Music in our life

Objectives:

– to enrich students’ topical conversational vocabulary;

– to improve students’ listening, reading, speaking skills;

– to enhance students’ cognitive abilities and memory;

– to cultivate students’ aesthetic taste, awareness and respect to the world culture.

Equipment: a tape recorder, handouts, pictures of famous perfomancers, sayings about music, an alphabet, tests, a project about Sting.

 PROCEDURE

INTRODUCTION

1. Greeting.

T: Good morning. We are going to talk about music, its impact on you, your preferences in music and famous perfomancers.

2. WARMING-UP

T: Let us see if you are keen on music. So look at the ABC and try to say a noun or a verb associated with the topic of our lesson.

Sample:

A – aria;

B – bass, bandura;

C – composer, clip, cymbals, choir;

D – drum;

E – ear, earphones;

F – folk, flute;

G – guitar;

H – hit, harp;

I – item;

J – jazz;

K – kobza, keyboards;

L – lira, lyrics;

M – music, musician;

N – note;

O – opera, oboe;

P – piano, pop;

Q – quartette;

R – rock, reggae;

S – sonata;

T – tune, trumpet;

U – unison;

V   – violin;

W – wavelength;

X – xylophone;

Y   – yodel;

Z – zither.

1. SPEAKING

1.Brainstorm

T: So, you like music, don’t you? What music do you like listening to when you have free time? Brainstorm some adjectives that come to your mind when you listen to the music you like.

Ps: Romantic, melancholy, catchy, soft, sweet, touchy, sentimental, passionate, unforgettable, breathtaking, over­whelming.

T: What kind of music irritates you?

Ps: Cluttered, complicated, tuneless, dreadful, annoy­ing, boring, foolish.

2.Discussing

(Music by Paganini sounds.)

T: While listening to this music say what it makes you feel like. Use Gerund in your answers.

PI: When I listen to this music it makes me feel like dancing in a big hall.

P2: It makes me feel like singing.

P3: Such music makes me feel like running in the woods, listening to birds’ songs, laughing and crying with joy.

T: Now say what you see, while listening to this music, use the Present Indefinite Tense.

P4: When I listen to classical music I see a green meadow with beautiful flowers.

P5: It pictures in my mind the dance competition I saw some days ago.

P6: When I hear this music I see my native land.

1. MATCHING

T: Let me divide you into 3 groups. Do the following tasks:

1. Match kinds of music to famous composers and per­formers.

• Classical
• Heavy metal
• Hip-Hop
• Reggae
• Rock’n’roll

Mozart f) Beethoven

• Bob Marley g) Rolling Stones

1. Elvis Presley h) Salt’n’Pepa

• Public Enemy i)Vladimir Gorovits

1. Black Sabbath j)Iron Maiden
2.  Match the words from each column to make styles of music.

• Rock’n a) blues
• Heavy b) pop
• Rhythm and c) rock
• Hard d) ‘roll
• Country e) western
• Techno f) metal

Keys: 1-d; 2-f; 3-a; 4-c; 5-e; 6-b.

3. Match the musicians to the instruments.

• Ringo Starr a) guitar
• Vanessa Mae b) harmonica
• Bob Dylan c) trumpet
• Louis Armstrong d) drums
• Jimmy Hendrix e)violin

T: We have spoken about your attitude to music, dif­ferent styles of it, but what is music from your point of view? Give the definition of it.

4. Mind map.
5. 5. Read and join up a quotation about music.

“Music quickens time.”(Thomas Mann)

“Where there’s music can be no evil.”( Cervantes)

“Without music life would be a mistake.”( Nietzsche)

“Music is the wine that fills the cup of silence.” (Henry Longfellow)

“Music is life, and like it is inextinguishable.”( Carl Nielsen)

“All art is but imitation of nature.”( Seneca)

“Music is well said to be the speech of angels.” (Thomas Carlyle)

“ Music is the universal language of mankind.” (Henry Longfellow)

“ Music can name the unnameable and communicate the unknowable.” (Leonard Bernstein)

1. Listening

Teacher. Do you know the fact? Paganini was the fastest violinist in the world. He could play twelve notes per second.

Listen to the text.

IS NICCOLO PAGANINI  THE FIRST POP STAR?

1.  Paganini was born in a poor Italian family in 1782. As a child, he looked very strange. He had a pale face and was terribly thin. He had bright eyes, long black hair and incredibly long fingers like bird claws.
2. One day, Niccolo discovered the violin. After that he practised hard every day, rarely stopping to eat or sleep. When he was nine he gave his first con­cert. He played brilliantly and everyone was completely amazed. Then at the age of fifteen he started planning his own tours. While he was touring, he wrote his favourite Caprices.
3. His concerts were highly spectacular. He dressed in black and looked re­ally sinister. Sometimes, while he was playing a difficult piece of music, he took out a pair of scissors, cut off three strings, and played the same piece on one string.

• Paganini became as rich and famous as many modern pop stars. While he was touring Britain in 1831, he earned 16,000 pounds — that’s more than a quarter of million pounds today! Crowds followed him in the streets. He lived extravagantly, becoming a passionate gambler and having love affairs all over Europe. At the height of his fame, he stopped playing the violin and taught himself to play the guitar. Nobody ever heard him play it, but he wrote some extremely difficult pieces of music. When he died, in 1840, his violin was placed in the City Hall of Genoa, and is known as “Paganini widow”. Occasionally it is played by a visiting virtuoso.

1. B) Read the text again and match these titles with the paragraphs.

• Lifestyles
• Childhood appearance
• Concerts
• Starting off

1. C) Are these sentences true or false?
2. Paganini came from a rich family.
3. As a child he was very handsome.
4. One day he discovered a violin.
5. He gave his first concert when he was twenty.
6. He dressed in black and looked really sinister.
7. He was living at home when he wrote his “Caprices”.
8. His concerts were exciting to watch.
9. He earned a quarter of million pounds in 1831.
10. He was very shy.

• He didn’t earn any money while he was touring Italy.

1. His violin is called ”Paganni sister”.
2. Role play
3. Imagine you are a great musician.
4. When were you born?
5. Where were you born?
   3.  When did you start to sing?
   4. Which instrument did you learn to рlay?
6. Who discovered you?
7. What were you doing at that time?
8. What did you do after that?
9. What is your greatest achievement?

9.What are your plans for the future?

1. B) In pairs, take turns to interview your star
   I was born in   1978 in Chernivtsy region.
2. I began to sing when I was four.
3. Well, 1 came from a musical family, I suppose.
4. I learned to play the piano.
5. It was Yuri Falessa.
6. I started a professional career.
7. I took part in different contests.
8. I am the second place winner at the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest
9. I’ll be going on.
10. My real name is Сarolina. I was born in a small village of Chernivtsi region . My parents were the musicians and I began singing at the age of four. When I was fourteen I became the winner of the Pervotsit contest and signed the first contract. In 1995 I changed my name for Ani Lorak. I have a great number of prizes .But the most peculiar thing in my life it’s the Eurovision Song Contest in 2008.Iam not going to stop. I’ll go on.

 

1. Reading

Gordon Sumner was born on 2 October 1951, Newcastle, England. He started his music career as a bass player and lead singer in “the Police*’. Sting’s solo career began in 1982. His popularity and fame grew rapidly and steadily. Since 1994 Sting has been considered to be one of the finest quality songwriters to appear out of the second UK “new wave” boom (post-1977).

Sting spent a traumatic time during the summer of 1995 when he had to testify in court after accusing his accountant of stealing vast sums of his income. The outcome was in the singer’s favour and the accountant was jailed for six years. The title track of his new album, Brand New Day, proved he was still capable of achieving hit singles. This album has enjoyed a long residency on the charts.

VII. Music quiz

Here’s a chance to put your musical knowledge to the test. Mark the following statements True or False. If you are correct, the letters which you haven’t marked will give you a message.

	TRUE	FALSE
Sting played in a group called Rangers.	W	K
Ice T is the name of an American drink based on tea.	E	F
Mussorgsky composed a piece of music called A Night on Monte Carlo	H	L
Peter Gabriel was the singer with Genesis.	J	L
Ace of Base come from Switzerland.	D	B
Paul McCartney has a house in Scotland.	M	O
Whitney Houston was born in England.	N	P
Herbert Von Karajan was a popular singer.	E	Q
Hammer is the title of Tom Cruise’s film.	Y	V
Phil Collins made a film about a bank robber.	W	O
George Michael started his career as part of a duo called Wham!	Y	U
Sailing is one of Rod Stuart’s best songs.	A	Z
Brian May was the guitarist with Dire Straits.	R	L
Jon Bon Jovi’s real surname is Bonjovanni.	O	E
A-HA is the name of a comic.	G	V
Tina Turner has acted with Mel Gibson.	Y	O
Ludwig Van Beethoven became deaf with the passing of the years.	S	O
The real name of the Edge, U2’s guitarist, is Paul Hewson.	D	T
Lisa Stansfield had success with a song called The Best.	A	M
Swan Lakewas composed by Richard Wagner.	T	P
Gloria Estefan has made a record in Spanish.	Q	M
Billy Joel is one of the most famous drummers in the world.	U	F
Annie Lennox is John Lennon’s sister.	S	G
Enya is an Irish-born singer.	H	I
The One is the best-selling biscuit in the United States.	C	T

 

 Answers: 1 False, the group is called Police. 2. False, Ice T is an American rapper.   3. True. 4.True. 5. False, they are from Sweden. 6. True. 7. False, Whitney is from the USA. 8. False, he was a world famous conductor. 9. False, Hammer is a rap musician. 10. True. 11. True. 12. True 13. False, Brian was the guitarist with Queen. 14. True. 15. False, it is a Norwegian pop-group. 16. True. 17. True.           18. False, it’s the real name of singer. Bono. 19. False, it was Tina Turner’s success. 20. False, Tchaikovsky. 21. True. 22. False, he is a singer/pianist. 23. False. 24. True. 25. False, it’s Elton John’s record.

The message is: WELL DONE! YOU ARE GOOD AT MUSIC!

VIII. Summing-up

T: Thank you very much. Summarising our work I’d like to admit that whether music is a sense of life or just a mean of entertainment it lives for ages.

“Life without music would be a mistake,” said Fried-rich Nietzsche. I’d like you to develop this idea at home. Your homework is to write an essay on the topic “Life without music would be a mistake”. Well, music enriches our inner world; it touches the soul and makes the whole world wonderful. Let us think of a wonderful world to­gether with Sting.

Today we have spoken about music in our life. I believe that you’ve enjoyed listening to music and speak­ing about its styles. We can conclude that music makes our life more colourful and efficient and can be called the universal language of mankind.

1.  Homework is to write an essay on the topic “Life without music would be a mistake,”

“Life without music would be a mistake.” (Friedrich Nietzsche )

 “Music is the universal language of mankind.” (Henry Longfellow)

PROCEDURE

1. INTRODUCTION
2.   Greeting
3. WARMING-UP
4. SPEAKING
5. Brainstorm
6. Discussing

III. MATCHING (group work)

1. Match kinds of music to famous composers and per­formers.
2. Match the words from each column to make styles of music.
3. Match the musicians to the instruments.
4. Writing a mind map.
5. Read and join up a quotation about music.
6. Listening
7. Role play
8. Reading
9. Match the words from the song to the word combinations that have the     similar meaning.
10. Change Past into Present where necessary.
11. Choose the best variant for the topic of the song.
12. Explain the title of the song.

VII. Music quiz

VIII. Summing-up

1. Homework
2.  Match kinds of music to famous composers and per­formers.

• Classical
• Heavy metal
• Hip-Hop
• Reggae
• Rock’n’roll

1.  Mozart f) Beethoven

• Bob Marley g) Rolling Stones
• Elvis Presley h) Salt’n’Pepa

1. Public Enemy i)Vladimir Gorovits

Black Sabbath                          j)Iron Maiden

2. Match the words from each column to make styles of music.

• Rock’n a) blues
• Heavy b) pop
• Rhythm and c) rock
• Hard d) ‘roll
• Country e) western

9.Techno                     f) metal

3. Match the musicians to the instruments.

1.Ringo Starr          a) guitar

2.Vanessa Mae       b) harmonica

3.Bob Dylan           c) trumpet

4.Louis Armstrong d) drums

5.Jimmy Hendrix     e)violin