(upbeat music) - [Announcer] This is a production of South Dakota Public Broadcasting.

(audience applauding) ("The Four Seasons" by Antonio Vivaldi) (audience applauding) - Good afternoon, boys and girls, ladies and gentlemen.

Welcome to the South Dakota Symphony.

(audience cheering) You know, it seems like you guys might be a little tired.

I don't know, kind of feeling sleepy.

(audience cheering) Are you guys ready to hear some awesome music?

(audience cheering) Are you sure?

(audience cheering) All right.

So the music you just heard was by an Italian composer named Antonio Vivaldi.

Antonio Vivaldi.

(audience cheering) And the title of that piece was called "The Four Seasons," but who can guess which season it was?

Let me hear you.

- [Audience] Winter!

- Excellent.

So I hear a rumor that some of you might be trying to figure out which instrument you might wanna play next year.

Yeah.

(audience cheering) Well, today we're gonna show you a little bit of what each instrument of the orchestra is capable with, starting with, what are these instruments right here?

What family is this called?

- [Audience] Strings!

- The strings, that's right.

So first up on our list of string instruments we have the- - [Audience] Violin!

- Excellent, let's hear the violin.

(violin playing) (audience cheering) All right.

Next, what's the next lower instrument of the strings?

- [Audience] Viola!

- It's the viola.

Let's hear some viola music.

(viola playing) (audience cheering) All right.

Okay, what instrument is next, lower in the string family?

- [Audience] Cello!

- Cello!

Let's listen to the cello.

(cello playing) (audience cheering) And finally, what's the next instrument?

(audience cheering) The double bass.

Let's hear some double bass music, Mario.

(double bass playing) (audience cheering) Okay, so now that you've gotten to know each of the instruments that Mr. Vivaldi uses to tell his story, let's hear some of that story first.

Now, you might not know, but there's a poem that goes along with this piece.

So I'd like to bring out my friend, Mr. Matthews, to help read that poem.

Please welcome Mr. Matthews.

(audience applauding) - To tremble from cold in the icy snow, in the harsh breath of a horrid wind, to run, stabbing one's feet every moment, our teeth chattering in the extreme cold winter.

(audience cheering) - So those are the words of the story.

Let's listen to how the composer uses these lovely instruments on the stage here to tell that story with sound.

So it mentions cold.

What happens when you're cold?

You start to shiver.

So let's see if we can hear the shiver, shiver, shiver, shiver from the strings at the very beginning.

("The Four Seasons" by Antonio Vivaldi) (audience applauding) And sometimes in winter, often here in South Dakota, the wind blows really strong and makes us even colder.

Let's listen to how the solo violin creates a vortex of fast running notes that make us shiver even more.

("The Four Seasons" by Antonio Vivaldi) (audience cheering) All right, now, let's say it's a beautiful but frigid winter's day, and you're outside on the schoolyard, and you're running.

You're gonna hear your feet hitting the ground, but be careful not to slip on the ice.

Let's listen to some of this running music.

Ooh.

Exactly.

Let's listen to the orchestra and how they stamp their feet with their instruments.

("The Four Seasons" by Antonio Vivaldi) (audience cheering) Now, after you've been running and playing, you start to get tired, and you sit still for a little while, and then you get even colder, and your teeth start to chatter.

Listen to how the solo violin has chattering teeth.

("The Four Seasons" by Antonio Vivaldi) (audience applauding) Now, let's hear the whole story as told by Vivaldi with his music.

("The Four Seasons" by Antonio Vivaldi) (audience cheering) All right, so how many of you have heard of the story called "Peter and the Wolf"?

Lots of hands.

Who can tell me the composer of "Peter and the Wolf"?

Yell it out.

Let's hear it.

(audience yelling) It's not Mozart.

Repeat after me, Prokofiev.

- [Audience] Prokofiev.

- One more time, Prokofiev.

- [Audience] Prokofiev!

- Who knows what country Prokofiev is from?

Say it out loud.

(audience yelling) Russia.

So to help tell the story of "Peter and the Wolf," let's bring back our narrator, Mr. Matthews.

(audience cheering) But first, before we start, we have to tune the orchestra.

Hold on one moment.

(orchestra tuning) - "Peter and the Wolf" is a fairy tale told in two ways.

The story will be told by me, your narrator, and also by using members of the orchestra.

Here's how it will work.

In every story, there are many characters.

In this musical fairy tale, each character will have a theme or melody that represents them.

Now the South Dakota Symphony, led by Maestro Fortner, will introduce you to the characters and their themes.

Our principal character, Peter, will be played by the strings.

(strings playing) The bird, played by the flute.

(flute playing) The duck played by the oboe.

(oboe playing) The cat played by the clarinet.

(clarinet playing) Grandfather played by the bassoon.

(bassoon playing) The hungry wolf played by the French horns.

(French horns playing) The hunters shooting played by the timpani and bass drum.

(drums playing) - Mr. Matthews.

- Yes.

- I have to add two more instruments that are not a character necessarily, but they do an important part.

They play an important part in telling the story of "Peter and the Wolf."

First, we have the- - [Audience] Trumpets!

- The trumpets.

Let's hear some trumpets.

(trumpets playing) Pretty cool.

And what's this?

- [Audience] Trombone!

- [Conductor] The trombone!

(trombone playing) (audience applauding) Okay.

- And now the tale of "Peter and the Wolf."

Early one morning, Peter opened the gate and walked out into the big, green meadow.

("Peter and the Wolf" by Sergei Prokofiev) On a branch of a big tree, sat a little bird, Peter's friend.

The bird chirped, "All is quiet.

All is quiet.

All is quiet."

("Peter and the Wolf" by Sergei Prokofiev) Just then a duck came waddling round.

She was glad that Peter had not closed the gate and decided to take a nice swim in the deep pond in the meadow.

("Peter and the Wolf" by Sergei Prokofiev) Seeing the duck, the little bird flew down upon the grass, settled next to her, and shrugged his shoulders.

"What kind of a bird are you if you can't fly?"

asked he.

To this the duck replied, "What kind of a bird are you if you can't swim?"

and dived into the pond.

("Peter and the Wolf" by Sergei Prokofiev) They argued and argued, the duck swimming in the pond and the little bird hopping along the shore.

("Peter and the Wolf" by Sergei Prokofiev) Suddenly, something caught Peter's attention.

He noticed a cat crawling through the grass.

("Peter and the Wolf" by Sergei Prokofiev) The cat thought, that little bird is busy arguing.

I'll just grab him.

Stealthily, the cat crept toward him on her velvet paws.

("Peter and the Wolf" by Sergei Prokofiev) "Look out!"

shouted Peter.

The bird immediately flew up into the tree.

("Peter and the Wolf" by Sergei Prokofiev) The duck quacked angrily at the cat from the middle of the pond.

The cat walked around the tree and thought, hmm, is it worth climbing up so high?

By the time I get there, the bird will have flown away.

Just then, grandfather came out.

He was upset because Peter had gone into the meadow.

"It's a dangerous place.

If a wolf should come out of the forest, then what would you do?"

("Peter and the Wolf" by Sergei Prokofiev) Peter paid no attention to his grandfather's words.

Boys like him are not afraid of wolves.

("Peter and the Wolf" by Sergei Prokofiev) But Grandfather took Peter by the hand and led him home and locked the gate.

("Peter and the Wolf" by Sergei Prokofiev) No sooner had Peter gone, then a big gray wolf came out of the forest.

("Peter and the Wolf" by Sergei Prokofiev) In a twinkling, the cat climbed up the tree.

("Peter and the Wolf" by Sergei Prokofiev) The duck quacked, and in her excitement, jumped out of the pond.

("Peter and the Wolf" by Sergei Prokofiev) But no matter how hard the duck tried to run, she couldn't escape the wolf.

He was getting nearer and nearer, catching up with her.

And then he got her, and with one gulp, swallowed her.

("Peter and the Wolf" by Sergei Prokofiev) And now, this is how things stood.

The cat was sitting on one branch, the bird on another, not too close to the cat.

And the wolf walked around and around the tree, looking at them with greedy eyes.

("Peter and the Wolf" by Sergei Prokofiev) In the meantime, Peter, without the slightest fear, stood behind the closed gate, watching all that was going on.

("Peter and the Wolf" by Sergei Prokofiev) He ran home, got a strong rope, and climbed up the high stone wall.

One of the branches of the tree around which the wolf was walking stretched out over the wall.

Grabbing hold of the branch, Peter lightly climbed over onto the tree.

Peter said to the bird, "Fly down.

Circle over the wolf's head.

Only take care he doesn't catch you."

("Peter and the Wolf" by Sergei Prokofiev) The bird flew down round and round the wolf's head, almost touching it with his wings, while the wolf snapped angrily from this side and that.

("Peter and the Wolf" by Sergei Prokofiev) How the bird worried the wolf.

He wanted to catch him, but the bird was clever, and the wolf simply couldn't do anything about it.

("Peter and the Wolf" by Sergei Prokofiev) Meanwhile, Peter made a lasso and carefully letting it down- ("Peter and the Wolf" by Sergei Prokofiev) He caught the wolf by the tail and pulled with all his might.

("Peter and the Wolf" by Sergei Prokofiev) Feeling himself caught, the wolf began to jump wildly, trying to get loose.

("Peter and the Wolf" by Sergei Prokofiev) But Peter tied the other end of the rope to the tree.

("Peter and the Wolf" by Sergei Prokofiev) And the wolf's jumping only made the rope around his tail tighter.

("Peter and the Wolf" by Sergei Prokofiev) Just then, the hunters came out of the woods, following the wolf's trail and shooting as they went.

("Peter and the Wolf" by Sergei Prokofiev) But Peter, sitting in the tree, said, "Don't shoot!

Birdie and I have already caught the wolf.

Now help us take him to the zoo."

("Peter and the Wolf" by Sergei Prokofiev) And now imagine the triumphant procession.

("Peter and the Wolf" by Sergei Prokofiev) Peter right at the front.

("Peter and the Wolf" by Sergei Prokofiev) After him, the hunters, leading the big gray wolf.

("Peter and the Wolf" by Sergei Prokofiev) And winding up the procession, Grandfather and the cat.

Grandfather shook his head discontently.

Well, if Peter hadn't caught the wolf, what then?

("Peter and the Wolf" by Sergei Prokofiev) Above them, flew Birdie chirping merrily, "My, what brave fellas we are, Peter and I.

Look what we have caught."

("Peter and the Wolf" by Sergei Prokofiev) And if you listen very carefully, you can hear the duck quacking inside the wolf, for in his hurry, the wolf swallowed the duck alive.

("Peter and the Wolf" by Sergei Prokofiev) (audience cheering) - Thank you.

Let's hear it again for the South Dakota Symphony!

(audience cheering) And for Mr. Matthews!

(audience cheering) All right, remember, do your homework, brush your teeth, listen to your teacher, and have a great day!

(audience cheering) (audience chattering)