Sixth Graders are just about finished with studying Tchaikovsky's ballet, The Nutcracker. This piece features an instrument that was new and groundbreaking during the composer's lifetime: the celeste. It looks like a tiny piano, with keys that are black and white and played in a similar fashion. Inside the celeste are metal bars almost like a metallophone that are struck when the keys are pressed. Here is an orchestra version of the song:
Below is the clip we watched in class of a ballerina dancing to the song. We discussed that often times the role of the Sugar Plum Fairy goes to the most talented female ballerina in a dance company.
And here is an amazing clip of a couple playing the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy on the Water Harp. What a science connection - how much water does a glass need to be filled with in order to make a particular musical pitch?
