You may purchase this resource individually here.
- Question Sheet (2 pages)
- Skeleton Score PDF (2 pages)
- Answers, Notes and Observations (3 pages)
An aural activity based on bars 1-32 of the third movement. As ever, I like to approach a new work with an activity that encourages the students to listen intently to the music they will be studying. If you are going to select key passages from the symphony to study in detail, the beginning and end of the third movement provide fertile ground for identifying ground-breaking orchestral effects as well as exploring how the music expresses the programme.
Questions address these matters as well as identification of rhythmic characteristics, features relating to pitch and harmonic detail.
You may purchase this resource individually here
2 items:
- Activity Sheet (3 pages)
- Answers, Notes and Observations (5 pages)
An ideal introductory homework to prepare the ground for your work on the Symphonie Fantastique. Task 1: Learn to play the whole of the idée fixe ready to perform for the group next lesson.
Whenever I can introduce some practical into a history lesson I do, not least because the learning point will be guaranteed to stick! To fully appreciate the cyclic structure of the Symphonie Fantastique and how Berlioz subjects this theme to the technique of thematic transformation students need to know the idée fixe inside out. There is some in built differentiation here. You might find a couple of less confident players may want to perform the melody together while a couple of able pianists could pull off a performance that also includes the accompaniment (those challenging off-beat chords!).
There are two rules for Task 1:
- everyone participates!
- everything is thoroughly rehearsed be it a solo/duet….trio or whatever.
We have had some real fun with this activity. One of the most stunning performances I remember being that of an electric guitarist making full use of the effects pedal. I wonder what Berlioz would have made of that!
Other tasks will encourage students to acquaint themselves with the instrumentation as well as listen to the symphony in its entirety. In doing so, they will be asked to locate and/or discuss various musical features in relation to the programme.
You may purchase this resource individually here.
2 items
- Activity Booklet (6 pages)
- Answers, Notes and Observations (8 pages)
This activity concentrates on two of the ground-breaking aspects of the Symphonie Fantastique: the programme and the use of the idée fixe.
In terms of the programme, the information given and related activities start by exploring some historical context against which we can consider Berlioz’s approach. The materials look at both the influences upon Berlioz as well as how he himself conceived of the symphony as a genre. The Activity Booklet then goes on to explore how the programme influences the music. With regard to the use of the idée fixe, the second part of the Activity Booklet focuses upon an understanding of both cyclic form and thematic transformation as they relate to the Symphonie Fantastique.
You may purchase this resource individually here.
3 items:
- Information Sheet (4 pages)
- Activity Sheet (2 pages)
- Answers, Notes and Observations (6 pages)
While setting some useful historical context, the Information Sheet focuses on Berlioz’s ground-breaking approach to orchestration. The Information Sheet could simply be given to students to read but, with this in mind, the Activity Sheet, essentially 20 comprehension questions (with a few bells on) based on the Information Sheet, will serve as a useful homework/revision tool. Designed to ensure that students fully engage with the Information Sheet it highlights key points, requires a bit of extra research and encourages evaluation of the symphony in relation to the information given.