Welcome to Virtual Class Notes Concerts!
Each year, Classical MPR reaches tens of thousands of students across Minnesota through the Class Notes Concerts program. Designed to engage and inspire elementary students through live musical performance, these concerts help cultivate active listening skills and allow students to experience the joy of classical music.
Due to current circumstances, we have adapted the concert content to provide a virtual Class Notes Concert. Today's YourClassical Music Lesson will be a virtual Class Notes concert featuring Robot Rickshaw.
Target age range: Grades 2-8
1. Meet Troy Rogers, the creator or Robot Rickshaw, a music-making robot. In this first video, he will explain the different parts of his instrument.
2. Now Troy will explain a bit more about the unpitched instruments on Robot Rickshaw.
Troy talks a little bit about timbre (TAM-ber), or the idea that every object and instrument has its own unique and special sound. Learn more about timbre in the Class Notes Video: Color in Music–Germaine Tailleferre.
3. Next, Troy will go into detail about the three pitched instruments on Robot Rickshaw.
Follow-up questions for journaling or discussion:
• What instrument is CARI like?
• What is the difference between pitched and unpitched components?
• Name at least two unpitched instruments that make up APE, or "Automated Percussion Ensemble."
4. Now it is time to hear one of Troy Rogers' compositions for Robot Rickshaw. Before you watch and listen, think a little bit about how you would define music. Consider these two questions:
• How is music different from sound?
• How is music different from noise?
Now that you have seen and heard this piece, do you think it was music? Do you think it was noise? Was it some of both? Explain your thoughts through writing or discussion.
5. Finally, Troy Rogers will review the components of Robot Rickshaw and summarize what you saw and heard.
Learn More
• Here's one more video where Troy Rogers plays a piece he wrote for Robot Rickshaw:
• Here is a full curriculum and set of lesson plans for using Robot Rickshaw in the classroom.
Tell us what you learned!
Getting feedback from our audience helps make this program possible. Students, teachers, and parents, please take a minute to complete this short survey about this Virtual Class Notes Concerts.
Have a question or suggestion? Contact Katie Condon, music education specialist.
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Your Donation
This activity is made possible in part by the Minnesota Legacy Amendment‘s Arts & Cultural Heritage Fund.
