Organize your speech
1. First of all I’d like to thank you for your attention.
2. Today I’m talking about…
3. In the first part of my talk I’ll give you a few examples….
4. In the second part I’ll briefly explain
5. And finally I’d like to tell you about…
6. Unfortunately there isn’t enough time to..
7. To sum up…
8. Thank you for listening and are there any questions?
Use pictures to make your point clearer.
A well-chosen picture can tell much more than many words can.,
Stand up straight, feet slightly apart, take deep breaths.
This will make you look confident, and feel confident too.
Make eye contact with your audience.
How would you feel if somebody never looked at you when they were talking to you?
Make a list of main points on cards
This will make you talk clearer because it will be organized.
Practise any equipment you need e.g. CD-player, OHP, computer, beamer
Check your audience can hear and see visuals properly.
Unit 1 - Pop music (1)
Section 3.1
ANNOUNCER
Unit 1 Section 3.1. Listen to Colin making a presentation to his class.
COLIN
First of all I'd like to thank you for your attention. Today I'm going to talk about lyrics in popular music. In the first part of my talk I'll give you a few examples of different styles of lyrics. In the second part I'll briefly explain my changing attitudes to lyrics and finally I would like to tell you about how the brain processes words and music. First, though I am going to play you two short pieces of music.
<10 seconds of meaningless lyrics from Oasis: "She's got a sister/ And god only knows how I've missed her/ And on the palm of her hand is a blister." from "She's Electric"
10 seconds of a more meaningful clip from a Sting number: "With her smile as sweet as a warm wind in summer/ She's got me flying like a bird in a bright June sky/ And then just when she thinks that I've got her number/ brings me down to the ground with her wintry eye." from "Four seasons">
COLIN
These are the words of the two clips. The lyrics from Oasis are:
She's got a sister,
And god only knows how I've missed her
And on the palm of her hand is a blister.
from "She's Electric"
And the words of the second clip are:
With her smile as sweet as a warm wind in summer
She's got me flying like a bird in a bright June sky
And then just when she thinks that I've got her number
Brings me down to the ground with her wintry eye.
from Sting's "Four seasons" album.
Those were examples of different types of lyrics. The first was from a song which I quite liked a while ago. The melody and the sound were nice, but the lyrics were pretty meaningless. The lyrics which I preferred were from Sting's album.
Nowadays I prefer listening to music where the words are an important part of the song, part of the enjoyment.
Artists like Sting use interesting lyrics. His words seem to flow very well, especially with the beat. He paints a picture with the words. I particularly like his song "Four Seasons" because I can imagine the warm summer and I think it goes with the melody very well. On this transparency you can see another part of the lyrics.
The words are:
She can change her mind like she changes her sweaters,
From one minute to the next it’hard to tell,
She blows hot and cold just like stormy weather
She's my gift from the Lord or a fiend from hell.
That's my baby
She can be all four seasons in one day
I like the words. The man who sings this song is saying something interesting about his girl. As far as Chart music is concerned, most groups concentrate on the sound, the beat, the rhythm. But the words don't mean much. They are not trying to tell a story, or tell about something that is happening to them.
As far as bands in today's charts are concerned, I don't think they will last as long as groups like The Beatles, who have been selling records for over 30 years.
I've read that our left brain handles words and our right brain handles music.
On this diagram you can see the human brain. It has got two sides. One side processes words and numbers, the other side processes pictures and music. So if we only hear musical sounds half our brain is not engaged. But when the words stimulate us to think, it is more of an all-round experience because both sides of our brain are listening to the music.
Unfortunately there isn't enough time to explore this subject any further but to sum up I'd like to say that I think that lyrics are important in pop music. They make listening to music a more enjoyable experience. Thank you for listening and are there any questions?