2.en.35 The Melting Pot, Cultural Mosaic, Multiculturalism

In Post 2.en.31, I asked you if you knew what  ”the melting pot” meant, in connection with the article you read about different immigrants, talking about their life in New York.

None of you had ever heard the term. On Tuesday, Liz will come to class and we’ll be able to ask her how she feels about this term. Terms such as “multiculturalism”, Cultural Mosaic”, “Melting pot” are widely used in the media. We shall talk about them in class. Listen to this animated video. It might help you understand the idea of “the Melting Pot” I’ve cut and pasted the lyrics for you.

My grandmother came from Russia
A satchel on her knee,
My grandfather had his father’s cap
He brought from Italy.
They’d heard about a country
Where life might let them win,
They paid the fare to America
And there they melted in.
Lovely Lady Liberty
With her book of recipes
And the finest one she’s got
Is the great American melting pot.
The great American melting pot.

America was founded by the English,
But also by the Germans, Dutch, and French.
The principle still sticks;
Our heritage is mixed.
So any kid could be the president.

You simply melt right in,
It doesn’t matter what your skin.
It doesn’t matter where you’re from,
Or your religion, you jump right in
To the great American melting pot.
The great American melting pot.
Ooh, what a stew, red, white, and blue.

America was the New World
And Europe was the Old.
America was the land of hope,
Or so the legend told.
On steamboats by the millions,
In search of honest pay,
Those 19th-century immigrants sailed
To reach the U.S.A.

Lovely Lady Liberty
With her book of recipes
And the finest one she’s got
Is the great American melting pot
The great American melting pot.
What good ingredients,
Liberty and immigrants.

They brought the country’s customs,
Their language and their ways.
They filled the factories, tilled the soil,
Helped build the U.S.A.
Go on and ask your grandma,
Hear what she has to tell
How great to be an American
And something else as well.

Lovely Lady Liberty
With her book of recipes
And the finest one she’s got
Is the great American melting pot
The great American melting pot.

The great American melting pot.
The great American melting pot.

1.en.27 Hail! Bright Cecilia: Purcell and Simon and Garfunkel

 We cannot let the 22nd of November go by without mentioning St Cecilia’s day.  a day on which music  is  traditionally celebrated.

I have chosen two  totally different pieces of music. In both of them Cecilia, the patron saint of music, is central.

The first one was written by Henry Purcell  (1659-1695), an English organist and Baroque composer. 

The second is a song by a pop legendary American duo, Simon and Garfunkel. Listen to the music and fill in  the missing gaps.

What do you think the “bright Cecilia” of Purcell’s music was like? Who was she? Do you know anything about her? How is she represented?

Investigate a bit. Where did Purcell play the organ? who was the king or queen at that time in England?  What do you think of this type of music?

What about the “Cecilia” of Simon  and Garfunkel’s song?  what was she like? Do you think she was a real person? Does the song give you any hints?  Is Cecilia a catchy tune? why? why not? 

Enjoy

 Hail! Bright Cecilia, Hail! fill ev’ry Heart!
With Love of thee and thy Celestial Art;
That thine and Musick’s Sacred Love
May make the British Forest prove
As Famous as Dodona’s Vocal Grove.

Now, let’s move on some centuries, up to the 20th.

Cecilia, you’re________ my heart
You’re ________ my confidence daily
Oh, Cecilia, I’m down on my knees
I’m ________ you please to come home

Cecilia, you’re ________ my heart
You’re ________ my confidence daily
Oh, Cecilia, I’m down on my________
I’m_______you please to come home
Come on home

________ love in the afternoon with Cecilia
Up in my bedroom (________ love)
I got up to wash my face
When I come back to________
Someone’s taken my ________

Cecilia, you’re ________ my heart
You’re ________ my confidence daily
Oh, Cecilia, I’m down on my ________
I’m begging you ________ to come home
Come on home

Jubilation, she loves me again,
I fall on the floor and I’m _________
Jubilation, she loves me again,
I fall on the floor and I’m __________

1.en.22 The Youtube Symphony Orchestra experience

Are you familiar with the names of the musical instruments in an orchestra?Can you distinguish their individual sounds? In this great site from the San Francisco Synphony Orchestra, you can listen to all of them. Browse the site and  post to the blog your comments. 

clik in this link 

In your group there are a few students who have to make a great effort to attend music lessons after school. Playing in an orchestra might be for those students  part of their  dream.  In most famous orchestras there are musicians from all over the world. It is very difficult to get to play, let’s say in the Vienna Philharmonic. Only the very best at world level manage to make it. That is the reasonwhy famous orchestras act as magnets and people move countries to be able to play in them.   However, even if being a soloist at the Vienna Philharmonic is something reserved for just a few, the Internet has made  possible that musicians from all over the world gather for a few days to play music in concerts halls such as the Sydney Opera , where usually only most famous orchestras play. In fact, the internet has made things easier for musicians and music lovers, from listening to music  to  to sharing what you do with other music lovers from all over the world. Let’s see what you think of this project.

Task 1: What is the You tube Symphony Orchestra?  search in the internet and asnwer these questions: 

You may want to start by visiting its  you tube channel

1. Why is it called The Youtube Symphony Orchestra?
2. When was the project launched?
3. How were the members of the orchestra chosen?
4. Where did the auditions take place?
5. Were there any important orchestras  that supported the porject?
6. When did the 2010 Concert take place?
7. What about the 2011 Grand Finale?
8. Who was the conductor of the concerts?
9. Where did the orchestra get funding for the project?
10. What is the name of the Orchestra conductor  and artistic director?

Task 2:15 musicians and 15 questions

Here follows a table of 15 different musicians. All of them have a short You Tube video presenting themselves. Listen to the video and take notes about what they say .  Use the set of 15 question  questions to help you take notes. You will not find answers for every questions in each video.  As a result, choose the 2 videos you found most interesting and post your comments to the blog. 

1. Add some extra information about the musician: age, looks, impression she/he makes on you,
2. Imagine you were a journalist . You have to choose a quote from one of the videos that would make the headlines. Which one would yuou choose?
3. What about their English?
4. Where are they from? Do they give any extra information other than their country of origin?
5. Do they live in the same country were they were born? If not, why?
6. Are they currently taking music lessons/ working?
7. At what age did they start playing?
8. Who intoduced them to their istrument?
9. Was it love at first sight with the instrument or did it take longer?
10. Do they come form a family with a musical background?
11. Where was the presentation video recorded?
12. Do the images of the video provide any additional information about the city/house were the musician lives ?
13. Why did they decide to take part in the youtube synphony orchestra project?
14. How do they feel about having been selected?
15. What were their expectations about travelling to Sidney, Australia?

	Name	Country	Instrument
1	Su Changhttp://www.youtube.com/user/symphony#p/u/37/UNQFg0wRQX0	China	Guzheng
2	Stepan Grytsayhttp://www.youtube.com/user/symphony#p/u/33/xUQkHstimko	Ukraine/Argentina	Violin
3	Roman Riedelhttp://www.youtube.com/user/symphony#p/u/34/yAS2-543mhw	Germany	Trombone
4	Mary Bowdenhttp://www.youtube.com/user/symphony#p/u/52/xzXgdWC8GMQ	US	Trumpet
5	Maria Chiossi http://www.youtube.com/user/symphony#p/c/26/t5iG2xj6awU	Italy	Harp
6	David Barrera http://www.youtube.com/user/symphony#p/c/4/PR-loarf240	Spain	cello
7	Tristan Chenevez http://www.youtube.com/user/symphony#p/c/16/TCdf97GdNDQ	France	violin
8	Ilya Gotchevhttp://www.youtube.com/user/symphony#p/c/CA6F781A4A2BB93B/5/h-zjc9CznZE	Bulgaria	violin
9	Michelle Hwu  http://www.youtube.com/user/symphony#p/c/CA6F781A4A2BB93B/8/JwYhQMFIVtw	Canada	Percussionist
10	Paul Hung,http://www.youtube.com/user/symphony#p/c/9/vrBbt3qZMEc	Taiwan/Canada	flute
11	Emmanuel Danan http://www.youtube.com/user/symphony#p/c/CA6F781A4A2BB93B/17/mZAUpT1wP3M	Israel	0boe
12	Meet Ozgur Baskinhttp://www.youtube.com/user/symphony#p/c/A549919ADC9C77A5	Turkey	Violin
13	Meet Ali Bellohttp://www.youtube.com/user/symphony#p/c/A549919ADC9C77A5/0/43Ry35SxOsE	Venezuela/USA	Violin
14	Meet Paulo Calligopouloshttp://www.youtube.com/user/symphony#p/c/A549919ADC9C77A5/3/SXALndNdTQ0	Brazil	piano
15	Meet Xiomara Masshttp://www.youtube.com/user/symphony#p/c/A549919ADC9C77A5/9/l-Y-J-FBH-U	Puerto Rico/Usa	Oboe

Here you can see the countries where the different musicians came from according to the instrument they play.

Here, by clicking in the different instruments of the orchestra, a new window will open. You will be able to see some basic facts about the musicianS: age, time when he/she started playing and a fun fact. I have done some reseach for you and have chosen 15. Now it is your turn. Let’s see if you find an interesting story you’d like to share with your classmates. 

Homework: Monday 13th November. Do the tasks. Copy the answers in your notebook and post a comment to the blog on the two musicians you liked best. 

In the ghetto

Malgrat no sigui essent professora vostra enguany a vegades pujarè  un tema musical que estigui relacionat amb els vostres treballs.

Esper que sigui del vostre gust

Resum pel examen de setembre

 

Some Baroque music for the summer: Andreu playing Telemann suite No. 2

3.mus.08

3. FORM

What is form?

Every piece of music has a structure or form. You can analyze every piece of music like you can analyze every word you write.

You can enjoy the music without analyzing its form, of course, but it helps to understand and perform it.

Form is the basic structure of a piece of music.

3.1. What does a composer need in order to make a composition?

-repetition: you can repeat any element you want (notes, phrases, themes, dynamics…).

Most of the popular songs uses it

-contrast : you can mark the difference between two notes, phrases, themes, dynamics…

A new theme appears.

-variation : the melody varies during the composition. The first theme is usually a simple one and after this, the composer writes the variations he/she wants. This form is called the theme and variation form and it can be written like this: A A1 A2 A3 A4…

3.2. The most common forms

Binary form                        A B or A A B B

Ternary form                     A B A

Rondo                                   A B A C A…

Strophic form                    A A A AA…

Theme and variations    A A1 A2 A3 A4…

Canon                                A—————————————–

A———————————-

A—————————

A——————–

Audition activity

Listen to the following music pieces and write their forms:

Audition	Composer	Title	Musical form
Nº 1
Nº 2
Nº 3
Nº 4
Nº5

3.mus.07 Yesterday

There is your new song. You have the lyrics in english and spanish

3.en.91 Top forty live: outing with Paquita, your music teacher.

On Tuesday April 12th you had the opportunity to visit a radio studio and see first hand the job of a broadcaster, and how the top 40 are made. Ritish’s birthday song was heard all over Majorca and some of you suddenly decided that in the future you’d like to work in the radio and become a  broadcaster.

It was an exciting experience, wasn’t it?

Now you have to show that you can behave in music lessons as well as you did during the outing.

I’ve just got a video that I will upload here for you.

Thanks , again to Paquita and to the people from the top 40, who were so nice with you.

 

• Have you learnt how to say everything in 30 seconds?
• What about the contest?
• How many people listen to the top 40?
• What did you like best about the visit?
• What surprised you most?

Post your comments to the blog for Friday 15th April

3.mus.06

CARÀCTER I EXPRESSIÓ

Pinxa damunt IMG i veuràs un full que ens explica quins tipus de resposta tenim quan escoltam música.

IMG

 

Aquí he penjat un video amb 23 bandes sonores i vos he assignat una pel.lícula a cada un (o dos en un cas). En el video teniu l’any en que es va estrenar la pel·lícula i qui va composar la banda sonora. Heu de fer un petit resum del argument i dir que vos sugereix la música escoltada i si trobau que es adient amb el argument.

Amélie: Noe

La història interminable: Izabela

La vida és bella: Sergio

Teuró: Vladis

El codi da Vinci: Pau Seguí

Els intocables: Pau Campomar

La mort tenia un preu: Ritish

La novia cadaver: Paula Gomila

El senyor dels anells: Marta

La guerra de les galaxies: Andrea

Memòries d’una geisha: Marina

La missió: Joan Vidal

Pirates del Carib: Jhazmin

Requiem per un somni: Paula Socies

Saw: Miquel

Sweeny Todd: Ariadna

El exorcista: Silvia

Pesadilla abans de Nadal: María

El quint element: Marga

El pont damunt el riu Kwai: Alvaro

Rocky: Josep

2001: Odisea en el espai: Andreu

Una ment meravellosa: Alba i Joan Sebastià

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