15x05 - Zin! Zin! Zin! A Violin

[bunniefuu]

♪ Reading rainbow

♪ Butterfly in the sky

♪ I can go twice as high

♪ Take a look

♪ It's in a book

♪ A reading rainbow

♪ I can go anywhere

♪ Friends to know

♪ And ways to grow

♪ A reading rainbow

♪ I can be anything

♪ Take a look

♪ It's in a book

♪ A reading rainbow

♪ Reading rainbow

[Flute playing]

[Piano playing]

[Violin playing]

[French horn playing]

Piano, violins, flutes,
french horns

Just waiting
to sing out with music.

Now, each one of these

Makes a magnificent sound
on its own,

But put them together,
and something amazing happens.

One becomes ,
and become

Until the sounds add up
to equal one new sound--

The sound
of an orchestra,

As you will see and hear
in this book,

Zin! Zin! Zin!
A violin.

[Violin playing]

[Trombone playing]

With mournful moan
and silken tone,

Itself alone comes
one trombone.

Gliding, sliding,
high notes go low.

One trombone
is playing solo.

[Trumpet playing]

Next a trumpet
comes along

And sings and stings
its swinging song.

It joins trombone,
no more alone,

And one and , oh--
uh, they're a duo.

Fine french horn,
its valves all oiled,

Bright and brassy,
loops all coiled,

Golden yellow joins
its fellows.

Now , oh--
what a trio.

Now, a mellow friend
the cello,

Neck extended,
bows a hello.

End pins set
upon the floor,

It makes up a quartet.
That's .

And soaring high
and moving in

With "zin! Zin! Zin!"
A violin,

Stroking strings
that come alive.

Now quintet--
let's count them: .

Flute that sends
our soul ashiver--

Flute: that slender,
silver sliver.

A place among the set
it picks

To make a young sextet.
That's .

With steely keys
that softly click,

Its breezy notes
so darkly slick,

A sleek, black,
woody clarinet

Is number --
now septet.

[Oboe playing]

Gleeful, bleating,
sobbing, pleading

Through its throbbing
double-reeding,

Oboe,
please don't hesitate.

Come, make it an octet.
That's .

That lazy clown,
the big bassoon,

He plays lowdown.
We're laughing soon.

Here, grumpy,
get your place in line

And give us a nonet.
That's .

The harp descends
with angels' wings,

A heaven's blend
through magic strings,

And when it joins
the others then,

Behold!
A chamber group of .

The orchestra comes
in the hall.

They're on the stage.
We see them all:

The cello, harp,
and clarinet,

The trumpet,
whom we've also met,

The oboe, flute,
and big bassoon

All eager
to get started soon.

Trombone, french horn,
and violin

All poised and ready.

Now begin!

[Orchestra playing]

The strings all soar.

The reeds implore.

The brasses roar
with notes galore.

It's music
that we all adore.

It's what we go
to concerts for.

The minutes fly.

The music ends...

And so good-bye
to our new friends,

But when they've bowed
and left the floor,

If we clap loud
and shout, "encore!"

They may come back
and play once more.

And that would give us
great delight

Before we say
a late good night.

[Orchestra tuning]

Duos, trios,
quartets, septets:

These are all
different ways

Of grouping
musical instruments,

And when musicians
play together

In large groups
like an orchestra,

They need a conductor
to lead them.

Now, the person
who wields this baton--

And this baton
is my baton.

Oh, maestro,
how are you?

I'm fine.
How are you?

This is eugene becker,
and he is the conductor

Of the juilliard precollege
chamber orchestra,

And this is, as I'm sure
you've guessed by now,
his baton.

Wow. The person
who holds this baton
really is in control.

And I am in control.

You are the man.
So what are we
rehearsing today, gene?

We need
a little rehearsal

On the haydn
"surprise"
symphony's

Second movement,
levar.

I'll get
out of your way.

See you later.

[Orchestra playing]

Eugene: an orchestra
is a group

Of , , ,
highly trained musicians.

Girl: orchestra is,
like, totally teamwork,

So it's like
the one person, like--

Each person
is important,

But they have to be
together.

Second girl:
it's like a puzzle,

And you have to be one
of the little pieces.

The conductor
is the person

Who puts all the pieces
to the puzzle together.

Eugene: schubert,
please!

Schubert--last movement.

Nice easy tempo.
Uh! Uh!

[Orchestra playing]

Eugene: the role
of the conductor

Really is to supervise

Every note that the members
of the orchestra play--

To play them together--
that's the word "ensemble"--

And everybody must play
together

At exactly the same moment,

In the same time,
and the same tempo,

Meaning "speed of b*at."

Boy: and that's what
a conductor is for.

He makes you
stay together.

If you look at him,

He's always struggling
to make you keep together.

I remember the conductor
telling me

That you have to look
at your music,

But with the corner
of your eye,

You have to also
be watching him

Because you have to see
when he gives cues,

Like when he tells you
to play.

If there's a really, really
hard and tricky part,

He will tell you what to do.
He will tell you.

Very good.
It's much better.
A little faster.

Almost tempo.

♪ Da da da da,
da da da da ♪

[Orchestra playing]

Eugene: is the conductor
the coach...

Or the general...

Or the friend
or the teacher

Or the enemy?

And you know, the answer
is all of those things.

Eugene: now.

You know. Good.

Good.

Woodwinds,
understand something.

Violinists are playing
the same thing,

And they're playing
perfectly together.

You have to play
with them.

They give you the b*at.

Tick, tock,
tick, tock...

Eugene: it's up to the conductor
to organize everybody

Into a unity--
a unified concept of counting.

, , ,
, , ...

[Fast]
, , , , , ...

Boom, boom, boom...

Well, I'll be doing this
in my head:

, , , ,
, , , ,

, , , ,

And then...boom.

Beginning of the piece,
everybody in the orchestra.

Nice and slow--

The scherzo movement.

We have to
correct this.

, , Da, da, da.

That's piano...

And this is pianissimo!

[Orchestra plays
quieter]

And this is fortissimo
with accents! Accent!

[Orchestra playing loud]

Eugene: how soft is soft?
How loud is loud?

What does that mean?

They're all
relative terms,

And the composer indicates
where we should be playing

Within those dynamics.

Heaven! Heaven!

Girl: dynamic is
when things are loud

And soft and in-between.

Um, it's what--
in what, like, range it is.

Eugene:
please go on!

No.

You do not know
the bowings.

Boy: if you're careless

And you make a mistake,

Everyone--you're going to
bring down everyone

Back to the drawing
board.

Boomp! Uh!

Eugene: I think it's essential
for orchestral musicians

To practice
their parts.

You're late!

Eugene: if they don't
practice their parts

And if they don't know
their parts,

Then they don't play
their music properly.

Boy: nobody really likes
to practice--nobody,

Not even the best--

So I think you just have to
stay with it and focus

And so I try to squeeze in,
like, around hours every day.

Girl: you have to
practice your music

Because if you're the only one
that isn't practicing it,

Then you're just going to be,
like, the one left out.

You're not going to
know what to play,

And I guess you're going to be,
like, the piece

That's left out
of the puzzle.

Let's do it
one more time,

And then we take
a nice break. Please.

♪ Da da da, da da da,
da da da, da da da ♪

Eugene:
at rehearsals,

We work very hard.

The intensity
is enormous,

The concentration
is tremendous,

And so after an hour
or perhaps less,

They need a break
desperately.

[Violins and piano playing
heart and soul]

[Orchestra tuning]

[Baton tapping]

Uh! Uh!

[Orchestra playing]

Eugene: the key
to playing beautifully

Is listening
to each other.

That's true
if one plays in a duet

Or a giant
symphony orchestra,

And we sacrifice

Some of our own selves,
egos, ideas

For the common good.

Girl: you have to be able to
change yourself a little bit

So you--you're like
all the rest.

Eugene: I think
they learn to work together

Very beautifully,
and in our society,

That's mandatory.

We had better learn
to work together,

Or we won't have a society
that will last very long.

I think you feel
really special

When you've really got
the music down.

You feel like
you've worked hard

And it has paid off

Because now
you're one of the people

That's bringing
the music out.

Wow.

It is incredible
how all of these people

Come together to play
one piece of music

And how their sound
depends so much on precision.

Everybody has to hit
the right note

At the right time,

And of course they all
have to play in rhythm.

Rhythm is the heart
of all musical performance,

And when rhythm is
your business,

You can't afford
to miss a b*at.

[Clapping in rhythm]

Woo!

Ha ha ha!

That feels so good

To be able to be part of a group
like that doing that.

This is carl smith,

And I'm here
with a group called stomp.

Now, stomp is
what, carl?

How would you
describe it?

Stomp
is a theater show

Based on percussion,
based on rhythm,

On drumming--

Precision, right?
Teamwork?

Carl: it's
a little family.

So work me
into this family

For a minute or
if you can.

Ok, so I'll show you
what we do,

And we'll give you
a short version.
This is what we do.

You got it.

Ok, yeah. That feels
really good.

I think
I can do that.

You ready to perform?

Uh...ok. Ha ha!

Now, you have
confidence.

We need to look out
into the audience.
Express.

All right.
Here we go.

Hey!

Levar: wow.

That is awesome.

Ahmed, it is
really clear to me

That this number
really takes precision--
absolute precision.

Otherwise somebody
could get hurt.

Yeah, definitely
timing...

But that's not it.
We have more to do,
especially with you.

Right now what
we're going to do

Is what we call
the circle groove,

So everybody in the team,
we got to get in a circle.

We're going to start
with the feet this time,

Just marking time
with the feet.

Just to get
the feel of it.

Like marching.

Yeah, just like
marching, all right?

And it's going to go
pole, , , , , ...

, , , , ...

, , , , ...

Woo! Yeah.

That's great.

Woman: here you go.

Hmm.

Now, this routine
is called "pipes,"

And we each have
a different size
pipe

That makes
a different tone,

As you can hear
behind us.

Do you hear
their music?

, ,
And and--

I'm ?

And and

, , And and

, , And and

, , And and...

Hup!

Yeah.

Whoa!

What we need to do

Is for you
to stand here.

Alright,
hold the lids
out like this.

There. You got it?

Yeah.

Arms fairly well
forward,

And it would be
good to have
a back leg out

To support you
a little.

We're going to
surprise you with
what's coming next.

This is all
I need to do?

You just need
to stand there

And just don't worry
about a thing there,
all right?

Wait, wait, wait!
Wait a second!

You know what, you guys?
I have had a great time.

This has been an incredible
experience for me,

But I think I'm going to
watch this from over here!

It doesn't matter
if you tap your toes,

Twang a guitar,
or bang on a pail

To keep the b*at.

If you like music,

Here's a medley of books
you'll find in perfect harmony,

But you don't have to
take my word for it.

Hello. I'm laura,
and here's a book

That makes words
sound like music

And puts music
into words.

It's called
the maestro plays.

The maestro
is the leader.

He sets the rhythm.

He plays loudly!

He plays slowly.

He plays faster,
faster, and faster.

He plays ringingly...

And wingingly.

He is moving
to the music.

The words in this book

Are as much fun as
the pictures.

This book is silly
and goofy,

And it's great fun.

Whether you like
music or words,

The maestro plays
is for you.

Hi. I'm calvin.

This is a book called
max found two sticks.

What he does with those sticks
is pretty exciting.

When sticks fall
from a tree,

Max gets to work.

He drums on his lap,

He drums on a bucket,

And he drums
on a garbage can.

He finds the b*at
everywhere.

Putter putter pat tat,
tippy tip tap tap.

That's the rain falling.

Dee dee dee dee dee,
dum, dum.

This is
my favorite part.

Max gets a new pair
of drumsticks from a friend.

The rhythm in this book
will make you shiver,

So hop on up
and get your copy today.

Hi. I'd like you
to meet some musicians

And their instruments
of all kinds.

They're in this book
called meet the orchestra.

The orchestra
in this book

Is a little unusual.

It's made up
of animals.

There are parts
to an orchestra:

Strings, woodwinds,

Brass, and percussion.

Some members
of the string family

Include the violin, the cello,
and the string bass.

Here's
the woodwind family.

It includes the flute,
the bassoon,

The oboe,
and the clarinet.

Take a look
at the brass family,

The powerhouse
of the orchestra.

The percussion section
is also called the kitchen.

It includes the boom-boom
of the drums

And the crash
of the cymbals.

I'm daniel.

When you read
this book,

You can practically
hear the instruments play,

So put a little music
into your life

And read meet
the orchestra.

[Orchestra playing]

Good.

It's very good.

There is no problem
with this,

But I've been thinking
of one idea.

How about we ask levar
to join our orchestra

And do a little
playing with us?

What do you think?

All right!yes!

Levar, want
to try it?

Me? Play
with the orchestra?

Yes, you.

I'd love to.

Wow.

This is
going to be great.

All I have to do

Is keep my eye
on gene the conductor,

Follow his lead,

And then do my very best
to keep the b*at.

Then I'll add my sound
to everyone else's,

And together we'll make
beautiful music.

[Orchestra playing]

Wow. I did it.

I'll see you next time.