The writing project was to tell the story of "Peter and the Wolf" from the wolf's point of view (to prepare, we read The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka). The students had to explain why the wolf ate the duck and why he should be freed from the zoo. Some of the papers were very persuasive. Some of their reasons included: The wolf was getting a drink of water and accidentally swallowed the duck, the wolf had bad eyesight and thought the duck was a scoop of ice cream, the wolf was saving the duck from the hunters by hiding him in his belly, and the duck had a terribly bossy girlfriend so the wolf ate him to save him from her complaining! It was great to include some writing in music class (and meet Standard 8: Relationships between music and lanuguage arts!).
After all of this prep, we were finally able to hear "Peter and the Wolf" performed by a live orchestra. We had front row seats (literally), which I normally wouldn't want at a concert, but for this it was great because the students got to see most of the instruments up close. The overall favorite part of the concert was watching the "crazy" conductor! Before they performed "Peter and the Wolf", they also played the "Theme from Spiderman." The kids loved this! Then they got to see a high school saxophonist perform with the orchestra after winning a local music contest. Seeing someone so young perform a difficult piece from memory was very inspiring.
As you can tell, we had a great time. The positive response from the kids was overwhelming. They now have a different view of the symphony and realize that it can be "cool." Let's hope they remember this next year when they can join band!
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