ONSTAGE -...

2016/17 RESOURCE GUIDEDrumline Live!

ONSTAGE

JERRY SH

ULM

AN

HA

BI GIRG

IS

FLIP NIC

KLIN

ABOUT OVERTURE CENTER

FOR THE ARTS

Overture Center for the Arts fills a city block in downtown Madison with world-class venues for the performing and visual arts. Made possible by an extraordinary gift from Madison businessman W. Jerome Frautschi, the center presents the highest-quality arts and entertainment programming in a wide variety of disciplines for diverse audiences. Offerings include performances by acclaimed classical, jazz, pop, and folk performers; touring Broadway musicals; quality children’s entertainment; and world-class ballet, modern and jazz dance. Overture Center’s extensive outreach and educational programs serve thousands of Madison-area residents annually, including youth, older adults, people with limited financial resources and people with disabilities. The center is also home to ten independent resident organizations.

RESIDENT ORGANIZATIONS

Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society Children's Theater of Madison

Forward Theater Company Kanopy Dance Company

Li Chiao-Ping Dance Company Madison Ballet

Madison Opera Madison Symphony Orchestra

Wisconsin Academy’s James Watrous Gallery Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra

Internationally renowned architect Cesar Pelli designed the center to provide the best possible environment for artists and audiences, as well as to complement Madison’s urban environment. Performance spaces range from the spectacular 2,250-seat Overture Hall to the casual and intimate Rotunda Stage. The renovated Capitol Theater seats approximately 1,110, and The Playhouse seats 350. In addition, three multi-purpose spaces provide flexible performance, meeting and rehearsal facilities. Overture Center also features several art exhibit spaces. Overture Galleries I, II and III display works by Dane County artists. The Playhouse Gallery features regional artists with an emphasis on collaborations with local organizations. The Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters’ Watrous Gallery displays works by Wisconsin artists, and the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art offers works by national and international artists.

RESOURCE GUIDE CREDITS

Executive Editor Writer/Designer

Alanna Medearis Jim Burling

Drumline Live Overture Center – OnStage 1

Dear Teachers,

In this resource guide you will find valuable information that will help you apply your academic goals to your students’ performance experience. We have included suggestions for activities which can help you prepare students to see this performance, ideas for follow-up activities, and additional resources you can access on the web. Along with these activities and resources, we’ve also included the applicable Wisconsin Academic Standards in order to help you align the experience with your curriculum requirements.

This Educator’s Resource Guide for this OnStage presentation of Drumline Live is designed to:

• Extend the scholastic impact of the performance by providingdiscussion ideas, activities and further reading which promotelearning across the curriculum;

• Promote arts literacy by expanding students’ knowledge of music,science, storytelling and theatre;

• Illustrate that the arts are a legacy reflecting the values, custom,beliefs, expressions and reflections of a culture;

• Use the arts to teach about the cultures of other people and tocelebrate students’ own heritage through self-reflection;

• Maximize students’ enjoyment and appreciation of theperformance.

We hope this performance and the suggestions in this resource guide will provide you and your students opportunities to apply art learning in your curricula, expanding it in new and enriching ways.

Enjoy the Show!

We Want Your Feedback!

OnStage performances can be evaluated online! Evaluations are vital to the future and funding of this program. Your feedback educates us about the ways the program is utilized and we often implement your suggestions.

Follow this link: https://surveymonkey.com/r/onstage_2016

and fill out an evaluation. We look forward to hearing from you.

Arts

Table of Contents

About Drumline Live! ............................... 2

Drumlines and Historically Black Colleges ... 3

Instruments in a Drumline .........................4

Focus On: Arts Integration .......................6

Activity: College History, Music and Movement ............................................. 7

Books to Read ........................................9

Academic Standards .............................. 10

About Live Performance .........................11

Social Emotional Social Studies

Language Arts Math

Education Categories


About Drumline Live!Drumline Live! is an international tour based on the Historically Black College and University (HBCU) marching band tradition. Created by the music team behind the hit movie Drumline, Drumline Live! brings black marching band tradition to the theatrical stage. With “riveting rhythms, bold beats and ear-grabbing energy,” this stage show is a synchronized musical showcase of the HBCU experience.

Incorporating original compositions and soul-infused interpretations of top 40 hits, Drumline Live!’s program features a musical blend of soul, funk, gospel, jazz and

rock with songs by the legendary band Earth Wind & Fire and the urban soul group Tower of Power. The show includes a performance of American Soul to Motown music by some of the greatest recorded artists of all time,hand-clapping, heart thumping southern gospel music, the sounds of the big band, soulful reinterpretations of top 40 hits and original compositions.

The group’s performances range from colorful, choreographed routines to heavy doses of drum riffs and cadences, recreating the iconic halftime extravaganza of HBCU marching bands.


Drumlines and Historically Black CollegesA drumline is a section of percussion instruments in a marching band. Drumlines can be found on both the high school and college level in marching bands, drum and bugle corps, and pipe bands. They also perform on their own, separately from a full band. While show bands and drumlines have always been popular on large college campuses with a strong football tradition, they gained wider fame with the 2002 film, Drumline.

There are two main components of a drumline: the battery and the front ensemble. The battery is the section that marches on the field as a group. In the battery you’ll find snare drums, bass drums, tenor drums and cymbals. The front ensemble does not move, but remains set in one place on the field. This section consists of instruments that would be impossible to play while moving: mallet instruments such as xylophones, marimbas, and timpani. You may also see congas, claves, gongs, bongos, tambourines, and other percussion instruments.

One of the big challenges of a marching band is “keeping it all together.” Unlike most other musical ensembles, marching bands perform outdoors (sometimes in bad weather) and are executing complicated choreography while they’re playing. Here’s where the drumline is essential; it provides the same important time-keeping function of a drum set player in a rock or jazz band. The popularity of marching band competitions has raised the standard of drumline performance. To win competitions, ensembles have to be excellent musicians and also come up with new and improved “tricks” and techniques every year.

Marching bands evolved out of military bands. Originally, instruments such as drums and bugles were used to direct the movement of troops on the battlefield or set a marching pace for soldiers. Many aspects of military bands survive today in marching bands—from the commands used to direct the formation (“About face!” “Forward march!”) to the precision-drilled marching formations and military-style uniforms. As music became less important in battle, military bands were increasingly used for ceremonial occasions and public concerts. New instruments were invented, and composers such as Johann Strauss and John Philip Sousa wrote music for brass and military bands.

Field musicians, particularly the drummers, had a long history of staging drumming competitions to demonstrate their skill. Separate from the military bands, these demonstration parade units consisted of the traditional field music units and color guards bearing rifles and swords. After World War II, the drum corps (bugles, drums, and color guards) shifted from parade activity to field shows. The field, often an athletic playing field, provided the space for more ambitious and complex demonstrations of marching maneuvers. Today’s marching bands typically include brass, percussion, and woodwind instruments. Some marching bands can have upwards of 300 members—plus dancers and color guard.


Instruments in a DrumlineThe percussion family is the oldest, largest, and most diverse section of a band or orchestra. Its members include any instrument that is played by hitting, shaking, rubbing, or scraping. Some can play specific pitches (tuned percussion), while others do not (untuned percussion).

Instruments in the brass family are all made of metal tubing with a cup-shaped mouthpiece at one end and a wide opening (called the bell) at the other end. They are played by buzzing your lips against the mouthpiece to make the air inside the tube vibrate. As with the strings and woodwinds, how high or low a sound the instrument makes is related to its size; in a brass instrument, the longer the tubing, the lower the sound. The opening inside the tubing of a brass instrument is known as the bore. The size and shape of the bore also affects the way the instrument sounds.

Most members of the woodwind family were originally made of wood, but these days most often are made out of brass or another metal. Like brass instruments, the woodwinds produce their sound by making air vibrate inside a hollow tube. Instead of buzzing their lips against a mouthpiece, however, woodwind players blow air against or into an opening in the instrument. With most woodwinds, the player blows against a thin piece of wood called a reed. The flute and piccolo are a bit different; they don’t have a reed and the player blows against the edge of the opening rather than directly into it.

Xylophone - This instrument consists of a set of wooden keys (made of wood, plastic, or rubber) of graduating lengths. The keys are struck with mallets to produce their sound; the shorter the key, the higher the pitch.

Glockenspiel (GLOK-in- shpeel) - a set of tuned steel bars played with wooden hammers. It is pitched much higher than the xylophone and has no resonators. The marching-band version of this instrument, also known as a bell lyre, is shaped like a lyre and held upright.

Cymbals - This modern percussion instrument consists of two metal plates that are banged together to produce a clashing sound. Cymbals are also part of the drum set used in jazz, rock, and other contemporary music; among these is the hi-hat, a pair of cymbals mounted on a stand

and operated with a foot pedal.

Bass drum - can be anywhere from 13” to 36” in diameter; the larger the drum, the lower the pitch. In marching bands there is a “bass line” with up to 5 band members playing bass drums of different pitches.

Snare drum - a small, wooden two- headed drum with “snares “—wires made of plastic, animal gut, or metal—stretched across its lower head. When the top drumhead is struck with wooden sticks, the snares vibrate against the bottom head, making a rattling sound.

Cowbell - as its name implies, this metal instrument developed from the bell hung around a cow’s neck to help the herder keep track of its whereabouts. In music, you’ll hear the cowbell keeping the beat in salsa, pop, R&B, hip-hop, and other genres. Unlike its ancestor, this cowbell has no clapper. It is played by hitting with a stick, with different tones produced by striking different parts of the bell. Cowbells are also popular noisemakers at sports events.

Shakers, scrapers, and other percussion - these instruments add all kinds of interesting colors and effects to the band or orchestra. They include the anvil, castanets, chimes, claves, cowbell, güiro, maracas, ratchet, shekere, tambourine, temple blocks, triangle, washboard, whip, and wood block.

Trumpet – the highest instrument in the brass family. It has a brighter tone than the cornet and flugelhorn, which it closely resembles. The trumpet is a versatile instrument, used in marching bands, jazz ensembles, and classical orchestras.

Cornet – a three-valved brass instrument similar to the trumpet, but with a deeper mouthpiece and a mellower tone. The cornet is used in military and brass bands, but not generally in a symphony orchestra.

Mellophone – a brass instrument used in marching bands in place of the French horn. Unlike the French horn, it has a bell that faces forward, so the sound travels in the direction the player is marching.

Trombone – a brass instrument that produces different notes using a slide instead of valves to change the length


of the tubing. There is a regular (tenor) and the bass trombone. The bass version has two valves that allow it to play lower notes.

Euphonium (you-FO- nee-um) - a smaller, higher relative of the tuba. It can have three or four valves. There’s a close relative to the euphonium called a baritone.

Tuba – the largest and lowest of the brass instruments, used in classical music and concert bands. They can have anywhere from three to six valves. The tuba is twice as long as the euphonium or baritone. In fact, if you uncoiled the tubing of a B-flat tuba, it would be 18 feet long!

Piccolo – a smaller version of the flute. Pitched an octave higher than the flute, it’s the highest instrument in the orchestra or band. Piccolos are usually made from metal or wood.

Clarinet – a family of instruments of different sizes and ranges. Clarinets are usually made of wood, with metal keys. On the underside of the mouthpiece is a single reed, a thin strip of plant or synthetic material that vibrates when the player blows air across it.

Saxophone – an instrument invented in the 1840s by Adolphe Sax. Because it arrived on the scene rather late compared to other instruments, you won’t often find the saxophone in classical orchestras. Though it is made of brass, it’s considered a woodwind because it is played the same way as most of the other woodwinds; sound is produced by an oscillating reed and the different notes are produced by opening and closing keys. The smaller, higher-pitched saxophones are straight, but the larger saxes have a U-shaped bend that makes the bell point straight up. The instrument has a distinctive tone that has made it popular in pop, big band music, rock and roll, and especially jazz.


Focus On: Arts IntegrationAs you know, the experience of attending an arts performance can have a lasting impact on your students. This guide is designed to help you extend the scholastic aspect of the performance before and after in your classroom. Additionally, live performances like the one your students will be attending provide great opportunities for deep, interdisciplinary lessons using an arts integration approach.

About Arts Integration

Across the nation there has been a growing interest in arts integration as an approach to teaching in which the arts leverage learning in other subject areas such as science, language arts, mathematics, and social studies.

At Overture Center, we are excited by the possibilities arts integration can bring to a school to:

• Motivate students to engage more fully with the related subject area, encouraging joyful, active learning.

• Extend how learners process and retain information by combining several learning modalities (visual, aural, and kinesthetic) and thus, reaching a wider range of students.

• Make content more accessible and allow for personal connections to content.

• Help students understand and express abstract concepts.

Through this model, the arts become the approach to teaching and the vehicle for learning. Students meet dual learning objectives when they engage in the creative process to explore connections between an art form and another subject area to gain greater understanding in both. For example, in a social studies classroom, students can meet objectives in both theater and social studies by dramatizing a historical event. By mutually reinforcing objectives in both theater and social studies, students gain a deeper understanding of the content and are able to demonstrate their learning in an authentic context.

Arts Integration Resources and Activities:

Overture Center offers a variety of Professional Development Workshops for Teachers in Arts Integration each year. To find out about our next workshops and other resources for your teaching, visit overture.org/residencies. For more information on Arts Integration, please visit ArtsEdge, The Kennedy Center’s online resources (https://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/educators/how-to/series/arts-integration/arts-integration).

The following sample activity was developed to give you a taste of an arts integration lesson and to encourage arts integration in your classroom.

The Kennedy Center’s Definition for Arts Integration

Arts Integration is an APPROACH to TEACHING

in which studentsconstruct and demonstrate

UNDERSTANDINGthrough an ART FORM.

Students engage in aCREATIVE PROCESS

which CONNECTSan art form and another subject area

and meets EVOLVING OBJECTIVES

in both.


Arts Integration Activity

Activity: College History, Music and MovementAges 8-12, 30 minutes

Purpose: To understand and practice skills associated with a marching band.

Objectives:

Arts: Students will learn about rhythm, volume, and motion as it relates to Marching Band performances and demonstrate that knowledge in a variety of ways. Students will use rhythm, volume, and motion to practice the skills needed in a marching band, and then apply those skills to producing basic motions in a march.

History: Students will research the pageantry and the history of a Historically Black College or University.

Mathematics: Students will learn about lines, line segments, points, parallel lines, and intersecting lines. Students will recreate these concepts with crafts and with movement.

Materials:

• Computers or other devices with Internet access

• masking tape

• large sheets of paper

• markers, paint, crayons, yarn, ribbon, glitter, etc.

Historically Black Colleges and Universities

Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) are institutions of higher learning that were established before 1964 with the intention of serving the African American community. There are more than 100 historically black colleges in the United States, located almost exclusively in the Southeast.

The HBCU were established after the Civil War as places of dignity and hope where young people had an opportunity to become professionals instead of maids or laborers. Along with the private black colleges and universities founded later by the AMA, these reconstruction era schools became the backbone of higher education for African Americans.

It was in these bastions of higher education that the tradition of the show style marching band was born.

This tradition began over fifty years ago at Florida A&M University, which has been long considered one of the nation’s preeminent black college marching band schools. HBCU marching bands began, as most do, as support for the college football team. They have since grown into a sport of their own, featuring characteristic high stepping, funky dance rhythms, and exciting musical repertoire.

Celebrations of HBCU marching culminate in competitions such as the Big Southern Classic and the Bayou Classic. These competitions, which draw audiences of roughly 60,000 fans each, are a testament to the popularity of the sport. But it is only recently, with films such as Drumline, backed by a flurry of high profile marching band appearances that this tradition has begun to capture the imagination of the American public.


Procedure:

1. Introduce your students to the history of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU). A short overview is provided on the previous page.

2. Either individually or in small groups, have your students look up information about an HBCU online. A great starting site is provided below of some of the most prestigious. Ask them to write a short description of the history of the HBCU they look at, and find out what their school colors are.

3. Individually or in groups, have your students create flags or hats (by curling up and stapling paper) based on those school colors.

4. If you have time, have your students report back on what they found

5. Finally, explain to your students that Marching Bands often form complex patterns using their bodies while they play. Have each student take their flags and hats, and explain that for this last activity, their goal is to move a group, while also listening to your instructions. Break them into two groups, A and B.

6. Organize students in a clump evenly spaced with enough room to move their arms freely, all facing in the one direction. Tell the student to keep the movement even; this is not meant to be a race. The goal is to move into a shape smoothly. You can draw some examples of two lines, as int he image above, or invent your own shapes, using these two groups.

7. If you want, you can play a variety of types of music. Drumline Live! uses a lot of contemporary music, so feel free to get creative with your choice. Then, explain to your students that you’ll be forming a number of shapes, but that they must list over the music. the students arrange themselves in a point (a clump), a line, parallel lines, and intersecting lines. This will be chaotic, so allow for re-dos.

Best Historically Black Colleges and Universities

This is a short guide to some of the most well known or prestigious HBCUs. It also describes how HBCUs are going through a transition, seeing applications from and accepting many non-black students into their institution:

http://www.collegechoice.net/rankings/best-historically-black-colleges-universities/

http://www.collegechoice.net/rankings/best-historically-black-colleges-universities/


Books to ReadCryan-Hicks, Kathryn T., and David H. Huckins. W.E.B. Du Bois: Crusader for Peace. Lowell, MA: Discovery Enterprises, 1991. Print. Ages 8-10.

A beautifully illustrated biography of the famous African-American educator and sociologist W.E.B. Dubois (1868-1963), graduate of a HBCU, who was a key force in the Harlem Renaissance and the civil rights movement as well as an advocate for human rights around the world.

Powell, Richard J., and Jock Reynolds. To Conserve a Legacy: American Art from Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Andover, MA: Addison Gallery of American Art, 1999. Print. Ages 11 and up.

A book that documents a sampling of various paintings, prints, drawings and sculptures owned by Clark Atlanta University, Fisk University, Hampton University, Howard University, North Carolina Central University and Tuskegee University.

Williams, Juan, Dwayne Ashley, and Shawn Rhea. I’ll Find a Way or Make One: A Tribute to Historically Black Colleges and Universities. New York: Amistad, 2004. Print. Ages 13 and up.

Exploring the historical, social, and cultural importance of America’s 107 historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs).This commemorative illustrated gift book is filled with photographs, historical narrative, personal memoir, archival and contemporary material, and anecdotal and resource information. A retrospective that explores the dramatic development and history of America’s historically black colleges and universities. The tales of how these schools were created and of the individuals who are linked to the schools’ histories are extraordinarily rich.


Theatre:

A.4.1 Attend a live theatre performance and discuss the experience

• explain what happened in the play

• identify and describe the characters

• say what they liked and didn’t like

• describe the scenery, lighting and/or costumes

D4.1 Explain strengths and weakness of their own work and that of others

D.4.2 Identify strengths (what worked) and weaknesses (what didn’t work) in character work and scenes presented in class

D.4.3 Identify what they need to do to make their character or scene more believable and/or understandable

D.4.4 Share their comments constructively and supportively within the group

Dance

A.4.1 Recognize and explore space, time, and force as the three elements of dance

A.4.2 Define and maintain personal space and move safely in groups throughout the general space

A.4.5 Explore forms of locomotion using other bases of support (such as roll, crawl, cartwheel, or slide)

A.4.6 Combine various locomotor forms with directional changes (such as forward, backward, sidewards, diagonal, or turn)

A.4.7 Create shapes through movement and move at low, medium, and high levels

A.4.8 Demonstrate movements using various pathways (such as straight, curved, zig-zag, twisted, or turning) on the ground and in the air

A.8.6 Demonstrate increasing kinesthetic awareness, concentration, and focus in performing movement skills

A.8.7 Continue to observe and describe movement elements in creative dance studies using appropriate movement/dance vocabulary

English Language Arts

B.8.1 Create or produce writing to communicate with different audiences for a variety of purposes

C.8.1 Orally communicate information, opinions, and ideas effectively to different audiences for different purposes

F.8.1 Conduct research and inquiry on self-selected or assigned topics, issues, or problems and use an appropriate form to communicate their findings

Social Studies

A.8.7 Describe the movement of people, ideas, diseases, and products throughout the world

C.4.1 Identify and explain the individual’s responsibilities to family, peers, and the community, including the need for civility and respect for diversity

C.4.6 Locate, organize, and use relevant information to understand an issue in the classroom or school, while taking into account the viewpoints and interests of different groups and individuals

Music

F.4.2 Identify simple music forms upon listening to a given example

F.4.3 Demonstrate perceptual skills by listening to, answering questions about, and describing music of various styles representing diverse cultures

Academic Standards


About Live PerformanceTheater, unlike movies or television, is a LIVE performance. This means that the action unfolds right in front of an audience, and the performance is constantly evolving. The artists respond to the audience’s laughter, clapping, gasps and general reactions. Therefore, the audience is a critical part of the theater experience. In fact, without you in the audience, the artists would still be in rehearsal!

Remember, you are sharing this performance space with the artists and other audience members. Your considerate behavior allows everyone to enjoy a positive theater experience.

Prepare: Be sure to use the restroom before the show begins!

Find Your Seat: When the performance is about to begin, the lights will dim. This is a signal for the artists and the audience to put aside conversations. Settle into your seat and get ready to enjoy the show!

Look and Listen: There is so much to hear (dialogue, music, sound effects) and so much to see (costumes, props, set design, lighting) in this performance. Pay close attention to the artists onstage. Unlike videos, you cannot rewind if you miss something.

Energy and Focus: Artists use concentration to focus their energy during a performance. The audience gives energy to the artist, who uses that energy to give life to the performance. Help the artists focus that energy. They can feel that you are with them!

Talking to neighbors (even whispering) can easily distract the artists onstage. They approach their audiences with respect, and expect the same from you in return. Help the artists concentrate with your attention.

Laugh Out Loud: If something is funny, it’s good to laugh. If you like something a lot, applaud. Artists are thrilled when the audience is engaged and responsive. They want you to laugh, cheer, clap and really enjoy your time at the theater.

Discover New Worlds: Attending a live performance is a time to sit back and look inward, and question what is being presented to you. Be curious about new worlds, experience new ideas, and discover people and lives previously unknown to you. Your open mind, curiosity, and respect will allow a whole other world to unfold right before your eyes!

Please, don’t feed the audience: Food is not allowed in the theater. Soda and snacks are noisy and distracting to both the artists and audience.

Unplug: Please turn off all cell phones and other electronics before the performance. Photographs and recording devices are prohibited.

Help make arts experiences real for hundreds of thousands of people at overturecenter .org/ sup port

SPONSORS

Sponsored by American Girl's Fund for Children. Additional funding provided by the DeAtley FamilyFoundation, Kuehn Family Foundation, A. Paul Jones Charitable Trust, Promega Corporation, WisconsinArts Board with funds from the State of Wisconsin and the National Endowment for the Arts, Green BayPackaging/George F. Kress Foundation, Nancy E. Barklage & Teresa J. Welch, and by contributions toOverture Center for the Arts.

C.W

. HEW

SON

Date post:	22-Mar-2018
Category:	Documents
Upload:	buithuan
View:	215 times
Download:	1 times

ONSTAGE -...

Documents