The Song Thiefs:

Pop Music that has appeared throughout time. Timing: 8 Weeks.

Aim: During this unit we will be looking at the links between classical music and popular music (borrowing/stealing ideas across time periods).


Part A. Research Task: Viva Voce 5 mins (Give a presentation to the Class)

      1. Compare two pop songs that have shared musical ideas with two classical counterpart/s. Eg. Pirates of the Caribbean Main Theme and Vivaldi La Follies, Elvis Presley Can’t help falling in love and Martini Plaisir D’Amour

      2. Use Music Terminology to describe the similarities and differences between the classical version and the contemporary version. Complete a Listening Log or the Comparative Analysis Chart to help with this.

      3. Post a Graphic Organiser on SeeSaw and use the audio function to give your comparative analysis (max 5 mins talking time). https://web.seesaw.me/

Due week 5


Martini wrote Plaisir d'amour in 1784 and Elvis Presley translated it and released it in 1961 on his Blue Hawaii album! Can you spot the differences?

La Folias has appeared many times throughout history. Marin, Caccini, Vivaldi... and recently as the main theme in Pirates of the Caribbean

Q. Many pop songs 'recycle' or 'borrow' from Pachelbel's Canon, how many can you think of ?

From the National Anthem of Russia through to 'Friends forever' by Vitamin C are based on music written by Pachelbel in 1690.

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5EMUFCLRPRQB6Qv1sLIb2v?



Part B. Composition Task: Choose a piece of classical music and ‘steal/borrow’ the melody or a musical idea. Use this idea as a sample in a new composition. Think about what the piece of music meant in its original popular context, and consider how you can ‘remix’ it to create a new popular song today (45 -60 seconds duration).

Use Sound Trap/NoteFlight. You may work with a partner or on your own.

One idea could be to download a 'sample' from YouTube https://ytmp3.cc/ as an MP3. After downloading you can drag and drop the file into sound trap and start editing.

Alternatively you may create a composition by playing instruments. To do this someone in your group must be able to play a short part of a classical piece of music as part of your new composition.

Read up on Copy Right: You can sample but you may need to give attributions and you can not use it for commercial use. You will also need to edit your samples sufficiently to create 'new art'. The music itself is copyright free if the composer has been dead for more than 70 years. The performers who made the recording have a different copy right. Do you know what the rules are? How can you find out? If you are the performer then the rules apply to the dates of the original composition, if you are taking someone elses performance and sampling it you might owe them royalties in the future.

Due October 2nd.


Part C. Music First (theory) assignments as prescribed by the teacher.

End of Unit Calculation based on levels attained and accuracy.

Part D. Group Performance Task.

Due Date (TBC)