Christine has been kind enough to contribute her teaching ideas and explains:

I am not a classroom teacher but a piano teacher. Nevertheless I thought it may be of interest to other teachers to know how I use Tolkien for piano teaching. My approach is absolutely non-literary, but I am sure I spark some greater thoughtful interest in Tolkien, encourage children to think of his writing in different ways, and interlink different art forms. I am fortunate in that piano teachers have a much greater degree of control on teaching content in the lessons than the classroom teacher. Referring to Elvish music or hobbit music I find too direct, though for some it may be useful, so I approach Tolkien's work more abstractedly.

I use the ideas in On Fairy Stories, saying that although Tolkien is the ultimate in fantasy literature, what we do on the piano is the ultimate fantasy art form. No sound we make is part of the 'Primary World' of our everyday life. (Words are not even used.) It all belongs to the 'Secondary World' of the imagination.

Some examples of how I use the ideas are:

  1. I refer to the 'Primary World' and the 'Secondary World' of a piece, associating the 'Primary World' to the central pitch (most music they play is diatonic).
  2. Using Tolkien's 'inner consistency of reality' enables form to be discussed from the point of view of how it is heard rather than imagined how it is heard. So at a young age, the music the children play becomes more than just nice themes with interesting and exciting sounds.
  3. Explaining the musical sign fp is difficult. I say it is a eucatastrophe and I encourage the children to experiment with some sounds imitating nature.
  4. So many times the last note is often played with a mood of 'it's over and I have done it'. For those who cannot grasp its significance I find using Tolkien's comments on the importance of the ending 'consolation' helpful.
  5. I refer to how other composers have used that chord/motif, and let the children think how they can hear other composers in the piece applying Tolkien's referral to the past and to the 'pot of soup' of stories.
  6. The Ainulindale is another way of encouraging their musical imagination.

Howard Shore's Music:

Many children now learning the piano are not from families that have a tradition of learning an instrument, most children enjoy lots of different types of music, and although they all enjoy playing, many of them are more into literature. Trying to bridge the musical sound world of the student to the classical music sound world and trying to adapt the child's musical identity to incorporate classical music, and bridging their love of literature to piano playing, I sometimes use Shore's music. Some students have it on their ipods, and for them the sounds could be considered as part of their personal 'primary sound world', a phrase combining Tolkien's concept of the 'Primary World' together with a concept of everyone having their personal 'sound world'.

I confess though that although I use the music, and it is well put together, it frustrates me as it could have offered more reference to our musical past and to other people's musical past e.g. the scene with Éowyn and Wormtongue cried out for a hint of the second section of Liszt's Mephisto Waltz. For me, the film music was not musically in the tradition that Tolkien was trying to establish in the literary world.