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As this level we shall consider the possibilities inherent in all Tolkien's major works, including The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion and the History of Middle-Earth, in addition to The Hobbit and Roverandom, already extensively used for in KS 1 and KS 2.

When illustrating musically characters, episodes and locations from The Lord of the Rings, care should be taken that the children do not copy unconsciously the music of the Peter Jackson movies. If this should occur, it would then be advisable to use in class only the LOTR episodes not presented in the films, (such as the Tom Bombadil episode) and to rely heavily on the non-filmed works: The Hobbit and The Silmarillion. All our suggestions for using LOTR in class assume the use of Tolkien's true original text, and not of the scripts of the movies.

UNIT1

Use poems from The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings as a starting point for compositions.

UNIT2

Use the two following poems from The Hobbit: Elves's song (p.45) and Goblins's song (p.58) to demonstrate the concepts of:

By asking the children to identify the refrains, see how it is changed, what elements of structure (the stanza's number of verses, for example.) remain constant? What are the changes? How could these dicoveries be mirrored in a setting of the poems, or in a composition inspired by them?

UNIT 3

As a basis of composition for this unit, ask the children to compose soundscapes describing some locations of Middle-Earth, for example:

From The Lord of the Rings

From The Hobbit:

From The Silmarilion:

UNIT 4

No poems or stories are used in this unit.

UNIT 5

Having mastered the musical cliches used in this unit, the children could write compositions illustrating some scenes from Tolkien's works. It would be advisable to choose episodes offering good opportunities for contrast, for example:

From The Silmarilion:

The Darkening of Valinor (featuring four episodes of different moods)

  1. The light of the Trees
  2. the coming of Morgoth and Ungoliant
  3. the Dismay of the Gods
  4. the wrath of Feanor.

From The Lord of the Rings:

The Barrow-downs episode:

  1. the hobbits laid astray in the mist
  2. inside the Barrow
  3. the rescuing by Tom Bombadil

From The Hobbit:

Mirkwood

  1. the Path
  2. Fight with the Giant Spiders
  3. the Woodland Elves's Feast

UNIT 6

There are no poems or stories used in this unit.

UNIT 7

Give the class a germ idea, as specified in the QCA unit and ask the children to compose on it a set of variations illustrating the Ainulindale(music of the Ainur) from The Silmarillion. For example, each variation could depict a particular Vala:

We are giving only a sample of the possibilities. Composing out in full the twelve variations would be perhaps too great a task for many classes, as such projects must be kept short. The teacher will choose suitable ideas from the above list and arrange them in any convenient order.

UNIT 8

There are no poems or stories used in this unit.

UNIT 9

There are no poems or stories used in this unit.

UNIT 10

There are no poems or stories used in this unit.

UNIT 11

A. Study with the children the introductory literary devices used in the first chapters of one of the following works:

B. Ask the class to compose an overture for the studied work

UNIT 12

There are no poems or stories used in this unit.

UNIT 13

Ask the children to compose the music for a short broadcast advertising of one of the following works:

UNIT 14

Explore the argument techniques in one of the following scenes from The Lord of the Rings:

UNIT 15

Ask the students to write a song on a poem from The Lord of the Rings, preferably one sung by any character of the romance. Provide the children with such musical material as needed. For choosing the text, the Index of Song and Verses by Titles at the End of The Return of the King can be extremely useful.