Teaching artist Zeynep Alpan demonstrates how different dynamics in music can evoke different emotions, and leads students through the process of creating different dynamics with household objects.

Vocabulary You Will Learn:

• Dynamics—How loud or how soft a sound is.
• Forte—Loud.
• Piano—Soft or quiet.

Materials You Will Need:

• A piece of paper or notebook
• A pencil
• An object from home that you can use to make noise

How to Create Different Musical Dynamics with Household Objects

1. First, think about a time when you felt excited. Write down when this was and what your voice sounded like—loud or soft?
2. Then, think about a time when you felt very shy. Again, think about what your voice sounded like—loud or soft? Write these thoughts down.
3. Next, find an object nearby in your home that you can use to create an excited sound. In the video, Zeynep uses a cup and pencil, but you can use any object you can find to make your excited sound. Then, create excited sounds in as many different variations as you can with your object. Remember to think about how your voice sounds when it is excited.

4. Now, using the exact same object or objects, create sounds to represent the emotion “shy” in as many different variations as you can think of. Again, remember to consider how your voice sounds when you are shy. 
5. Think about how you moved your body when you created your “excited” sound. You likely used a lot of force and bigger hand/arm movements to create a loud sound. This musical dynamic, or loud sound, is called forte. Now, think about how you moved when you made your “shy” sound. Did you use small, gentle movements to create a quiet sound? In music, that sound is called piano. Now you know all about musical dynamics!

In this video, Zeynep teaches us about the way musical dynamics can evoke emotion, and how to create different dynamics using household objects. If you want to go even further, think about these questions: 

• What other emotions can you create using your object? What about scared? Embarrassed? Ecstatic? Sad? What do the dynamics of these emotions sound like?
• Try finding a different object you can use to create musical dynamics. How do the dynamics, and the emotions that go along with them, look and feel different when you use this object as opposed to the one you started with? 
• Think of a song that you love to listen to, and how that song makes you feel. How do the musicians use different dynamics to bring out the emotions that you feel when listening? 
• In the video, Zeynep also talks about how dynamics can be used to create different characters. Think about a character from a book or movie that you love—or dream up a character of your own! What kind of dynamics could you use to show who this character is? Is their personality big and loud, or more quiet and subdued? How can you communicate this using your object?

Accessibility

Don’t forget that you can turn on “Closed Captioning” to view the YouTube video with English captions.

More about the Teaching Artist

Turkish American violinist Zeynep Alpan (she/her) has performed in a myriad of prestigious venues, such as Carnegie Hall, Royal Albert Hall, Kennedy Center Concert Hall, and Alice Tully Hall. With a passion for teaching, Zeynep is a New York Philharmonic teaching artist who is on faculty at Lincoln Center for the Audition Boot Camp, at Point CounterPoint for the summer music program, and at the Elizabeth Faidley Studio. She has previously taught for education programs at the Juilliard School, Nord Anglia International School New York, and the Aspen Music Festival and School. To learn more, visit her website: https://www.zeynepalpanviolin.com.

Kennedy Center Education provides resources and experiences that inspire, excite, and empower students and young artists, plus the tools and connections to help educators incorporate the arts into classrooms and learning spaces of all types.

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Generous support for educational programs at the Kennedy Center is provided by the U.S. Department of Education.

Gifts and grants to educational programs at the Kennedy Center are provided by The Paul M. Angell Family Foundation; Bank of America; Capital One; The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation; Carnegie Corporation of New York; The Ednah Root Foundation; Genesis Inspiration Foundation; Harman Family Foundation; William R. Kenan, Jr. Charitable Trust; the Kimsey Endowment; The Kiplinger Foundation; Laird Norton Family Foundation; Lois and Richard England Family Foundation; Dr. Gary Mather and Ms. Christina Co Mather; The Markow Totevy Foundation; Dr. Gerald and Paula McNichols Foundation; The Morningstar Foundation; Myra and Leura Younker Endowment Fund; The Irene Pollin Audience Development and Community Engagement Initiatives;

Prince Charitable Trusts; Dr. Deborah Rose and Dr. Jan A. J. Stolwijk; Rosemary Kennedy Education Fund; The Embassy of the United Arab Emirates; The Victory Foundation; The Volgenau Foundation; Jackie Washington; GRoW @ Annenberg and Gregory Annenberg Weingarten and Family; and generous contributors to the Abe Fortas Memorial Fund and by a major gift to the fund from the late Carolyn E. Agger, widow of Abe Fortas. Additional support is provided by the National Committee for the Performing Arts..

The content of these programs may have been developed under a grant from the U.S. Department of Education but does not necessarily represent the policy of the U.S. Department of Education. You should not assume endorsement by the federal government.