February Teacher’s Guide

February Issue

This issue features the life and music of Camille Saint-Saëns and French pianist, teacher and composer Louise Dumont Farrenc (1804 – 1875). Farrenc was the only female professor at the Paris Conservatory in the late 1800s and after finding success with one of her works, successfully negotiated a salary increase to match the pay of the male teachers of the era. Additional information on this interesting musician may be found:




For a fun listening exercise, have students listen to each movement of The Carnival of the Animals and see if they can hear the animals being depicted.

1. Introduction and Royal March of the Lion: played by strings and two pianos. Listen for a march in the pianos.
2. Hens and Roosters: Violins and violas, two pianos, and clarinet. Listen for the chickens pecking at some grain.
3. Wild Donkeys: Listen for two pianos depicting donkeys running around very quickly.
4. Tortoises: Here strings and pianos take the fast can-can dance and slow it down to turtle speed. There are even some wrong notes as the turtles step on each other’s feet.
5. The Elephant: String bass (a very low instrument) and piano depict an elephant waltzing in this humorous movement.
6. Kangaroos: The pianos play the part of hopping kangaroos.
7. The Aquarium: Violin, viola, cello, pianos, flute, and glass harmonica create high, magical sounds in this peaceful, beautiful movement.
8. Persons with Long Ears: This is a short movement played by the violins. They alternate between very high and low notes to make the sound of a donkey’s bray.
9. Cuckoo in the Heart of the Wood: While the pianos play soft chords, a clarinet makes the sound of a cuckoo bird. In the original score the clarinet was written to be offstage.
10. The Aviary: Here strings, pianos, and flute create the sounds of birds. High-pitched flutes are often used by composers for bird songs.
11. Pianists: In this humorous movement played by strings and pianos, the pianists are shown practicing finger exercises and scales.
12. Fossils: The strings, pianos, clarinet, and xylophone play this movement. It includes themes and melodies from other works: Danse macabre, Twinkle, and The Barber of Seville. The xylophone creates the sound of bones.
13. The Swan: This is the most famous movement and is played by cello with two pianos. This is a beautiful cello solo portraying a stately, gliding swan. It is an important cello solo that is frequently performed alone.
14. Finale: All of the instruments come together for the final section that includes elements of many of the previous movements.

Answers to February Puzzles

Logic Puzzle (page 11)
1st, Jack, Saxophone, Bach
2nd, Katherine, Piano, Mozart
3rd, Sam, Cello, Brahms
4th, Ella, Guitar, Beethoven

Word Scramble (page 14)
opera, sharp, guitar, concerto, cello
Answer: piano

Quiz (page 15)
1. a  2. b  3. a  4. d  5. b  6. a  7. f  8. c  9.a


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Coming in March: Rachmaninoff, the conductor, double sharps and double flats.

Student Compositions


Annual Composition Contest

The contest theme is announced this month. Full information is available on the home page and in the magazine. Note you must subscribe to Piano Explorer to submit a composition.

100 Day Challenge





We will continue this challenge in the upcoming year, and students may start at any time. Check out the students who have played for 100 days at https://pianoexplorer.net/100-day-challenge/

