Insights into British music:Places where music is played

MAPPING OUT THE SUBJECT

Throughout the ages, where has music been played?

Draw a list of all the places where music can be played.

What is the link between the places where music is played and the music itself?

Questions de point de vueOn peut répondre à cette question à la voix active:Musicians play music either in a concert hall or in a theatre. National or regional orchestras most frequently perform in a concert hall while

brass bands play in the streets. Less-known musicians can give concerts in pubs, bars or cafés. Mais on peut aussi mettre l’accent non sur les musiciens mais sur la music et opter

pour la voix passive:Music is played in many different places. Work songs were sung in the cotton fields

and folk music was played outdoors. From the dawn of times, music has been played on the work place and has been used as an accompaniment and encouragement for labor.

Concerts can be given either in a concert hall or in private setting, especially when the music is aimed at aristocratic families.

Complément de la voix active + BE conjugué + PP (by + C.A.)

The Medieval Period: Itinerant musiciansThere were two types of Medieval Musicians

- the Minstrels and the Troubadours. A troubadour was originally a travelling musician. Troubadours such as professional jongleurs, with families moving around with them, were famed for their musical abilities, readiness to perform for hire, and their knowledge of roads and horses. The themes of the songs sung by the Troubadours mainly dealt with chivalry and courtly love - romantic ballads. The troubadour would play for royalty nobles. Troubadour songs were usually monophonic. Fewer than 300 melodies out of an estimated 2500 survive. Most were composed by the troubadours themselves. Some were set to pre-existing pieces of music.

Medieval Fiddle2. Minstrel's Harp3. Medieval Trumpet4. Portative Organ5. Hurdy Gurdy6. Rebec7. Nakers8. Long-necked Lute9. Cornemuse10. Medieval Lute11. Pipe & Tabor12. Psaltery13. Shawns14. Medieval Triangle15. Medieval Cymbals

MinstrelsIn Anglo-Saxon England before the Norman Conquest professional poets (scop ) composed

his own poems, and sang them to the accompaniment of a harp. Gleemen went from place to place, earning what they could from their performances.

Initially, minstrels were simply servants at Court, and entertained the lord and courtiers with chansons de geste. The term minstrel derives from Old French ménestrel , a derivative from Middle Latin ministralis, from minus, "lesser". The term minstrel designates a performer who amused his lord with music and song. The Minstrels earned a living by the arts of poetry and music, and sang verses to the accompaniment of a lute, harp or other instrument. They were first employed as travelling entertainer s and then as a castle or court musician or Medieval Bard

Medieval Minstrels often created their own ballads but they were also famous for memorising long poems based on myths and legends.

Minstrels performed at feasts and festivals in great numbers. Medieval Fairs and Festivals were common during the Middle Ages . The musical instruments played by wandering minstrels who performed at these events were light and easily carried. They included fiddles, the lute, recorders (flûte à bec)and small percussion instruments.

A guild of royal minstrels was organized in England in 1469. Some minstrels were retained by lords as jesters who, in some cases, also practised the art

of juggling. Minstrels in Europe died out slowly, having gone nearly extinct by about 1700.

The Renaissance (the Elizabethan Era)These pictures are both details from the funerary picture of Sir Henry Unton (or Umpton)

who died in 1596. The original hangs in the National Portrait Gallery in London.

The Eighteenth centuryJuly 17, 1717, Handel’s The Water Music

Patronage System - Baroque period composers were employed by the church and the wealthy, ruling class. This system of employment was called the patronage system. Usually one wealthy person (or patron ) would pay the composer for each work and decided what kind of piece the composer would write. Unfortunately this limited the composers freedom of creativity.

In the service of a lord, a prince, or an aristocrat

William Hograth, A Rake’s progress, 1732-33

Music at homePeople in the late 18th century

enjoyed music at home with family and friends, at parties, taverns, military gatherings, dance parties and balls, in church services, and if they lived in or near cities and had the means, they might attend concerts. There were itinerant music instructors for those who could afford them. The voice was a popular instrument for both sexes, and as with musical instrument instruction, there were itinerant singing masters and singing schools.

Woman playing a hammered dulcimer, man playing a wooden (or German) flute, and a man playing an English guitar or lute. “Musicos num Terraco,” Wilhelm Van Der Loet, 1707, Courtesy Nogueira da Silva Museum, Braga, Portugal.

An ideal 19th century familyMusic-making became a widely practiced activity as public concerts were more frequent and musical scores (partitions musicales) could be printed more easily and at a lower price.

The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall situated on the northern edge of the South Kensington area, in the City of Westminster, London, England, best known for holding the annual summer Proms concerts since 1941.

Since its opening by Queen Victoria in 1871, the world's leading artists from several performance genres have appeared on its stage and it has become one of the UK's most treasured and distinctive buildings. Each year it hosts more than 350 events including classical concerts, rock and pop, ballet and opera

The BBC Promenade Concerts, known as "The Proms" is a popular annual eight-week summer season of daily classical music concerts and other events at the Hall.

Royal Opera House, LondonSituated in the heart

of Covent Garden, it has been playing host to major stars of the classical music world since 1858. It is one of London's most esteemed, iconic and beautiful performance venues.

Basic glossary• Aisle : a passage between rows of seats, for example in a church, theatre, or plane, or between the shelves of a

supermarket• Auditorium the part of a theatre, cinema etc where the audience sits• Backcloth a cloth that hangs at the back of a stage, especially a painted one used in a play• Backdrop a painted cloth hanging at the back of the stage in a theatre• Backstage in the area behind the stage in a theatre, including the rooms where the actors get dressed• Backstage relating to the area behind the stage in a theatre, including the rooms where the actors get dressed• Balcony an upper floor in a theatre or cinema that sticks out over the main floor• Box a small enclosed space with seats in a theatre or sports ground, separate from where the rest of theaudience is

sitting• box office the place in a theatre where you buy tickets• Curtain a very large piece of cloth that is pulled up or to the side on a theatre stage when a performance starts• Downstage towards or at the front of the stage in a theatre• dress circle the seats in the front part of the upper floor in a theatre. The whole of the upper floor is called the circle

andthe lower floor is the stalls.• Footlights a row of very bright lights at the front edge of a theatre stage• Foyer a large open space close to the entrance inside a building, hotel, or theatre• front of house the parts of a theatre, cinema, or concert hall that the audience uses• Gallery the highest level of a theatre, cinema etc where the least expensive seats are• the gods the highest seats in a theatre• green room• House the part of a theatre, cinema, concert hall etc that contains the audience

• Offstage in or towards the area behind a theatre stage where the audience cannot see

• Onstage on the stage of a theatre• orchestra pit the area in front of and below a theatre stage where an

orchestra sits and plays the music for an opera,ballet, or musical• Pit the place in front of a stage where an orchestra sits• Proscenium the part of a theatre stage that is in front of the curtain• Row a line of seats in a theatre or cinema• Scenery the furniture and painted background on a theatre stage• Set the scenery and furniture used in a film, play, or television

programme to make the stage look like aparticular place• Stalls the seats in front of the stage on the lowest level of a theatre,

cinema etc• Upstage at or towards the back of the stage in a theatre• the wings the right or left side of a stage that you cannot see if you are

in the audience

Sir Arthur William Blomfield, Royal College of Music, 1889-90

Sage GatesheadThe Sage Gateshead is a centre for

musical education, performance and conferences, located in Gateshead on the south bank of the River Tyne, in the North East of England. It opened in 2004.

The building is open to the public throughout the day. Visitors can see rehearsals, soundchecks and workshops in progress.

There was also "ExploreMusic": a technologically well-equipped musical branch of Gateshead public library, stocking books, and current magazines covering all aspects of music, a CD library with listening posts, and computers with free internet access, subscriptions to music websites, and music software.

However this was closed in March 2011 owing to funding cutbacks

Wembley Stadium