Listen Up! Music Is a Language

Students are introduced to musical scoring for films—music specifically composed to assist storytelling, underscore emotions, and stir ideas. Students are introduced to composer Erich Wolfgang Korngold and his music for the movie The Sea Hawk.

Students learn composers often write music to inspire listeners to think or meditate. They are introduced to different types of listening through Jules Massenet’s Meditation for the opera Thaïs.

Students learn that composers sometimes use music to “paint” or depict the action, characters, and setting of a story by listening to Mikhail Glinka’s opera, Ruslan and Ludmila. Students also experience how the music inspires creativity when designing their settings and costumes.

Students learn about the history of the violin, its distinct role in the orchestra, and its ability to resemble human “singing.” Students will also be introduced to “pizzicato,” the quick, light rhythmic technique created by plucking the strings. Students listen to Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto.

Students learn about the composer’s selection of the right “voice” or instrumentation from the four sections of the orchestra: string, woodwind, brass, and percussion. Students are introduced to music by Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, and Leonard Bernstein.

Students are introduced to the concept of music as a language and how music is able to tell stories, convey emotions, and invoke thoughts. Students also learn how stories, thoughts, and emotions can be communicated without words.

Meet Nick Kendall, violin soloist and host, and Ankush Kumar Bahl, conductor, as they welcome you to The Kennedy Center and the National Symphony Orchestra's Young People's Concert.