Instruments of the Orchestra

 For years, the standard way (if there is such a thing) of teaching the instruments of the orchestra is to use either Benjamin Britten's "The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra", or one of the many versions of Peter and the Wolf (music by Sergei Prokofiev). These are absolutely fine and worth! 

During the global ...event...of 2020, there became a crisis for music teachers. No longer could live music (either as performers, or by watching performers) be enjoyed in the classroom! YouTube to the rescue! I can't imagine teaching music without YouTube (though I did it many, many years ago!). It wasn't just the students who missed out, but musicians of all types were suddenly out of jobs or hobbies. The community band I'm in had to cancel performances and rehearsals for months. It was a rough time for musicians, but out of this, Harmon was born.

Harmon is an adorable puppet puppy, and the star of the series "Harmon in Space", a co-production between the Kingston Symphony Orchestra, and Gazelle Automations. In episode one, we meet Harmon, and Showdan, the brains of her spaceship. Apparently Harmon needs to know a musical password to land her ship so she can go join the symphony in a concert. Harmon can't remember the password though! In each episode, she calls up another friend for the KSO, and learns about their instrument. Then, the KSO performs a short piece (episodes are mainly under 8 minutes) featuring that instrument. At the end, it's determined that it wasn't the right password, and tune in the next week. At the end of the 13th episode, we finally get to hear the correct password, and Harmon lands her ship!

In season 2, Harmon is back in her ship, and this time, there's an annoying guest, known as 4-4. Harmon has learned about auditions for an out of this world symphony, and 4-4 introduces her to 9 more unusual orchestral instruments, similarly to season 1. In the 10th episode, we're about to hear Harmon's choice, when she is interrupted by an alien alto sax, mocking her commitment to the orchestra. Will there be a season 3?

I have shown Harmon to all elementary grades, in different ways. Even older kids get a kick out of it, and can appreciate the canine and musical puns. Younger grades like to have some movement activity during the performances. There's many ways to incorporate Harmon into your lessons. If you'd like question sheets for all 23 episodes, I have just posted a new resource on TPT!

In Ontario, we have about 38 weeks of classes. If you see your classes all year, you could easily spread the episodes out, one every week and a half. Or, do all the woodwinds over a couple classes, the strings in one or two classes, the brass over two classes, etc. There's many options! Have fun!

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