The arts and humanities enrich our lives, inspire our hearts and minds, and help us to view the world from a different perspective. Capturing the diversity and richness of human experience, they allow us to explore ideas and emotions and to better understand our history, culture, and beliefs. The study and appreciation of the arts and humanities serve as both a unifying force in society and as a vehicle for individual expression (President George W. Bush’s Proclamation for National Arts and Humanities Month 2001, Americans for the Arts).
INTRODUCTION
John J. Herrera Elementary School, a Title I school located in the North Central area of the Houston Independent School District, has a total student population of ±900, of whom 96% are Hispanic, 3% are Anglo, and 1% is African American. The bilingual, dual-language and E. S. L. (English as a Second Language) programs, coupled with a positive and creative learning environment, contribute to students consistently scoring well in standardized testing, with the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills rating remaining either ‘Recognized’ or ‘Exemplary.’ As a music specialist and as a member of the faculty whose focus is to increase overall student achievement, I constantly look for ways to provide music lessons that are integrated with the core curriculum (i.e., Science, Math, Reading, Language Arts, History, and Social Studies) and on instilling knowledge of correlations that music has to cultural heritage and society. One of the phrases in our Mission Statement this year was to offer ‘mega-cognitive’ opportunities for learning. Therefore, I strive to provide students with the richest possible learning experience, one in which musical concepts are generalized and reinforced through parallel concepts in other subjects.
In the preparation of my weekly lesson plans, I frequently utilize curriculum links not only between music and the core subjects but also between other fine arts and music, by including opportunities for creative projects to go along with the music objectives in the lesson. For example, if the objective of the music lesson is in A B form (a binary form that has two main sections), I can include a patterned movement activity in A B form to complement the piece of music and include an artwork as a visual that also has A B groupings. I find that this not only reinforces the music concepts and skills, but also helps the children to see and internalize the relationships between patterns. Enriching the music lesson with combinations of sensory stimulation insures that the individual learning preference is more likely to be accessed and allows for mastery and retention of the material. Accepting this based on personal experience, that the Arts, through the avenues of dance, music, theater and fine arts, offer students opportunities to utilize multiple intelligences with the outlets of expression and creativity, I established my overall objective for this curriculum unit, which is to “identify aurally-presented excerpts of music representing diverse genres, styles, periods and cultures, and concepts taught in the other fine arts and their relationships to music concepts” (Houston Independent School District CLEAR Curriculum). I have included correlations to the core subjects to broaden and enrich the content. Because of my personal interest in the Impressionistic period of Art and Music, my choice was to select works of Monet and Debussy, two representative figures of the period, as they were highly complementary and offered broad opportunities for multi-cognitive explorations upon which to build my lesson plans.
The concept of multiple intelligences, attributed to Dr. Howard Gardner, states that there are individual learning strengths of each student across the full spectrum of learning. He published his theories in 1983 in his first book, Frames of Mind. This innovative theory, which has since become an accepted tenet of education, was developed while he was at Harvard conducting research on the work of Jean Piaget and children’s cognitive processes. Gardner concluded that Piaget’s focus was too narrow and, therefore, constructed his own theories on the subject:
Through studying other cultural definitions of intelligence, neurophysiology,
anthropological studies and his own experimentation and observation of children,
Gardner originally devised seven categories of respective intelligence. These are
verbal/linguistic; logical/mathematical/ spatial; bodily/kinesthetic; musical;
interpersonal/ and intrapersonal. While Gardner contends that all humans have some
degree of all seven intelligences, there are those who are more gifted in some areas, or in
combinations of areas, than in others. (L. Wilson)
In Gardner’s book, Intelligence Reframed: Multiple Intelligences for the 21st Century, he revised his list to include an eighth intelligence, naturalistic/environmental.
The body of materials available in the Arts certainly offers many opportunities for producing lesson plans that would stimulate multiple intelligences in that they provide for an overlap of cognitive skills: the study and participation in them offers a realm of kinesthetic, spatial and visual exercise, while at the same time allowing for growth and development at the learner’s pace. All learning styles are complemented when studying the arts: logical, visual, verbal, aural, social, or solitary. The learning skills for art or music vary for each individual depending on the individual’s particular intelligence type.
Tom Waggoner, Director of Fine Arts, Texas Education Agency, recipient of the Texas Music Educators Association Distinguished Service Award for 2005, often writes articles that are published in regional and national journals and is affiliated with many professional arts organizations. He refers to a quote in the American Music Center 1998 Publication, “Music and Your Child,” made by Dr. Frank R. Wilson. Dr. Wilson works at the University of California School of Medicine as an associate clinical professor of neurology:
Musical activities provide children with important experiences that can help them develop physical coordination, timing, memory and visual, aural, and language skills. When they work to increase their command of music and exercise musical skills in the company of others, they gain important experience with self-paced learning, mental concentration and a heightened personal and social awareness. (F. Wilson).
Governor Rick Perry, a Keynote Speaker at The Texas Music Educators Association Convention in San Antonio on 11 February 2005, made the following comment regarding the high school musicians in the All-State Ensembles this year. “These brilliant, focused, dynamic young people excel – not just in music – but in math, the sciences, and other subjects, regularly outscore their peers on the SAT, and are better prepared to perform in college and beyond because of that discipline” (Perry 8).
In order to develop an integrated Fine Arts lesson plan for art and music, one in which there is an overlapping of cognitive skills, a vocabulary by which the students can make connections in order to cross-reference the material should be established. “They need to be able to think factually, contextually, critically, analytically, creatively, and expressively” (Chaffin 14). Because the languages of the two disciplines are very similar, we can form a synthesis of ways to discuss the two arts.
For example, in comparing the expressive elements of art to the expressive elements of music, we could begin with a linear concept – line. In art, the line could be curved, straight, or zigzagged, for example. In music, we could think of the shape of the melody, whether it was conjunct or disjunctive, or we could think of pitch, whether the sound was high or low, or remained static. Melodic shape and scale has a direction, a contour, a sequence, progression, and tonal basis.
In art, we speak of color as shade, intensity, hue, primary, secondary, intermediate, warm or cool, light or dark. A similar concept in music is timbre, the characteristic quality of a sound source, i.e. the tonal shade of voices or instruments. The element of art known as value (white, gray, black, gradations), can be compared to the amplitude of sound waves, pulse, beat, periodicity, or frequencies of sound in music.
Texture in art may be dense, sparse, implied or applied. There is also rhythm in the frequency of repetition, arrangement, as in an arrangement of fruit and flowers. In music, there is also the concept of rhythmic texture – the simultaneous combination of various rhythmic elements: melodic (horizontal structure) density, monophony, polyphony, and homophony, action in time, beat, tempo, and accent, diversity, and syncopation.
Art consists of shapes - squares, triangles, ovals, circles, rectangles, geometrical, three-dimensional; of forms - cube, pyramid, cone, ball, geometrical, three dimensional, and of patterns (cracks, shapes, repeated). A piece of music has shape or outline; repetition, contrast, unity and variety, balance and proportion as well as form – binary (AB), ternary (ABA), sectional, continuous, introduction, coda. Music has many patterns – patterns in meter or tempi, in motives, or of the overarching arrangement.
Artistic space involves area, landscape, objects interacting, and positive and negative interplay. The space has an emphasis, a main subject, a focal point, front to back and texture. Within that emphasis, there is balance with reference to scale, color, and symmetric/asymmetric design. The space of music involves duration – the length of rhythmic events, motives, phrases, periods, and sections. There is an emphasis, which could be upon a different number of areas - scales, modes, phrases, periods tempo, rhythm, rate of musical action. The sounds may be varied dynamically – soft, loud, crescendo, and decrescendo.
In art, the principle of design known as unity is the idea that things look like they belong together – petals on a flower, leaf patterns, and pieces in a puzzle. There is proportion - small to large, percentages, comparing one part to another. Artists sometimes paint a series of works on a given theme, a grouping, a montage. In music, composers create Suites, a collection of musical works that have a common motive or idea. Within those suites exists smaller, interconnected units of music, which have a relationship to each other. They have their own identity of form, which could be binary, ternary, or rondo. On a larger scale, an opera is built around a given plot and theme; a symphony may have four or more movements.
UNIT BACKGROUND
Impressionism is the name given to the school of painting that started in France in the second half of the nineteenth and the first quarter of the twentieth century. In 1874, a group of young artists that included Monet, Cézanne, Renoir, Pissarro, Degas, Manet, and Morisot, held the first independent Impressionist exhibition in Paris. Their works were deemed unacceptable according to the criteria of the Salon, the academics who sponsored the annual exhibition and determined whether a piece of art could be displayed to be sold. The Salon had restricted space to display the paintings – the paintings were crowded closely together on the walls and tiered three and four levels high. The group of artists, united by their circumstances, decided to hold their own exhibition in a studio, which was formerly used for photography. The studio provided ample space to hang their works at eye level and to separate them so that they were easily viewed. This exhibition became the first of eight independent exhibitions in which the artists’ works were displayed.
In opposition to the Academy and its tradition, Monet and his contemporaries, who called themselves The Anonymous Society of Painters, Sculptors, and Engravers, launched what would become a brief but highly influential era in art – Impressionism. The group did not refer to their work with this term. In fact, the term was coined by an outraged critic, Louis Leroy, who attached the label after viewing Impression Sunrise (1873), Monet’s sensory response to the sun as seen through the mist at Le Havre harbor at dawn painted with broad, dabbing brush strokes. Leroy wrote in his satirical article in Le Chariviari, “Impression! Wallpaper in its embryonic state is more finished!” (“Teach Impressionism”). With that statement, ‘Impressionism’ became an accepted reference within the art world.
Even though the term was accepted, the technique was not so readily embraced. Rather than well-defined lines, the brushstrokes were somewhat vague. The colors were certainly not the typical palette, as defined by the rules of the French Academy of Fine Arts who had dominated artistic training since 1648. As a result, the artists endured much criticism and their exhibitions were not initially well received by the establishment. “It was a method of painting that consists in reproducing an impression exactly as it is experienced, and the Impressionist artist aims at representing objects according to his own personal impressions without bothering about generally recognized rules” (Sérullaz 7). Painting out of doors in natural light and using a technique of brush strokes and pure bright colors, the artists portrayed changing effects of light and reflection that often gave the effect of a realistic image. Impressionism implied an essentially visual approach to painting and was intensely sensitive to the effect of light on form and color. Although there were many Impressionists and each had their particular style and technique with the palette and paintbrush, there are key characteristics of the period: the interplay of sunlight and the effects of weather and the seasons on a real scene, and open air – painting outdoors. There is an illusion of depth obtained by visual color mixing, lack of detail, shadows created by using dark purples and blues, the lack of neutrals, unblended, prismatic colors, and individualism
-dabbing brushstrokes, swirling brushstrokes, or pointillism.
Just as unusual as the techniques was the subject matter in the paintings. The artists concentrated on paintings of modern life and real life subjects rather than on history, which was then the accepted source of subject matter. They were interested in the world around them, which was undergoing significant changes in France. With the advent of the Industrial Revolution, technological advances in transportation and manufacturing affected the lives of ordinary people. Due to the resultant economic prosperity, Emperor Napoleon III was determined to make Paris a modernized European city. The streets were widened into boulevards; parks and monuments were built. The powerful new merchant class, known as the bourgeoisie, was eager to spend their francs at the cafés, restaurants, and theaters. The economic optimism was echoed in the engineering feats, such as the Eiffel Tower, bridges that arched the rivers, and the railroad stations that provided access to travel. Since most of the Impressionists were born of the bourgeoisie class, it was natural for them to be interested in this environment to depict the people involved at their work or of the everyday, real life situations. Degas’ famous paintings of the ballerinas and Monet’s paintings of the Paris railroad stations are examples.
With the steam engine and railroads, there was access to commute to the suburbs, which were springing up around Paris, and ease to travel to the countryside for a weekend or leisure holiday. People enjoyed boating and swimming in the Seine River, as well as luncheons and picnics in the beautiful gardens and parks. The Impressionists were fond of using these areas to paint their subjects enjoying life, optimizing the opportunity to be out-of-doors in the fresh air and sunlight.
The Impressionists wanted to capture people in candid situations, rather than in posed artificial ones. They observed nature on a first-hand basis and tried to reproduce its ever-changing aspects, especially the light of the sun as it moved across landscapes and seascapes. Painting the same subject at various times of day and under different conditions of weather provided opportunities for artistic expression with the interplay of light.
Several other factors made a significant contribution with regard to the development of the Impressionistic period. The scientific advancements in optical reproduction, specifically the camera, influenced the artists to a new perspective on placement of their subjects on the canvas, as well as to move toward the use of brighter pigments of color. Photography during the 1870s to 1900 was not actually a realistic reproduction in a sense because the colors of the images were transposed to black and white; therefore, values could not be authentically reproduced. Most of the photographs were taken in workshops and studios where subjects were posed, restricting natural movement. There was a lack of realism in color; especially the bright colors of nature, usually missing in the paintings preferred at that time by the Salon and the artists’ clientele, the rich bourgeoisie. However, as the Impressionists discovered, black and white photography did offer the opportunity to record a scene for later study and captured a scene in an unbiased natural manner.
Degas called photography “an image of magical instantaneity,” and was particularly adept at off-center composition. He was also intrigued by the newly invented motion picture machine, which took multiple photographs of moving animals at high shutter speeds. He used the machine to study movement and gesture. Impressionists eagerly studied panoramic landscape photography and adopted its flattened perspective (“Teach Impressionism”).
The Impressionists were also intrigued with color theory. Rather than using a dark or black background on their canvases and blending and applying paints with carefully defined brushstrokes, they chose instead to use a white or light background and a palette of bolder, lighter colors, specifically the three prismatic colors of red, blue and yellow which were applied with bold and diffused brushstrokes. The new technology of pre-mixed oil paints in metal tubes and art materials conveniently purchased from local stores facilitated mobility, in that the metal tubes kept the pigment stable for longer periods, freeing the artists for longer painting sessions outdoors.
Just as photography had a visual influence on Impressionism, another contributing factor had a significant impact – Japonisme. Following the re-establishment of diplomatic relations between France and Japan around 1854, several exhibitions of Japanese art were held in Paris. Baudelaire, “who was one of the greatest French poets of the 19th century, known as the father of modern criticism” (“Charles Baudelaire”), and the young French painters in his circle, became fascinated with Japanese art and culture.
At these exhibitions, French artists got to know Japanese prints, and the great Japanese engravers such as Utamaro, Hokusai, and Hiroshige. To Western eyes, the general appearance of these prints with oblique off-center effects, simplified forms and presentation, as well as their delicate coloring, were unusual and fascinating, and many artists, among them Manet, Monet, Renoir, Van Gogh, Toulouse-Lautrec, Gauguin and especially Degas were influenced by Japanese art. (Sérullaz 12).
Perhaps Monet had seen these prints at Le Havre as early as 1856, since he had purchased more than two hundred of them with the greatest Japanese artists represented in his collection. An example of Monet’s interest in Japanese art is his painting of Camille, his wife, in Japanese garb with a blond wig, although Monet eventually disowned the painting. This influence became an integral part of Monet’s style and contributed to shifts in his themes and subjects to those preferred by the Japanese masters: the tree, the small boat, the bridge, i.e. nature themes, and the use of bright colors, rather than softened ones. Like them, he wanted to capture and express the transient, evanescent nature of time.
Art and music have developed throughout history parallel to each other, and the Impressionistic period is no exception. Just as the painters abandoned the heaviness of the Classical artistic techniques dictated by the Academy, the composers abandoned the drama and dictates of the Classical and Romantic periods in music. As the artists eased the definition of exact lines and opted for more candid placement of figures in their compositions, composers such as Debussy, Ravel, Delius, Griffes, Respighi, Szymanowski, Satie, and Faure constructed softened sonorities and made musical textures more delicate.
The Impressionist painters, as we have seen, tried to capture the movement of color and
light. Music is predominantly the art of abstract movement. For this reason, the favorite
images of the Impressionist painting -- the play of light on water, clouds, gardens in the
rain, sunlight through the leaves -- lent themselves readily to musical expression. Such
descriptive titles as "Reflections on the Water", "The Snow is Dancing", "Sounds and
Perfumes Swirl in the Evening Air", reveal composers as poets and painters in addition to
being musicians (Kauble).
Impressionist composers favored the medium of orchestra because of its varied timbres (tone colors). Almost every aspect of music, melody, harmony, color, rhythm, and form, became the malleable tonal palette for the composer. The piano was favored because vibrating harmonies could be suspended by use of the damper pedal. Reed instruments used low registers, while the violins played in the higher register. The harp or celeste accentuated the pitched percussive effects, while the metal percussion instruments added ‘touches of light.’ Phrases were fragmented and overlapped to give a flowing effect. The meter was varied to allow for rhythmic freedom, a non-specificity of beat.
Compositional techniques that were the foundation of the Romantic era shifted dramatically in order to accomplish the tonal aspects that were characteristic of Impressionistic music. The theoretical concepts of the accepted music school, called The Common Practice Period, were abandoned in order to explore new sonorities and rhythms. For example, the major/minor scale systems upon which melodies and harmonies were derived, were replaced by the medieval modes. In art, the primary hues of the color spectrum were used, while in music, the primary intervals of octaves, fourths, and fifths were written in parallel motion. This practice echoed a medieval technique known as "organum," harmonizing one melody at a parallel distance of a fourth or fifth by another melody, giving the feeling of openness in the sound.
The novelty of Japonisme that attracted the artists also attracted the musicians. Oriental music employs the whole tone scale, which is a combination of major/minor by the use of avoiding half steps, as well as the pentatonic scale, which includes only the first, second, third, fifth, and sixth tones of the major scale. As a group, the modes, whole tone scale and pentatonic scale all lack a leading tone, which is the tone that tends to lead the ear to a resolution point, or the tonic. By avoiding the resolution point, melodies supported by harmonic sonorities could remain fluid and adrift.
It was the harmonies and harmonic structures, or chords, which took on an especially significant role in Impressionistic music. No longer utilized solely as a function to support harmonic structure, the chord became a function of movement within a melody. The chord or harmony now could exist as an entity by itself, and float in a parallel motion, either diatonically or chromatically. This concept of parallel motion was not an accepted practice during the Classical era. There were also harmonies called escaped chords, which gave the impression of shifting the tonality to a new key. However, they were neither prepared nor resolved in the traditional sense. They simply evaporated. “Harmonies were also more richly constructed, such as 9, 11, and 13th chords, or were constructed in fourths - quartal harmonies, or fifths - quintal harmonies, rather than thirds -tertian harmonies (Magnuson).
“Just as the form of a painting begins to take shape as the artist’s brush touches the canvas, musical form begins with rhythm: its canvas is silence; its space is time” (Reichert). In Impressionist music, the strong beats, which normally are the focal point and mainstay of music, were disguised with ties, syncopations, or hemiolas – the practice of placing the emphasis off the regular downbeat to a weaker one. The use of compound meters and cross-rhythms were commonly used.
The stylistic innovations of Impressionism opened the doors for imagination to discover, explore and create from a fresh perspective. “Impressionists favored delicate sensuality, immediacy and the idea of art as an invitation to pleasure. They sought to renew a sense of the mystery of life and the beauty of the world through perception itself, using art to reveal the deep intuitions of the unconscious” (Pasler). Two key figures of Impressionism, Claude Monet and Claude Debussy, made a great contributions to the art and music of the period, as well as influencing their peers and others in the Literary and Fine Arts circles.
Impressionism – the Key Figures: Monet and Debussy
There is a common vocabulary between the language of the disciplines of art and music, as well as an historical link in the development of the two genres. In addition, there is a link between Monet and Debussy, the principal figures of the era. They were contemporaries, born of the bourgeoisie class, but reference has been made to suggest that they were synaesthetes, that is, they had the ability to transpose sensory cognitive processes, which could explain how their artistic perceptions were manifested.
The properties of musical tones are often described by visual, spatial, or even tactual terms. A lively or a high-pitched phrase gives listeners the impression of brightness and lightness. The reverse is also true. Once on a radio program about classical music, I heard an episode about a conversation between Stravinsky and his mentor, Rimski Korsakov. A commentator said, "Hearing it, others recognized that the two were talking about arts, because lots of graphical terms are used." In reference to this, the following items formed in the binomial confrontation were chosen in the experiment on photism by T. F. Karwoski, H. S. Odbert, and C. E. Osgood: big-small, near-far, thick-thin, dark-bright, distinct-blurred, moving-stationary, squarish-round, up-down. We know that other items like hard-soft, heavy-light, rough-smooth, high-low, dense-sparse are also often used at a tactile or spatial level in our talks on music and visual arts (Okada 77).
“Synaesthesia exists among many artists and composers, and is characterized by a transposition of the senses, a cross modal sensory way of perceiving the world in which we live, a virtual combining of the senses” (Hubbard). Some people can see certain colors or shapes when listening to music, or when viewing a painting, they may make a connection between a particular melody and artwork. To see colors when hearing sounds or certain frequencies, to see numbers in color, to cross-reference colors with words, all contribute to a broader way of sensing the world around us.
“Synaesthesia has always been a magnet for Romantic ideas, because it seems to validate the belief in the primacy of imagination in human cognition, as well as to ratify the original wholeness, continuity, and interfusion of immediate experience before its division into atomistic sensations” (Dann ix). The author, Dann, believes that the concept of synaesthesia supports the purpose of literature and the arts, that is, to create a fusion of the senses. “The ‘tone poem’ in music, also known as the ‘symphonic poem,’ is a type of 19th and 20th century orchestral music based on an extra-musical idea, either poetic or realistic” (Apel 822). The music reflects a story and thereby creates a fusion of the senses. The sheer beauty of the works is breathtaking and unforgettable; the ambiguity of the musical story draws the listener to create his own impressions.
Monet and his contemporaries painted landscapes with a different vision than their predecessors. M. Guy de Maupassant (1850-1893), a French writer known as the author of the naturalistic school who wrote short stories, poetry and novels, spoke enthusiastically of Monet: “[He] discovered the art of painting. He has certainly painted moving waters, skies, air, and sunlight with a vividness and truth before unknown. Though occasionally painting indoors, he is, in my opinion, most original as an open-air painter. No one has given us quite such realism” (Stuckey 135). Monet transcended the time barrier in art, developing skills to record the unique appearances of passing moments more effectively than any camera in the last century could do.
The following paragraphs will give insight into the lives of Monet and Debussy, the giants of the Impressionistic period, and of their impact upon art and music.
Claude Monet (1840 – 1926)
When Monet first began to work, academic painting was the norm in the art schools and considered the appropriate style for those artists who were allowed to show their works in the annual Salon. The standard themes were of antiquity and mythology, portraits that flattered the subject, and of pastoral scenes. The techniques were of a classical composition with the subject centered on the canvas and with no visible brush strokes evident in the somber earth tones. Sketches of the subject were made and if enlargement was necessary, it was done by means of a grid system. The painting was completed in the studio, lacking much feeling for reality.
Monet’s approach to art was diametrically opposed to what the ‘academics’ accepted the norm for art. He chose to paint directly from the subject, using a palette of bright colors applied by obvious brush strokes. The placement of the composition on the canvas was decentralized, allowing for a more realistic presentation. He painted the simple, everyday activities of life without having the figures posed: sharing a meal in the dining room, a woman passing a window, a walk in the field, life in the street, the warehouses, the train station, the regattas at Argenteuil, or a dip in the pond. It is obvious to see the difference in the ‘reality’ of Monet’s work as compared to the academic style preferred by the bourgeois:
Claude Monet explained the part he played in the Impressionist movement and in
contemporary art generally. ‘I have always had an intense dislike of theories. I can only
claim credit for having painted direct from nature and trying to record my impressions of
the most transient effects. I am distressed that it was because of me that the group was
given its name, when most of them are not in the least impressionist’ (Sérullaz 129).
In his later years, he began to distance himself from the Impressionist movement and the ‘realist’ concern. His style became somewhat more abstract with characteristics that were diametrically opposed to realism. “The fact is that not until the 1950s and the investigations of American abstract expressionism was Claude Monet’s enormous contribution to painting, from the gentle revolution of the first Impressionist oils to the extraordinary explosion of the Orangerie Water Lilies, appreciated at its true value” (Casaril CD). “Someone once said of him: ‘Monet is nothing but an eye – but what an eye it is!’” (Sérullaz 129)
For artists like Renoir, Pissarro and Seurat, the brush stroke actually became the artist’s signature. The difference for Monet was that he sought through a hand movement to suggest the vibrations of light just as his eye perceived it. When viewing Monet’s paintings close up, the brush strokes seem to manifest disorder. However, when viewed from a distance, the picture comes together as a whole, integrating form, color and light. The brush strokes express form by their direction with decreased width indicating depth. The heavier or lighter strokes modeled reliefs.
Imagine Monet when he painted Ladies in the Garden, The Frog Pond or the Saint-Lazare Station. In his thinking, he viewed himself as a realist, and in some ways, he indeed was one (Sérullaz 129).
In music and art, Impressionism is concerned with the creation of a mood, a feeling (an impression) through simple but elusive means. Claude Debussy, like Monet, was able to capture the elusive qualities of music and transform them into tonal images, which paralleled the artistry of the period.
Claude Debussy (1862-1918)
One of the greatest of French composers, and one of the most potent influences on the course of music in the twentieth century, was Claude-Achille Debussy (1862-1918) (Grout 672). Debussy was deeply interested in the relation of music to the other arts and was an admirer not only of the manifestations of the contemporary Art Nouveau, but also of the Japanese prints of Hokusai and the paintings of Turner – one of the greatest landscape artists of the early 19th century. “The paintings of the French Impressionists Monet, Manet, and Renoir, and the refined poetry of Verlaine, Baudelaire, and Mallarmé suggested to Debussy a new type of music, eminently French in character. The music hints rather than states, in which successions of colors take the place of dynamic development, and ‘atmospheric’ sensations supersede heroic pathos; a music that is vague and intangible as the changing light of day” (Apel 403).
The term impressionism has become synonymous with the music of Debussy, although the composer was unhappy with it. “Light and its changing effects in the visual world play an important role in impressionistic music. Since music allows action in time, it is especially suited to the portrayal of changing patterns of light” (Manoff 321). One of Debussy’s famous piano compositions, La Mer (1905), can be considered a study of light interacting with the motion of the sea, light evoked in sound. Debussy chose a painting by the Japanese artist, Hokusai, for the cover page. He was not suggesting that his piece was a musical version of the painting, but that both the painting and his piece shared a similar region of aesthetic experience. “In reference to his composition, Debussy said, ‘What I am doing might be like painting a landscape in a studio.’ It is in the spirit of Debussy’s intentions for us to let music suggest visual images. Sound, sight, light, and imagination are all invited into the musical experience” (Manoff 321). In fact, throughout his life Debussy jotted down projects and sketches, which may be compared to the drawings of some of the old masters. From the ‘black and white’ of the piano, as Debussy himself put it, he extracted the maximum amount of color.
Debussy’s first major orchestral achievement and best-known symphonic work, Prelude to “The Afternoon of a Faun” (1894), was inspired by a poem of Mallarmé. The setting of the poem is a wooded landscape, depicting an encounter between a satyr and his three nymphs. The first performance was received so well that it had to be repeated. “The poet, upon hearing it, said, ‘This music prolongs the emotion of my poem and fixes the scene much more vividly than color painting could have done’” (Vallas 102).
The compositional techniques Debussy used had an immediate impact on musical tradition. Debussy’s harmonies seem to float along, using chord progressions that seem to be circular. He created harmonic moods that blended into each other within a long-range harmonic plan. He used modes and the whole-tone scale to avoid a tonal center. Textures were like a collage of many diverse elements. “Melody, rhythm, harmony, and timbre, create a continuous interplay in which no single element is consistently more important than another” (Manoff 323).
Debussy’s interest in music extended beyond the European traditions in that he utilized the Medieval harmonic techniques, such as organum – the practice of parallel fourths and fifths in harmony with each other. He included non-European folk music as well. “Other influences I would mention are the Javanese Gamelan, which impressed Debussy at the Exposition Universelle de Paris in 1889, and his love of Japanese art, owning a large collection of Japanese vases and prints (Enget 2).
Debussy opened up the music of Western Europe to the rest of the world. He absorbed a profound influence from the Indonesian gamelan, a percussion ensemble of pitched and non-pitched percussion instruments, and occasionally made use of Afro-American ragtime influences in his compositions. What he learned from exotic music helped him to loosen European conventions, and to promote a further free give-and-take, not only of influence but also of values, among people sensitive to music all over the world (Austin 2).
By introducing students to the works of Monet and Debussy, many cognitive levels for exploration are presented, and all eight types of multiple intelligences can be utilized in creating lesson plans to support this study. The following plans represent inter-disciplinary objectives including a general introduction to the Impressionistic period of art and music history, as well as to specific works of art and music via virtual tours. Additionally, the lesson plans include visits to an arboretum and to a recording studio, with accompanying projects to create an artwork and a music composition. A concluding student seminar providing closure and synthesis offers an interesting and creative form of assessment. These objectives will include correlations with art, music, language arts, social studies, science, math, and technology.
LESSON PLANS
The over-arching objective of the curriculum unit is for upper-elementary or middle school students to participate in individual and small group activities leading toward the creation (by each student) of an original music composition and work of art based on the Impressionistic themes used by Monet and Debussy, specifically the theme of nature. The length of time to complete the unit will vary, based on each teacher's schedule and frequency of meeting with the student. All students will maintain a portfolio from the onset of the study through the production phase of the activities, which may be in the form of an e-journal, digital portfolio, photos with annotations, or a multi-media PowerPoint presentation. A diskette or CD of a student-generated music composition will represent another means of assessment. A videotape of the final Paideia Seminar could be an assessment for viewing and critique by all students involved in the project.
Lesson Plan 1: Impressionism in Art; Monet, Historical Background
Interdisciplinary Objective 1: Social Studies and Art
Students are introduced to the history of the Impressionist period of Art, with an emphasis on art history as a parallel to social studies. Points of emphasis are the social and economic changes of the period, specifically the advent of photography as an artistic representation, and the advances in the Industrial Revolution, creating more opportunities for recreational travel and increased availability of art supplies. Students will explore the many ways artists have expressed their ideas and feelings about the natural world -- changing seasons, weather, and the beauty of forms in nature.
Interdisciplinary Objective 2: Technology, Social Studies and Art
WebQuest (Information Acquisition): Students will take a virtual tour of Monet's home in Giverny, tour his gardens and view his paintings. The website, "Welcome to Claude Monet's", Fondation Claude Monet, rue Claude Monet 27620 Giverny, <http://www.intermonet.com/index.htm>, is sponsored by the cities of Giverny and Vernon. Monet lived in Giverny for 43 years and painted many pictures of his house, garden, and the village. The site offers Monet's biography, a virtual tour of Giverny, Monet's artworks, gardens and home, links to Monet exhibitions all around the world, and a very interesting article on Monet's use of color.
Since the historical information on Impressionism has been introduced in Objective 1, the task now is to find pictorial and factual examples that support the details. The resources are the websites themselves, which should be bookmarked on the computers. The process is guided by the graphic organizer – an Organizing Tree. The rubrics for evaluation will vary, depending upon the grade level and student’s competency in technology.
WebQuest: Welcome to Claude Monet’s - (http://www.intermonet.com)
Introduction
We are embarking on a journey to Giverny, France, to visit Claude Monet’s home and gardens. In this webquest, you will become a researcher, architect, and connoisseur of art and flowers. You will take notes to support your findings.
Task
After reading Monet’s biography, viewing his paintings and touring his gardens, you will discover and explain how Monet used nature themes in his artworks. You will also describe how his uses of color and brush techniques make his art unique. Be prepared to discuss this with your classmates.
Process
Step 1 Let’s look at Monet’s biography. Where did Monet learn to be an artist? Who were some of the influential artists in his life? How did the visual impairment of cataracts affect his last years as a painter? Record your answers in the graphic organizer.
Step 2 Now, we will visit the village of Giverny. Where is Giverny located? How did Monet come to live in Giverny? Look at the link to Monet’s Japanese bridge and water lilies. Make a sketch of the bridge, giving attention to the arch and vertical railings.
Step 3 Let’s investigate Monet’s colors. What are the unique features of Impressionism? What were Monet’s principal colors? Why did Monet not use the color black in his paintings?
Step 4 Click the link to Claude Monet in the museums. Go to the museums in America, specifically the Museum of Fine Art in Boston. On the left side of the web page, click Search, and then click Collection Search, which will lead you to the frame of artists. Select Monet and view the collection. How large is the Monet collection? What are some of the themes Monet included in his artwork? What are your favorite three artworks?
Step 5 Let’s end with a visit to Monet’s house and gardens. Click on the link and follow to visit Monet’s two gardens. What was Monet’s plan in the arrangement of flowers? The water garden has two famous objects that Monet frequently painted. What are they? Follow the link to the flowers and plants in Monet’s garden. List several of the flowers, plants and trees that you might find in your own area.
All work will be evaluated individually based on the following criteria:
| Beginning | Developing | Accomplished | Exemplary | Score | |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | ||
| Monet’s | Inaccurate | Accurate | Accurate | Detailed and | |
| Biography | answers | answers, Brief details | answers, Attention to detail | Accurate Answers, extended thought on affects of visual | |
| impairment | |||||
| Visit to | Does not | Includes only | Includes | Detailed form and | |
| Giverny: | follow | some of the | common | analyses of the | |
| Drawing of | architecture | features and | features of the | architecture, | |
| Japanese | of the bridge | somewhat | bridge with | includes | |
| Bridge | follows the | attention to line, | background, is | ||
| shape and | shape, form, and | neatly finished | |||
| form | detail | ||||
| Visit to | Does not | Follows links | Careful | Follows and | |
| Museum | follow guide to links; inaccurate | and observes paintings; accurate | observation of themes, accurate answers | exceeds requirements; demonstrates an | |
| answers | answers | “understanding of art history and culture as records of | |||
| human | |||||
| achievement” | |||||
| (Texas TEKS 117). | |||||
| Monet’s | Opinions are | Opinions are | Opinions are | Opinions are well | |
| Colors | not | somewhat | mostly | supported with a | |
| supported | supported | supported with | good use of | ||
| with facts. | with facts. | facts. | persuasion. | ||
| Little persuasion. | Some persuasion | Some persuasion | |||
| Visit to Garden | Little attention to detail | Some attention to detail | Good attention to details, organizes information | Student develops and organizes information about the environment. | |
| about the | |||||
| environment |
Conclusion
You now know about Monet’s life, where he lived, about his paintings, and about his love of gardening. However, most importantly, you have developed an idea about what Impressionism is as an art form, and what to look for in a painting that represents Impressionistic techniques.
Interdisciplinary Objective 3: Art, Math and Technology
“The student expresses ideas through original artworks, using a variety of media with appropriate skill” (Texas TEKS 117). Using information from their virtual tour of Monet's home and gardens, the students will re-create a Japanese bridge like Monet's at Giverny, a task involving the study of form, structures and math concepts. Using Microsoft Word tools (drawing, picture, visual basic, and word art), or art software like Kid Pix by Broderbund (http://www.broderbund.com), a visual representation can be digitally sketched and colored, reinforcing the arrangement of space and form. Skills in mathematics and computer technologies apply to art in terms of ratio, proportion, and line. Place emphasis on how artists use their knowledge of measurement and geometric shapes and forms - in designing architecture, in planning beautifully proportioned vases and many other aspects of art. Demonstrate and provide opportunities for students to use computers to create art. Students exhibit technology skills and save their artwork to be transferred to their e-journal or digital portfolio.
Monet was an avid gardener and used nature themes in much of his paintings. His home, surrounded by beautiful gardens, includes a water lily pond, the inspiration for some of his most famous paintings. As part of the study of Monet’s biography and works, the students will visit a local arboretum to collect various botanical samples of flowers, leaves and water plants. The artifacts are to be collected with permission, and are to be selected without endangering any of the florae. During the course of travel to their field trip, students will study the Latin botanical names of the plants they may observe at the arboretum so they can catalogue their samples. They will keep a photo journal of the arboretum visit. At the conclusion of the visit, students will complete a report to summarize their nature walk.
Interdisciplinary Objective 1: Science, Language Arts, and Technology
Using a graphic organizer, students will learn the common and Latin names of plants they will photograph at the Houston Arboretum and Nature Center. The Houston Arboretum and Nature Center, located at 4501 Woodway Drive, Houston, Texas 77024-7708 <http://www.houstonarboretum.org>, contains a lily pond, a meadow, a pine forest, and offers opportunities for on-going education. The students may use their own digital camera, or purchase a disposable one to create a photo-log of their trip and to capture the various plants in various settings of light. Each child needs a medium sized plastic baggie with their name on it to collect the samples (artifacts) during their nature walk.
A list of the plants to be identified and photographed may include the following examples, and pictures of them can be readily obtained by using books from the library, or by web search, entering the names into the ‘Image’ section of the Google search engine. Have students complete the visual details on the Observation Chart, which will help to serve as a guide to finding the plants at the arboretum.
| OBSERVATION CHART: Event or Subject Observed | Visual Details | Smells | Feel/Textures | Other Features: Function, condition, location, importance, value. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wax Myrtle (Myrica cerifera) | ||||
| Virginia Sweetspire (Itea virginica) | ||||
| Sweet William (verbena Canadensis) | ||||
| Milkweed (Asclepias tuberose) | ||||
| Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) | ||||
| Strawberry bush (Euonymus americanus) |
| OBSERVATION CHART: Event or Subject Observed | Visual Details | Smells | Feel/Textures | Other Features: Function, condition, location, importance, value. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| American Beutyberry (Callicarpa Americana) | ||||
| Mexican Plum (Prunus mexicana) | ||||
| Possumhaw holly (Ilex deciduas) | ||||
| Barbados cherry (Malpighia glabra) | ||||
| White Waterlilly (Nymphaea odorata) | ||||
| Arrowhead (Sagittaria) | ||||
| Lizardtail (Saururus cernuus) | ||||
| Gulf Coast Penstemon (Penstemon tenuis) |
Download or develop photographs taken from the visit to the arboretum to place in the photo journal, and utilize the graphic organizer to connect the photo to the correct name of the plant.
Interdisciplinary Objective 3: Language Arts and Science
Students may then write a reflection of the visit to the Arboretum to place in their journal. “Combine information from direct observation, experience, and imagination to express ideas” (Texas TEKS 117).
Some sample prompts for writing may include the following ideas: how humans, wildlife and plants share the environment; how humans affect plants and plants affect humans; and the relationship between plants. Students may use their field notes and artifacts collected in their bags to describe, develop and elaborate their writing. A pre-writing activity could include brainstorming to develop a list of nouns, such as plant, flower, tree, seed, fish, lily pad, bird, plant stem, leaf, and squirrel. Adjectives that describe the nouns could also be mentioned, such as the colors, shapes, and functions of the objects. As a further extension of the writing, students include their impression of the Houston Arboretum and Nature Center.
Interdisciplinary Objective 4: Science, Art and Technology
Students create original artwork with artifacts gathered at the Arboretum.
Objective: Students will use the artifacts collected from their botanical trip to design and create an original artwork based on their observations of the subtle colors, textures, patterns, and natural forms – plants.
Option 1
Students make an impressionistic painting on a surface like a cardboard tray or plexi-glass. Begin by arranging the artifacts gathered at the Arboretum on the surface (leaves, rocks, flowers, etc.). Sprinkle them with a layer of sand, and lightly spray the surface of the sand with water until it is damp. Select two colors of ink. Focusing on the areas around the nature objects, spritz one color of ink on self-selected spots. Spritz again using the second color of ink. Lift the surface and tilt it slightly so the colors will run. After the sand has dried, remove the sand and artifacts to reveal the impressions (stains) left by the ink. Outline the forms with a fine-point Sharpie pen. Place the surface on matting and the student extends or continues the forms from the artifacts by drawing them onto the mat area.
Option 2
Students create a PowerPoint presentation of the pictures they took at the Arboretum. Photo Shop or Microsoft Photo Editor Software may be used to alter the images, such as blur the details, crop, resize, and balance. Effects can be used to soften, smudge, sharpen, create a negative, de-speckle, posterize, or edge. The Microsoft Photo Editor offers other creative effects, such as chalk and charcoal, emboss, graphic pen, notepaper, watercolor, stained glass, stamp, texture, and set transparent color.
Evaluation
All work will be evaluated by the following criteria.
| Incomplete | Novice | Proficient | Exemplary | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Associates Latin and Common Names of Plants | Inaccurate answers | Accurate answers, Brief details | Accurate answers, Attention to detail | Detailed and Accurate Answers, extended thought on affects of visual impairment |
| Completes Graphic Organizer | Inaccurate answers | Accurate answers, Brief details | Accurate answers, Attention to detail | Detailed and Accurate Answers, extended thought on affects of visual impairment |
| Photographs plants, environmental scenery | Little attention to detail | Some attention to detail | Good attention to details, organizes information about the environment | Student develops and organizes information about the environment. |
| Creates a photo journal | Little attention to detail | Some attention to detail | Good attention to details, organizes information about the environment | Student develops and organizes information about the environment. |
| Completes Reflection of Arboretum Visit | Opinions are not supported with facts. Little persuasion. | Opinions are somewhat supported with facts. Some persuasion | Opinions are mostly supported with facts. Some persuasion | Opinions are well supported with a good use of persuasion. |
| Incomplete | Novice | Proficient | Exemplary | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Art project with Artifacts | Does not follow through with directions | Includes only some of the features and somewhat follows the shape and form | Includes common features of the artifacts with attention to line, shape, form, and detail | Detailed form and analyses of the project, includes background, is neatly finished |
| Art project with PowerPoint | Little attention to detail | Some attention to detail | Good attention to details, organizes information about the environment | Student develops and organizes information about the environment. |
Interdisciplinary Objective: Music, Social Studies, Art, Technology
WebQuest. Students will listen to MIDI files of Debussy's music and make connections to Monet's artwork. Students use a graphic organizer to catalog and describe pairings of the artwork and music compositions. "The Musical Impressions” website offers a biography, a complete list of Debussy’s compositions, and works of Debussy and Monet that have been paired as examples. It also includes samples of Debussy's music, as well as links to other sites that contain coupled works of Monet and Debussy.
WebQuest: Claude Debussy: The Musical Impressions Website (http://public.srce.hr/~fsupek/)
Claude Debussy, the French composer and musician, was the founder and most important representative of the Impressionist movement in music. You will learn about his life, his relationship with the Impressionist poets and painters, and hear samples of his music. In this webquest, you will become a researcher, composer, and connoisseur of music and art.
After reading Debussy’s biography, listening to his music and relating them to Monet’s paintings, you will discover and explain how music can create impressions or images. Your task is to follow the links in the website, gather information, and record your answers on the graphic organizer relating to Impressionist art and music.
Step 1 Let’s look at Debussy’s biography. Where did Debussy learn music? Who were some of the influential people in his life? What is probably his best-known work?
Step 2 Let’s examine some of Debussy’s compositions. The link, Works, contains a list of piano music, orchestral and chamber music, vocal and choral music, and other works. Observe the number of works in each category. Which group has the most listings? What is different about the names Debussy gave to some of his compositions?
Step 3 Now we will go to the Explore link to hear Debussy’s music and view related artwork by Monet. You will record your answers on the graphic organizer. First, enter three of the themes from the examples that you want to explore - Fantasy, Nature, Strength, Freedom, Pleasure, and Reminiscence. Enter the name of the music and the name of the artwork.
To find the name of the artwork, hover over the picture, or let the mouse rest on the picture. The name will pop up for you. You may click on the Audio link at the bottom of the web page to select the music you want to hear. If you do not find the music you want, you may navigate to the Classical Music Pages website found in the Links and hear your selection. Here is an example of the graphic organizer.
Monet’s Artwork
| Reflets dans l’eau | Nature | Water Lilies |
| The Engulfed Cathedral | Freedom | Rouen Cathedral |
| La Mer | Strength | Flood Tide |
| Evaluation |
Now that you have completed your webquest, share your answers and graphic organizers with your classmates. What did you find that was not included or different about other student’s answers?
You now know about Debussy’s life, where he lived, about his music, and how he was labeled as an Impressionist composer. However, most importantly, you have developed an idea about what Impressionism is as musical art form, and what to look for in music that represents Impressionistic techniques.
Lesson Plan 4: Students compose original music using music software
Objective 1
“Students learn that music, like pictures, can describe images and moods” (The Standards Site, Unit 13).
Begin by viewing paintings or pictures that relate impressions of mood. Draw attention to the relationship between the pictorial subject and its structure, colors, and style. Develop awareness by asking the students to discuss what the painting is describing, and what feeling it may portray. Selections might include works of Picasso for the bold shapes and colors, the darkness in some of Van Gogh’s works, or the effects of mist in Manet’s paintings. Is there are relationship between the ‘story’ in the picture and the colors?
Define color in music. Explain that music also has ‘colors,’ that while color is used to describe appearance, it can also describe sounds or feelings. Discuss colors that may be hot and fiery – like red, orange, and yellow. Discuss colors that may be cool and calm – like green, blue, and turquoise.
Listen to music that relates to an event or scene, person or animal. Selections might include Miniwanka (or The Moments of Water) by R. M. Schafer, or “Fossils” from Carnival of the Animals by Camille Saint-Saëns, or “Musette,” from the Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach, by Johann Sebastian Bach, as performed by Yo-Yo Ma and Bobby McFerrin. Before identifying the title of the music or the theme, discuss the thoughts and pictures that came to mind while listening to the music, and reactions in terms of how the music made them feel. Point out that there are many different possibilities for answers, that music creates different reactions in different people.
Reveal the titles of the music and list the specific musical qualities of each piece that relate to mental pictures or impressions, such as drops of water cascading and tumbling down a waterfall in Miniwanka, or clicking of bones in “Fossils”, or how Bobby McFerrin’ voice imitates the sounds of a reed instrument in “Musette.”
Objective 2
Using the computer lab at school and music software, such as "Super Duper Music Looper" by Sonic Foundry, students are able to select instruments and sound effects overlaid in music loops to create an impressionistic piece of music. This particula r software works very simply, a click, cut, paste and drag technique.
Brainstorm topics for a 'tone-picture,' discussing what options would be appropriate to use for an Impressionistic composition that Debussy might create. Sample 'tone-pictures' could include themes like a rainy, cloudy or snowy day, a walk in the park or colorful flower garden, a day at the beach, a star-lit night sky, a bright, shining full moon, or a winding river. Explore what instruments might help create the effect for each topic, discussing the tone color of each of the instruments. Discuss the elements of music that may contribute toward creating impressions in the composition, such as tempo, dynamics, tone color, and sound effects.
Review the software Tutorial with the students, providing 'play' time to investigate the different tools that are available. Direct the students to the different options for modifying the loops: Key, Tempo, Rhythm, Instruments, Sound Effects, and Save/email song. Go to Create and select from the different instruments the sounds that will paint the tone picture. Using the paintbrush, paint phrases into the top track at the desired locations. Add additional tracks in the same manner. Listen to the song and edit the phrases. Name and save the song or share it with other students, and copy to a diskette or burn it to a CD.
As a final activity, the unit would conclude with a Paideia Seminar. Viewing a video of the seminar will provide a tool for assessment by the students after its conclusion.
A Paideia seminar promotes critical thinking through Socratic questioning. Paideia seminars give students voice in the classroom. The seminar becomes the students’ forum to explore issues that do not have easy answers, and sometimes no answer. Students have the opportunity to develop skills in asking questions, communicating ideas, challenging assumptions, supporting positions, listening to others, reading critically, and examining other perspectives. The teacher’s role in Paideia seminars is to facilitate the discussion and promote clear, critical thinking rather than to dispense information or promulgate specific values (Kaufman).
Objective
The text topic of the seminar would be to discuss an Impressionistic artwork paired to a synthesized music composition written in the Impressionistic style. The works are Two Girls at a Piano by Renoire and Debussy’s Golliwog’s Cakewalk as performed by Isao Tomita. The seminar will provide a venue for students to demonstrate their ability to analyze, synthesize, evaluate, and internalize the ideas, concepts, and values embedded in the curriculum.
Isao Tomita, a Japanese musician who arranged and performed many of Debussy’s compositions, was born in 1932 in Tokyo, Japan. He first studied art history, but eventually chose music as his profession. Much of Tomita’s music, written for television and films, was primarily created on electronic instruments. His album, Snowflakes Are Dancing (1974), includes some of Debussy’s most beautiful tone poems from Suite Bergamasque and Children’s Corner.
The Pre-Seminar activities address both the content and the process preparation. The content would relate to being able to distinguish elements of the Impressionistic style in art and music. Refreshing the information covered in Lessons 1 and 4 constitute a review of the themes, artistic details and techniques in the works of Monet and Debussy.
The process preparation allows students to give input as to the ‘rules’ of the seminar. Suggestions as to the students’ conduct, listening and speaking skills, and critical thinking outcomes, are established before the seminar, providing the basis for a seminar rubric. Examples are:
Conduct: listens respectfully, invites comment, does not interrupt.
Listening: looks at speaker, follows textual references, asks follow-up questions.
Speaking: speaks at least three times, refers to text, asks questions, explains and
justifies.
Critical Thinking: response reflects going beyond the text, listening to others, explains
disagreements with text support, reflects comprehension of text, makes
statements using real world situations.
Seating the participants in an open circle or square formation assures that all can see each other and speak directly to one another. The teacher is the facilitator, and is not to participate in the discussion except to present the questions, which stimulate the thought processes and conversation, or to offer a follow-up question. The Seminar begins with an opening question, which introduces the theme or ideas, and gets the participants into the text.
Introduction
Our seminar today is to discuss the Impressionistic school of art and music based on what we have learned about it in our Pre-Seminar activities. While viewing a painting by an Impressionist contemporary of Monet, you will hear a piece of music composed by Debussy. After listening, we will have our opening question to begin our seminar. Everyone will participate in this first round.
Sample Opening Question:
Do you think that the artwork and music complement each other? Why or why not?
The second round identifies central points that require close consideration of the text.
Sample Core Questions: What qualities in the painting or in the music represent the Impressionist philosophy? Is this painting like those of Monet? What are some of the things that the girls could be discussing about the music? What impression do you get when you listen to the music?
The final round or closing, invites participants to apply the ideas of the text.
Sample Closing Questions
Do all art or music that is ‘Impressionistic’ have similar qualities? How do the themes and subjects selected by the Impressionist artists relate to art or music today? What did you learn from the other seminar participants?
A Post-seminar round offers students opportunities to assess and apply both content and process. Sample Post-Seminar Questions: What did we do well in the seminar?
What do you learn about Impressionist art and music that you did not know before our seminar? Follow-up with viewing the video of the seminar and invite the students to offer their reflections and suggestions for improvement.
Works Cited
Apel, Willi. Harvard Dictionary of Music. 2nd ed. Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap/Harvard University Press, 1972. This dictionary is the standard reference book of music literature. The article on “Impressionism” gives a thorough definition of the period, referring to Debussy, Monet, Manet, Renoir, Verlaine, Baudelaire, and Mallarmé.
Austin, William F. Music in the Twentieth Century, from Debussy through Stravinsky. New York: W.W. Norton, 1966. Austin’s book is an in-depth study of music in the 20th century with its 19th-century background with composers' lives and works, as well as musical genres.
Bush, George W. “President Bush's Proclamation for National Arts and Humanities Month 2001”. Americans for the Arts. Statement dated 25 October, 2001. <http://www.artsusa.org/public_awareness/pac_article.asp?id=698>. President Bush's Proclamation for National Arts and Humanities Month 2001.
Casaril, Guy. Monet, Verlaine, Debussy. The Impressionist Revolution. CD Rom. Knowledge Books and Software, 1995. The CD Rom is an interactive multimedia source of text, images and sound depicting poetry, music and paintings of Monet (the painter), Verlaine (the poet) and Debussy (the composer).
Chaffin, Lon W., Ph.D. Southwestern Musician, Official Publication of the Texas Music Educators Association. March, 2005. A monthly periodical published for members of Texas Music Educators Assn., this magazine reports on topics in music education around the State.
“Charles Baudelaire.” Arts and Culture – France Culture/Travel Information. 29 June, 2005. <http://www.romanfrance.com/culture/artist/104.html>. France Guide offers information on literature, painting, arts and crafts, and tourism in France.
Dann, Kevin T. Bright Colors Falsely Seen [electronic resource]: Synaesthesia and the Search for Transcendental Knowledge. NetLibrary. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1998. <http:www.uvm.edu/!kdann/excerpt.htm>. Dann’s book gives information regarding the fascination with synaesthesia in France at the turn of the century, the transcendental language of color, the meaning of synaesthesia, and the gift of synaesthesia.
Enget, Diane. “Litart Spring 2004. Debussy in Jersey”, 1904-2004. 25 March, 2005. <http:// http://www.litart.co.uk>. Diane Enget is a pianist who has specialized in Debussy’s works. On her website, hear some selected Debussy pieces played on the Blüthner piano, which belonged to Debussy.
Gardner, Howard. Intelligence Reframed: Multiple Intelligences for the 21st Century. New York: Basic, 2000. This book addresses an updated viewpoint of multiple intelligences, including additional intelligences other than the seven basic ones. Multiple intelligences in the schools and multiple approaches to understanding are discussed.
“Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences”. Innovative Teaching Concepts. 7 Feb. 2005. <http://www.todaysteacher.com/MultipleIntelligenceProfiles.htm>. This article offers a very clear table format of the multiple intelligences, their strengths, and the best learning style to suit each one.
Grout, Donald Jay. A History of Western Music. 3rd Edition. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1980. A recognized survey of the history of art music in the Western world, this book contains information on Debussy’s life, his works and the school of Impressionism.
Houston Independent School District. Project CLEAR Curriculum. Fine Arts and General Music for grades K-5. Houston, Texas. 2003-2004. Project CLEAR Curriculum provides objectives and model lessons for teaching general music.
Hubbard, Edward M. Edward M. Hubbard, NUMBRA Post-Doctoral Fellow Website. 13 February 2005. <http://psy.ucsd.edu/~edhubbard/>.
Dr. Hubbard has extensive research in synaesthesia and many published articles from his studies that address the topic from the view of psychology and cognitive science.
Kauble, Martin E. Music History – The Impressionistic Period (1870-1920). 30 April, 2005. <http://www.kaublepianostudio.com/history/impressionistic.html>. Kauble’s website offers music history information with regard to a pianist’s point of view.
Kaufman, Anne. “Paideia Seminars: Putting Students in Charge of the Conversation.” The Twelfth International Conference on Learning, 11-14 July, 2005. 4 Mar. 2005. <http://105.cgpublisher.com/proposals/7/index_html>. Dr. Anne Kaufman, Associate Professor, Education Dept., Augsburg College, is the director of the Augsburg College Paideia Program.
Magnuson, Phillip. “MICROCOSMS: Impressionism. A Simplified Approach to Musical Styles of the Twentieth Century”. 21 March, 2005. <http://www.udayton.edu/!music/faculty/magnuson/microcosms/impressionism.html>. Magnuson’s webpage offers pictures representative of the various art movements, and a discussion of the Impressionistic period of music and its characteristics.
Manoff, Tom. Music: a Living Language. New York, London: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1982. An introductory text in music listening, this text combines prose, graphic analogues, and recordings.
Okada, M. “Music-Picture: One Form of Synthetic Art Education.” The Journal of Aesthetic Education, v. 37 no. 4 (Winter 2003) p. 73-84. Prof. Okada, widely accepted by art educators in Japan, writes about pictures drawn through musical perception. He investigates three gestalt rules that are applicable to the senses of vision and hearing – adjacency, continuance, and resemblance, and presents research on color hearing as one type of synaesthesia.
Pasler, Jann. “Impressionism. (§2.) Stylistic Innovation”, Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed 2 May 2005), <http://www.grovemusic.com>. An in-depth article regarding the history of impressionism in music, Pasler provides information regarding the aesthetic and scientific principles, stylistic innovation, and social and political associations.
Perry, Rick. Southwestern Musician, Official Publication of the Texas Music Educators Association. March, 2005. A monthly periodical published for members of Texas Music Educators Assn., this magazine reports on topics in music education around the State.
Reichert, Herbert. “An Essay on Meaning in Music”. Audio Note, N.Y.C 25 June, 2005. <http://audiophile.hypermart.net/open.htm>. Reichert’s article gives a discourse on the connections between performing arts and fine arts.
Sérullaz, Maurice. The Concise Encyclopedia of Impressionism. Secaucus, New Jersey: Chartwell Books, Inc. 1974. This is a reference book on Impressionism which gives detailed biographies of the Impressionist painters, illustrated with the artists’ key works.
The Standards Site: Introduction: How Music Can Describe Images and Moods? Dept. for Education & Skills. Qualifications and Curriculum Authority. 83 Piccadilly, London W1J8QA. 27 June, 2005. <http://www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/schemes2/music/mus13/?view=get>. This website offers lesson plans for teachers who want to explore ITCs and interdisciplinary studies in the fine arts.
Stuckey, Charles F., ed. Monet: A Retrospective. Beaux Arts Editions: Hugh Lauter Levin Associates, Inc. 1985. This anthology contains Monet’s chronology, correspondences, and plates of his works.
Super Duper Music Looper. Sonic Foundry. <www.sonicfoundry.com>. 25 June, 2005. The website for music software offers a guide to the functions and utility of the Super Duper Music Looper.
“Teach Impressionism.” Impressionism: Paintings Collected by European Museums. The Seattle Art Museum. 26 Apr. 2005. <www.impressionism.org/teachimpress/default.htm>. This information is also located at <http://www.art-and-artist.co.uk>. This website offers lessons for teachers instructing grades one through eight. The lessons introduce the major themes of the Impressionism movement and are interdisciplinary.
Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for Fine Arts, §117. Subchapter A. Elementary. 25 June, 2005. <http://www.tea.state.tx.us/teks/§117.htm>. This document provides the guidelines for curriculum in the Fine Arts for the State of Texas.
Vallas, Leon. Claude Debussy, trans. By M. and G. O’Brien (New York, 1933). Vallas’ biography of Debussy includes quotes regarding his music.
Wilson, Frank R, M.D. “The Power of Music Education”. Yamaha Band and Orchestral Division Advocacy Report, Spring, 2001. Bands of America. AMC 1998 Publication, Music and Your Child. 6 May 2005. <http://www.bands.org/public/businessmedia/music_ed/power.asp>. This website gives detailed information regarding a child’s cognitive processes with relationship to music education.
Wilson, Leslie Owen. “Multiple Intelligences Defined”. 15 Feb. 2005. <http://www.uwsp.edu/educationlwilson/LEARNING/3mides.htm>. Dr. Wilson’s article gives a very clear explanation of the multiple intelligences and a list of references for further investigation.
Supplemental Resources
Chapman, Laura H. Adventures in Art: Texas Teacher’s Edition. Worcester, Massachusetts: Davis Publications, Inc., 1998. Adventures in Art is the currently adopted Art text for Elementary schools in H.I.S.D. Dr. Chapman’s text offers excellent lesson plans and an excellent Reference section at the back of the book.
Joseph, AnnRené. “The Value of the Arts to the Community and Education.” New Horizons for Learning, 30 Oct. 2004. <http://www.newhorizons.org/strategies/arts/joseph.htm>. This article contains many great quotes regarding the arts.
Nilsen, Anna. Art Fraud Detective. Boston: Kingfisher – a Houghton Mifflin Company, 2000. This book contains paintings of the great masters with duplicates that have been flawed in some manner so that the reader can practice detecting the real vs. the counterfeit artwork.
Roberts, Terry, and Laura Billings. The Paideia Classroom: Teaching for Understanding. New York: Larchmount, 1997. The book introduces the concepts of the Paideia learning theory and describes the seminar format. It also guides the reader on coached projects and assessment instruments.
Townsend, Dabney, ed. Aesthetics: Classic Readings from the Western Tradition, 2nd ed. Stamford, Ct.: Wadsworth, 2001. An introductory book of readings about aesthetics and theories of art.
Waggoner, Tom. Southwestern Musician: Official Publication of the Texas Music Educators Association. March, 2005. A monthly periodical published for members of Texas Music Educators Assn., this magazine reports on topics in music education around the State.
“What Is Synaesthesia?” Synaesthesia Research Group. 13 February 2005. <http://www.psychol.ucl.ac.uk/jamie.ward/synaesthesia.htm>. This website provides information about synaesthesia, gives links to other sites, and offers opportunities to take part in research.
Discography
Casaril, Guy. Monet, Verlaine, Debussy. The Impressionist Revolution. CD Rom. Knowledge Books and Software, 1995. The CD Rom is an interactive multimedia source of text, images and sound depicting poetry, music and paintings of Monet (the painter), Verlaine (the poet) and Debussy (the composer).
Debussy, Claude. Debussy. Complete Piano Music Volume 1. Werner Haas, Phillips CD 438 719-2. 1993. The set of two CDs includes “Preludes”, “Images” and “Children’s Corner”.
Tomita, Isao. Debussy: Snowflakes are Dancing, Prelude, etc. Audio CD, RCA #63588 – second release 11 Jan. 2000. Tomita gives a virtuoso electronic performance of Debussy’s works (tone paintings).
Filmography
Impressionism (18:00), What Is Impressionism? (5:40), The Artists of Impressionism (7:45). Written and produced by United Streaming. Streaming video media. Discovery Education. 2005. United Streaming website (www.unitedstreaming.com) is a subscription service that provides educational streaming videos on line.
Linnea in Monet’s Garden. Written, directed and produced Lena Anderson, Christina Bjork. Videocassette. First Run Features, 1993. This is a video prepared for children and very accessible as an introduction to water color in the elementary art class.
Monet: Legacy of Light. Written, directed, and produced Michael Gill. Video cassette. Home Vision, 1989. This video tells the artist's story through letters, journals, interviews, and his paintings.
“Debussy and Impressionism”. Univ. S. Cal. 3 Jan. 2005. <http://www-scf.usc.edu/~tkao >. This website offers a simple introduction to Debussy, Impressionism, works of Debussy and Monet, and samples of Debussy’s music, and links to other sites that contain paired works of Monet and Debussy.
The Classical Music Webring. Claude Debussy – The Musical Impressions. Classical Music UK. 23 Dec. 2004. <http://public.srce.hr/~fsupek/>. This is a wonderful website for Debussy containing his biography, a complete list of his compositions with additional information, a combination of Debussy’s music, quotations and Monet’s paintings, WMA files of various pieces of music, a photo gallery of pictures that relate to his life and music, and links to other relevant sites.
“Welcome to Claude Monet’s.” Fondation Claude Monet, rue Claude Monet 27620 Giverny. ... GiVerNet. 7 Feb. 2005. <http://www.intermonet.com/index.htm >. This website is sponsored by the cities of Giverny and Vernon. Monet lived in Giverny for 43 years and painted many pictures of his house, garden, and the village. The site offers Monet’s biography, a virtual tour of Giverny, Monet’s artworks, gardens and home, links to Monet exhibitions all around the world, and a very interesting article on Monet’s use of color.
Armond Bayou Nature Center. <http://www.abnc.org>. Displays two of the regions most notable features: prairie and wetlands.
Hollingsworth Science Center. <http://dept.houstonisd.org/curriculum/science/html/LivingCenter/LivingCenter.htm> A resource for supplies to science teachers in HISD.
Houston Arboretum and Nature Center. < http://www.houstonarboretum.org>. Displays a pond, meadow, and pine forest and has many on-going educational opportunities.
The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. < http://www.wildflower.org/>. Informs and educates Texans about native wildflowers.
Native Plant Society of Texas, Houston Chapter. < http://www.nposot.org/Houston/>. Gives information about plants suitable for the Houston/Gulf Coast region.
Texas Native Plant Database. < http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/ornamentals/natives/>. Scientific information about native Texas trees and shrubs. Named after Benny Simpson, a long time identifier and cataloger of native Texas plants.