SPOOKY CLASSICS
3rd Grade
(~ 25 minutes)
PURPOSE: To introduce some “spooky classics” that are important and prevalent, but
also just fun for the Halloween season; also, to consider what makes a song sound scary
and remind the children how effective music can be at creating a spooky mood.
EQUIPMENT:
CD/Player
Pictures of instruments (see below)
NOTE:
Do not play the entire tracks. Play a bit of the piece and stop it or the
program will be too long.
PROGRAM: Today I am going to play music first and then ask you what kind of music
we will be listening to.
Play track 1, Bach, Toccata & Fugue
What does that music make you think of? Can you guess what kind of music we
are going to listen to today? (Halloween/Spooky music)
Can anyone tell us what instrument was playing the music we just heard? (Organ)
That piece was composed by Johann Sebastian Bach. Bach wrote lots of church and
organ music – most of it not so spooky!
MAJOR AND MINOR KEYS: (if you think time is going to be short, you can skip this
section, but it’s a good lesson to consider if you have the time)
Some music sounds happy. Other music sounds sad or scary. This is often because of
something called major or minor keys. You might be familiar with the major scale:
Play track 2, or sing the major scale (Do-Re-Mi…).
Have you heard that before? That sounds kind of happy, doesn’t it? If any of you have
seen the musical or movie, The Sound Of Music, that’s the scale the children sing.
But there are other kinds of scales. One is called a natural minor scale. And it goes like
this…
Play track 3, natural minor scale
Did you notice a difference? That sounded a little more somber or sad, or maybe
mysterious. Major and minor keys make us feel differently. I’ll give you an example.
Does anyone have a birthday coming up? Let’s sing Happy Birthday to…
Sing Happy Birthday or Play Track 4
Is that song in a major or minor key? It’s major. It’s happy. But now I’ll play the same
melody in a minor key:
Play Track 5, Happy Birthday in a minor key
Did you hear the difference? I don’t think I’d want Happy Birthday sung to me that way
on my birthday!
So the spooky songs I play for you today will be in minor keys.
Night On Bald Mountain
Our second piece of music will definitely put us in the Halloween mood! It is called,
“Night on Bald Mountain”, and it was written by a Russian composer named Modest
Mussorgsky (mah zorg skee). However, this isn’t just any night on Bald Mountain.
According to Russian folklore, this is the night the spirits come out of the mountain to
dance with the Lord of Darkness. This piece was used in the movie Fantasia. What kind
of weather might you imagine on such a night? (windy? Rainy? Dark? No moon?)
What instrument might be used to make the sound of wind? How about thunder? Do
you think we’ll hear these play loud or soft? Fast or slow? Let’s listen. You might have
heard this music before at Halloween parties, and it’s also been used while people wait in
line for roller coasters!
Play Track 6, Night On Bald Mountain, Mussorgsky
What did you hear?
MARS: The Bringer Of War
Another famous piece of spooky music was written by Gustav Holst about a hundred
years ago. Holst wrote a suite called the Planets (a suite is a group of musical pieces that
are related to each other). Each movement representing a different planet, and we’re
going to hear Mars: the Bringer of War.
In addition to being in a minor key, the music is very low and mysterious at first, and it’s
in an unusual time signature. Most songs are grouped in 4 beats or 3 beats. For example,
Mary Had A Little Lamb is grouped in 4 beat measures. Mar-y Had A Lit-tle Lamb (1-23-4, 1-2-3-4). Mars is grouped in 5 beat measures, which isn’t as common. 1-2-3-4-5, 12-3-4-5). Let’s listen.
Play Track 7, Mars: The Bringer of War, Holst
What did you think of that piece? Had any of you heard that piece before?
Dance Macabre (pronounced macob)
Next we will listen to a dance, a dance that takes place in a…graveyard! The title is
“Dance Macabre” (pronounced macob)” by composer Camille Saint-Saens (san-sawns).
Macabre means eerie, strange or spooky. This dance is strange because it takes place in a
graveyard and it is spooky because of how the music sounds on the violin. Right at the
beginning of the piece, we’ll hear the church clock strike. The sounds are played on a
harp (show picture). Count them and you will know what time the dance begins. Once
the dance is underway, the graveyard gets crowed. Even the skeletons join in the dance.
Saint-Saen used a particular instrument to suggest the rattling of bones as the skeletons
dance. What instrument to you think he used? (He used a xylophone) Have you seen a
xylophone before – maybe in music class? (show picture). Listen closely and tell me
when you think the skeletons appear
Play Track 8, Dance Macabre, Saint-Saens (count the 12 harp tones that signify the
coming of midnight). The xylophone come in at 2:01, so play at least until at least
2:30 so the kids can hear that instrument.
Scary movie music: John Williams
Finally, we’re going to play a few pieces of music that were written for different movies.
A man named John Williams has written all sorts of famous movie music. Have any of
you seen Star Wars? Any of the Indiana Jones movies? John Williams wrote the music
for those movies, and he’s also written music for some scarier films. Let’s see if you
recognize this one:
Play Track 9, Harry Potter
Did any of you recognize that piece? (Harry Potter). How does that music make you
feel?
John Williams wrote another famous piece back in the 70s for a film about a shark. In
addition to being in a minor key, Williams chose a very important instrument to help
create the mood. Tell me what instruments you hear:
Play Track 10, Jaws
What instrument was played there? (Basses). Show picture. How do you think that song
would have sounded if those notes had been played on a banjo? Or a harmonica? So the
instruments that a composer chooses are very important for the mood of the song.
We listened to several pieces today, but there are many more compositions that feature
spooky creatures and spooky sounds. It seems that composers enjoy writing creepy and
terrifying music as much as we enjoy listening to it! Have a great Halloween!