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SAMPLE LEARNING GUIDE TO:
THE BOLERO
SUBJECTS --- Music (Classical);
SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL LEARNING --- Talent.
This sample is just a taste of the Learning Guide to The Bolero. At TeachWithMovies.com, $11.99 per year provides access to 300 Learning Guides and lesson plans covering many topics in the K-12 curriculum.
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Learning Guides are flexible tools that allow teachers to easily develop lesson plans. Each Guide also has a special section for parents who want to use movies to supplement curriculum.
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Age: 9+; MPAA Rating -- Not Rated; Short subject documentary; 1973; 26 minutes; Color; Available from Amazon.com.
Description: This is an Academy Award winning short subject presentation of the Los Angeles Philharmonic performing Maurice Ravel's symphonic masterpiece. Zubin Mehta, the conductor, and several members of the orchestra provide commentary on the music and their work as musicians. The instruments featured include: flute, clarinet, bassoon, E-flat clarinet, oboe d'amore, trumpet, tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone, piccolo, trombone and violin. The music is excellent and the camera work extraordinary.
Benefits of the Movie: "The Bolero" lasts only 26 minutes but it can be of great assistance in introducing classical music to secondary school students. The film also provides an introduction to several instruments of the modern orchestra. The comments by Mr. Mehta and some of the musicians personalize the music and give students a little information about the lives of classical musicians.
Possible Problems: NONE.
Parenting Points: Watch the film with your child. If at all possible attend a performance of Bolero. It is much more exciting when performed live.
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Suggestions for Using "The Bolero" in a Classroom Setting
This is an excellent short subject to show to a music or orchestra class. After the movie, go through Discussion Questions 2 - 5. Follow it up with the listening and writing assignment.
Helpful Background:
Ravel: Joseph-Maurice Ravel (1875 - 1937) was a French composer and pianist known especially for the subtlety, richness and poignancy of his melodies. Ravel's compositions are also characterized by rich orchestral and instrumental textures. Ravel's music is a staple of the modern repertoire for orchestra, piano, chamber music, and voice.
The Composition: Boléro is Ravel's most popular orchestral work, but it was originally composed as a ballet score and is still used as the music for many dances. The trick of interpreting the piece, as stated by Zubin Mehta in the film, is to control the build-up of tension.
When Ravel came up with the theme for Boléro, he reportedly played it for a friend and said, "Don't you think this theme has an insistent quality? I'm going to try and repeat it a number of times without any development, gradually increasing the orchestra as best I can."
Boléro consists of 18 cycles of the same melody. In each cycle, instruments are added, the orchestration is varied, and the orchestra plays with increased energy, growing more insistent and louder. While the melody repeats itself, "the colors and contest are always changing." In the final cycle, the orchestra roars with overpowering rhythm and power.
In the Learning Guide this section is followed by brief discussions of the symphony orchestra and the role of the conductor.
FREE SAMPLES OF:
FOUR TYPES OF
LEARNING GUIDES &
LESSON PLANS
MOST SUBJECTS K-12
LEARNING GUIDES to feature films
and documentaries
LESSON PLANS for snippets
and short subjects
LESSON PLANS TO SET UP THE SUB
using movies, snippets, and
short subjects
TALKING & PLAYING FOR GROWTH
-- with movies for children 3 - 8
Finding Nemo
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Discussion Questions:
1. See Questions Suitable for Any Film.
2. What is the structure of Ravel's Boléro? Suggested Response: One musical phrase is repeated 18 times with different instruments and orchestration. At first, the energy level is restrained, the tempo is medium, and the volume is soft. The first bars of the piece are played only by the flute. As the piece progresses, other instruments join in and the energy level mounts; the passion, tempo and volume increase to a grand finale.
3. What must a conductor always be aware of when leading an orchestra in Ravel's Boléro? Suggested Response: He must keep the tension building or, in other words, he must control the build-up of passion, tempo, and volume so that each of these can increase all the way to the finale. This means holding back throughout most of the piece.
The complete Learning Guide contains two additional discussion questions relating the movie.
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Social-Emotional Learning Discussion Questions:
TALENT
1. One member of the orchestra says that being a musician requires a little talent and a lot of work. Do you agree or disagree? Suggested Response: A strong answer will agree, although there are a few people in the world whose natural genius sets them above everyone, even talented people who work hard. Note that the situation in which a talented hard working musician sees himself easily eclipsed by a ne'er-do-well genius is fully developed in the film version of the play "Amadeus".
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Links to the Internet:
- My Bionic Question by Michael Chorost, Wired Magazine November, 2005;
- Wikipedia Article on Boléro; This is a complete and well-researched article;
Additional Links to the Internet are contained in the complete Learning Guide.
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Assignments, Projects and Activities
Boléro takes from 13 - 15 minutes to perform. Have the class listen or watch one version in addition to the performance contained in the film and then write a paragraph or an essay comparing and contrasting the two performances. There are several performances of Boléro available free on the Internet. Students should listen to the second performance with paper and pen in hand, ready to take notes.
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Bibliography:
The web sites which may be linked in the Guide.
Adapted for use as a sample on May 27, 2009.
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