What's the music this week? W/c 2 December

This week it's all about: Musicals

This and next week's MaBaL theme is songs from shows and musicals - as it is the week leading up to the School Production held on the evenings of Tuesday, 10th December and Wednesday, 11th December.

As early as the 5th Century BC, ancient Greeks included music and dance in their stage comedies and tragedies. Staged in open air amphitheatres, these plays featured humour, political and social satire, jugglers, and anything else that might entertain their audience. The songs were often a means for the chorus to comment on the action, but they also took part in the plot, and musical solos were sometimes used. To make their dance steps more audible, Roman actors attached metal chips called 'sabilla' to their stage footwear – the first tap shoes.  

Today, in Western theatre, there are three main kinds of dramatic performance involving music.  

1. Ballets communicate their story almost entirely through dance.  

2. Operas are dramatic productions in which the dialogue is nearly entirely sung.

3. Musicals are where 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, and the category into which our staging of High School Musical belongs. 

MaBaL (Music at Break and Lunch) is music played through the school's speaker 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