Pre-Concert Lesson 1: Carnival Music and Costume Creations
Grade Level: K-6
Audio: Play “Pan in a minor” from the dropbox hyperlink below for your students.
Materials Needed: A sheet of butcher paper (roughly 3x9 ft.), rolls of paper towels, toilet paper, paint/glitter/glue/crayons, construction paper. Computer, Internet Connection, Speaker, Paper and markers/paints/crayons/glitter/glue.
Explain to your students the history of Carnival:
Many cultures, especially those influenced by French and Italian social customs (such as Trinidad), celebrate Carnival season from the end of Christmas until Ash Wednesday (usually in the middle of February). During this time, participants hold parties and dances prior to the period of sacrifice and self-reflection necessary during Lent. Carnival season climaxes during the two days prior to Ash Wednesday in a special national holiday. Celebrants take to the streets in fancy costumes and on festive parade floats while dancing to music. In the United States, this special period is still celebrated in New Orleans and is called Mardi Gras. In Trinidad, it is further highlighted by traveling steelbands and perhaps the most fantastic costumes in the world!
In Trinidad, entire warehouses are converted into costume factories for making the many special masquerade costumes. Called “Mas Camps,” thousands of costumes are made for the coming Carnival season. These costumes range in price from $20 to $10,000 dollars and can be as simple as a T-shirt to an intricately beaded 30-foot tall head dress complete with feathers and fireworks! People taking part in “mas,” the Carnival parade, join a band of costumed paraders that range from 50 to 5000 people and parade all day and night to the beat of a steel band or calypsonian. Each mas band has a theme that is proclaimed on a banner in front of the mas band and a King and Queen of the band who wear the most elaborate costumes.
The Project:
Your classroom will be transformed into a Mas Camp in preparation for Carnival! First, your students should select a theme that will guide costume designs. Possible themes might be: “Colors of the Rainbow,” “Playing Sailor,” or “In the Forest.” Once your class has chosen a theme, they should paint or color it on a banner (a sheet of 3x9 ft. butcher paper) along with the name of their class. For example:
Now, each student should make their own costume by drawing on, painting, glittering, and gluing construction paper to paper towels. For ideas, you might show your students a web site with pictures of past costumes (be careful, some are a little risqué!). When the paint and glue is dry (the next day), students should use the transparent tape to wrap one another in their newly created costumes.
Rolls of toilet paper or paper streamers may also be taped to the costumes for added effect. When everyone is ready, students should parade in a line around the classroom, school, or even to the UTM Roots of Rhythm Presentation on your campus! (use “Pan in a minor” from the dropbox hyperlink below you’re your parade music)
If you wish, you may allow the students to vote for a “King and Queen” of their Mas camp based on the best boy and girls’ costumes.