Danse Macabre-Mood

I adapt this unit for different grade levels using Camille Saint-Saens Danse Macabre. Here is a helpful background presentation from ArtsEdge.

Haunting Music link from ArtsEdge

I begin by discussing the concept of mood. I ask for examples from students and add some of my own. I ask students how they would explain mood to someone else. They usually come to agree that it is a general feeling. 

We continue by reading this poem written by Henri Cazalis. I ask them to describe the mood of this poem. We discuss how Camille Saint-Saens read this poem and wrote music to show the mood of this piece. As Saint-Saens created a song from a poem, we will create a poem from a song.

  I read this poem in parts and have students read it back to me. Students are asked to give me words to describe the mood. We then watch and listen to Danse Macabre using this prezi: Camille Saint-Saens Prezi

After one listening, students are split into groups of three, four or five. They are asked to listen to the piece in three sections. After each section is played, students first discuss their ideas, what images they would paint to represent the mood of this piece.

Students then share their poems with the class.

In an older class, I ask students to listen/watch the Prezi, read about Camille Saint-Saens and take notes. They use a graphic organizer to put their notes into categories. They listen to the piece and also describe each section.

Students use black construction paper to make tombstones. I give them white colored pencils or gel pens to outline a post-it note for the five sections of the piece. They illustrate the sections and add biographical information to the other parts of the tombstone. Below are a few student samples:

With other groups, I have made a picture book to represent different changes in the music. I play the song and have students follow along in the book listening for things like the xylophones (for the bones of the skeleton) or the harp (playing the clock striking midnight).