15-Minute Music Lesson of Music Inspired by Insects ~ Music in Nature Series

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Today we have a fun 15-Minute Music Lesson of Music Inspired by Insects as part of the Music in Nature Series. By now you probably know how composers can be inspired by all sorts of things when they write music. But, did you ever think of insects inspiring them? Enjoy learning about three of these pieces today.

Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Flight of the Bumblebee:

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Flight of the Bumblebee” is perhaps the most well-known of the music we will listen to today. It is actually part of an opera called The Tale of Tsar Saltan first performed in the year 1900. Rimsky-Korsakov was a Russian composer of the Romantic musical period who lived from 1844-1908.

As you listen to “Flight of the Bumblebee,” see if it reminds you of a bumblebee buzzing around a field of flowers! Many performers have enjoyed playing this piece at a very quick tempo. Tempo in music means the speed. As you listen, buzz around the room like a bee!

This first video is played by an all-cello orchestra:

And, here is the world record for a violinist playing “Flight of the Bumblebee” with the quickest tempo:

Vaughan Williams’ “The Wasps“

The British composer Ralph Vaughan Williams wrote “The Wasps” in 1909 for the production of a Greek play by Aristophanes called The Wasps. Vaughan Williams is an English composer of the modern musical period who lived from 1872-1958.

The full version of “The Wasps” was written to be performed by male voices and an orchestra and is over an hour long. A shorter version (26 minutes) is usually performed now on concerts as an orchestral suite. Listen to the first three minutes of the video below. Does it remind you of wasps? What instruments do you hear? Violins, flutes, cymbals?

Béla Bartók’s “From the Diary of a Fly”

This piece by modern-era Hungarian composer Béla Bartók (1881-1945) captures the erratic movements of a fly. It’s a short piano piece. Some have said it sounds like the fly is caught in a spider web, and loses at the end. What do you think? Listen to it here:

Download the Free “Study a Composer” Pack here:

Use these printables with today’s lesson about music inspired by insects.

**Do you know of any other music inspired by insects? Leave a comment below!

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