Peter and the Wolf

The timbre of different musical instruments can create different moods and feelings. Peter and the Wolf by Prokofiev is an excellent example of this. The strings play Peter, the oboe is the duck, clarinet is the cat, the flute is the bird, the timpani are the guns, the french horns are the wolf and the grandfather is the bassoon. It exposes the students to the different instruments through a musical story. They can listen for the various instruments to play their parts throughout the piece.

To extend this activity, the students could listen to other pieces, trying to identify the instruments that are playing. Students could also write their own story to go along with this music or another piece.