Statements true or false. Use the formulas of agreement and disagreement below this exercise.1. The main purpose of music is to cure people. 2. Music has the power to awaken in us sensations and emotions. 3. We can’t get along without music, we’ll die. 4. Martin Luther hated music; he saw nothing important in listening it. 5. He wrote that people only wasted time doing it. 6. To understand music is not always a simple process. 7. We must learn to listen, learn how to listen. 8. We must remember that music belongs only to musicians and wealthy people. 9. “Music drives away the devil and makes people happy” – wrote Martin Luther.
- I absolutely agree with it. – I disagree, I’m afraid. - My own opinion is exactly the same. – I don’t think that’s right. - That’s quite right. – I don’t think so. - That’s true. – I’m afraid it is wrong.
II. How well have you read? Can you answer the following questions? 1. What is the purpose of music? 2. Can we live without music? 3. What can music do? 4. Can music cure people? 5. What are the elements of music? 6. What did the German reformer, Martin Luther, write?
III. Give Russian equivalents of the following phrases: Far from the truth, the efficacy of music, the true meaning of music, within reach of everyone, to awaken in us, to lull a child, to effect on human behaviour, to have many desirable results, tolerance and understanding, to drive away the devil, to be more receptive to, emotions of spiritual kind, accomplished musician, an exact knowledge of the musical elements, can find a response.
IV. Give English equivalents of the following phrases: Целительные свойства музыки, успокоить одиноких и больных, пробудить в людях, влиять на умственное развитие, прожить без музыки, важная часть жизни, звуки музыки, достичь высокой степени наслаждения, разбудить приятные воспоминания, ценность музыки, формирование характера, это безграничное наслаждение, в эпоху Ренессанса, выражение мысли и чувства.
V. Summarize the text.
MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS
Stringed instruments Plucking a taut rubber band produces a twanging sound, and the range of notes varies if the rubber band is stretched. This is also the principle of stringed instruments. Strings at various tensions are plucked, rubbed or struck to make them vibrate. A sound box amplifies the vibrations, making them louder. The shape of the sound box helps to improve the quality of the sound, making it richer and more rounded. Generally, the larger the sound box, the deeper and louder the sound.
Wind instruments The simplest kind of wind instruments is a plain tube. When the player blows into it, the air inside vibrates and produces a sound. The sound can be varied by altering the pressure of the breath, or the length of the tube. The shorter the tube, or ‘air column’ the higher the note. Recorders and flutes have holes along the tube that alter the length of the tube when they are covered or uncovered. With trumpets, the valves alter the length of the tube. Wind instruments are divided into two main groups, woodwind and brass, according to the material from which they were originally made.
Percussion instruments Instruments that are struck are known as percussion instruments, from the Latin word percutere, meaning ‘to hit’. After the human voice, they are the world’s most ancient kind of instrument. The sound made by some percussion instruments – such as cymbals, xylophones and bells – comes from the ringing sound of the material from which they are made. Drums, on the other hand, have a sound box that amplifies, or increases, the sound made when the skin, or membrane, of the ‘drumhead’ is struck. Drums are used to beat out rhythms, but they can also be finely tuned to produce precise notes.
Keyboard instruments Compared to percussion, wind and stringed instruments, keyboard instruments are a fairly recent invention, dating back only about a thousand years. Through a set of levers inside the instrument, each key can produce a precise note – all the player has to do is press the key. The kind of sound that results depends on the instrument. With piano, the keys trigger hammers that strike a set of tuned strings. With an organ, the keys release air into a set of organ pipes, each sounding a different note. The advantage of keyboard instruments is that you can use all ten fingers (and even your feet) at the same time, and so produce a rich musical effect from a single instrument.
Hybrid instruments Instruments are generally classed as belonging to one of three main categories: percussion, stringed, or wind. But some instruments, such as the saxophone, incorporate elements from more than one category (they are called hybrid instruments). Hybrids are the result of musicians and instrument makers trying to produce new kinds of sounds. Some inventions never really caught on, like the tromba marina, or ‘sea trumpet’ of the 17th century – a vast cello-like instrument whose one string produced a weird, trumpet-like sound. For his opera The Magic Flute (1791), the German composer Mozart used a mechanical glockenspiel, a kind of keyboard-operated xylophone, the exact details of which have been lost.
Tasks
I. How well have you read? Can you answer the following questions? 1. How can we produce the sound in stringed instruments? 2. What does the sound box do? 3. What helps to improve the quality of the sound? 4. How does size of the sound box influence the sound? 5. What is the principle of producing sound with wind instruments? 6. How can we change the sound made by the tube? 7. What alter-change the sound in flutes? 8. What alter-change the sound in trumpets? 10. What are the two groups of wind instruments? 11. What is the most ancient kind of instrument? 12. How can we produce the sound in percussion instruments? 13. What produces sound in drums? 14. What produces sound in cymbals and xylophones? 15. How old are the keyboard instruments? 16. What is the principle of producing sound with piano? 17. What is the principle of producing sound with organ? 18. What note can the key produce? 19. What instruments can we call hybrid? 20. Who and why made hybrid instruments? 21. Why do people do new music instruments?
II. Discuss: The piano in the present-day form developed during the 18th century and soon it replaced the harpsichord which was then the most popular instrument. On the piano keyboard we can imitate the whole orchestra: it has a range of over eight octaves which is quite sufficient to cover the highest and lowest pitch any instrument could sound at. The piano is good for accompanying a solo instrument and the human voice. How wide is the piano spread and used today? What kind of the piano do you know? What are the advantages (or drawbacks if any) of this instrument in comparison with others?
III. Speak about the instrument you play.
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