Работая с учебно-методическими комплексами, считаю, что основной акцент необходимо делать на интерактивную методику, деловую игру, дискуссию, максимально активизируя речевую деятельность ученика, ориентируя его на овладение речи с учетом современных требований.
Objectives:
- To develop students’ reading, listening sub-skills on the topic.
- To activate the topic – related lexis.
- To encourage students to justify their opinions, to clear out additional information about their tastes in music.
Materials and Aids:
- Recordings with different pieces of music;
- A tape-recorder;
- Posters;
- CDs;
- A computer;
- Internet.
Procedure
I. Greetings.
Hello everyone! How are you today? I hope, you are fine and will be active, energetic and supportive at the lesson for we are going to discuss music in our life. I do know how greatly you like music, how you adore it.
Today, since we are more experienced and aware of various music styles, could you think and remind us areas the pop music includes?
II. Brainstorming.
(Students’ answers)
jazz, - techno, - rap music, rock, - reggae, - hip-hop music, country music, - western, - ets. soul, - blues,
III. Follow up discussion:
T.: Do you think music has a power?
Ss’ possible answers:
S1. - I think it’s almost impossible to escape from music, even if we want to. It sounds in every high-street shop, hisses horribly from other people’s stereos on public transport and blasts out of open car windows.
S2. - I agree with S1. More over, very few of us have any read idea of the effect music has on us.
S3. – But in my opinion most people assume that musical tastes are subjective – that one persion will like hip-hop, while another prefers classical music.
S4. – You are right. In fact, recent research in America has shown that appreciation of music is not a matter of individual taste. Certain types of music will have a particular effect on our mind and bodies, whether we like it or not.
S5. – Oh, yes. For instance, classical music helps us to feel relaxed and peaceful, other types are stimulating to the brain, encouraging curiosity and alertness.
S6. – You see, while classical music promotes loving feelings, hard rock music is a good example of music that makes us feel hate, jealousy and violence.
S7. – But I think the words of the songs relate to my world, to my hopes, dreams, joys and disappointments and I get tremendous kick listening to this kind f music.
S8. – May be. But I know music is being used in hospitals and doctors have found that fifteen minutes of soothing music is often far more effective than tranquillizers.
S9. – And I’ve learnt after an operation, Fiona Richmond was not allowed to listen to her favorite heavy metal group. Instead, she was made to listen to gentle classic music because it was good for her health.
S10. – And I know that scientific work o the healing power of music on the started with research in the 1970’s. I’ve read that many type of classical music speeded plant growth, while heavy metal caused plants to draw away from the speakers and die.
S11. – I’ve seen by TV taped rock music is used in Sheremetievo to frighten ravens off the fiels obviously, the birds’ nerves cannot endure such noise.
T.: (The words and expressions below are written on the blackboard). You see, friends, rock music as well as other kinds of pop music has its “good” and “bad” sides. And I’m pleased you tried to use in your speech new words and expressions:
- to escape from - violence - a high-street shop - jealousy - to blast out of - soothing music - individual taste - tranquillizes - a particular effect - to draw a way - to stimulate to - taped music - alertness - endure - to promote - tremendous kick
IV. Speaking.
T.: I asked you to find out the thoughts and expressions of famous people (composers, singers, musicians, journalists, reporters) connecting with music. What have you found?
Ss’ answers:
- I have bumped into the words of Martin Amis, a British writer where he asks us not to mock the rap artist: envy him! A rap artist is definitely the thing to be! As well as the affection, reverence and erotic perks traditionally due to the musician, he is also accorded the status of poet, philosopher, dissident and redeemer. Nobody ever had it so good.
- Lester Bangs, US rock journalist says that pop music has absolutely nothing to do with anything except making money and getting rich. Some popular musicians start out with revolutionary rhetoric, but all they want is cars and girls and champagne. It’s nonsense to think that popular music is anything but conspicuous consumption and the good life.
- I have found the expression of Andy Warhol, US pop artist. He says that there are beautiful sounds in rock. Very lazy, dreamlike noises. You can forget about lyrics in most songs. Just dig the noise and you’ve got the sound… We’re musical primitives.
- And B.B. King, US blues guitarist said in classical music people were doing very complex things, for the sake of being complex, that had learnt that rock with 2 simple chords, could bring an incredible communication of the spirit.
- And Pete Seger, US folk singer mentioned he had thought that folk music was something old… and pop music was new – it was something you could hear on the radio. All of a sudden he realized that millions of people were making up new words to fit old tunes. New words to fit new circumstances. That what he called the folk process.
- And Winton Marsalis, US jazz musician believes that jazz is music that really deals with what it means to be American.
- Mark Knopfler, British rock musician insists that his idea of a heaven is a place where folk music meets the blues.
T.: Great job! You may agree or disagree with hat people who are involved in creating or advertising music said. Tastes differ!
V. Pre-listening.
T.: - You often become great music fans. You may idealize “musical gods”, you try to copy their good and bad habits, their life-styles, their hair-cuts, you may think your idols are generous, ideal and successful in everything they do, they never make any mistake, they feel at home, at any stage. Please, listen to the text.
“A BAD DAY IN THE LIFE OF… RONAN KEATING”
This week singer Ronan Keating from the group “Boyzone” talks about a terrible experience that he just can’t forget.
“Two years ago, we were playing a concert in London. When we decided to do one of our songs – “Believe in Me” without instruments.
But when I tried to sing I couldn’t remember any of the words. I kept talking to the fans while shouting to the rest of the band: “I can’t remember the words!” I was so upset that we all go up and walked off the stage I’ll never forget it. But I don’t think the fans realized. They thought it was part of the show. We came back after a few minutes and sang a different song. I remembered the words this time! I steel feel a bit nervous even now when I sing “Believe in Me”.
T.: Listen to the text again and choose the correct answers. (Ss listen for specific information)
1. “Boyzone” were doing a concert when they decided to:
a) sing a new song;
b) sout at the fans;
c) sing a song quietly;
d) sing a song without musical instruments.
2. When Ronan forgot the words to “Believe in Me” he:
a) a went of the stage immediately;
b) talked to fans;
c) played the guitar instead;
d) asked the fans to sing.
3. Now, when “Boyzone” play “Believe in Me”, Ronan:
a) fills a bit worried;
b) always forget the words;
c) never does it without musical instrument;
d) always asks someone else to sing.
(Ss check the answers with their partners, then – as a class).
T.: Well, but pop-singers are people and nobody is perfect.
VI. Discussion of the Home reading
“Music’s Surprising Power to Heal” Marianne Sterbely was lying on a hospital bad waiting for her operation. She was hooked up to a computer that monitored her heart rate and brain waves. She was also hooked up, by earphones, to a CD of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons. During the operation, the surgical team listened to Mozart and Brahms from another CD player. “Music reduces staff tension in the operating theatre”, says Dr Clyde Nash, Marianne’s surgeon, “and also helps to relax the patient”.
Marianne claims the music was much better than medication. This was her second operation and this time the music helped her to remain clam and she didn’t need as much sedation. After the operation she was able to manage without pain killers simply by listening to music.
Nash in one of many doctors who are finding that music can help to heal the sick. But how does it help?
When the body is stressed, our heart beats faster, and, we take in more air. Studies show that music can help us to reduce the effect of this by lowering our blood pressure and breathing rate. Music can also reduce pain by making our bodies produce endorphins (natural pain relievers).
The benefits of music are not confined to people who are ill. Music can help us in our daily
lives. For example, playing a favorite song before an important exam or big match can allow us to relax and forget our worries; in this way we can face difficult situation with a clam heart and a clear mind.
T.: Before exercises I advise you to listen to what Marianne did. (Record with “The Four Seasons” by Vivaldy). Do you believe in music’s power to heal? (Ss’ own answers).
a) Comprehension to the text:
1. Why does Dr. Nash use music during his operation?
2. In what way does music affect our bodies?
3. How has music helped Marianne Sterbely?
4. How can healthy people make use of music?
b) Complete the definition with words from the text with those on the cards.(distributed by the teacher). (Ss do this activity in pairs).
1. Connected up to-hooked up.
2. Regularly checked-monitored.
3. Feeling of nervousness-tension.
4. A person who performs operations-surgeon.
5. Medicine-medication.
6. Make somebody or something well-heal.
7. Limited (to one particular group)-confined on.
T.: Now you see, music really can help us in our daily lives. It allows us to relax and forget our worries
Free Talk on the Topic.
T.; I asked you to think about modern music, singers and musicians, groups and musical instruments and equipments. Would you be so kind to tell what you have known?
S1. I’ve learnt in the 80’s gave us a new kind of music made by computers and synthesizers. Pop was becoming more international. Superstars of the 80’s are, of course, Michael Jackson and Madonna. At that time pop videos were sold out as well as pop records. M. Jackson’s videos were new and exciting. He was a brilliant dancer with a new type of dance called “moonwalk”.
S2. “Pop” music was born in the USA in the 50’s. There existed all kinds of music in the USA in those days: blues, rock and roll, jazz and others. Pop appeared, in fact, at the time of Elvis Priestly began singing. His first hit was “Heartbreak Hotel”(1956). Elvis became the first pop star. Boys and girls liked him and imitated him. He was different and they all wanted to be like him and different from their parents.
S3. The 90’s are known and will be remembered for rap. Rap wasn’t new, it started in New York in the 70’s but it became popular and important twenty years later. Rap like punk in the 70’s was the music of the city streets. It reflected dark feelings and problems of the streets and a new danger-AIDS.
S4. Pop is popular music. It was born as a genre more than forty years ago. Pop is the music for the young. Pop songs tell us about love and our feelings, having a good time and growing up, dating and dancing. The music makes us happy or sad, it sounds strange or amusing. It’s most enjoyable type of music.
S5. In the early 70’s pop music started to get boring. New sounds as heavy metal or hard rock appeared. In the USA a different kind of music was developed-pink-punk. The music was loud and unmusical, angry and ugly and pessimistic. At the same time another type of music came into existence- disco. The film “Saturday Night Fever” about disco dancing made it extremely popular.
S6. Nowadays the sound is changing greatly. Computers are very important. Samplers can take any sound and make it into part of a new sound. CDs are more important then records. The only thing that hasn’t changed is the electric guitar-the main musical instrument of pop.
S7. The60’s were the time when young people believed that rock music could give love and peace to the world. But when some great rock musicians died of drugs, it was the end of the dream. There were many prominent musicians and singers in America, but they were English groups that changed pop music: the “Beatles” and the “Rolling Stones”.
T.; Thanks a lot. Now you know more about pop music.
VII. Individual work presented by the students.
S1. – I and my friend S2 decided to enlarge our list of musical instruments. Some of them we know, but others…. For example I’ve known such instruments as…. (the list of instruments is on the blackboard). We used Duden Dictionary for our work.
S3. – As for me I made a crossword. Please, complete it with the words from our lesson (distributes cards with crosswords to each student);
ACROSS:
1. Ronan Keatng’s job (6)
2. A person who likes a band very much (3)
4. Very bad (8).
7. A music show (7).
8. Become aware (8).
DOWN:
1.A place where people perform (5)
2. Worried or afraid (7)
3.Unhappy about something (5).
6. Another word for a “band” (5).
ANSWERS:
1. singer, 4. terrible, 8. realized, 2. fan, 7. concert, stage, 3. nervous, 5. upset, 6. group.
(На доске постер Ванессы Мэй).
S4. Please, listen to her life story and a piece of music played by her. (recording…)
What’s her name?
Vanessa Mae was born in Singapore in 1979. Her birthday falls on 27 of October, the day which happens to be Paganini’s birthday. At the age of 4 she moved with her family to London, where she started her early music education on the piano and the violin at the Royal College of Music. At the age of 10 Vanessa Mae made her concerto debut in London with orchestra. By the time she was 12, she had toured internationally as concerto soloist and recitalist and released 2 classical recordings.
Critical acclaim for her work in a wide classical repertoire was sensational. She was called “a true child prodigy” and “the most exciting young violinist in the world”.
At 14 Vanessa Mae got a contract to record both “pop” and “classical” in a unique arrangement. In February 1995 Vanessa made her debut as a “pop” artist by releasing “The Violin Player”, her first album became a worldwide success and by 1996 had gone gold and multi-platinum in over 20 countries all round the world: in the UK, Germany, Australia, Poland, Singapore, Brazil, Russia, Malaysia.
Her performance displays an immense technical ability and exceptional musical sensibility. She plays effortlessly, with a supernatural fluidity. She looks as though she was born with a violin. What she offers is like a dance on four strings. She plays the most difficult things so easily; she probably doesn’t know how difficult they are. What she has, like Mozart and Mendelssohn is maturity beyond her years.
Following her own instincts about music and the violin Vanessa Mae has proved that the violin in the right hand is not an “out-of-date” instrument only for performing museum music. The violin is versatile, if the musician is versatile, and she stands firmly by her conviction that both her classical and contemporary careers should go side by side.
Vanessa Mae and her music have crossed all cultural, geographical and generational barriers.
S4. And now, please, answer:
- What’s her nationality?
- Where was she born?
- What country is she from?
- What sort of music do you think she likes to listen to?
- What is so unusual about her way of playing classical music?
- Has the small piece of classical music played by her left any impression on you?
- Have you ever heard about her before?
- Would you like to go to her concert?
- Has she ever been to Moscow?
T.; My congratulations! You’ve done a great job!
S5. As for me, I want you to know a little more about Paul McCartney, a member of pop group “The Beatles”. He writes serious music too. In 1997 he wrote his symphonic poem “Standing Stone”. He said he had written a poem in which he tried to describe the way Celtic man might have wondered about the origins of life and the mystery of human existence. Please, listen to this piece of his poem….(recording). And now try to answer:
- What is the message of his music?
- What is he trying to say with his music?
- What feelings and emotions (if any) does this music evoke in you?
- Is it easier or more difficult to listen to this piece than to the song “Yesterday”?
- Do you know any samples of classical music dealing with the same themes?
- What is the poem “Standing Stone” centered on?
- What is the song “Yesterday” centered on?
(Students’ answers)
T.: Thank you. Now we see a talented person is talented in everything.
S6. As for me, I like the group “Spice Girls”. My elder brother used to listen to this group. Not long ago I’ve found in Internet some facts about them. Please, look and listen! (On the blackboard we see posters and biographies taken from Internet)
“Spice Girls” has been the most popular girl band of the 1990’s. The band was formed in 1994 and is all about “girls’ power”. The first “The Spice Girls’” album “Spice” sold 18 million copies around the world. Since then the group has produced a best-selling second album “Spice World” and a film “Spiceworld-The Movie”.
T.: Thank you o your voyage to the world of your favorite music and pop groups, your reports about different groups with recordings show your tastes, what kind of music you like. I’m glad your material helped us to know each other better.
X. Your Home-Assignment:
- Write a composition “Music in My Life”.
- Think and tell of any situation in your life when music affected you, reflected on your own life experience.