Lesson 15


Hello everyone,
today we set on our last project in this course. This time it is devoted to music. All of you like some kind of it and your musical tastes can be pretty different. But have you ever thought of music as something based on universal principles which can be traced in any style, from ancient religious hymns ans classical pieces to blues and rock? Today I offer you this fantastic educational video to watch and do some tasks. Actually, it's a series of videos, but in class we'll watch part 1 - Melody  - which consists of 5 parts. On each part you'll have a task to comment on musical terms and answer some questions.


This is where the video is - how music works You can navigate between the parts using playlist at the bottom of the screen.

Now, the tasks. Post your answers on your blog

Part 1

• In which way melody is like a language?
• What is pentatonic? Why is it important? Comment in as many details as you can.
•  make sure you understand what "notes" and "scale" are in music. What are the names of notes in English? (they are different then in Russian, so look this up, it's important for understanding the video)
•  In the video, the notes in the scale are compared to runs in a ladder  How many notes are there in Western scale? Is the number of notes the same in any culture?
• define and translate the term"pitch"

Part 2

• define and translate the terms "interval", "semitone", "whole tone"
• what's the essence of the experiment the presenter conducts? what does this experiment prove?
• why does the presenter compare music composing to story-telling?
• define and translate the term "mode"
• where do the names of modes come? How does the Aeolian mode sound like?
• define and translate the terms " to sharpen the note"" to flatten the note". What two very different groups of musicians were famous for doing so?

Part 3

• define and translate the term "diatonic"
•  What is the difference between the new minor/major scales and the old modes? Why are they progressive in comparison with their predecessors?

Part 4

• how is a bigger musical piece (like Mendelssohn's Concerto) structured?
• what is special about composers like  Mahler and Vaughan  Williams?

Part 5

• what is special about Sting's We Work The Blach Seam?
• name the ingredients of modern American music (which dominates the world, by the way)

Homework

Unite into groups of 2 or 3. Choose  a further part of the video - Rhythm, Harmony, or Bass. Watch it at home - each consists of 5 parts as well - and prepare a list of questions for others to answer. Next time you'll watch another video and answer the questions prepared by your classmates. Hope this will be an exciting journey!