THE NUTCRACKER BALLET

							                                 The Nutcracker Ballet
                                              By
                              Peter (Pyotr Ilyich) Tchaikovsky
                                          1st Grade
                                         25 minutes

                                   1997 Katherine T. Millett

Purpose:      Enjoy the story and music of The Nutcracker Suite
              Learn to feel that some music has beats in groups of 3 and some music has beats
              in groups of 4. For example, the Nutcracker’s “March” of the toy soldiers is in 4,
              and the “Waltz of the Flowers” is in 3.
              Learn to recognize the sound of certain instruments: the celesta, harp, and
              woodwinds.

Equipment:    CD I Tape Player
              Pictures of Instruments
              Optional: Nutcracker picture book (from the library)
              Tape of Nutcracker excerpts:

                     1. Overture (Time 1:35)               5. Arabian Dance (1:00)
                     2. March (1:35)                       6. Chinese Dance (1:08)
                     3. Dance of Sugarplum Fairy (1:39)    7. Dance of Toy Flutes (1:08)
                     4. Russian Dance (1:00)               8. Waltz of the Flowers (2:00)
                     Total music time: 11 minutes

I.   Introduction to a Ballet
       Has anyone seen the Nutcracker ballet?
       On stage? As a movie? Ask the children to describe what they remember.
       What is a ballet?
         (Dancers in costumes
         An orchestra
         Stage sets with special effects. In the Nutcracker, these include snow, fog and a
         Christmas tree that grows onstage.)
       Is there talking or singing in a ballet? (No.)
       Then how do we know what is happening in the story? (Dancers show us with their
        movements.)
       Can music by the orchestra tell the story? (Yes, music can tell us what is about to
        happen and what people are feeling. The orchestra might play a march before the
        toy soldiers march out to fight. The instruments might play music that sounds like
        it’s from Arabia or China just before a dancer dressed in an Arabian or Chinese
        costume jumps onstage.)
       What would a costume from Arabia look like? (Clothes similar to what Jasmine and
         Aladdin wore in the movie Aladdin.)
                                                  1
II.   Nutcracker Story: Go through this quickly, with student participation.

When the curtain opens, we see a Christmas party. It is time for the children to open gifts.

Clara opens a box from her godfather and finds a nutcracker inside. It looks like a little man.
Show picture of nutcracker.

     Does Clara like the nutcracker?
     In the ballet, how would she show that she liked it? (Volunteers may pretend to rock
      imaginary nutcrackers in their arms.)
     Clara has a little brother. What do you think he does to the nutcracker? (Breaks it.)

At midnight, Clara goes downstairs to check on the nutcracker. All the toys under the tree have
come to life! The toy soldiers are battling some mice. A big mouse starts to attack the
nutcracker, but Clara sees it just in time, takes off her shoe, and throws it at the big mouse.

     What happens when the shoe hits the mouse? (The nutcracker turns into a handsome
      prince.)
     Does that make any sense?

The prince takes Clara to the kingdom of sweets.
  Would you like to go there?

They meet a sugarplum fairy. People from many different countries dance for them. Show
appropriate pictures.


III. Excerpts from the Nutcracker Suite

     Who wrote the music? (Peter Tchaikovsky, a Russian composer. He wrote the music
      more than 100 years ago. In those days, people did not travel very much, but
      Tchaikovsky traveled a lot because he was a famous musician. People from other
      countries wrote to him and asked him to visit them to play or conduct his music.)

We don’t have time to listen to the whole ballet, which includes 25 different pieces of music!
Tchaikovsky chose eight of the most popular pieces and made them into a “suite,” a group of
pieces to be played in a concert hall. We will listen to a little of each part of the suite.




                                                 2
Overture
The curtain has not yet opened. The orchestra plays music to help people in the audience get
their imaginations going. The music gives them clues about what is going to happen.

Play Excerpt 1
   What do you think is coming? (Maybe music that children will like. Playful music.
     Tchaikovsky scored this music in a high register to sound like children’s voices.)

March
A march has a beat that goes 1-2-3-4, 1-2-3-4, with emphasis on the first beat. A beat is a pulse,
like a heart beat. It is regular and steady. (Clap and say 1-2-3-4.)

Play Excerpt 2

     Who do you think is marching? (Toy soldiers, about to fight the mice.)

Dance of the Sugarplum Fairy
Clara and the prince have arrived in the Kingdom of Sweets. The beautiful Sugarplum Fairy
dances for them. You will hear an unusual instrument, a celesta. It looks like a small piano and
sounds like bells. In the middle of writing “The Nutcracker,” Tchaikovsky took a trip to Paris
and discovered this instrument. He liked it so much that he found a place for it in the Nutcracker
ballet.

[Optional: Let’s talk about how a celesta makes sounds.
        What happens when you press a piano key? (A felt-covered hammer hits a piano
           wire.)
        What happens when you press a celesta key? (A little metal hammer hits a metal
           bar. When metal hits metal, it sounds like a bell.)]

Play Excerpt 3
Trepak (Russian Dance)
 When the next dance begins, Russian dancers leap on stage. They are all men. The music has a
 fast tempo, or speed. It is exciting and athletic, with twirls and leaps and big, black boots. Listen
 for the stamping of heavy boots at the end.

Play Excerpt 4.
Arabian Dance
       How would you expect Arabian music to sound? (Mysterious or ?)

Play Excerpt 5
       What did the music make you think of? (Desert nights, Aladdin, snake charmers.)
       What instruments did you hear? (Clarinets and other woodwinds)
Show woodwinds on instrument sheet.
                                           3
Chinese Dance
We will hear the highest woodwinds in the orchestra (piccolos) playing at the same time as the
lowest woodwinds (contrabassoons).

Play Excerpt 6
Dance of the Toy Flutes
These dancing flutes are funny little characters.

           When you hear the music, guess what the characters look like and how they move.

Play Excerpt 7
       How do you think they moved?

Waltz of the Flowers
This music has the style of the famous Viennese Waltz, a dance that was very popular for
couples to dance to at parties. When people dance, they move to a beat. When a composer
combines the beats into groups, the number of beats in a group is called the meter.)

           What was the meter of the march? (Four beats to a group.)

In a waltz, the meter is three beats to a measure, or group. (Clap 1-2-3 and maybe say “strong-
light-light, strong-light-light.”)

Before the waltz begins, we will hear an introduction played by one instrument alone.

Play Excerpt 8
While the excerpt is playing, ask…
        Which instrument do you hear? (Harp.) Show picture of harp.

IV. Summary
     What did you learn from the Nutcracker?
      (What music sounds like in other countries,
      Beat (pulse),
      Meter (Groups of beats, like three or four),
      Tempo (Speed of music, slow or fast)
      Celesta, a piano-like instrument that makes bell sounds.)



                                  Happy Holidays!


                                                    4