Unit 05 Music to My Ears

Unit 5 Page 48 READING exercise 1 1 pop 2 rap 3 opera 4 jazz 5 dance music 6 rock Page 48 READING exercise 6 A BRIGHT STAR On Saturday May 19th 2018, millions of people around the world watched as Prince Harry married the American actress Meghan Markle at St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle, in front of 600 guests. As they signed the marriage register, a young cellist played three pieces of classical music. It was a dream come true for 19-year-old Sheku Kanneh-Mason. It was the biggest performance of his short professional career so far, and a sign that he was quickly becoming one of the most admired classical musicians in the world. This wasn't Sheku's first performance in front of the prince. A year earlier Harry was in the audience for a charity concert in London. Perhaps it was Sheku's performance at this concert that resulted in his royal invitation. The following April an excited Sheku announced on Twitter that Meghan had phoned him to see if he would like to play at the wedding. Sheku has been playing the cello since he was six. He is one of seven children in an amazingly talented family from Nottingham in England. Sheku and his six brothers and sisters are all extremely talented classical musicians. His eldest sister, Isata, won a scholarship to the famous Royal Academy of Music in London to study the piano. A few years later, Sheku followed her when he gained a place at the same institution to study the cello. He was only nine years old. He has been performing with Isata and his older brother Braimah for many years. In 2015 they decided to enter the talent show Britain's Got Talent as the Kanneh-Masons. Their performances on the show were watched by several million people and they reached the semi-finals. A year later Sheku entered the BBC Young Musician of the Year competition, which he won. He became the first black musician ever to win the award. He was just 17 years old. As a result of this success he also got a contract with the music publishing company Decca to record an album. In 2018, he released his first album, Inspiration. The album spent four weeks in the UK top 40 charts and it contains many famous classical pieces. Sheku also includes classical versions of songs by Bob Marley and Leonard Cohen on the album. It has introduced a younger audience to classical music. The future is looking bright for Sheku Kanneh-Mason!

Page 50 PRONUNCIATION exercise 1 Where have you been? The party's already started. Shh! I've been hiding in the kitchen. We've been looking for you everywhere. We want to play a game. Well, I've been trying to find a bin to put this sandwich in. It's horrible! Page 50 PRONUNCIATION exercise 3 Where have you been? The party's already started. Shh! I've been hiding in the kitchen. We've been looking for you everywhere. We want to play a game. Well, I've been trying to find a bin to put this sandwich in. It's horrible! Page 51 LISTENING exercise 9 and 10 Hi, there. I'm doing some research for the new school magazine about how important music is. Have you got time for a few questions? Sure, OK. I'm Dana, by the way. Great. Thanks, Dana. OK. Between 1 and 5 how important would you say music is to you? Five. Definitely. I don't think I could live without it. It's probably more important to me than fashion. I think I would only put friendship and family above it. Wow. And is that listening to music or playing it or both? Just listening, unfortunately. I mean, I'd love to play an instrument, but I can't. I had piano lessons when I was younger, but I gave up. I keep promising myself to start guitar lessons. One day I will. You should. I play the drums and I just love it. So what kind of music do you like? I like loads of different stuff. I love dancing, so I like a lot of the dance music. And I like a lot of old stuff. My dad was always playing music when I was little, so I like a lot of bands from the 1990s. I even like classical music, too, especially when I'm doing homework. It helps me concentrate, and sometimes when I've got a problem to sort out, listening to classical music can help. And is there any music you don't like? Well, I'm not keen on heavy metal or anything that's too loud, but the music I really don't like is jazz. And why's that? I just find it difficult to listen to. It's not relaxing at all. I get really irritated by it. My brother's a big jazz fan and when he plays it, I just have to leave the room; otherwise we'll start fighting. Oh dear. So just one more question. How important are lyrics for you? They're not very important. I don't really listen to them. As I said before, I like music to dance to or to relax to. It's not very important what they're singing about. Page 51 LISTENING exercise 11 Hi Ben. Can I ask you a few questions about music? It's for the school magazine. OK, what do you want to know? Well, from one to five, how important is music for you? Two, maybe. I mean I sometimes put the radio on, but I'd never buy any music. OK. Um ... So I guess you don't play any instrument? I had piano lessons when I was about 10. I did them for two years, then my mum let me give them up. I hated them. So, what kind of music do you like? Just the stuff that's on the radio, I suppose. But don't ask me to name any of the bands. I just don't know any. So, is there any music that you really don't like? Um, not really. I mean, I'm not too keen on classical music and jazz but otherwise I'll listen to anything. So, last question. How important are lyrics for you? Not at all. I never listen to lyrics.

Page 52 READING exercise 3 THE FUTURE OF LIVE MUSIC Technology has always played an important part in the development of pop music – from the instruments that the bands play and the live shows that they perform to the way we listen to music in our homes or on the move. But advances in technology over the next few years are promising to bring even bigger changes. HOLOGRAMS For around 50 years, people of all ages have been enjoying ABBA's music. They have played almost 100 international concerts, but since 1982, when the band played their last show, fans have had little hope of ever seeing their favourite group live on stage again. That is now about to change as the band have announced plans for their first shows in nearly forty years. Bands from the 70s and 80s playing together again is nothing new, but it is no surprise that a band as big as ABBA are planning to do things a little bit differently. The four members of the band will not be on the stage together. Instead, they will appear as holograms. The holograms will show the band as they looked back in 1979, when ABBA were the biggest band in the world. And they won't be the only band to have returned to the stage via holograms. In 2018 Freddie Mercury appeared in hologram form alongside Queen in Las Vegas, even though he died more than 25 years ago. VIRTUAL REALITY (VR) VR technology has made lots of progress recently. You may soon be able to enjoy watching your favourite band live without even leaving your house. Developers have been making plans to launch a new app that will alow fans to watch live concerts that are being streamed directly to VR headsets. Not only will you be able to watch the band from the crowd, but you will also have the possibility of watching the show on stage with the band. And all of this will cost you about a tenth of the ticket price for the venue. These advances in technology are very exciting, but do fans really want to watch a show knowing that their musical heroes aren't really there? And can watching through a VR headset ever really match up to the experience of actually being there? Is the latest technology really always the best? Perhaps we should look at the case of viny. Who would have thought that a format that was replaced by the CD, then downloading and, finally, streaming, would have made such a big return. Perhaps sometimes the old-fashioned ways of doing things might just be better. Page 53 VOCABULARY exercise 8 1 bass guitar 2 trumpet 3 saxophone 4 drums 5 piano 6 keyboard 7 guitar 8 violin

Page 54 DEVELOPING SPEAKING exercise 8 Tom! Hi! Here you are, looking in the music shop window. Why am I not surprised!? Oh, hi Laura. You OK? Well, I'm fine. But you don't look very happy. What's up? Nothing. Oh, come on. What's the matter? Well, I'm just a bit upset. Look. There's that keyboard, the one I've always wanted, 25% off. Down to £240. And I still can't afford it. Oh, I see. But you've been saving for ages, haven't you? Yes, and I've saved £150. But it's not enough, is it? Even with 25% off, I still need another £90. Can't you ask your parents to help? Can they lend you some money? No way. They've just bought a car. They haven't got any spare money at the moment. Tell me about it. I asked my parents to lend me some money the other day. They were nice about it, but they said no. They're saving to go to Canada to see my uncle. OK, there's no point in standing here looking in the window. I'll just have to forget about it for now. Let's go. Well, if you say so. What a shame. Hello! Looking at the keyboards? Come in and have a look. You can try one if you want. Thanks, but no thanks. I can't afford the one I want. That black one, the Condor. That one? I've got another one in the shop. It's got a scratch on it, so I'm thinking of taking another £100 off the price. Interested? Absolutely! I can't wait to see it! Come on, Tom, let's go in!