Toccata by Johann Sebastian Bach Listening and Responding Learning Objectives:

Listen with concentration and use imagination

Respond to and become familiar with the music that will be performed at the concert

Begin to develop an awareness of music within historical timeline

Resources:

Audio File for Toccata in D Minor by Johann Sebastian Bach

Reference to the class Musical Timeline & related Bach cards

Large paper, pen and ink, charcoal, pastels, paint, variety of brushes etc. Internet access for BBC 10 Pieces Video

Remember to add JS Bach to the musical timeline and/or complete your listening picture activity! Activity 1: Listen & Paint

Listen to the opening of Bach’s Toccata (to approximately 0:48).

Explain to the children they are going to be artists and create the music on paper. Listen again to the opening and discuss how they might create the sound on paper. What colours? What techniques? (e.g. broad brush strokes, bold colours).

Using a large piece of paper and a choice of art materials, demonstrate a way of creating the opening musical extract by using some of their ideas.

Next listen to the solo woodwind (approximately 0:50). The music and colour is very different. How might they create it? (Delicate colour, fine detail – maybe using pen and ink).

Ask children to recreate their ideas on the paper, working from left to right (as if reading a score).

Listen to the music in sections, pausing after each one to discuss the possible ways of creating the sound on paper, asking several children to put their ideas on the paper.

o Opening (to 0:48) o Solo woodwind passages (approx. 0:50) o Rippling strings followed by the whole orchestra – grand and broad (from

1:07 - 1:34) o Strings – fine detail (approx. 1:40 – 1:56) o Harp and flute (approx. 1:56, 2:05 and 2:30) interspersed with the whole

orchestra o Busy strings and crescendo (approx. 3:00) followed by the full orchestra –

heavy basses and timpani

Working on large paper either individually, in pairs or in small groups

Ask the children to create their own abstract picture whilst listening to the Toccata in D minor by Bach.

Encourage the use of paint and broad brush strokes and a variety of other media e.g. pencil, crayon, pen & ink, pens, charcoal etc. to create contrast in shapes and colours from the sounds they hear.

Remind the children to be thinking about colour, shape and texture as they create their picture.

Play the music on a loop as you work …

Toccata by Johann Sebastian Bach

KEEP THESE PICTURES TO USE AS THE STARTING POINT IN ‘CREATE YOUR OWN MUSICAL TOCCATA’ ACTIVITY IN THE CREATIVE DEVELOPMENT SECTION Activity 2: Watch the BBC Ten Pieces Video The Toccata (and Fugue) in D Minor is one of the BBC 1o Pieces (Secondary). On the BBC DVD (or BBC 10 Pieces website) the work is introduced by James May and features organist Wayne Marshall playing the opening of the piece before the musicians of the BBC Philharmonic perform their version.

Think about the main differences between the two versions: How is the musical performance affected by having one player playing one version and 85 players the other?

What can an orchestra do which a keyboard instrument can’t, and vice versa?

Which version do the children prefer and why?

Creative Development

Learning Objectives:

To listen with increasing concentration and to use imagination

Select and combine sounds to create certain moods and effects

To rehearse, appraise and refine ideas To work and perform with others

Resources:

Tuned and un-tuned percussion Instruments the children are learning

Paper, pens

Art work from Activity 1

Key Vocabulary:

Rhythm Dynamics

Tempo

Texture

Pulse/beat

Structure

Create your own Musical Toccata from your Art Work!

Listening & Responding Activity 1: Listen & Paint is your starting point Work in small groups Task 1:

Look at the pictures the children created whilst listening to Bach’s Toccata.

Compare the different shapes, lines and colours that were created. Why were some thick? Thin? Bright? Dark? Big? Small? Etc. (to reflect the different aspects of the music).

Task 2:

You are going to use your painting to inspire your own piece of music

Pick out 2 or 3 contrasting shapes from your original painting

Invent your own sounds for each of the shapes, taking in to consideration, for example, the colour (think musical timbre), size (think musical dynamic)

Toccata by Johann Sebastian Bach Task 3:

Create a sequence using your selected shapes. You may want to appoint a child to be the conductor. (You could work from the original painting or you could transfer the shapes you want to use to a piece of paper, sequencing them as you wish.)

Task 4:

Rehearse your music and perform your music to the class.

Toccata by Johann Sebastian Bach Additional Information

Johann Sebastian Bach

Born in 1685 in Eisenach, Germany

Died in 1750

Came from a long line of musicians

Regarded as one of the greatest composers of all time

Bach wrote over 1000 pieces of music

Seen as revolutionary in practically everything he wrote: his works for smaller forces went well beyond the conventions of the day

Elevated musical structures into high art forms by composing increasingly elaborate, expressive, grand and complex music

Toccata in D Minor BWV 565

One of Bach’s most famous pieces

Originally written for organ probably between 1703 -1707 but no one is certain of the exact date

Toccata, literally means ‘touch’ and is a rhapsodic piece of music which explores the instrument allowing the player to show off his skills

Bach’s Toccata became very popular in the 20th century

Leopold Stokowski and Henry Wood orchestrated the Toccata in order to show off the different colours of the instruments of the orchestra

The orchestrated version is used in Walt Disney’s Fantasia

Frequently used in films, video games and as ringtones!

JS Bach 1685 - 1750