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  • Baroque dancing is not as easy as one would think!  A humbling experience.  I love this era for it's "over the top" quality.  Students would enjoy this as well....I plan on showing photos of the people who lived during this era the next time we're learning Baroque literature in orchestra.  Music has a greater impact when students understand the context.  Additionally, I enjoyed the map activity.  This could easily be adapted to the music classroom.  There is some really interesting sheet music (especially from the modern era...visually very stunning) that would be really interesting to use for this activity.

  • This brought back memories of many afternoons dancing with my nerdy Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) buddies in college.  Dancing, singing, watching the fighting...good times!  At any rate, the song "O Magnum Mysterium" was beautiful.  I think it is important to introduce students to many different genres of music.  I also appreciate comparing art throughout history while discussing the significant changes that were influenced by historic events. It is also important to discuss the division of the socio-economic classes.  I really appreciate all of the resources!!  Definitely worth keeping and using in the future!  It's always exciting to find good resources!

  • I liked the teaching of dance, particularly the Minuet, even though it was hard to dance to.  I generally teach at least a couple of pieces from the Baroque era, and it will help my band students get the feel for the 3/4 time.  I didn't realize that the fashion and clothes from this period were so ornamental and showoffy. 

  • I know the music of the Renaissance and Baroque eras pretty well but the time periods came to life when adding the art and dance elements.   The tableau exercise brought the works of art to life and forced us to solve many problems: finding the essence of the painting, deciding which characters to portray and how to cooperate in portraying them.  Good activity for students.

    The dancing activities helped me visualize actually living in the Renaissance and Baroque, imagining the division of the social classes, the complicated clothing, the carefully choreographed motions that probably offered a reflection of the expectations of society, etc.

    Interesting map activity that could easily be applied to a music classroom (reconstructing a piece of music).

  • I love learning about the Renaissance and Baroque time periods. What an incredible time to be alive- all the innovations, inventions, and discoveries. A time of class and elegance. Definitely things I can teach my students- adding the history and music along with the art. Tying everything together I believe will make a lasting impact on them.
  • One of the things I like most about history is that some eras seem so weird until I learn about what happened just before that era. To me, the Renaissance always made sense because it seemed a fairly direct progression out of the "dark ages." The Baroque era on the other hand just seemed whacky to me. Today's class helped me see the relationship between these two eras. The way I made that connection was through the dances. My goal in teaching history is to help my students understand a general timeline and progression. The basic Allemande and Minuet really made that connection clear with me, so it's something I'll definitely do with my students.

  •   I enjoyed the Tableau activity & will definitely use this activity. When studying art history it is almost impossible to teach, using the kinesthetic modality. However when you place your body in a specific position taken from the painting, its almost like you become the player from the picture, & this is imprinted into your brain. I can vividly recall so many more details from the Wedding at Cana, then if I had just looked at it. Wow, what a great teaching tool!!

    Again I enjoyed the dances!! Makes me want to get dressed up in a period outfit & go to a Renaissance or Baroque Era dance!!!  (Or is it a ball?) Now you ladies need to have a trunk of costumes to go with the era. Your students could choose one costume from the trunk wear it while you teach the era, & then exchange it for the next era. 

     Thanks for a full " sensory" day of activities!!!!

  • Well I guess my first aha was knowledge that there was an era called the Baroque Era.  I take it this was steeped in Catholicism, but don't understand why it was termed after a word that means "pearl of irregular shape".

    I enjoyed learning the Minuet and certainly given the fashion of the era understand the reasons why movement of this dances sort would be popular.  Since I love dance I always find it's evolution fascinating.  It's a great way to show how dance  and movement go hand in hand with fashion and what society deemed as proper at any given time in history.  As clothing becomes less cumbersome and hemline raise dance becomes larger in movements.

  • I am usually leery of teaching dance to my students, for a few reasons. However, I like the approach of first tying in the historical components to make the teaching of the dance or music more relevant. It is certainly interesting to study the art, social customs, and political or scientific thought of the time as an integral part of the music, not just as an "add-on". 

    Using the tableau as a fun, student-driven activity is a creative way to also include the art history of the time. 

  • I enjoyed the activity related to the Renaissance Era Tableau's.  I think this would be a good activity to do with a  variety of different pictures.  The idea of letting the students pick what part of the picture to highlight with their Tableau is smart.  It lets them decide what part of the picture they think is the most important object to cover. 

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