Canons with two “n’s” not three: Outreach Program in Boston Continues

Third grade students at the Hurley School in Boston were treated to a performance and educational presentation about canons, scales, and other musical topics by the ensemble on Thursday, November 10. Music of Bach and Marais from the ensemble’s Riddle Me This program provided excellent material for demonstration.

A participatory singing of the familiar round “Row, row, row your boat” was used as launching point to explain the canon form (“canon with only two n’s, not three,” explained co-Artistic Director Suzanne Stumpf.) Students were next charmed by Sarah Darling’s demonstration of how to sing the song in inversion (upside down) and in retrograde (backwards). The inverted parts of Bach’s Goldberg Canons 3 and 5 were then introduced and combined. Bach’s crab canon from the Musical Offering (which uses a retrograde voice) was also performed.

Marin Marais’ La Gamme (The Scale) served as the platform for discussion of scales as well as for the demonstration of the period instruments played for the presentation. In addition to providing the opportunity to showcase qualities of the violin, cello, harpsichord, and traverso, the diverging characters in the work allowed the students to experience and discuss the emotional content communicated through music.
Following the presentation, the students were able to ask questions about the music, instruments, and players and to have a closer look at the period instruments.