Listening Comprehension Activities with Benjamin Britten’s The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra

Alenka Blake, Slovenia

Alenka Blake has been teaching at 1st Grammar School in Celje (Slovenia) for ten years. In this time she has been keen on making classes interesting by teaching and developing students’ feel for literature and music. Email: alenka.blake@gmail.com.

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Introduction
Pre-listening Activities
Listening
Post-listening Activities
Conclusion
References

Introduction

Music has always been of interest to teenagers. For this reason, one can easily find many didactic materials based on pop songs for teaching English as a foreign language. Classical music, however, hardly seems to attract young people nowadays. What a cultural shame.

For this listening comprehension exercise I chose a piece of classical music accompanied by a narration. In 1946, the British composer Benjamin Britten asked his friend Eric Crozier to write a text to go with the music. This text was initially meant to be spoken by a conductor during the performance. The combination of music and spoken words would, as the composer hoped, make it easier for anybody to understand how an orchestra functions.

This set of lessons is not merely concerned with new vocabulary in English from the field of music; it provides students with the basic knowledge of instruments in an orchestra (their qualities and functions) as well as with aesthetic enjoyment that might eventually lead to appreciation of classical music.

In the CD referred to here, the narrator is the delightfully feminine Dame Edna, a drag queen played by the Australian comedian Barry Humphries. Dame Edna sees the listeners through the piece of music, and adds ‘her’ own entertainment value – it is her attractive voice, her involvement with the text and clear pronunciation at an appropriate speed that tempts listeners of any age.

Pre-listening Activities

In order to put things into context and to give students an idea where the lessons will take them, they are confronted, in groups of four, with four quotations about music. In these groups they either agree or disagree with the statements. (If time allows, students can play mix-and-match with the quotations – i.e. match the quotations to the authors.) While they report on their discussion, a lively discussion will likely develop. It is probable that the students will support their agreement or disagreement with examples from contemporary pop music.

Quotations:

1. Only sick music makes money today. (Friedrich Nietzsche)
2. Music is the mediator between the spiritual and the sensual. (Ludwig van Beethoven)
3. Ah, music. A magic beyond all we do here! (J.K. Rowing)
4. Music doesn’t lie. If there is something to be changed in this world, then it can only happen through music. (Jimmy Hendrix)

After the discussion the teacher can steer students towards examining various types of music. Eventually the teacher makes it clear that the session is dedicated to classical music. The teacher presents the piece of music, its composer and the narrator (though the students might already be acquainted with Britten’s “Young Person’s Guide” from music classes). The narrator will probably be unknown to the students – those in search of more information and a good laugh can visit Dame Edna at www.dame-edna.com

Listening

For her or his own help the teacher can find the transcript of the narrated text under http://library.thinkquest.org/C005400/musi/brittenypg.html

1. The teacher introduces students with Task 1 and Task 2. They are given a few seconds to read through the instructions and the tasks. While the Introduction and the Theme, originally by Purcell, are played (3:27 – i.e. 3 minutes, 27 seconds), the students fill in the chart.

Task 1

Listen to the recording and fill in the chart in point form.

Key:

Task 2

Answer the questions, using short answers.

Key:

1. wood and metal,
2. trumpet and horn,
3. harp,
4. drums, gongs, tambourines.

Students should report on their answers and form full sentences in the passive. The teacher writes the answers on the board to make sure the spelling of the new vocabulary is correct. The teacher may point out the irregular verb “to strike,” remind the students of the verb formed out of the noun “breath,” the difference between “a bow” and “to bow,” or bring attention to other issues that seem important.

2. The students are introduced to the last and the longest exercise. The teacher plays Woodwind variations, String variations, Harp variations, Brass variations and Percussion variations, which amounts to over 17 minutes of listening. Every set of variations is introduced by Dame Edna, who speaks mainly about the quality of the sound of instrument concerned, using many useful adjectives. After her words the instruments talked about play their part. This gives students enough time to put down the answers and experience what has just been described in words. Again the students should read the gapped text before the listening.

Task 3

Fill in the missing adjectives.

1. The flute is the __________________ of the woodwind instruments.
2. The quality of the oboes is ______________ and ______________.
3. The sound of the clarinet is ______________ and ______________.
4. Bassoons are the ______________ of the woodwinds and have the ______________ voices.
5. The violins are the ______________ string voices.
6. Violas are ______________ than violins and ______________ in tone.
7. Cellos sound ______________ and ______________.
8. The double basses have a ______________, ______________ sound.
9. Trombones have ______________ voices. The brass tuba is even ______________.

Key: highest, gentle, sad, smooth, mellow, largest, deepest, highest, larger, deeper, rich, warm, heavy, grumbling, heavy, heavier.

When checking the answers the teacher can write the words on the board and discuss the choice of the adjectives and their meanings. At the same time it can be pointed out that not all the adjectives are the same, while also focusing on comparison of adjectives (i.e. comparative and superlative forms). However, this should by no means turn into a grammar lesson. Rather, it might only be a quick revision of previously-acquired knowledge. The same goes for the next possible activity, building nouns out of adjectives.

3. The listening finishes with the Fugue, which takes 2:49 minutes with the spoken introduction. No particular task is set for the students. If there are musicians in the class, the teacher might elicit from students the definition of the musical term “fugue” (basically, ‘interweaving of musical voices in one piece of music’). The term can be discussed. The students listen to the last part, “Fugue,” and hopefully experience by hearing what the intertwining voices of a fugue sound like. Finally, the teacher can play the whole piece of music without interruption.

Post-listening Activities

At home students write responses to the music and lessons. The number of words can be limited (my students wrote approximately 100 words). Possible writing topics include:

1. Did you enjoy the lessons? Why or why not?
2. Did you learn something new? What?
3. How did this piece of music make you feel?
4. Did your attitude towards classical music alter during the course of the lessons?

In the next lesson, the students can swap their short compositions, and report on their neighbour’s response. Especially when responses differ radically, discussion can develop naturally.

Conclusion

The set of activities can take from three to four lessons, depending on the interest of the students. The activities suggested can, of course, be modified or even skipped. When I carried out the listening comprehension in class I found it gratifying in many regards. On the one hand, students listen to an authentic text – which has not been adapted for them – and are exposed to present simple passive (a structure that is, at the early intermediate level, still troublesome for some students). On the other, this listening comprehension is listening within listening. There is the music that is being explained to the students, which not only equips them with new vocabulary but also gives them an insight into how instruments sound and function, as well as into a creation of a piece of music.

References

Britten, B., (1997) The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra, Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Purcell op. 34. Naxos.

Lanchberry, J., cond., (1007) The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra. By Benjamin Britten. Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. Dame Edna, narr . Naxos.

Please check the Teaching through Art and Music course at Pilgrims website.
Please check the CLIL - Teaching Other Subject Through English course at Pilgrims website.