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Understanding Music
If we were asked to explain the purpose of music, our immediate reply night be "to give pleasure". That would not be far from the truth, but there are other considerations.
We might also define music as "expression in sound", or "the expression of thought and feeling in an aesthetic form", and still not arrive at an understanding of its true purpose. We do know, however, even if we are not fully conscious of it, that music is a part of living, that it has the power to awaken in us sensations and emotions of a spiritual kind.
Listening to music can be an emotional experience or an intellectual exercise. If we succeed in blending the two, without excess in either case, we are on the road to gaining the ultimate pleasure from music. Having mastered the gift of listening to, say, a Haydn symphony, the ear and mind should be ready to admit Mozart, then to absorb Beethoven, then Brahms. After that, the pathway to the works of later composers will be found to be less bramblestrewn than we at first imagined. Music, like language, is a living, moving thing. In early times organised music belonged to the church; later it became the property of the privileged few. Noble families took the best composers and the most talented performers into their service.
While the status of professional musicians advanced, amateur musicians found in music a satisfying means of self-expression, and that form of expression broadened in scope to embrace forms and styles
more readily digested by the masses. 122
It is noteworthy that operas at first were performed privately; that the first "commercial" operatic venture took place early in the seventeenth century, this leading to the opening of opera houses for the general public in many cities.
By the middle of the nineteenth century, composers were finding more and more inspiration of their heritage. The time had come to emancipate the music of their country from the domination of "foreign" concepts and conventions.
One of the first countries to raise the banner was Russia, which had various sources of material as bases of an independent musical repertory, Russian folk songs and the music of the old Russian Church. The composer to champion this cause was Glinka, who submerged Western-European influences by establishing a new national school.
Glinka's immediate successor was Dargomizhsky, then Balakirev. His own creative output was comparatively small; he is best remembered as the driving force in establishing "The Mogutschaya Kuchka", a group which included Borodin, Cui, Moussorgsky and Rimsky-Korsakov.
Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) worked independently and was the first Russian composer to win widespread international recognition.
It is a narrow line that divides Operetta from Musical Comedy, both blending music and the spoken word. When we think of operetta, such titles come to mind as The Gipsy Baron (Johann Strauss), The Merry Widow and The Count of Luxembourg (Lehar). Of recent years these have been replaced in popular favour by "Musicals"which placed more emphasis on unity and theatrical realism, such as Oklahoma, My Fair Lady, The Sound of Music and West Side Story.
In early times instrumental music broke away from occasions associated with sacred worship into secular channels. In succeeding generations instrumental players were engaged to provide music for various public functions. Humble bands of players developed into small orchestras, these in time to symphony orchestras. Later, orchestras of the cafe type assumed increased numerical strength and more artistic responsibility, while "giving the public what it wants". 123
For many generations Band Music — music played by military bands, brass bands, and pipe bands on the march, in public parks, and in concert halls — has held its place in public favour, especially in Great Britain.
At the turn of the present century American popular music was still clinging to established European forms and conventions. Then a new stimulus arrived by way of the Afro-Americans who injected into their music-making African chants and rhythms which were the bases of their spirituals and work songs. One of the first widespread Afro-American influences was Ragtime, essentially a style of syncopated piano-playing that reached its peak about 1910. Ragtime music provided the stimulus for the spontaneous development ofjazz, a specialized style in music which by the year 1920 had become a dominating force in popular music, and New Orleans, one of the first cities to foster it.
In the early twenties America became caught up in a whirl of post-war gaiety. The hectic period would later be known as the Jazz Era. Soon jazz had begun its insistent migration across the world. While Black musicians of America were recognised as the true experts in the jazz field, the idiom attracted white musicians, who found it stimulating and profitable to form bands to play in the jazz style. Prominent among these
white band-leaders were Paul Whiteman and George Gershwin, whose 1924 Rapsody in Blue was the first popular jazz concerto.
While many self-appointed prophets were condemning jazz as vulgar, and others smugly foretelling its early death, some notable European composers attempted to weave the jazz idiom into their musical works. These included Debussy, Ravel, Stravinsky, Shostakovich.
(Here one is reminded that several composers, including Debussy, Ravel, Liszt, Bizet and Richard Strauss, befriended the much-maligned saxophone, invented about the middle of the nineteenth century, and introduced it into the concert-hall.)
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Before we leave George Gershwin, we should mention his Porgy and Bess which brought something daringly different to opera: the music, Gershwin's own, sounds so authentically Afro-American, that it is surprising that this rich score was written by a white American.
We are forced to contemplate the fact, that notwithstanding the achievements of Debussy, Stravinsky and many others, the experience of music in the western art tradition remains essentially unchanged. It's still composed by highly trained specialists and played by professional musicians in concert halls. There was a time in the sixties when it looked as if the situation was about to be broken up by a new and revolutionary popular music of unprecedented and unexpected power. The so-called "Rock Revolution" began in fact in the mid-fifties, and was based firmly on the discontent of the younger generation who were in revolt against the values of their elders; naturally they espoused new musical values, and equally naturally these values represented a negation of everything in the musical world their elders inhabited — the virtual elimination of harmony, or at least its reduction to the few conventional progressions of the blues, an emphasis on the beat, new type of voice production owing much to sophisticated use of amplification and simplification of instrumental technique.
There followed rapidly an extraordinary musical eruption based on the percussive sound of the electric guitar, the rock'n'roll beat and blues harmony.
We should remember that the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and many other leading groups and individual performers from the early sixties onward based their music on the sound of electric guitars and percussion. Now what? In this technological age it is not surprising that electronics should have invaded the field of music. This new phase has brought experiments intended to give music of the popular genre a new sound. Though many may be alarmed at such explorative tampering with sound, it must be admitted that the possibilities of electronically-produced music are immense.
Never before has music — all kinds of music — been so popular. Never before has the world had greater need of its stimulation and comfort. We find the ultimate satisfaction in music, be it "classical" or "popular", when we have learnt how to reject the spurious and accept the genuine; when we have learnt how to listen.
1. As you read the text a) look for the answers to these questions:
1. What is the purpose of music in your opinion? Can music be defined in only one way? 2. In what genres did the music develop? 3. What was the Russian contribution to the art of music? 125 4. In what way did instrumental music become engaged for various functions? 5. What created the development ofjazz and who facilitated the development? 6. How did the youth of the 60-s respond to the highly trained specialist and professional music? 7. In your opinion should musicians have musical training? 8. What do you know about the Beatles and their contribution to the pop-music world? 9, In your opinion how will the technological age through radio, television and video influence the world of music?
Find in the text the facts the author gives to illustrate the following:
Music like language is a living moving thing. 2. Music may be used as the lines of communication between people. 3. Jazz does not cling to dance rhythms any longer, as the 20th century European music reflects African rhythms.
Summarize the text in five paragraphs specifying the development of 1) opera, 2) operetta and musicals, 3) instrumental music, 4) jazz and 5) rock.
Use the topical vocabulary in answering the following questions:1
1. What musical genres do you know and what role does folk music play in all of them? 2. What is meant by the terms classical or serious music, pop, rock, jazz and contemporary music? 3. Do you think the different musical genres named above are strictly separated or do they overlap in some ways? In what ways? What genre do you prefer? 4. What role does music play in your life? Do you want music just to make you happy or does the music that you prefer vary with your mood? How does it vary? 5. Do you think that at school music should be given the same emphasis as subjects such as maths, literature, etc.? 6. Of which instruments does a symphony/chamber orchestra consist? What are the most popular instruments of pop groups, jazz or rock? 7. Why has the guitar become a very popular instrument in recent years? Do you pre
fer V. Vysotsky's performances with an entire orchestra or simply with a guitar? Why? 8. What is your favourite instrument? Can you play it? Does it help you to
1 You may wish to bring in record jackets (sleeves), tapes, and advertisements for concerts or programmes, which depict current popular or classical music. These can serve as supplementary materials for several activities in the unit. 126
understand music? 9. The human voice is regarded as a most refined instrument the proper use of which requires a great deal of training. How do you feel about this characterization? Who are your favourite singers? 10. Do you like opera? Do you agree with the opinion that operas are hard to follow while musicals are more up-to-date and easier to understand? What other forms have appeared of late? 11. How can you account for the large scale popularity of rock? Is it only an entertainment to young people or does rock music represent their values? What values? 12. Why are some rock fans less interested in the music of the past? Can you think of any similar examples when people attracted by a new style of music forget about the past? 13. What do you know about video clips? How do they affect music? 14. What do you know about the International Tchaikovsky Competitions? How often are they held and on what instruments do contestants perform? Can you give some names of prize winners or laureates of the Tchaikovsky Competitions? What do you know about their subsequent careers?
Give your impressions of a concert (recital) you have recently attended. Use the topical vocabulary. Outline for giving impressions:
1. Type of event. 2. What orchestra, group performed? 3. Programme. Were the musical pieces well-known, popular, new, avant-guard, etc.? 4. Who was the conductor? 5. Was the event interesting and enjoyable in your opinion? 6. Name the soloists. 7. What did critics say about the event? Do you share their points of view? 8. What impression did the event make on you? Did you take a solemn oath never to attend one again?
Pair work. Make up and act out a dialogue. (Use the chiches of agreement, disagreement and reacting to opinion or persuasion (pp. 287, 290, 291):
1. You are at a concert of contemporary music, about which you are not very knowledgeable. Your friend tries to initiate you in it. 2. Your father/mother cannot stand rock music and he/she never listens to it. You try to convince him/her that rock music is important in your life. 3. You are talking on the telephone with your friend who wants you to accompany her to a piano recital. You are reluctant to join her. 4. You are an accomplished jazz musician. But you never participated in jazz sessions. Your friend urges you to be more daring and try your
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hand at it. 5. Your sister has just come back from the Bolshoi Theatre where she heard Glinka's Ruslan andLudmila. She tries to describe how much she enjoyed the opera, but you, being no great lover of opera music, turn a deaf ear. 6. You are fond of Tchaikovsky's music and always ready to talk about it. Your friend asks you to tell him/her more.
Below are opinions on the development of music.
Spend a few minutes individually thinking of further arguments you win use to back up one of the opinions:
The line between serious music and jazz grows less and less clear.
A certain amount of so-called avant-guard music in our modern art tries to shock and be original for originality's sake.
In any age the advanced of today in music may become the commonplace of tomorrow.
Soviet composers have contributed as much as Russian composers to the World of Music.
Radio, television, cinema and video bring "new sounds" into our homes.
Now discuss the opinions with your partner. One of the students is supposed to play the role of a student who is not knowledgeable in music. The other — to present a student whose hobby is music. Keep interrupting each other with questions. Use the topical vocabulary.
Group work. Split into buzz groups of 3—4 students each.
Discuss the following, using the expressions of agreement or disagreement (p. 290):
1. "Some people prefer only classical music and find contemporary music to be cocaphony." "Stop being conservative," say others. "We need something 'far out' to shock the audience." Which side do you agree?
Composer A. Ribnikov says: "Ours is an age of great technological progress and accompanying emotional stress, which requires new forms of expression in music." Can his opinion help you formulate your answer?
As you know composers sometimes arrange (transcribe) music which is written for one group of instruments and apply it to another.
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One brilliant transcription is R. Schedrin's approach to G. Bizet Carmen in which he uses only string and percussion groups, thus adding to the music the incomparable colour range and bringing the 19th century music into the present day.
What other examples of transcription do you know and what is your opinion of this art?
Many modern composers and performers change the sound of live instruments by making technical adjustment (for example "prepared piano"1, a) What other examples of changing instruments do you know and do you find such change necessary? b) Will musicians have to sell their instruments in order to pay for tuition as engineers?
In the opinion of D. Kabalevski there are two kinds of beauty in the world. One is passed on from generation to generation, the other is temporary. The most important thing is to differentiate between them. In order to do this one needs to develop taste which is acquired first of all through the study of established classics. How is your opinion different from that of D. Kabalevski?
7. When you criticize you normally try to find faults rather than virtues, but it certainly does not exclude the expressions of
virtue. Read the following dialogue where the characters make comments about themselves and others. Note down the ex-
pressions in bold type. Be ready to use them hi dialogues in class:
Liz and Michael on the way home from a jazz concert.
Michael: Perhaps you might consider me a bit of a fanatic about jazz ... but that was a fantastic concert, wasn't it?
Liz: I'm not exactly — how shall I say? I suppose I'm not crazy about jazz, and the melodies were hard to follow. Could you perhaps help me to understand it better?
Michael: I've tried to help many people... I've done my best to open a jazz club, so I've become quite good at interpreting jazz, though I had no one to rely on. Anyway, in the first place there are two elements in jazz. One is the playing of instruments so that they sound like the half-shouted, half-sung blues of Negro folksong. The other is the steady, unchanging 1-2-3-4 1 "prepared piano" involves stuffing the inside of the piano with a variety of paraphernalia, including units and bolts in order to alter the normal Piano timbre.
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beat initiated from the French military marching music the blacks heard in New Orleans where jazz was born around 1900.
Liz: Well, I'm an easy-going person really unless of course you start discussing jazz. Then I'm a bit vicious. Basically I'm receptive to any music that has harmony and melody. That's me. But
I didn't even recognize any of the tunes, though I have heard some jazz music before. Michael: Well, that's not surprising, since another important feature of jazz is "improvisation" or "making it up as you go along", therefore tunes can sound different each time you hear them. Liz: Well, I think I've kept myself — yes, I've kept myself respectable — that's the word I'd use — respectable and dignified on my appreciation of jazz. The musicians played with great skill and speed. And when they improvised they played a completely new variation of the basic tune every time.
Michael: Absolutely. That's one of the greatest thrills of a jazz session. Tunes are not the most important feature of jazz. It's not the composer but the performer who makes a good piece of jazz. In fact it's almost impossible to write down much of a jazz in musical notes! Liz: In that case jazz is rather elicit and separate from other kinds of misic, if only the performer knows what's being played. I say, get rid of these thugs who call themselves professional musicians — get rid of them.
Michael: Professional or not, you leave the musician out of it for a while. As for jazz, it has influenced many kinds of music, particularly pop which still borrows from jazz its beat, its singing style and its improvisation.
Liz: You shouldn't be asking me what I think of jazz... But what I think of rock music ... this music is a mess.
Michael: But how do you explain the fact that hundreds and thousands of young people simply go mad over rock music? For example, I listened to Shubert's messes. I'm not saying that I didn't
understand them. As a matter of fact I enjoyed listening to them. But music like that isn't able to give me anything new, whereas rock music feels a thousand times nearer, more immediate. Liz: No, Michael, I'm unable to understand it. And that's probably my main fault, I should say. Then... Professional musicians are always neatly dressed... But heavy metal rock players! Well... you'd have to see them to believe it! There is
only one hope for it — a special section (department) for rock music at the Composer's Union that will do something about the situation.
Michael: So you're the sort of ordinary decent person who wants to restore the position ot classical music.
Liz: Yes and no... But I'll let you have the last word on jazz and I'll stick to my own opinion on rock.
1. Have you ever been to a live jazz concert/rock music concert? What is your impression of them? 2. Do you agree with all that is said in the dialogue? In what statements concerning jazz or rock music do you find the criticism appropriate?
8. When criticising someone, describe, don't judge. Always focus on, and confine criticism to observable behaviour.
For instance, telling your pupil who is not practising his music "Of late you've been practising less than usual and we need you in the concert" is more likely to encourage practice than snapping "You are irresponsible and lazy. Practise more from now on."
Below are statements about music which express different opinions. Imagine that they are your opinions and change them into subjective arguments. (Use the expressions showing critisism.):
"There is only one way to come to understand music by learning to play a musical instrument whether an external one like the piano or flute or by training the human voice to become an instrument."
"However good recorded music might be, it can never really take the place of a live performance. To be present at an actual performance is half the enjoyment of music."
"I find I have to defend jazz to those who say it is low class. As a matter of fact all music has low class origin, since it comes from folk music, which is necessarily earthly. After all Haydn minuets are only a refinement of simple, rustic German dances, and so are Beethoven scherzos. An aria from a Verdi opera can often be traced back to the simplest Neapolitan fisherman."
Team up with your partner who will be ready to give critical remarks on the statements given above. Use the cliches expressing criticism.
As a group, now decide which event you will all attend together. When giving your criticism try to be honest, but tactful.
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9. Group work. Discuss the effect of rock music on young people. After a proper discussion each group presents its critical
remarks. First read this:
There are world-wide complaints about the effect of rock. Psychologists say that listening to rock music results in "escapism" (abandoning social responsibilities). They also add that some rock music (for example certain heavy metal songs) affect young people like drugs. There are well-known cases of antisocial and amoral behaviour on the part of young "music addicts". How do you feel about this opinion?
10. Most of the expressions which you found in the dialogue (Ex. 7) are used to criticise something or somebody.
Below is a review of the Russian Festival of Music in which a Scottish journalist extolls the virtues of Russian music, a) Read the text and note down any useful expressions in giving a positive appraisal of music. b) Discuss the text with your partner.
A Feast of Russian Arts
The strong and impressive Russian theme at this year's Edinburgh Festival commemorates the 70th anniversary of the Russian Revolution.
The festival opened on August 9 with three giant companies, the Orchestra of the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow and Leningrad's Gorky Drama Theatre, and the spectacular young traditional folk music and dance group Siverko, from the arctic city of Arkhangelsk.
Other musicians in the first week included the Bolshoi Sextet, and the final week sees the arrival of the Shostakovich Quartet.
The first of the four programmes by the Orchestra of the Bolshoi Theatre, in an Usher Hall draped with garlands, was a fascinating demonstration of Russian tone quality and Russian interpretation. After the two national anthems the rustling, atmospheric opening movement of the suite from Rimsky-Korsakov's Invisible City of Kitezh, with some