Baroque Period: Duets and "Spring"

In music, we are exploring the Baroque period.  The first part of the unit, the students were to compose a homophonic duet for recorder that they could play for the class.  Students worked in groups of 2 or 3 in order to compose their own piece on the iPad app Notion.  They could not just just any set of notes, but they were given a I-IV-V chord progression that they had to create from.  The video below is their compositions:

To continue with our study of the Baroque period, we studied the red-headed priest and famous composer Antonio Vivaldi.  Vivaldi's most famous piece is "The Four Seasons" which he also wrote a sonnet for each season he represented in music.  Our class looked at "Spring".  The sonnet reads:

Springtime is upon us.

The birds celebrate her return with festive song, 

and murmuring streams are softly caressed by the breezes.

Thunderstorms, those heralds of Spring, roar, casting their dark mantle over heaven.

Then they die away to silence, and the birds take up their charming songs once more.  

Vivaldi would tell a story with his music and sonnets.  In our class, the students then put the sonnet and the music to life by pantomiming the storyline of a spring day at the park.  Below is their final performance:

And of course, a class picture: