Building Background Activity

Activity One: The Joy of Music
The purpose of this activity is to give students an opportunity to reflect on how musical performances have an impact on people’s lives.

1. Anna Lee is just eleven years old. As a class, listen to the National Public Radio broadcast that features Anna’s story and her music at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=8995287.

2. View the Wunderkind Little Amadeus episode entitled “The Dancing Harbor” with your class. Have the students complete the Comprehension Checker questions. When they are finished, review their answers to ensure they understand what happened in the story.

3. Divide the class into pairs, and give the students a copy of “The Joys of Music” handout. This handout asks students to compare Anna Lee’s responses to music, Little Amadeus’ responses to music, and the students’ responses to music. As the students work, play one of Mozart’s compositions. You can find these at http://www.little-amadeus.com/pat/node/66.

After the pairs complete the handout invite volunteers to share their responses with the entire class. When the students are finished, lead a class discussion on
how music can be a joyful part of life. Use the following questions as guidelines:

• What do you think Anna meant when she said that she plays music that sounds like her?
• How did Anna describe herself?
• How is Little Amadeus’ music like himself?
• What words do you think Little Amadeus would use to describe   himself?
• How do you think Little Amadeus felt when he got the whole harbor  dancing?