Nicholas Hersh, conductor Kathryn Bowden - …€¦ · Nicholas Hersh, conductor Kathryn Bowden,...

Nicholas Hersh, conductor

Kathryn Bowden, soprano

Music for Youth (Grades 4-6)

Thu, February 9, 2017

10am & 11:30am

Fri, February 10, 2017

10am & 11:30am

Table of Contents

Welcome Letter, Teachers’ Guide Information ……………….………….……………………… 1

Heroes & Villains: Concert Program…………………………………………………………………… 3

Heroes & Villains: Snapshot for Teachers and Students.……………………………………….. 4

Trial One: The Super Ensemble!.……………..…………………………….……….………………… 6 Music, Creating, Performing, Responding, Connecting, Social Studies, English Language Arts

Trial Two: Dream and Fear Walks………………………………………….……………………….... 9 Music, Creating, Performing, Responding, Connecting, English Language Arts, Drama

Trial Three: Mad Libs……………..………….………………………………….............................. 13 Creating, Connecting, English Language Arts, STEAM

Trial Four: Point of View..….....……………….………………..…...……………………………….... 17 Creating, Connecting, Social Studies, English Language Arts

Trial Five: Story Structure……………..…………………….…………………………..……………….. 19 Connecting, Performing, Connecting, English Language Arts, Drama

Trial Six: Designing a Comic Book…………….....………………………….……...….…………… 22 Creating, Connecting, English Language Arts, Visual Arts

Special Thanks ……………………………………..………………...………..….………………………... 24

On behalf of the Associate Conductor for Education, Nicholas Hersh, the members of the Baltimore

Symphony Orchestra, and the BSO Education Department, I am delighted to welcome you to our

2016-2017 Midweek Concert Series. This season we celebrate the BSO Centennial: 100 years of

extraordinary orchestral music in Baltimore. With the BSO Midweek Concert series as the longest

running education initiative at the BSO (running since February 16, 1924), and the first regular

educational concert series of any orchestra in the country, we are thrilled to have you join us to

celebrate this momentous occasion here at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall.

This Centennial Midweek Concert Season, we present four concert themes: two for younger students

(The Snowman and Beethoven’s Nifty Numbers) and two for older students (This Land is Your Land and Heroes & Villains). For the second time ever in the history of the BSO, we are offering

concerts for High School Students with special presentations of This Land is Your Land.

Three of these concert themes have been hand-selected especially for this season to celebrate our

Centennial. This Land is Your Land celebrates the history of American national parks; Heroes & Villains celebrates iconic figures in literature, movies, and American culture; and Beethoven’s Nifty Numbers celebrates the BSO’s tradition of bringing live music to student audiences with Beethoven’s

timeless and engaging music. All programs include our Arts-Integrated, STEAM-Activated approach

to relevant, interactive, and interconnected concerts.

On the next pages you will find the Teachers’ Guide for Heroes &Villains, written by a highly skilled

group of Maryland educators with specialism in music, drama, science, English/Language Arts, and

visual arts, led by extraordinary award-winning curriculum writer and editor, Richard McCready.

At the start of the guide is a “Snapshot” of your concert experience. This will give you a sense of what

to expect in the concert, along with some thoughts about the various curricular connections, and

music we suggest you experience in the classroom before the performance.

Beyond the Snapshot pages you will find a variety of activities, called “Trials”, to signify the various

directions that you can explore in order to prepare for this concert. Each Trial may be used in

whichever order you wish. We have also highlighted the various cross-curricular links that align with

each Trial so that you may jump to areas that are of particular interest to you and your students. We

hope that your students try at least one activity prior to coming to the concert so they can make the

most of their live experience at the Meyerhoff.

Each activity is written to the student and encourages their natural sense of creativity and exploration.

They will be able to read the activity pages, or you will be able to read the activities with them. Some

of the activities are scientific, some are movement games, some employ and encourage art skills, and

some involve storytelling and role-play. You best know your students, their capabilities, and their

interests. You should encourage students to try the activities that you feel most appropriate for them

and for your classroom. Encourage other teachers in your building to try some of the activities as well.

These guides are designed and intended as a mere starting point for exploration, with the essential

piece being the work that is created by the student, for the student. Our ultimate goal is to facilitate a

strong connection between the music performed by the BSO and the everyday lives of your students,

so that they may continue to take music with them wherever they go.

Welcome to the BSO Midweeks!

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Please feel free to share your students’ work with us at the BSO—we love to see where the ideas

from these activities might take your students and all the inspired, arts-integrated work they will

produce in the classroom. If you wish to share any materials with us at the BSO, please send them

to [email protected].

We hope you enjoy this guide, your explorations that are yet to come, the concert experience, and

sharing your creative work with us.

Warmly,

Katie Brill

Education Programs Coordinator

Baltimore Symphony Orchestra

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mailto:[email protected]

Heroes & Villains: Concert Program

Below is the list of pieces that will be performed on the Midweek Concert presentations of Heroes & Villains. Please take a moment to listen to these pieces in advance of the concert on Youtube,

Spotify, or iTunes.

BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 3, op. 55, E flat major “Eroica”, Movement 1

W.A. MOZART: "Der Hölle Rache" from The Magic Flute, K. 620

WILLIAMS: “Rey’s Theme” from Star Wars: The Force Awakens

WILLIAMS: “The Imperial March” from Star Wars

STRAVINSKY: “Infernal Dance”, Berceuse (lullaby), and finale from The Firebird Suite (1919 version)

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For centuries, humankind has exemplified figures in literature, theater, visual art, music, film, and in our

own past and present, as a “hero”. We frequently look to these figures as sources of inspiration to make

ourselves better people. We come to love these role models by following them along the journey that

shaped them into who they are. Among other authors, Joseph Campbell defines his interpretation of the

hero’s journey in his work The Hero with a Thousand Faces, which the BSO used as a starting point for

this Midweek Concert as well as this Teacher Resource Guide.

The Hero with a Thousand Faces describes the basic pattern in literature of the storyline, or archetype,

illustrating the hero’s path to becoming the hero as we know him or her. With milestones such as a “call to

adventure”, beginning the journey in the first place; aid from a supernatural figure or force; the hero facing a

series of tests, ultimately leading to a major discovery; and the return home, we can most basically view this

journey as a discovery of identity. This storyline can also apply to those characters or people who we

designate as a “villain”, the most significant difference being that the villain commits acts of perceived evil.

On first glance, we can define the hero as “not the villain” and the villain as “not the hero” based on their

choices or actions. The paradox is that while heroes and villains may be introduced as polar opposites, the

hero and villain are soon shown to share similar characteristics, and an important part of the hero’s journey

involves the hero embracing this fact. So, then, what makes a hero a hero? Conversely, what makes a villain

a villain? Can a hero turn into a villain, or vice versa?

This concert program explores representations of heroes and villains in music, exploring possible answers

to these open questions.

Composer Ludwig van Beethoven had complicated feelings about Napoleon as a leader. Like many people

at the time, Beethoven at first hailed Napoleon as the embodiment of ideologies blossoming from the

French Revolution. He was even planning to dedicate his third symphony to Napoleon—that is, until

Napoleon declared himself emperor of France in 1804. Beethoven felt so disgusted that he renamed the

symphony to the nickname we know today: “Eroica” (“heroic”). Whether you hear a hero or villain when

you listen to this piece in the concert is up to you.

Soon afterward, you will meet one of the most infamous villains in all of opera: the Queen of the Night

from W.A. Mozart’s The Magic Flute. Similarly to Napoleon, the Queen of the Night appears to be a good

person at the beginning of the opera, whose servants save the life of the romantic lead, a prince named

Heroes & Villains: Snapshot for Teachers and Students

The Hero’s (and Villain’s) Journey

The Concert

4

Tamino. The queen then presents herself as a victim, asking for Tamino’s help to rescue her daughter from

an “evil” sorcerer (Sarastro) that kidnapped her.

Eventually, though, we see a completely different facet of the queen’s personality. In the third piece on the

concert program, “Der Hölle Rache”, the true personality of the queen is revealed—in action and in her

unusually high vocal range—as she threatens to disown her daughter if her daughter refuses to kill Sarastro,

who is, in fact, the “good guy”. Our perception of the queen as good or evil is therefore based entirely on

what we know or don’t know she is capable of doing.

The concert program then examines a hero and a villain from Star Wars represented through music: Rey

and Darth Vader, respectively. As you listen, make sure to think about what the music says about each of

these characters. Feel free to discuss with your classmates afterward what similarities and differences you

heard between these character depictions.

Lastly, the selections from The Firebird trace a portion of the hero’s journey through music. With the help

of a firebird that has supernatural powers, the main character, Prince Ivan, defeats an evil sorcerer, freeing

thirteen princesses and all the beings bewitched under the sorcerer. Everyone celebrates victory over the

villain. The composer, Igor Stravinsky, was very picky when he chose which instruments would play

different parts, as if he was an author looking for the right word choice.

No hero can be perceived as completely good, nor can any villain be perceived as completely evil. In fact,

we often find examples when the storyline causes us to sympathize with a villain. Most importantly, though,

we should pay attention to what cultural values we choose to take away from the stories we read, the films

we watch, and the music we listen to, and how we act based on those values.

Each of you reading this guide, regardless of your age, probably already has a favorite hero in mind, and

maybe even a favorite villain. Take a moment to think about what it is in that person or character that

appeals to you, and what that says about you as a person. Knowing your own strengths and weaknesses, this

little bit of reflection can go a long way in helping you do good things —and possibly becoming a hero—in

your own community.

The Takeaway

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Trial One: The Super Ensemble!

Film music is essential to superhero movies to help tell the story and make the

action come alive. Can you work with your classmates and create the next hit film

score?

This activity can be done with a band class, orchestra class, chorus class, guitar class,

or any general music class with classroom instruments.

Activity Ideas

Think of your favorite superhero movie, comic, or story. What was the most

exciting part? What kind of music was playing during that moment? What sounds

did the composer include? Were they high, low, loud, soft, fast, slow, short, or long?

Each instrument has its own unique set of sounds that it can make, including the

human voice. For example, a violin can be plucked, bowed (open strings, fingered

notes, harmonics), knocked on, etc. Brainstorm with your instrument/voice section

as many sounds for your instrument/voice that you can make. Remember, be the

superhero to your instrument and rescue it from any damage or disrespect!

Create a soundscape of a heroic moment or a time that you were a hero by

organizing and taking turns assigning roles to each section of the ensemble. Perform

your new film score and be sure to give it a title. You can use the following situations

and images as a starting point or a warm-up. Tell your heroic story through music: it

could be your journey to a new place, your team at the championship basketball

game, or overcoming a tough math test!

Situation #1: The whole neighborhood is being terrorized by a giant dinosaur!

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Situation #2:

Situation #3: You’re walking in the hallway and a teacher drops his books and papers and they

scatter all over the floor.

Situation #4: Your best friend tells you that she is actually an alien from another planet and wants

you to help her take over the entire planet.

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Curriculum Connections Fine Arts Standards

Creating

o 1: Generate and conceptualize artistic ideas and work.

o 2: Organize and develop artistic ideas and work.

o 3: Refine and complete artistic work.

Performing

o 4: Select, analyze, and interpret artistic work for presentation.

Connecting

o 10: Synthesize and relate knowledge and personal experiences to make art.

ELA Practices

E2: They build strong content knowledge.

E3: They respond to the varying demands of audience, task, purpose, and discipline.

Social Studies Practices

SS5: Communicating and critiquing solutions.

SS6: Taking informed action.

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Trial Two: Dream and Fear Walks

In this series of exercises you will use improvisation and creative movement to reveal

what really drives the characters of the Hero and the Villain. You may be surprised

at what you discover!

Activity Ideas

Warm-Up: Using the Body to Learn about Character

Everyone begins in their own space in the room, slightly away from everyone else.

Without saying anything, each person must think of one person in the room that will

be the one who most frightens him/her during the game. They will be the “Villain”.

On a signal from the leader, everyone moves around the room, trying to keep as far

away from the Villain as possible, but also not letting the Villain become aware that

they have chosen them as the one they fear. After a short time, the leader asks

everyone to think of another person who will be their protector (who should also

not be able to tell s/he has been chosen.) They will be the “Hero”…but they don’t

know it! Now everyone moves around again, trying to keep their Hero between

them and their Villain. Eventually, the leader should count down from ten to zero

out loud. When the leader says “Zero”, everyone must freeze where they are. Then

all the players can find out who has succeeded in evading the one they fear!

Playing our Heroes and our Fears

The leader divides the group in half (Group A and B). Have Group A write their

names on a piece of paper, along with the name of a hero or mythical figure they

dreamt of being when they were much younger kids. They will use these characters

for the exercise. Group B will watch.

The leader gives the following instructions to Group A: “Move around the space

without interacting with one another, but using your bodies to show the main

characteristic of the hero or mythical figure you are playing. Think about what

fascinated you about this dream person when you were little and show us that, using

only your facial expression and movement and gestures, but without talking to

anyone else in the room.”

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After a few minutes of everyone moving around, the leader says, “Now look for a partner. Start a

dialogue with your partner, but without saying anything that would obviously reveal who your

character is. For instance, don’t say, ‘Hello, I am Superman!’ Simply act as that person might act.

Talk for a couple of minutes.”

After this, the leader tells everyone to change partners, and the new couple also engages in a

dialogue, together with each person maintaining and developing their character. After two more

minutes, the leader asks everyone to find one last partner to interact with. The entire time this is

happening, Group B is watching closely.

Saying what you Saw

Now the leader says the names of the students in Group A one at a time, and those in Group B (as

well as everyone else in A) must name the characteristics they saw in that person as they played the

game. They should not try and guess the name of the dream person hero (Superman, Rosa Parks,

firefighter, etc.), but rather try to describe how the person they were watching behaved. Write down

all the things people say in one long list.

Now repeat the same game, this time with Group B acting out their childhood dreams while Group

A watches.

Part II

Now it gets fun! This time play the game exactly the same way, but with two differences: 1) this time

you must play the character or characteristic of a villain that frightened you as a young child; 2) when

you talk to your partners, you must try to frighten them, just as you were frightened as a young child

of the character you are playing. You must choose a real, concrete person, animal, etc., to be afraid

of for this part of the game to work well. For instance, instead of playing “fear of the dark”, play the

person or thing you were afraid was hidden in the dark. Is it a big monster? Even if your fear was

something like “being struck by lightning”, try to play a person or thing throwing down the lighting.

Have some fun with this!

Say what you Saw

Follow the same process you used in the first part, this time writing down everyone’s observations

opposite the observations you write about the Hero/Dream characters.

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Useful Web Links

Links to Hero and Villain Movie Themes

Superman Theme:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9vrfEoc8_g&list=RDZDcrMScGaj8&index=3

Mission Impossible Theme:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAYhNHhxN0A&list=RDZDcrMScGaj8&index=10

Rocky Theme:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioE_O7Lm0I4&list=RDZDcrMScGaj8&index=31

Spiderman Movie Theme:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ac4xamCIgY&index=42&list=RDZDcrMScGaj8

Batman Theme:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udRQLPy35v8&index=35&list=RDZDcrMScGaj8

Jaws Theme: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDcrMScGaj8&list=RDZDcrMScGaj8#t=0

Star Wars: The Imperial March (Darth Vader's Theme): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-

bzWSJG93P8

Questions to Discuss, Write About, and Share

What do you notice about the two lists? Are they very similar or very different?

Why do you think that is?

What do you think these two lists tell us about what we idolize and what we fear?

Is there anything else you noticed while watching? Did people behave very differently when

walking around on their own than they did with each other? Why do you think that is?

How do your heroes and fears now compare to those when you were younger? Are they very

different or very much the same? Why?

Extensions

Try the same exercises, but this time with music playing. Let everyone bring in a piece of

music that sounds heroic or scary for the game. What do you notice about the pieces people

shared?

Listen to the following pieces in Useful Web Links, which were composed as themes for

movie heroes and villains. Use the music as movement inspiration as you play the Warm-Up

game and have everyone freeze when you stop the music. How did the music inspire

everyone’s movement?

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9vrfEoc8_g&list=RDZDcrMScGaj8&index=3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAYhNHhxN0A&list=RDZDcrMScGaj8&index=10

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioE_O7Lm0I4&list=RDZDcrMScGaj8&index=31

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ac4xamCIgY&index=42&list=RDZDcrMScGaj8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udRQLPy35v8&index=35&list=RDZDcrMScGaj8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDcrMScGaj8&list=RDZDcrMScGaj8#t=0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bzWSJG93P8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bzWSJG93P8


Creating


Performing


Responding

o 7: Perceive and analyze artistic work.

Connecting


o 11: Relate artistic ideas and works with societal, cultural, and historical context to

deepen understanding.

ELA Practices

E1: They demonstrate independence.



The Scary Wolf from Peter and the Wolf: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXTGV6V7neY

The Catwoman Theme (from Batman Returns): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOGm2TSOi2s

What instruments do you hear in each piece? What kind of rhythm? How did the music make you

feel? How did it make you want to move? Can you make your own hero or villain music using only

what’s in the room for everyone to move to in the game? What theme music can you make for a

hero or villain in a story you are reading right now?

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXTGV6V7neY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOGm2TSOi2s

Trial Three: Mad Libs

When we write, it helps us if we understand what the different parts of speech are.

In this activity, we will focus on identifying nouns, verbs, and adjectives. A noun is a

word that identifies a person, place, thing, or idea. Some examples include teacher, school, chalkboard, and education. A verb is a word that describes an action, state,

or occurrence. Some examples include educate, learn, and write. An adjective is a

word that describes a noun. Some examples are smart, excited, and confused. This

activity will give you practice identifying and using different parts of speech.

Activity Ideas

Warm-Up

Pair up with the person next to you. Decide who will provide nouns, verbs, and

adjectives to complete the blanks of this story below and who will read your

completed Mad Libs story. The person providing the parts of speech is not allowed

to see the story beforehand. The person who reads the story will ask the other

person for a part of speech depending on what needs to go in each blank. Once all

the blanks have been filled in, the person with the story in his or her hand will read

it aloud. The finished story might be really silly!

A Heroine’s Tale

We meet our heroine in a giant (NOUN)

just outside of Baltimore,

Maryland. She has (ADJECTIVE)

hair and wears a cape made of

(NOUN) . No one knows that she is a heroine, but she hopes one day that

the entire world will know her (NOUN) . As she waits to solve a

(ADJECTIVE) problem, she all of a sudden hears

someone (VERB ENDING IN -ING)

out in (NOUN) .

She knows that she must (VERB)

the day, so she (VERB ENDING IN -S)

toward the sound. She finds a (NOUN)

lying on the (NOUN)

who seems very (ADJECTIVE)

. As she tries to save the day, a swarm of

(PLURAL NOUN)

tries to attack her.

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With her (NOUN) , she fends them off and frees the victim. Once they make it back home to

Baltimore, the heroine tells the rest of the town always to (VERB)

, “It is important to

(VERB) a

(NOUN) with you wherever you go!”

Now it’s your turn to make your very own story with blanks to complete.

Main Activity

This main activity should help you practice your storytelling skills. It should also help you identify

nouns, verbs, and adjectives, three of the main parts of speech.

Think about what happens in the beginning (meet the characters and setting), middle (encounter

obstacles before reaching the goal), and end of the hero’s journey (reach the goal and bring

something back home to society). Sometimes, this journey involves a villain. You are going to write

your own mini-story about a hero’s or a villain’s journey. If you need some inspiration, the picture

below might inspire your creative process.

Once you finish writing your story, you will underline the nouns, verbs, and adjectives that you want

someone else to replace. Keep this copy with the underlined words as your “answer key” or original

version. Cover your important nouns, verbs, and adjectives with Post-it notes, or make another copy

of this story that has blanks where your important nouns, verbs, and adjectives are on your original

copy. Have a classmate fill in the blanks with nouns, verbs, and adjectives of their own the same way

you did in the warm-up activity, so that you end up with a new version of your story.

14

Useful Web Links

The Firebird (Version 1): http://www.artrusse.ca/fairytales/firebird.htm

The Firebird (Version 2): http://stpetersburg-guide.com/folk/swolf.shtml

The Firebird (Version 3): http://www.balletdancersguide.com/firebird-ballet.html

Next, pick a partner. Do not show your stories to each other yet! First, ask your partner for nouns,

verbs, and adjectives to put in the blanks of your story. Read aloud the new version of your story to

your partner. Compare your original story to the new story with the words your partner gave you.

Were they close at all? Whose story do you like better and why?

Then, your partner will ask you for parts of speech to replace the important nouns, verbs, and

adjectives from their story. They will read the new version of their story to you. Compare your

partner’s original story to the new version with the words that you gave them.

Extension Activity

In small groups or as a whole class, reflect on the following questions:

How important is word choice when an author is trying to tell a story?

Can the reader still understand the story if an author includes multiple words that do not

quite make sense with the storyline?

Look at a few versions of the story behind Stravinsky’s The Firebird (see Useful Web Links) and

discuss with your classmates how important you think word choice is when an author is telling you a

story. Do you find a story more interesting because of the words an author chooses? Why or why

not?

15

http://www.artrusse.ca/fairytales/firebird.htm

http://stpetersburg-guide.com/folk/swolf.shtml

http://www.balletdancersguide.com/firebird-ballet.html


Creating



Connecting


ELA Practices



Math Practices

M1: Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.

M7: Look for and make use of structure.

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Trial Four: Point of View

Point of View is the way we perceive something, which often shows how we feel and

think in a particular situation or about a particular person. For example, if you

earned a B in class, your teacher might feel proud of you because you worked so

hard for that B, but you might feel disappointed because you wanted an A. Point of

view can also mean, literally, how we see something with our eyes. For example, if

we are standing on top of a mountain looking at a house, then it looks different to us

than it would if we were looking at it from across the street. It is important for us to

consider points of view when we decide whether or not someone is a hero or a

villain.

Activity Ideas

Before you look at different points of view on one character or person, you need to

look at different character traits and decide which ones you think are heroic

characteristics and which ones are more villainous qualities. Visit the following web

site for a list of character traits: Read, Write, Think. With three different colored

highlighters, highlight heroic traits in one color, villainous traits in another color, and

traits that could be heroic or villainous in the third color.

Choose a character or person from literature, history, or pop culture that you find

interesting. Once you have chosen your person, you will represent them from

different points of view. Research information about that person, and then consider

organizing your answers to some or all of the following questions in a web, chart, or

list:

Has this person done things for others or only for him/herself?

What things has he/she done that make him/her seem like a villain?

What things has he/she done that make him/her seem like a hero?

What are this person’s goals? How have they achieved those goals?

What qualities from your list of character traits do you think describe this

person?

17

http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/lesson_images/lesson175/traits.pdf


Creating



Connecting


ELA Practices


E5: They value evidence.

E7: They come to understanding other perspectives and cultures.

Social Studies Practices

SS1: Developing questions and planning inquiry.

SS3: Gathering and evaluating evidence.

Now that you have your information, consider what different people would say on social media

about this person. You have two options: you can write two tweets about this person, one from the

point of view of someone who regards this person as a hero and one from the point of view of

someone who regards this person as a villain; or you can write two tweets about this person, one that

makes people think of him/her as a hero and one that makes people think of him/her as a villain. If

you know how to write a hashtag, then you should certainly include one or two in each of your

tweets!

Here is an example for Christopher Columbus:

Villain: Columbus might have colonized a “new world”, but he got rid of a whole lot of

people to do it.

Hero: Columbus discovered a new world and pioneered a new age of exploration.

Write each of your tweets on a different index card. Shuffle all of the index cards and pass them out

to different students in the class. On the chalkboard or on a big table, sort all of the tweets into two

columns: heroes and villains.

As a class, discuss why each person ended up in the column they are in. Highlight words in certain

tweets that really show heroic or villainous qualities.

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Trial Five: Story Structure

Plot is the series of events that happen in a novel, short story, play, movie, or even a

song. Certain stories, like ones about a hero’s journey, usually follow the same kind

of pattern in their plots. In this lesson, you will learn about the patterns many

heroes’ journeys follow. You will also create your own hero’s journey and act it out

for your classmates!

Activity Ideas

Warm-Up

The following paragraphs are a summary of the hero’s journey. Substitute each

blank with a word or short phrase that you think best replaces it:

In the (NOUN)

of the hero’s journey, the writer introduces the reader to

the important (NOUN)

in the story, including the main (NOUN)

and the main (NOUN)

where most of the events happen. The reader then

finds out the main (NOUN)

of the story for the main (NOUN)

of the story; this problem might be because of the “bad guy” in the story who tries to

prevent the hero from reaching his or her goal.

In the middle of a story, that person then tries to (VERB)

a solution to the

problem, but they encounter many obstacles on their way to the (NOUN) ;

many of those obstacles might be because of the villain. Eventually, during the most

intense (NOUN)

of the story, the hero (VERB)

his or her

biggest obstacle, which is usually the villain!

In the following action, he or she gets what he or she wants and has to find a way

home. When the hero (VERB)

home, they share the knowledge that they

(VERB) on their journey with other characters. The hero might

eventually die, especially if they suffered battle wounds, but the most important parts

of the hero’s journey are that they (VERB)

what they want, achieve fame,

and bring good things, knowledge, or news back to the rest of society.

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Main Activity

Now that you have reviewed a summary of the progression of a hero’s journey, you are going to write

a story of a hero with a partner. The twist: you are going to act out this hero’s journey! After all,

some of our favorite journeys are the ones we watch in a movie.

With another person, create a storyboard of a scene involving two people, one you think is a villain

and another you think is a hero. In this scene, you want to show the character traits about each

person that you think makes each one either a hero or a villain. Think about some of these

questions as you create the storyboard for your scene:

In what setting can you place these two characters that will help you show who is the villain

and who is the hero?

What character traits do you think make someone a villain or hero?

What “goal” does your hero want to achieve?

How does the villain try to stop that hero from achieving the goal?

What will be the beginning, middle, and end of your story?

Optional: Can you incorporate a plot twist that turns the hero into the villain or the villain

into the hero?

Additional Component: In order to help your audience really understand your characters, find or

create music for both the villain and the hero that goes along with your story and each character.

Meet back with the whole class so that each group can act out their scene. The rest of the class has to

answer the following questions about your scene:

What is the beginning, middle, and end of your scene?

Which character is the villain and which one is the hero?

What are the heroic and villainous qualities you saw in each of the characters?

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Creating



Performing


o 5: Develop and refine artistic techniques and work for presentation.

ELA Practices




Key Terms

Exposition: The beginning of a story where the audience meets the characters and setting.

Character(s): The people who carry out the actions in the story.

Setting: Where the story takes place.

Villain: The “bad guy” of the story.

Conflict: The main problem of the story.

Resolution: How the main problem is solved.

Hero: The “good guy” of the story.

Climax: The part of the story where everything gets the most suspenseful for the main

character. Things could either go really well for him or really terribly for him.

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Trial Six: Designing a Comic Book

Have you ever had a great idea for a comic book hero? Here is your chance to bring

it to life! Try your hand at creating a comic book, including text and illustrations.

Activity Ideas

In the concert you will hear Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite. The inspiration for this

music is a classic tale of good versus evil, hero versus villain.

Now think of your own story with a hero and a villain. Write down a brief summary

of the story with your hero and villain, in which the hero is trying to do something

good and the villain is trying to prevent him/her from accomplishing his/her goal.

Now look at http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/comic/ . This

is a cool web site where you will be able to create your own version of your story

using the drawing tools. It’s easy to add props, characters, speech balloons, and you

can print out your cartoon when you’ve finished it.

You can also visit http://comicbookpaper.com , where you can print out a blank

template for you to draw your own cartoon using pencils, pens, or markers.

For your storyline, include a problem the hero has to overcome, a climax to the

story, with a cliffhanger (Oh no! What happens next?). The final frame can include

something like, “next week, see our hero/villain solve this problem”. Design pictures

that clearly show who the characters are.

Useful Web Links

http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/comic/

http://comicbookpaper.com/

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Creating




Connecting


ELA Practices



E6: They use technology and digital media strategically and capably.

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SPECIAL THANKS

The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra acknowledges with gratitude the

work of the following individuals who contributed to the development

of these materials:

Richard McCready, Lesson Plan Writing Workshop

Facilitator; Lead Writer, Editor

River Hill High School, Howard County

Caro Appel, Writer

River Hill High School, Howard County

Gina Braden, Writer

The Park School of Baltimore, Baltimore County

Ron Capurso, Writer

Howard High School, Howard County

Nellie Hill, Writer

Retired, Howard County

Rebecca Ludwig, Writer

Roland Park Elementary/Middle School, Baltimore City

Catina Ramis, Writer

Veterans Elementary School, Howard County

Danielle Wojcik Webber, Writer

Home and Hospital Teacher, Howard County

Katie Brill, Education Programs Coordinator

Baltimore Symphony Orchestra

The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra is proud to

acknowledge support for its Midweek Education

Series from the following funders:

Official Education Partner:

Centennial Season Education Partner:

Midweek Education Concert Series Sponsors:

These concerts are supported, in part, through

the generosity of the Zanvyl and Isabelle

Krieger Endowed Fund for Education and

the Patricia and Mark K. Joseph Music

Education Fund for City Schools students.

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