Music and the Seasons...January...
Here's a good example of how to teach seasons and the English names of the months of the year through telling stories and listening to classical music.
Hello, January!
Remember! January is the first month of the year, between December and February.
The story I want to tell you goes back to a time long ago.
There was a journal in Saint Petersburg called Nuvellist, the name Nuvellist was derived
from the word " novella" that means " not very long story". It was a monthly journal,
and certainly, there was always a pleasant surprise for readers in the year's first issue.
This time, a short piece of music for the piano called "January" appeared in the January issue. The author of the music had been already known and loved by people. He was a great composer, Pyotr Tchaikovsky.
"January" is one of the pieces in a musical album called "The Seasons". It is a set of twelve short pieces of music, according to the number of months of the year.
But why was only one piece published in the journal Nuvellist? Because it was a surprise, a gift. Each of the twelve pieces appeared each month in the issue and had the name of the current month. Then they were joined into the album "The Seasons". Thus a musical calendar of nature, that I want to tell you about, was created. And we definitely start with January.
Thachikovsky gave "January" another name: "By the Hearth". "Hearth". It's so cozy word, isn't it? And it's so gentle. As if you could see a fire dying in the fireplace or in the stove in front of you, as if you could feel how the warmth from the hot coals is spreading around the room...
Sorry, dear friends, I nearly frogot that if you live in a big city, in a block of flats with central heating, you may not know how wood or coals are burned in an ordinary stove. But at the time when Pyotr Tchaikovsky lived, there was no central heating at all. There were stoves, fireplaces. Sitting by the hearth means sitting next to such a stove or fireplace. It's warm, cozy, quiet... The room is getting dim, evening is coming...
On long winter evenings, the whole family gathered at the hearth. In poor peasant huts women were weaving lace and spinning, while singing sad and lyrical songs. Rich families used to sit by the fireplace playing music, reading aloud or talking for hours.
At the beginning the music of "January" is calm and slow. It seems that a gentle, quiet voice tells us a story. Or maybe someone is just dreaming sitting by the decaying fireplace. We hear a soft, gentle tune. The sounds merge smoothly one into another. But suddenly the piano sounded alarmed and mysteriously. A short musical phrase repeats all the time, a silent complaint and even anxiety are heard in this music.
What disturbed the warm and cozy rest? Maybe, just a fairy tale, being told by Grandma to her grandchildren sitting in the twilight, tells us about somethhing alarming and mysterious? We don't know for sure. After all, those who listen to music imagine something of their own, mentally draw themselves some kind of a picture. But whatever this picture is, no matter what we imagine while listening to this music, everyone will definitely have a similar mood, a feeling of anxiety, mystery... Then the music calms down again and anxiety subsides. Again we hear a quiet and slow melody. the one we have heard at the beginning. It is only slightly modified. As if the experienced anxiety left some trace in our souls.
I beg you to listen carefully to this music, and then make up a little story about a winter evening. I wonder what ideas the piece of music "At the hearth" can make you generate.
You are standing on the threshold of a huge and amazing country called Music. Remember that in this country you will always be a welcome guest and you can even find a friend, unless you are frightened by the difficulties that are inevitable when discovering a new unknown world.
Books, records, radio, television and the internet can help you. These are really good helpers. They can do a lot. But the most important thing depends only on you.
Listen to the music, listen as much as possible. And certainly think over what you hear.
Enjoy!