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?

 

2. As you know composers sometimes arrange (transcribe) music which is written for one group of instruments and apply it to another.

 

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?

 

3. 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?

 

4. 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 expressions in bold type. Be ready to use them in 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.

 

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 jazzmusic before.

Michael: Well, that's riot 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 hurfdreds 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?