[00:-2.00]a child proudly singing the nationalanthem;
[00:-3.00]a chinese rock star on tour in Canada.
[00:-4.00]Music is the universal language.
[00:-5.00]Like a bridge over water,it is a pathway to understanding others.
[00:-6.00]If there is light in the soul,There will be beauty in the person.
[00:-7.00]If there is beauty in the person,There will be harmony in the house.
[00:-8.00]-Chinese Proverb
[00:-9.00]SECTION 1 NEW WORDS AND IDEAS
[00:10.00]Let's Talk Music!
[00:11.00]Dec.8,2004
[00:12.00]Dear Li Ming,Hi,my name is Brianne.I am a friend of Jenny's.
[00:13.00]Jenny tells me you are thinking about starting guitar lessons.
[00:14.00]She suggested that I write to you because I have many kinds of music lessons.
[00:15.00]I am happy to talk to you about my favourite topic:music.
[00:16.00]I am sending the CD of my favourite singer.I hope you enjoy it.
[00:17.00]I listen to this music every day on the radio and I thought you might like it,too.
[00:18.00]Bryan Adams is very popular here.Have you ever heard of him?
[00:19.00]He's great!How about in China?
[00:20.00]When I take the school bus each day,
[00:21.00]I like to bring my"Discman"
[00:22.00]so that I can listen to music while I am going to school.
[00:23.00]It is important that students be happy on the bus,don't you think?
[00:24.00]I love many kinds of music and I think music is very important in life.
[00:25.00]Music has been a part of my life since I was young.
[00:26.00]When I was only four,I started taking violin lessons.
[00:27.00]We had many music parties and concerts.
[00:28.00]Then as I got older,I played the piano,
[00:29.00]and eventually joined the band when I learned to appreciate jazz music.
[00:30.00]Now,even though I like listening to popular music,I also love playing music.
[00:31.00]Once I learned to play sax,and fell in love with jazz music,I wanted to sing.
[00:32.00]So now I am taking guitar lessons.I absolutely love it!
[00:33.00]It's easier to sing when you have a guitar to keep you"on key".
[00:34.00]I'm surprised at how easy it is.
[00:35.00]I recommend you start your lessons right away
[00:36.00]and I'm sure that you will learn very quickly.
[00:37.00]Someday maybe we will be able to play together.Wouldn't that be fun?
[00:38.00]Lately,I've been thinking about how important music is.
[00:39.00]In Cananda we sometimes say,"Music is the language of the soul."
[00:40.00]I think this is true because when I play music,
[00:41.00]I can experience emotions
[00:42.00]and express parts of myself that I can't really talk about in words.
[00:43.00]Do you know what I mean,
[00:44.00]Li Ming?Have you ever had this experience?
[00:45.00]Whether I'm feeling down,or having the best time,
[00:46.00]music always makes the day better.
[00:47.00]Actually,I can think of one day,years ago,when music didn't make my day better.
[00:48.00]I was playing in a piano concert with three of my friends.
[00:49.00]We were in this fancy hall with a baby grand piano on the stage
[00:50.00]and two judges sitting in the audience.
[00:51.00]I was terrified!It was the first time I had to kinow my song by memory.
[00:52.00]My friend went up and played her song;
[00:53.00]the audience clapped and she returned to her seat.
[00:54.00]She had played beautifully.My second friend also played well.
[00:55.00]Then the judges called my name.
[00:56.00]I had butterflies in my stomach
[00:57.00]and a lump in my throat as I slowly walked up to the stage.
[00:58.00]I began to play.
[00:59.00]About halfway through the song,I completely forgot the notes!
[-1:00.00]I stopped playing,and then started again at the beginning,
[-1:-1.00]but when I got to teh same place,I forgot the notes again.
[-1:-2.00]This time I stopped and looked up at the audience
[-1:-3.00]and saw one of the judges slowly walking up to the stage to bring me the music book.
[-1:-4.00]I have never neen so embarrassed in all my life!
[-1:-5.00]By the way,I didn't win the competition. [-1:-6.00]Whenever I remember this story,I laugh.It doesn't seem so tragic now.
[-1:-7.00]Don't let it scare you.
[-1:-8.00]Most of my memories of music are good ones,
[-1:-9.00]and I don't ever want to stop playing instrumets and listening to good music.
[-1:10.00]Pop music,classical music,jazz or even country music,I enjoy them all.
[-1:11.00]So,Li Ming,I strongly recommend that you take the guitar lessons.
[-1:12.00]Please let me know how it turns out.
[-1:13.00]I hope you enjoy this gift of music.
[-1:14.00]I would like to know what you think about music.
[-1:15.00]What kind of music do you listen to?
[-1:16.00]Your new friend,Brianne
[-1:17.00]QUOTABLE QUOTES
[-1:18.00]The history of a people is found in its songs[-1:19.00]-George Jellinek
[-1:20.00]Without music,life is a journey through a desert.
[-1:21.00]-Pat Conroy
[-1:22.00]Let's singing song
[-1:23.00]SECTION 2 MEANING THROUGH PRACTICE
[-1:24.00]C.Build your listening skills
[-1:25.00]Part 1:Listen to Jenny inviting Li Ming and his friend to join her band.
[-1:26.00]Then,answer the questions.
[-1:27.00]Part 2:Listen to the following announcement
[-1:28.00]from the radio station 101.3 the Fox,and answer the questions.
[-1:29.00]SECTION 4 READING FOR AWARENESS
[-1:30.00]Let's All Sing!
[-1:31.00]Folk Songs-Songs by and for the people
[-1:32.00]Do you know Old MacDonald Had a Farm?
[-1:33.00]Or The Frog Went A'Courting?Or Yankee Doodle?
[-1:34.00]These are folk songs.Folk songs are songs that are made up by common people.
[-1:35.00]Many folk songs tell about heroes,robbers or young girls.
[-1:36.00]Ohters,like Old MacDonald,are just for fun.
[-1:37.00]Some folk songs are about the kinds fo work that people do.
[-1:38.00]Christmas carols are folk songs,
[-1:39.00]and so are the patriotic songs of many countries.
[-1:40.00]Every country has its own folk songs.
[-1:41.00]Most of these songs were made uup long ago,
[-1:42.00]and people have been singing them for hundreds of years.
[-1:43.00]One of the oldest American folk songs is Turkey in the straw.
[-1:44.00]It's about silly things that happen to a young farmer.
[-1:45.00]Meadowlands is an old Russian favourite that plains of Russia.
[-1:46.00]The songs that travelling singers in Europe
[-1:47.00]sang at castle feasts and village fairs were folk songs.
[-1:48.00]So are the songs of American cowboys,farmers,
[-1:49.00]and sailors all over the world.
[-1:50.00]Folk songs are the songs that people often sing
[-1:51.00]when they come together for a good time.
[-1:52.00]They're the songs that people sing as they work.
[-1:53.00]In fact,many folk songs were made up just to make work seem easier.
[-1:54.00]They help to make a long,hard day go faster.
[-1:55.00]Of course,in China,
[-1:56.00]we also have a long and honoured tradition of folk songs and folk singers.
[-1:57.00]Like all folk songs,
[-1:58.00]they come from the ordinary people and tell of things in ordinary lives.
[-1:59.00]There are three main kinds of Chinese folk songs:Hao Zi,Xiao Diao,and Shan Ge.
[-2:00.00]Hao Zi is sung by males.Song For Fisher is an example of this type.
[-2:-1.00]Do you know this song?Can you sing it?
[-2:-2.00]Shan Ge,for example Xiao He Tang Shui is sung by two people,while Xiao Diao,
[-2:-3.00]with its beautiful tone,is usually sung by girls.
[-2:-4.00]Purple Bamboo is a good example of Xiao Diao.
[-2:-5.00]These folk songs give voice to the common people.
[-2:-6.00]Billions of people in China,young and old,
[-2:-7.00]have enjoyed these traditional songs.
[-2:-8.00]They are often described as the glue that unites all the people of this ancient civilization.
[-2:-9.00]In many ways,they are the voices of our ancestors.
[-2:10.00]Wang Luobin and Chinese Folk Songs
[-2:11.00]Have you ever heard the song In a Far-away Land by Wang Luobin?
[-2:12.00]Many of his songs have been performed throughout China and around the world.
[-2:13.00]He was born in Beijing in 1931 and was educated at the Department of Music,
[-2:14.00]Beijing Normal College,where he studied vocal,piano and composition.
[-2:15.00]As a young man, [-2:16.00]he toured northwest China and became fascinated with the local folk songs.
[-2:17.00]His understanding of music led him to conclude
[-2:18.00]that Chinese folk songs were among the best in the world.
[-2:19.00]He undertook to collect and rewrite hundreds of these traditional songs.
[-2:20.00]Many of his more than seven hundred folk songs have become national favourites.
[-2:21.00]Many people can sing at least one of his songs.
[-2:22.00]Wang Luobin died in the late 1980s,
[-2:23.00]but his music lives on in the hearts and minds of Chinese people everywhere.
[-2:24.00]He was,in many ways,a music archeologist.
[-2:25.00]He devoted himself to uncovering and presenting the music of the people.
[-2:26.00]Through his efforts,
[-2:27.00]many of the old songs have been preserved for future generations to enjoy.
[-2:28.00]Without his work,these songs might have been lost forever.
[-2:29.00]Rocky Mountain High:John Denver
[-2:30.00]John Denver was born on December 31,1943,in Roswell,New Mexico,U.S.A.
[-2:31.00]He was one of the world's best-known and best-loved performers,
[-2:32.00]a master communicator who could reach audiences regardless of geography,
[-2:33.00]economics,politics and language.
[-2:34.00]He was a true international figure,
[-2:35.00]devoted to world peace and the end of hunger.
[-2:36.00]On October 12,1997,at the age of 53,
[-2:37.00]he was killed when the experimental plane[-2:38.00]he was flying crashed into the Pacific Ocean just off the California coast.
[-2:39.00]Music does bring people togetber;it allows us to experience the same emotions.
[-2:40.00]People everywhere are the same in beart and spirit.
[-2:41.00]No matter what language we speak,what colour we are...
[-2:42.00]music proves:We are the same.
[-2:43.00]When I write a song,I want to take the personal experience or observation
[-2:44.00]that inspired it and express it in as universal a way as possible.
[-2:45.00]I'm a global citizen.
[-2:46.00]I want to work in whatever I do-my music,my writing,
[-2:47.00]my performing,my commitments,my home and personal life-in a way
[-2:48.00]that is directed towards a world in balance,
[-2:49.00]a world that creates a better quality of life for all people.
[-2:50.00]-John Denver
[-2:51.00]Heart Song
[-2:52.00]By Patty Hansen
[-2:53.00]Once upon a time there was a great man who married the woman of his dreams.
[-2:54.00]With their love,they created a little girl.
[-2:55.00]She was a bright and cheerful little girl and the great man loved her very much.
[-2:56.00]When she was very little,he would pick her up,
[-2:57.00]sing and dance with her around the room,
[-2:58.00]and he would tell her,"I love you,little girl."
[-2:59.00]When the little girl was growing up,
[-3:00.00]the great man would hug her and tell her,"I love you,little girl."
[-3:-1.00]The little girl would say,"I'm not a little girl anymore."
[-3:-2.00]Then the man would laugh and say,"But to me,you'll always be my little girl."
[-3:-3.00]The little girl who-was-not-little-anymore left her home and went into the world.
[-3:-4.00]As she learned more about herself,she learned more about the man.
[-3:-5.00]She saw that he truly was great and strong,for now she recognized his strengths.
[-3:-6.00]One of his strengths was his ability
[-3:-7.00]to express his love to his ability to express his love to his family.
[-3:-8.00]It didn't matter where she went in the world,the man would call her and say,
[-3:-9.00]"I love you,little girl."
[-3:10.00]The day came when the little girl who-was-not-little-anmore received a phone call.
[-3:11.00]The great man was damaged."He had a stroke,"they said to the girl.
[-3:12.00]He couldn't talk anymore
[-3:13.00]and they weren't sure that he could understand the words spoken to him.
[-3:14.00]He could no longer smile,laugh,walk,hug,
[-3:15.00]dance or tell the little girl who-was-not-little-anymore that he loved her.
[-3:16.00]And so she went to the side of the great man.
[-3:17.00]When she walked into the room and saw him,he looked small and not strong at all.
[-3:18.00]He looked at her and tried to speak,but he could not. [-3:19.00]The little girl did the only thing she could do
[-3:20.00]She climbed up on the bed next to the great man.
[-3:21.00]Tears ran from both of their eyes
[-3:22.00]and she drew her arms around the useless shoulders of her father.
[-3:23.00]Her head on his chest,she thought of many things.
[-3:24.00]She remembered the wonderful times together
[-3:25.00]and how she had always felt protected and loved by the great man.
[-3:26.00]She felt grief for the loss that was coming.
[-3:27.00]And then she heard from within the man,the beat of his heart.
[-3:28.00]The heart where the music had always lived.
[-3:29.00]The heart beat on,steadily unconcerned about the damage to the rest of the boby.
[-3:30.00]Any while she rested there,the magic happened.
[-3:31.00]She heard what she needed to hear.
[-3:32.00]His heart beat out the words that his mouth could no longer say...
[-3:33.00]I love you....
[-3:34.00]Little girl....
[-3:35.00]And she was comforted.
