Steps for Learning - Activity Two: What is Your Leitmotif?

1. Tell the students that a leitmotif is a melodic phrase or figure that accompanies the reappearance of an idea, person, or situation.

Source: Merriam Webster Online Dictionary www.m-w.com

 

Ask the students to think of examples of leitmotifs that they may be familiar with such as the beginning of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony.

Teacher Note: You can hear an example at Minnesota Public Radio.

 

Some additional examples from popular culture include the music that plays when the shark appears in the movie “Jaws,” or the music that plays when a villainous cartoon character appears.

 

2. Visit Musical Leitmotif and click on each character's name to hear his or her leitmotif

 

Discuss each leitmotif after listening to it.

 

3. Divide the class into pairs. Tell the students that they are going to take turns interviewing each other for a five-minute period. After each interview is over, the interviewer must write down ten descriptive adjectives about the person he or she has interviewed.

Tell the students that they are going to compose a leitmotif for their partners based on what they learned in the interviews. Remind the students that they may use traditional sounds such as their voices and instruments, non-traditional sounds such as paper tearing, pencil tapping, or bells ringing, body sounds such as hands clapping, feet stomping, or fingers snapping, and sounds produced by electronic means such as electronic keyboards or music software.

 

4. Provide the students with an assortment of materials for creating their leitmotifs. You can use triangles, tambourines, drums, recorders, castanets, etc. or materials such as plastic eggs, paper towel tubes, jars, or milk cartons filled with sand, pebbles, or coins.

 

Have each pair present its leitmotif to the entire class.

 

5. When the musical presentations are complete, ask the class to compare the student-created leitmotifs with the leitmotifs in the Wunderkind Little Amadeus episode.