What's the music this week? w/c 6 December

This week it's all about: Songs From The Shows...

This week’s MaBaL is literally as it says on the tin from across the eras and across the genres. From Broadway to Broadgate - as it is the week of the School Production held on the evenings of Tuesday, 7 December and Wednesday, 8 December.

The ancient Greeks included music and dance in their stage comedies and tragedies as early as the 5th Century BC. Staged in open air amphitheatres, these plays featured humour, political and social satire, jugglers, and anything else that might entertain their audience. In Italy, Roman actors attached metal chips called "sabilla" to their stage footwear which became the first tap shoes.  

Today, in Western theatre, there are three main kinds of dramatic performance involving music. Ballets communicate their story almost entirely through dance, with little to no dialogue. Operas are dramatic productions in which the dialogue is nearly entirely sung by the performers. In an opera, even simple lines like ''hello'' and ''hurry up'' are sung, not spoken. In musicals, the actors will often sing, but most of the mundane dialogue and much of the plot is spoken and acted. That is one of the defining differences between musicals and operas. 
 
Different Types of Musical include the Book Musical, the Jukebox Musical eg. ‘We Will Rock You’ (featuring the songs of Queen) and ‘Mamma Mia’ (featuring songs by Abba), the Revue Musical, which combines singing, dancing, music and sketches as more of a talent showcase than a storyline and the Concept Musical, which is a musical where the theme or metaphor is just as important as the plot and songs.  

Finally, the Rock Musical uses more modern styles of music to tell a story. Although the music is usually original for the production, it may be influenced by or written by famous rock musicians. Examples of this are ‘Rent’ or ‘Grease’. 

MABAL is music played through the school's tannoy system during break and lunch.  Chosen by Mr Taylor, Lead Teacher for Music, this is designed to offer exposure to the curriculum in different ways, and support pupils' appreciation of music.

The focus is on one theme each week across a genre, a country or from history.  The theme could also link to the season or an event in school, such as the production.  Any further suggestions are welcomed - pupils should see Mr Taylor or email a.taylor@priory.lancs.sch.uk