Hello Grades 3 and 4:
We will do a composer study this week of Camille Saint-Saens. Please either listen to Ms. Miller reading the information, or read it yourself here on the blog. At the very bottom of the page is an activity for you to do regarding the song to listen to, which has a link. You will be creating a music map for this song.
Ms Miller Reading info about Camille Saint-Saens
Camille Saint-Saens
Born: October 9, 1835
Died: December 16, 1921
Saint-Saens was born in Paris. He was the only child of Jacques-Joseph-Victor Saint-Saens and Francoise-Clemence. His father was an important political figure. Sadly, when Camille was still a baby, his father died from tuberculosis. In these days tuberculosis was called, consumption. Concerned about the health of the baby, Camille was taken to live in the country and lived with a nurse for two years. After two years, be was brought back to Paris and lived with mother and her widowed aunt.
Saint-Saens was an extremely talented musician. In fact, he was considered to be a child prodigy, just like Mozart. By the time he was three years old, he displayed perfect pitch. That means someone could play a note on any instrument and he could tell you what it was without looking.
He began to study piano and it was immediately recognized how talented he was. Even though he was so talented his mother wanted to protect him. She didn't want him to be too famous too soon and wouldn't let him perform until the age of 10, when he made his first concert debut.
At the age of just 13, he attended the Paris Conservatoire, France's best music academy. Here he learned to play the organ and won the top prize for the conservatoire's organists. Saint-Saens was also busy studying the art of composition, which he quickly mastered.
In his days, it was a great honor to play the organ in a church and he became the official organist for a large church in Paris. Because he was so busy playing for the church, weddings and funerals, he earned more money than many other musicians.
Eventually, when he was almost 40 years old, he got married to a young bride who was 19. Her name was Marie-Laure Truffot. Saint-Saens and his wife had two young sons, but sadly they both died when very young. The parents were so sad they decided to not stay married any more.
Saint-Saens went on to perform more music and compose more wonderful music. He became well-known all over Europe and the world. Eventually, other young composers and musicians started giving him some competition and as he got older, people were more drawn to the younger composers and their music.
Even at 86, however, Saint-Saens was still giving occasional performances to small appreciative audiences. And, at 86, he decided to take a little holiday away from Paris. While he was away on holiday he had a heart-attack and died.
Saint-Saens left lots of great music for us to enjoy, including a set of songs called: The Carnival of the Animals, from which 'The Swan' is taken. It is said the he had a great sense of humor and composed this set of songs to make fun of some of his friends! See below for another song from this series.
Activity: (This promotes active listening and through movement or drawing a map, shows understanding of music form, as well as different techniques used to articulate the music)
1. Can you move to the music and make your movements match the music?
2. Could you make a 'map' of the music? How would that look on paper?
- Where do you hear short sounds?
- Where do you hear longer sounds?
- Where do you hear lower or higher pitches? (how could you show this on a music map?)
- Where do you hear smooth or not smooth sounds? (music words: legato and staccato)
- Does the music have sections that repeat?
- Where do the dynamics change and how can you show that on paper or movement?
- Does the music have tempo changes? How can you show that on paper or movement?
