S2: E67 The Nutcracker

Season Two
Episode 67
The Nutcracker



When I was an elementary music educator I used Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker in every grade every year to some degree in December because it’s honestly my favorite.  I love the music, the dancing, the story, and the magic. It’s a great way to incorporate movement, singing, listening, creating, playing, reading, watching, comparing.  We always started with a short description of how to say Tchaikovsky’s name and reading the story to students.

During my student teaching with Rob Koch, he presented Tchaikovsky’s name in a way that made it easy for even the youngest of students to speak.  

Tchai (like hi) - wave

Kov (like cough)

Sky (like skiing down a hill)

There are many versions of the story, but a few that I love in particular.

Books:

1. The Nutcracker by Susan Jeffers … I love that there aren’t a lot of words on each page.
2. Nutcracker Ballet by Vladimir Vagin
3. The Nutcracker - based on the NYC Ballet production of George Balanchine’s Nutcracker.  Illustrated by Valeria Docampa - my favorite part!

4. The Nutcracker: An Enchanting Pop-Up Adaptation by Jessica Southwick and Yevgeniya Yeretskaya
   
   

Audio Story:

• Calm App

Narrated by Larry Davis; just over 39 minutes in length

I would recommend this more for students to listen to at home

• Story Nory:

28 minutes in length; again great for listening to it at home 

Resources from Ballet Companies Online:

1. East Alabama Community Ballet

• Ballet, theater, and story terms
• Word searches
• Ideas for questioning students and drawing ideas

2. San Francisco Ballet - 

1. Family Guide

• I like the page about the Creative Team within the ballet - learning about not just Tchaikovsky (composer) but costume design, lighting design, scenic design… learning what roles others play in making a ballet work

2. Spotify Playlist

Listening Maps, Songs, and Activities: 

1. Emily's Kodaly Music Blog:
   * Trepak Dance

• Active listening ideas using plates or cups

2. Loads of ideas: Yellow Brick Road Blog -

• Favorite one: Flashlights covered with cellophane to show form

3. If you’re looking for variations on the standard music, try one of these:

• Blue Claw Philharmonic’s The Nutcracker Remix
• Blue Claw Philharmonic Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy
• Nutcracker Swagger by J-Hud (hear a little of Grieg’s hall of the mountain king) Could be a great song for a student leader to use soldier-like motions and lead students in a group... as my daughter says, "That's cool! I like that."
• Music from the movie “The Nutcracker and the Four Realms”: 
• Songs:  Nutrocker- and The Silent Nutcracker: by Trans-Siberian Orchestra
• Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy by Lindsey Stirling (AHHH love it so much!!): 
• Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn: In 1960 they reconfigured Tchaikovsky’s original music for a big band swing orchestra. Nutcracker Suite with titles like Toot Toot Tootie Toot (Dance of the Reeds) - which I feel like you can completely still hear the melody and idea of the piece, Peanut Brittle Brigade (March), Sugar Rum Cherry (Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy)

4. Coloring Pages - I love this coloring book for older students: 

Extensions for Lessons:

1. What other characters might be in the Land of Sweets?  Students create an idea of a type of sweet and the sound that would accompany that sweet.  Then compose a motive or melodic/rhythmic theme for that character. Then create movements to accompany the theme using traits of that sweet (example: is your sweet sticky?  Long and lean like twizzlers, but bendable? Is it chewy? Use guiding questions about the sweet they have chosen to help guide what type of movements these sweets might make if personified!
   
   
2. With older students take Opening rhythms from the March, Russian Dance, and Sugar Plum Fairy (all in meters of 2/4 or 4/4 but I've placed them all in Meter of 4 for consistency). Students can play them in different modes... what would happen if you begin the march using CDE in C Ionian… then transfer it to dorian ...using the same motives but in different locations… do the same thing with Russian dance rhythm - and Sugar Plum fairy… create a mash-up melody of the three excerpts.  Please note that when adding the Sugar Plum Fairy rhythms on percussion that the parts are definitely note complementary. If you want to mix it up have them read the rhythms from left to right and it solves a lot of that. Or don't use them at all. I've included bass line options as well. It doesn't necessarily follow the chord structure as demonstrated in the original pieces, but is close. Kept it simple so that creating forms out of the excerpts with bass lines can be functional and more easily adapted. Especially when creating forms within the modes! Here is the Google Slides Presentation that can help you guide students through the process: The Nutcracker Google Slides.

Have a wonderful time using the classic Nutcracker in your classroom and trying some new ideas for taking the classic a different way.