Valkyries Lesson Plan
Affiliated Project: Project 3, Composition in Three Genres
Purpose: Encourages students to think about multimodal projects and the effect of genre and medium/remediation on audience and purpose.
Suggested Time: 50-60 minute class period
Requirements: Computer with internet access, projector
Description: Students often don’t understand what the multi-media assignment is meant to accomplish. Instructors must provide them with an example – preferably one that encompasses more than just two genres. I decided to use The Ride of the Valkyries because though it is a ‘text’ that most students will recognize, they are probably not intimately familiar with it. The only preparation required will be to compile a list of links to content such as YouTube videos, web pages, and images.
Procedure:
Show the first webpage: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nibelungenlied. Explain that the Nibelungenlied is a German epic poem.
Introduce students to Richard Wagner: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Wagner. (You can briefly look through these Wikipedia pages before class to familiarize yourself with the content.) Explain that Wagner’s famous opera was based off of this original text (the Nibelungenlied).
Explain that Leonard Bernstein is a famous composer who is most well-known for his position as the director of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. Show a short clip from Bernstein’s lecture at Harvard: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IxJbc_aMTg. I found it useful to show them the clip from 29:06 – 31:40. Here, Bernstein discusses the message of music and “interprets” a classical piano song.
Now play an actual music clip of Wagner’s The Ride of the Valkyries: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V92OBNsQgxU. At this point, most of your students will recognize the song. Now, have them do a 3-5 minute free-write – their goal is to interpret the music, like Bernstein did in the video example.
Explain what a valkyrie is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valkyrie.
Show your students a clip from Apocalypse Now (this is when they will become very excited): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKaYOW9zMoY. Discuss.
Show your students a clip from the Looney Tunes episode “What’s Opera, Doc?”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nI9Nbt7oJG0. Discuss.
Finally, play Wagner’s The Ride of the Valkyries one last time: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V92OBNsQgxU.
You might consider asking students to explain how these texts create intertextual meaning (for instance, if I had seen the Looney Tunes episode only, what might be added to Wagner's text?)
Ask your students to do another 3-5 minute free-write, only this time, ask them to write a poem, song, short story, narrative, etc. to accompany the music. Their task is to transform the song (original text) into another genre (like the creators of Apocalypse Now and Looney Tunes did).
Summing up:
When leading discussion between videos, your conversation should center on this: how does the message of the original text (Wagner’s piece) change across medium, genre, and audience? For the Radical Revision, the student’s original text will be their essay. They will be transforming that essay into two different genres, and they will have to explain how their message changed.
Common issues:
This lesson plan also falls under the category of ‘analysis’. Your students may not understand how to distinguish between summary versus analysis. Be ready to ask them more probing, analytical questions.
Example of a student response (to be read while listening to Ride of the Valkyries):
“It is a Saturday morning and a brother and sister walk out of their bedrooms, still yawning and half asleep. Each youngster has the same goal: watching some T.V. before their parents wake up and start giving out orders. They quickly realize the other’s intent and dash towards the living room. Once there, the remote control can’t be found. The brother tears apart the couch as the sister climbs the cabinets. An intense struggle breaks out – hair flies, nails scratch. All comes to an end when their mother appears, remote in one hand and a list of chores in the other.”
After students have read their examples to the class (ask for volunteers), discuss how their story/poem/etc. re-interprets the music. How does it change the message?