Disney explains Bach: a pedagogic unit on the Fifth Brandenburg Concerto

Abstract

This article illustrates a pedagogic unit on music listening that is centered on the first movement of the Fifth Brandenburg Concerto by Bach and is aimed at primary school pupils. The selected concert is of historical importance for the prominent role assumed by the harpsichord in comparison to the other two soloists (flute and violin). The didactic “bridge” that is useful to deal with this piece and carve out the cognitive contents ad hoc has been identified by Giorgio Pagannone in Walt Disney’s animated cartoon, Three Little Pigs (1933), based on a fairy tale of the same name.

First, we present and analyse  the music piece and animated cartoon. Next, we provide a detailed and articulated description of the pedagogic unit, that was adopted by Silvia Cancedda in a primary school in Bologna (Italy) and produced very good results such as the intuitive reading of selected score fragments. The appendix includes some of the works done by the pupils.