Just for fun Quite an Excuse

A young lady arrived late at the concert. The curtain was already up and the conductor was at his stand. The usher refused to admit her into the concert-hall until the interval.

"But I'll stand in the back and not disturb anyone," she promised. "I'm especially eager to hear the new symphony of the young celebrated composer and they are playing it. Just open the door slightly, please!"

"That's just the trouble, ma'am," replied the usher regretfully. "If I open the door now, half the audience will rush out."

I. Answer the following questions:

I. Did the lady arrive at the concert in time? 2. Was the curtain already up when she arrived? 3. Where was the сonductor? 4. Did the usher admit her to the concert-hall? 5. What did the lady promise? 6. What was the lady eager to hear? 7. What did the lady ask the usher to do? 8. Why did the usher refuse to open the door even slightly?

II. Retell the story.

TEXT 1. MUSIC AND MUSICIANS IN GREAT BRITAIN

The people living in the British Isles are very fond of music, and it is quite natural that concerts of the leading symphony orchestras, numerous folk groups and pop music are very popular.

The Promenade concerts are probably the most famous. They were first held in 1840 in the Queen's Hall, and later were directed by Sir Henry Wood. They still continue today in the Royal Albert Hall. They take place every night for about three months in the summer, and the programmes include contemporary works as well as classics. The audience may either listen to the music from a seat or from the 'promenade', where they can stand or stroll about, or, if there is room, sit down on the floor.

Concerts are rarely given out-of-doors today except for concerts by brass bands who play in the parks and at the seaside resorts during the summer.

Folk music is still very much alive. There are many folk groups. Their harmony singing and good humour win them friends everywhere.

Rock and pop music is extremely popular. In the 60^s and 70^s groups such as the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd became very popular and successful. Some of the more recent rock groups are Eurhythmics, Dire Straits, Black Sabbath.

New stars and styles continue to appear. One of the most notable contemporary musicians and composers is Andrew Lloyd Webber. The musicals and rock operas by A.L. Webber have been a great success both in Britain and overseas.

TEXT 2. YOUTH GROUPS AND THE MUSIC THEY LIKE

The early 1960s were, for the young people of Britain, a time of great excitement and liberation. Throughout the 60s, on public holidays during the summer groups of Mods and Rockers used to travel to the sea-side resorts of south-eastern England, such as Brighton and Margate, and get involved in battles with the police and each other. Mods were fashion-conscious, speedy and upwardly mobile. 'Swinging London' was everybody's idea of heaven! Teenagers had jobs, money in their pockets, and the freedom to spend it. They spent it on clothes (young people were very clothes-conscious!) and entertainment and above all on records. The 'Swinging Sixties', as they came to be known, saw an explosion in the world of pop music and the pop groups of those years - The Beatles, the Rolling Stones - became the heroes of young people not just in Britain but all over the world.

Towards the end of the 60s a new group appeared, whose ideas started in California, in the USA. The Hippies preached a philosophy of peace and love, wore necklaces of coloured beads, and gave flowers to surprised strangers on the street. The name comes from the fact that drug-takers in Asia and the Far East used to lie on one hip while smoking opium. Hippies didn't use opium but they smoked marijuana, and took powerful drugs such as LSD. Music, especially under the influence of the Beatles, began to include strange sounds and images in an attempt to recreate the "psychedelic" or dream-like experience of drugs.

Hippies wore simple clothes, blue jeans and open sandals, and grew their hair very long. They often lived together in large communities, sharing their possessions. This was their protest against the materialism of the 60s and also against the increasing military involvement of the United States in Vietnam.

However, the dreams of peace and love disappeared in the early 70s as the mood of society changed. People's attention turned to life's more basic problems as the world price of oil increased, causing a fall in living standards and rising inflation.

Skinheads were racist, violent, and proud of the fact. The "uniform" worn by most of them consisted of trousers that were too short, enormous boots, and braces. As their name suggests, they wore their hair extremely short or even shaved it all off. As unemployment grew throughout the 70s, groups of skinheads began to take their revenge on immigrants, who were attacked on the streets and in their homes.

Unfortunately the mass unemployment of the 80s has caused an increase in the number of skinheads. Many are members of the National Front, a political party that wants Britain to be for white people only.

Towards the end of the 70s another style of music and dress appeared and is still very popular. The word Punk derives from American English and is often used to describe someone who is immoral or worthless. The best-known punk band of the 70s and early 80s were the "Sex pistols", who are still famous for their strange names, including Johnny Rotten and Sid Vicious. They sang songs about anarchy and destruction and upset many people by using bad language on television and by insulting the Queen. Punks' clothes show a rejection of conventional styles of dress.

Their music is loud, fast and tuneless. They feel that the music of the 70s had become too complicated. It had lost touch with the feelings of "ordinary kids".

In the 1980s many new bands have emerged; and also old ones have reappeared. Out of punk has come New Wave music which totally rejects the ideas of the skinheads. Many of the bands contain both black and white musicians, and anti-racism concerts have been organized (known as Rock against Racism). West Indian music has also played a large part in forming people's musical tastes. Many new British bands combine traditional rock music with an infectious reggae beat. From America, a new interest in discotheques and dancing has appeared.

Like the Rockers, Bikers still enjoy "heavy metal music" which is easily recognized by its high volume and use of electric guitars. "Dancing" is simply shaking your head violently to the rhythm of the music and so has become known as "head banging".

Many of the new bands of the 80s have been able to use the changes in technology to develop their music. Computerized drum machines, synthesizers and other electronic instruments are now just as popular as the electric guitar.

Black music has become increasingly important with international stars like Michael Jackson combining the best of modern music with spectacular live performances. "Hip Hop" music has combined fast speaking in rhyme (called "rapping") with the excitement of the rock beat.

PRACTICE

1. Make up dialogues as if after attending a concert. The following phrases might help:

to be warmly received by the public

to take the house by storm

to have a successful run

to burst out into applause

the singer gave two encores

curtain call followed curtain fall

the concert (show, performance, etc.) was so brilliant / thrilling / boring / disappointing that

it ran to a full house

it ran to an empty house

I felt like walking out

there was a storm of applause

2. Prepare a report about your favourite musician. The texts below may serve as examples.

1. The King of Rock and Roll

Elvis Presley came from a very poor family. He was born on 8 January 1935 in Mississippi.

Elvis loved music. He went to church every Sunday and sang in the choir. When he was 13, his mother bought him a guitar. In the same year Elvis and his family left Mississippi for Memphis, Tennessee.

One day in 1954 he went to a recording studio called Sun Records. He wanted to make a record for his mother's birthday. The secretary at the studio heard Elvis and she told her boss, Sam Phillips.

Elvis was Sam Phillips's dream - "a white boy with a black voice".

Phillips became Elvis's manager and Elvis made his first single - That's All Right, Mama. When the disc jockeys played it on their studio stations, American teenagers went wild. Many American parents didn't like Elvis. He was too sexy.

In 1955, Elvis appeared on TV in New York. The following year he went to Hollywood and made his first film Love Me Tender. In the next two years he had many hit records - Blue Suede Shoes, Heartbreak Hotel, All Shook up, Teddy Bear.

In 1958, Elvis joined the American army and went to Germany. When he returned to the United States in the early 1960s, pop was not the same. British groups like the Beatles and the Rolling Stones were the new stars.

Elvis was a millionaire, but he was a very lonely man. In his last years he became fat and depressed. He died of a heart attack on 16 August 1977 in his mansion. But for his millions of fans, Elvis is still the King.

2. Scott Joplin

Scott was born in Texas in 1868, into a poor but musical black family. His father, who was a freed slave, played the violin, and his mother played the banjo and sang. Scott played the violin and bugle but his favourite instrument was his neighbour's piano. His father worked extra hours to buy him a battered old grand piano, and soon Scott was playing by ear negro tunes, blues, and spirituals. Music flowed naturally from his fingers, and he quickly became the talk of the town.

Scott didn't learn to read music until he was 11, when an old German music teacher spotted his talent and gave him free, formal piano lessons. He learned to play the works of such composers as Bach, Beethoven, and Mozart as well as his improvised music. Thus when he started to write music, his tunes were a wonderful mixture of classical European and African beat. This unique style was known as Ragtime, and was played everywhere in the USA in the early 1900s by both black and white musicians.

In 1882, when Scott was 14, his mother died and he left home to seek his fortune in St. Louis. In the 1880s, St. Louis was noisy and bustling with life. The waterfront of the Mississippi River was full of gangsters, gamblers, and sailors. The sound of music was everywhere - black, white and mixed. The hot steamy nights were filled with blues, working songs, banjos. Scott was soon playing Ragtime piano in cheap bars on the waterfront. This was a rough, tough area of the city where arguments over girls, whisky, and money were settled with fists and guns. Scott grew up very fast and his musical talent continued to develop. All in all he wrote about 50 piano rags.

Scott Joplin died in 1917. Today he is the undisputed King of Ragtime, thanks to his natural ability, his unusual musical education and the popularity of his most famous composition - The Entertainer.