Amplify is a curriculum program for students in grades 3-5, which could easily be adapted for younger or older students. Amplify can be taught in a general music education classroom, a specialized music class (e.g. band, orchestra), or an extracurricular setting. No prior music experience is required for participants.
All of the Amplify materials are available below as free downloads! At the heart of the Amplify curriculum are 17 featured musical works (eight in the first year; nine in the second) that represent a wide range of centuries, countries, and styles. A classroom curriculum guides students in active listening exercises as they discover the history behind each selected pieces.
If you use Amplify, please send any feedback, suggestions, and/or your students’ quiz results to Brett Andrews, Education and Community Engagement Manager, at bandrews@shreveportsymphony.com.
Each lesson includes five sections:
- A musical icon poster. The Amplify curriculum connects each work of music with a picture. This visual link will serve as a mnemonic to help students remember the title and composer. The icons are color-coded by musical period. Please hang the posters up in your classroom and refer to them often!
- Behind the Music: The lesson introduction contains helpful information about the piece within its historical context.
- Active Listening (10-15 minutes): Students are introduced to the piece through activities that seek to sharpen their listening skills.
- Go Deeper: At least two suggestions of follow-up activities help students apply their new knowledge through performing, composing, or further listening. You can choose which activity or activities are right for your classroom!
- Resources: Additional links and readings may be helpful to students and teachers alike.
YEAR 1 (Released 2015 – 16):
- Amplify Guide, Lessons 1 – 4: featuring Lully’s La Folia, Haydn’s Surprise Symphony, Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony and Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto.
- Amplify Guide- Lessons 5 – 8: featuring Mussorgsky’s Night on Bald Mountain, Grieg’s Ase’s Death, Joplin’s The Entertainer, and Holst’s Mars, Bringer of War.
- Amplify Quiz: This quiz can be used as a pretest and/or posttest. Please email George Hancock to receive the listening excerpts and answer key.
- Amplify Posters: icon posters to be used along with the curriculum. Hang them up in your classroom for visual reminders of the eight pieces!!
- Amplify Worksheets: worksheets and sheet music that coordinate with the Amplify curriculum.
- La Folia Theme (Sheet Music)
- “Surprise” Symphony No. 94 Theme (Sections A & B – Sheet Music)
- “Surprise” Symphony Listening Map (Handout)
- “Pastoral” Symphony Motif (Sheet Music)
- Ase’s Death (Sheet Music)
- The Entertainer (Sheet Music — link to Public Domain Mutopia file)
- Amplify Videos: Click here to view all of the videos referenced in the curriculum.
YEAR 2 (Released 2016 – 17):
- AMPLIFY QUIZ (use as a pretest and/or posttest for the curriculum)
- Palestrina: “Agnus Dei” from the Pope Marcellus Mass (M-CA-2, M-AP-1)
- Bach: Brandenburg Concerto No. 3, 3rd movement (Allegro) (M-AP-1, M-CA-1)
- Mozart: “Jupiter” Symphony No. 41, 4th movement (Molto Allegro) (M-CE-1, M-CA-1, M-CA-2)
- Verdi: “Triumphal March” from Aida (M-CA-3, M-HP-3, M-CE-1)
- Tchaikovsky: 1812 Overture (M-HP-3, M-CA-3, M-AP-4)
- Borodin: In the Steppes of Central Asia (M-CE-1, M-AP-1, M-CA-2, M-CE-2)
- Saint-Saens: “Fossils” from Carnival of the Animals (M-CA-3, M-CA-2)
- Ravel: Bolero (M-CE-3, M-CE-1, M-AP-1)
- Bernstein: “Mambo” from Symphonic Dances from West Side Story (M-CA-4, M-AP-1, M-CE-5)
- AMPLIFY VIDEOS: click to access videos for all nine songs
Click here to access the 2014-15 (Music Memory) materials.
This curriculum was made possible through a grant from the Community Foundation of North Louisiana and support .