Children, whether you have seen snow or not, you must have dream about playing in the snow - making snow angels, building snowmen, having snowball fights...
I have spent a part of my childhood in Canada, where snow falls non-stop in winter. I love it when snowflakes start falling from the sky at night because the dark blue sky would become very sparkly. I also love tasting snowflakes and looking at them at a very close distance.
Then I discovered, in amazement, snowflakes come in many different shapes and sizes! LOOK!
If you like these shapes, you may click HERE for a video with more snowflakes.
What do you think will happen when a composer sees snow? If you were to write a piece of "Snow Song," how would it sound like? Will you write about snowflakes that melt in your hands? A snowstorm? Melting snow? How will you show it in your music.
I'd like to share a piece of music by a very famous French composer, Claude Debussy (1862-1918). He has written a solo piano suite called Children's Corner in 1908. (Click HERE to see the full piano score)There are 6 pieces in this masterpiece, in which one of them is called "The Snow is Dancing." To Debussy, the snowflakes are really lively and happy! Let's listen to a performance of The Snow is Dancing.
Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky, a very famous Russian composer (who also wrote Peter and the Wolf!), interpreted snowflakes quite differently in his very famous ballet work, The Nutcracker. Please see below for a beautiful performance of the song.
Finally, I'd like to share a Make-a-Flake Game with you before you go and make your own Snow Song! =)
