This week in 1st grade, we started talking about composer Camille Saint-Saen's "Carnival of the Animals." We learned that when Saint-Saen originally wrote the music it was written as a joke for his friends at a music school, but in the end it became one of his most famous works!
At first, we listened to the piece not knowing what it was about. While we were listening, we closed our eyes and tried to picture what the song might be about and then we shared our answers. We had lots of creative answers! Some said that it sounded like a slithering snake, others thought it was about little mice creeping. And some agreed with Saint-Saen and said that it was about fish or water.
The next time we listened to it, we moved our bodies to the music with flowy scarves to act like water. For the shorter notes we flew with our scarves, but at the end of the phrases on the longer notes we waved our scarves in the air like rising bubbles. And at the part where it sounds like trickling water, we found some friends and wiggled our scarves together! We had a lot of fun moving our bodies to "Aquarium" and are looking forward to listening to more of Saint-Saen's "Carnival of the Animals" soon. I wonder which animal we will listen to next?!
Here is a video of an arrangement of "Aquarium." It is especially cool to see the pianists fingers move while he plays.
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