Composers have been writing about machines since the first steam trains. An orchestra can chug, hiss, clatter, and whistle. This page has twelve pieces about trains and other machines, with what to listen for in each one.
Trains
1. “The Little Train of the Caipira,” by Heitor Villa-Lobos. A small steam train carries farm workers through the hills of Brazil. It starts with a wheeze, picks up speed, rattles along with a happy tune on top, and grinds to a stop. It lasts about four minutes, and it is the best first piece on this page. Read Hispanic and Latin American composers for kids.
2. Pacific 231, by Arthur Honegger. A huge express engine starts from a standstill, reaches full speed, and brakes. The composer builds the speed by packing more and more notes into each beat. The name is a type of steam locomotive.
3. Copenhagen Steam Railway Galop, by Hans Christian Lumbye. A Danish dance composer wrote this in 1847, when trains were new. Listen for the bell, the whistle, and the wheels that start slow and settle into a gallop.
4. “Pleasure Train” polka, by Johann Strauss II. A fast polka for a day trip by rail. Listen for the triangle and the toot of a little horn. Read Johann Strauss II for kids.
5. Different Trains, first movement, by Steve Reich. A string quartet plays with recorded voices and train whistles. As a small boy, Reich rode trains across America between his parents’ homes. The second movement is about the trains of the Second World War in Europe, and it is for older children. Read Steve Reich for kids.
A composer who loved trains
Antonín Dvořák was a train spotter. He walked to the station in Prague to watch the engines and wrote down their numbers. He knew the timetables by heart. Read Dvořák for kids.
Machines
6. “The Typewriter,” by Leroy Anderson. A real typewriter is the solo instrument. A percussion player types in rhythm, rings the bell at the end of each line, and slides the carriage back. Read Leroy Anderson for kids.
7. “The Syncopated Clock,” by Leroy Anderson. A clock that ticks a little off the beat. Read classical music about clocks and time.
8. Short Ride in a Fast Machine, by John Adams. A wood block ticks from the first second to the last, and the orchestra races around it. Adams said the title came from a ride in a sports car. It lasts about four minutes. Read John Adams for kids.
9. Iron Foundry, by Alexander Mosolov. Three minutes inside a factory. The orchestra pounds, grinds, and clangs, and a sheet of metal is shaken for the sound of steel. It is loud.
10. “The Viennese Musical Clock,” by Zoltán Kodály. Bells, chimes, and a celesta play a bright march while toy soldiers parade around a palace clock. Read Kodály for kids.
11. Parade, by Erik Satie. The score of this ballet calls for a typewriter, a siren, and a pistol shot. Read Satie for kids.
12. “Music of the Automatons,” from Coppélia, by Delibes. Wind-up dolls in a toymaker’s workshop move with stiff, ticking steps. Read the Coppélia story.
How an orchestra copies a machine
| Machine sound | How the orchestra makes it |
|---|---|
| Chugging | Low strings and brass repeat one short pattern |
| Getting faster | The beat stays the same, and the notes get shorter |
| A whistle | A piccolo, a flute, or a real whistle |
| Hissing steam | Cymbals, or a brush on a snare drum |
| A bell | A triangle or a glockenspiel |
| Ticking | A wood block |
| Grinding to a stop | The notes get longer and lower |
Things to do together
Be the train. Play “The Little Train of the Caipira.” Shuffle your feet slow, and then fast, and then slow, with the music.
Speed up without speeding up. Clap one clap for each beat. Then two, three, and four for each beat, at the same speed. That is Honegger’s trick.
Type along. Play “The Typewriter.” Tap the table with your fingers, and ring a bell at the end of each line.
Find the wood block. Play Short Ride in a Fast Machine. Tap along with the wood block for as long as you can.
Kitchen factory. Give out a pot, a whisk, a grater, and a wooden spoon. Build a machine rhythm, one sound at a time.
Draw the trip. Draw the little train’s journey: the station, the hills, and the last stop.
Questions to ask
- How did the music tell you the train was speeding up?
- Which instrument was the whistle?
- What machine would you write a piece about?
Print and play
Clap through the rhythm cards. Set a train speed on the metronome for kids. Read what is program music? and funny classical music for kids.
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This article is part of How to introduce kids to classical music.
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Use it with your kids
Print a listening page, a practice chart, or a composer fact sheet. Or try a tool, such as the composer timeline or the piece picker.