Brahms' German Requiem: How do you marry text to music? Exploring Text-Music Relationships Ask your students to think about two ways to convey the sentence “The cow jumped over the moon” through music. First in a literal way. [cow sounds, jumping sounds, etc.] Then, in a more abstract way. [music describing the cow’s feelings, the general scene altogether, etc.] Encourage your students to be as detailed as possible about their musical choices. Can your students get an equal sense of the sentence in both of these ways? How might it change the musical representation of the sentence to perform both ways at once? Brahms used both these techniques to create a strong text-music relationship in his German Requiem. Experimenting with Text-Music Relationships: How do we get started? Ask your students to briefly examine the differences in the language of poetry and a set of instructions. Which of these is the most literal? The most abstract? In what ways? [poetry uses fewer and more descriptive words to evoke emotion in the reader; instructions are concerned with precision and a single interpretation] How would it be different to set these words to music? What kinds of sounds might best represent a list of classroom rules? [“robot” voice with percussion; basic repeated melody; etc.] What musical choices would your students make to represent the words ‘green’ or ‘powerful’? [lots of different instruments all playing together; bass trombone solo; etc.] Encourage your students to be as detailed and creative in their choices as possible. Can we create something? Split your class into two groups. Have one group focus on a stanza from a familiar poem, and the other on a brief set of instructions [for instance, how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich]. Ask your students to make a song with musical accompaniment using these words. What musical choices would they make to support the words and their context? [use the rhythm of the words in the music; important words use a special instrument or combination; etc.] Try creating a different song which brings out a hidden or different meaning in the words. For instance, make the instructions into a humorous or surprising song by only changing the musical choices. Which version is most successful? Why? Listening to the broadcast Listen to the Time Warner Presents: The New York Philharmonic Live! radio broadcast of Johannes Brahms’ A German Requiem and again via recording if possible. The text that Brahms chose is of a very serious nature and taken from the Lutheran bible. What ways do your students notice that Brahms used to set a serious tone to support this text? There are “lighter” moments in this piece. What musical choices did Brahms make to lighten things up? [use of higher pitched instruments; more gently flowing melodies; soprano soloist; etc.] After listening to the Requiem, do your students feel Brahms’ music is a literal or more abstract setting of the text? What evidence do they find to support their answers?	Philharmonic On-The-Air AOL Time Warner Presents: The New York Philharmonic Live! Brahms' German Requiem: How do you marry text to music?