Around the World in 10 Strings Script.

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1 Swallowtail Jig. The Silver Spear. Celtic music.

 

We are starting our musical journey right here in Nova Scotia with the Celtic music.

Celtic music has arrived to Canada's Maritime provinces from Scotland, Ireland, Brittany and Wales. People from all around Canada and North America are coming to Nova Scotia and other Eastern Canada to listen to Celtic music. It is a great music to dance to and the 2 popular Celtic dances are Jig and Reel. The first song that we played called Swallowtail...

 

Question for the audience: Is it Swallowtail Jig or Swallowtail Reel? And what is the difference between Jig and Reel?

A Jig is in 6/8 time and a Reel is in 4/4 time. Now, let's listen to a reel, The Silver Spear.

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2 Canon in D. Classical music.

 

We are going to move to a 17th century Western Europe. During that time there was a style of culture and music called Baroque, which is a part of classical music. There are many famous composers of the Baroque and Classical music.

 

Question for the audience: Who can name one or two classical music composers?

 

Bach, Mozart, Beethoven and many more. They invented many musical genres and techniques that are still used by musicians and composers, such as polyphony, orchestral arrangements or chord progressions.

And the music that we are going to play for you is one of the most popular classical pieces and chord progressions – Canon in D, by German composer Johann Pachelbel.

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3 Ukrainian song Kohana. Folk music.

 

Along with classical music there has always been folk music. Folk musicians travelled around cities, towns and villages and played their songs at the parties and outside on the streets and squares.

Usually they were using small string instruments to accompany themselves. Now days we call such performers singers / songwriters. Or sometimes rock stars.

 

Question for the audience: Who can name a small string instrument?

 

Ukulele, mandolin, banjo and later guitar. Back in those days guitar used to be a way smaller than it is now.

All cultures around the world have beautiful folk songs. Folk musicians wrote many songs that inspired classical composers as well. Especially in the Eastern European culture. We are going to play for you a song from Ukraine, Kohana.

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4 La Vie En Rose. French music.

 

Dialogue

Mademoiselle: Bonjour a tous.

Guitar player: Bonjour, mademoiselle. Who are you?

Mademoiselle: I'm a chanteuse (or a singer) from France.

Guitar player: How interesting. Can you tell us about France, sil vous plait?

Mademoiselle: France is a beautiful country with very rich culture, the most romantic capital in the world Paris and the most famous museum in the world, the Louvre. And popular songs called chansons.

 

Question for the audience: Who speak French?

 

Tres bien. Mercy beaucoup.

 

As you know, years ago many people from France moved to Canada and they brought they beautiful language, music and culture with them. We are going to sing a chanson, La Vie En Rose.

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5 El Vito. Spanish Flamenco, Middle Eastern and African music.

 

Our next style of music is Flamenco from Spain. It is a great music with a lot of passion, dance and a real fusion of different cultures. It has Spanish romantic traditions that mixed up with the melodies from the Middle East. And the music of Middle East sounds very ancient and it takes you to the beginning of history.

A sample of Middle Eastern tune.

 

When those melodies arrived in Spain they mixed up with African drums. In fact, they learned how to use guitar as a drum in Flamenco music.

A sample of African drumming.

 

Question for the audience: Who wants to play maracas with us on stage?

A short drum lesson for the audience.

 

And now we are going to play a Rumba Flamenco from Spain, El Vito.

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6 La Bamba. Latin American music.

 

Now it's time to go across the ocean to South or Latin America. There are people from many different cultures live in Latin America and together they created many unique styles of music, such as:

Samba from Brazil, Salsa from Cuba, Tango from Argentina and Calypso from Trinidad and Tobago. All those styles have influence of African, European and Native American music. And they all great to dance to. Let's dance to a Mexican song, La Bamaba.

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7 What a Wonderful World. North American Jazz. Influence of Chinese scale in Blues.

 

We are going to finish our musical journey where we started, in North America.

 

Question for the audience: Who can name North American styles of music?

 

Country, Rock, Blues and Jazz.

 

Not everyone knows that to improvise in blues, jazz and rock music, musicians are using a pentatonic scale that came from China.

A sample of Chinese melody.

 

What is Jazz? It is a fun music where musicians learn how to improvise.

 

Question for the audience: Who knows what to improvise means?

 

It means to create music while playing. Our final song for today is a great jazz tune, What a Wonderful World. Thank you!

 

The End