Lesson of the Day: ‘5 Minutes That Will Make You Love String Quartets’ - The New York Times

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In this lesson, students will listen to songs played by string quartets. Then they will think about how their generation relates to classical music and whether classical music needs to change.

Students in U.S. high schools can get free digital access to The New York Times until Sept. 1, 2021.

Lesson Overview

Featured Article: “5 Minutes That Will Make You Love String Quartets”

The “5 Minutes That Will Make You Love …” music series invites writers, musicians and artists to react to classical music. The curators of the series ask each guest to choose five minutes of music that they would play to make a friend fall in love with the piano, opera, the cello, Mozart, 21st-century composers, the violin or the flute. In the featured article, they want to persuade friends to love string quartets — “their intimacy, intensity and joy.”

In this lesson, you’ll listen and react to the songs and the commentary. Then, you will reflect on your relationship with classical music and consider whether, and how, classical music should change in 2021.

Warm Up

When you think of classical music, what words, images or sounds come to mind? Does it feel old-fashioned and irrelevant? Maybe you imagine people in the 1700s loving classical music, like in this TikTok, but don’t get what the hype is about today. Or perhaps you’ve always loved classical music or played it in a school orchestra and have a deep understanding and appreciation for the music.

Wherever you land on the spectrum of knowledge and appreciation, listen to this six-minute song selected by John Darnielle, the founder of Mountain Goats. As you listen, follow his advice: “To make you love classical music, I’d need your solemn word that you’ll spend five minutes in a state of deep but pleasant focus, not trying too hard to ‘get’ it. It’s music; we hear it and feel it; we can get into formal analysis later, if we feel like it!”

Reza Vali’s “Ashoob (Calligraphy No. 14)”

Carpe Diem Quartet

After listening, reflect on what you heard:

How did “Ahoob (Calligraphy No. 140)” make you feel?
What words, colors or images came to mind as you listened to the music?

Questions for Writing and Discussion

Instructions: The featured article includes 18 embedded songs that are each between three and 10 minutes long. Here are two suggestions about how to approach this article: You can read the commentary and listen to the songs in order, perhaps over the course of a few days. Or, you can skip around based on your interest and curiosity, making sure to listen to at least one song in its entirety. Then answer the following questions.

1. Select one song to write about. As you listen, write your observations and reflections in your journal. You can write words, phrases, complete sentences — or just express your reactions by drawing. Here are questions to consider as you listen:

Can you hear and identify the individual string instruments? A string quartet typically includes two violin players, a viola player and a cellist.
Does the song remind you of something you have heard before?
What is the dominant emotion you feel as you listen?
If you had to give the song a color or texture, what would it be?
What is the rhythm, beat or tempo of the song?
In one sentence, describe the song to someone who has never heard it before.

2. What do you understand about the role of communication and collaboration in a string quartet? How is it similar to, or different from, other kinds of music creation and performance?

3. Which song description is your favorite? What about the writers’ language and voice made it stand out to you?

4. Lawrence Dutton, a quartet violist, says of Beethoven’s Quartet No. 16, “This glorious music resonates even more vividly for me in this frightening, tumultuous time.” What music has resonated with you this past year? Describe the music and how you feel as you listen to it.

5. Choose one musician or composer whose work was particularly powerful to you. Then, seek out another one of that person’s songs to listen to. Are you able to hear similarities and differences between the two songs?

Going Further

Share Your Opinion

After reading the article, do you better understand classical music? Do you think you have a greater ability to appreciate it? Do you think it is important for more young people to care about classical music? Why or why not?

Yuanlin Liu, one of the winners of our 2020 Student Editorial Contest, wrote an Op-Ed called, “Spotify Is Killing Beethoven … Here’s How You Can Save Him!” Yuanlin argues that algorithms are impeding the digital growth of classical music, writing:

In rejecting classical music, we neglect its unique and timeless emotional depth. It is an abstract representation of the composers’ meditations on the world, expressing complexities when words are inadequate. Cambridge composer John Borstlap asserts that classical music offers an “alternative to the modern world” instead of the “reflection” or escape from reality that people seek in pop lyrics about sex or drugs. From Brahms’s melancholic tunes, to Schumann’s rhythmic introversions, to Tchaikovsky’s impressive harmonies, classical pieces preserve our inner peace to balance out the external bombardment of indigestible information from society. Such is the perennial virtue of classical music.

What do you think? Are we losing something by not preserving and appreciating classical music? Or do you think classical music is rightfully being sidelined by contemporary pop, hip-hop, country or rock music?
Do you think it is important to appreciate classical music as it was first written and intended? Or is it OK, or even necessary, to reinterpret classical music alongside contemporary musical styles? For example, what do you think about artists and young people who are trying to make classical music more relatable? Matt Kent, a musician, turns classical music into pop songs on TikTok. KO, an artist and musician, plays his cello on TikTok and invites others to make duets and collaborate virtually alongside his music. Do you think these are important ways to help people connect with classical music? Or are they butchering the genre?
In the past year, The Times has covered several stories on the role of Black artists in classical music. In “Black Artists on How to Change Classical Music,” nine performers describe their recommendations to change a predominately-white industry. Roderick Cox, a conductor, says:

I would like changes to be made in how we train musicians in conservatories and universities. A lot of our thinking, and our perceptions of what’s good music, becomes indoctrinated at that stage. I say this because even though I’m a person of color, I was guilty of not being accepting of new voices and styles outside of Beethoven, Schumann, all the usual music of the past. When we start with preconceived notions, we limit ourselves. People are afraid of being uncomfortable, but with discomfort comes growth. If students learn about composers like William Grant Still or Florence Price — and their approaches to making music — then they will become more versatile. And we will see that change taking place in our programming; schools won’t just be producing conductors who want to do Wagner, Strauss and Mahler. I love these composers. But there are more voices to hear.

In your experience, do you often see Black people, and other people of color, in classical music orchestras or opera performances? If you have learned about composers throughout history, did you learn about white composers as well as composers of color? What do you think should be done to ensure that classical music is more diverse? How important do you think diversity is to the viability of classical music?

Learn to Love More Classical Music

Choose another listening experience from the “5 Minutes That Will Make You Love” music series:

As you listen to another aspect of classical music, you can follow the same listening guide from the “Questions for Writing and Discussion” section. Then, choose one song that you fell in love with from the new article — or from your own search — and share it with someone else in 150 words. Using the featured article as inspiration, write your description of the song and explain why it’s worthy of musical appreciation.

About Lesson of the Day

• Find all our Lessons of the Day in this column.
• Teachers, watch our on-demand webinar to learn how to use this feature in your classroom.

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Lesson of the Day: ‘5 Minutes That Will Make You Love String Quartets’ - The New York Times
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