Joseph Farquharson - The Hour of Prayer, Sergei Prokofiev - Peter and the Wolf, Eugene Field - The Sugar Plum Tree

This is our final painting in this series by Joseph Farquaharson.  It is quite different than the colorful and peaceful sheep paintings that we first studied.  To me it isn't as "beautiful" but it definitely shows his skill as an artist.  The architecture and complex tiles all done in perspective are realistic and believable.  Notice his use of light and shadow.  We will move on to a new artist next week.


One piece of music our family has enjoyed through the years is Peter and the Wolf by Sergei Prokofiev.  I hope you enjoy this musical story, too.  
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irAPft-QVVQ&feature=related   
The following link is to Phil Tugla-Through the Curriculum and has some wonderful helps and ideas for studying this piece of music including the text of the story and separate playings of the individual themes showing pictures of the instruments used as well as a suggested writing activity.  http://www.philtulga.com/Peter.html

This link is to the Wikipedia article for Peter and the Wolf: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_and_the_Wolf

And the link to the Wikipedia article on Sergei Prokofiev: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergei_Prokofiev

You might also enjoy this excerpt with video of a duck and her babies http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJR7oAKYUHA

This week another Eugene Field poem:

The Sugar-Plum Tree Have you ever heard of the Sugar-Plum Tree? 'T is a marvel of great renown! It blooms on the shore of the Lollipop sea In the garden of Shut-Eye Town; The fruit that it bears is so wondrously sweet (As those who have tasted it say) That good little children have only to eat Of that fruit to be happy next day. When you 've got to the tree, you would have a hard time To capture the fruit which I sing; The tree is so tall that no person could climb To the boughs where the sugar-plums swing! But up in that tree sits a chocolate cat, And a gingerbread dog prowls below--- And this is the way you contrive to get at Those sugar-plums tempting you so: You say but the word to that gingerbread dog And he barks with such terrible zest That the chocolate cat is at once all agog, As her swelling proportions attest. And the chocolate cat goes cavorting around From this leafy limb unto that, And the sugar-plums tumble, of course, to the ground--- Hurrah for that chocolate cat! There are marshmallows, gumdrops, and peppermint canes, With stripings of scarlet or gold, And you carry away of the treasure that rains As much as your apron can hold! So come, little child, cuddle closer to me In your dainty white nightcap and gown, And I 'll rock you away to that Sugar-Plum Tree In the garden of Shut-Eye Town.