different Sizes, Water, Dyes (optional)

Instructions:

• Placing your bottom lip against the rounded lip of the bottle, practice blowing across the top of a bottle to make a sound.
• Add water to the bottle. Does the pitch become higher or lower?
• Add more water to the bottle. Does the pitch become higher or lower?
• Remove water from the bottle. Does the pitch become higher or lower?
• Try with additional bottles, if desired. How does the size and shape of the bottle affect the pitch?
• Line up multiple bottles together to make your own pan flute, and play a tune for your family.
• If you wish, add dyes or colorings to color the water. Be careful - some dyes stain clothes permanently.

Examine the pan flute image.

• How are the bottles similar to a real pan flute?
• How are the bottles different from a real pan flute?
• Based on your bottle experiment, which tube in the picture will produce the highest pitch?
• Based on your bottle experiment, which tube in the picture will produce the lowest pitch?

Review

Question 1

What are the five major categories of instruments listed in the lesson?

1 / 5

Answer 1

The five major categories of instruments are strings, keyboards, percussion, brass, and woodwinds.

1 / 5

Question 2

Which instrument category does this lesson feature?

2 / 5

Answer 2

This lesson features the woodwind category.

2 / 5

Question 3

Which instrument does this lesson feature?

3 / 5

Answer 3

This lesson features the flute.

3 / 5

Question 4

What are the major parts of the flute?

4 / 5

Answer 4

Major parts of the flute include the embouchure hole, the head joint, the middle joint, the foot joint, and the keys.

4 / 5

Question 5

How do musicians create different sounds with woodwinds?

5 / 5

Answer 5

Musicians press woodwind keys or open holes to create different sounds. They also change how hard they blow to manipulate the volume.

5 / 5

❮ ❯

1. What are the five major categories of instruments listed in the lesson? The five major categories of instruments are strings, keyboards, percussion, brass, and woodwinds.
2. Which instrument category does this lesson feature? This lesson features the woodwind category.
3. Which instrument does this lesson feature? This lesson features the flute.
4. What are the major parts of the flute? Major parts of the flute include the embouchure hole, the head joint, the middle joint, the foot joint, and the keys.
5. How do musicians create different sounds with woodwinds? Musicians press woodwind keys or open holes to create different sounds. They also change how hard they blow to manipulate the volume.

References

'Woodwind instrument.' Wikipedia. Wikipedia.org. n.p.

'Flute.' Wikipedia. Wikipedia.org. n.p.