Term 4 Week 5: Armistice Day and Berlin Wall 25th anniversary

This week we will catch up on lessons missed when the Seniors were at camp and when the power went off for most of Thursday last week. 

The 11th of November is known as Armistice Day. In the UK and other Commonwealth countries it's also known as Remembrance Day.  In the US it's known as Veterans Day.

At 11:00 a.m. on the 11th of November 1918 the fighting stopped to end World War 1 - known then as the Great War.  It was the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month.

In many parts of the world, there are ceremonies to remember those who served and died in all wars since - and including - World War 1.  In New Zealand, our main memorial day is Anzac Day on April 25th, but Armistice Day is still observed in New Zealand officially and by all RSA clubs and many other institutions.

Here's a link to part of New Zealand's  official Armistice commemoration in Wellington on Tuesday. The background music  is a group singing the  poem 'Flanders Fields'. 

Here's a video of this year's Remembrance Ceremony in London. You will hear Big Ben chime 11 times then there is 2 minutes of silence. Look at how still everyone is. You have to wait for a while to see someone move so you know that it's not a still photo.  You will also hear the Last Post played and you will see the Queen and others lay wreaths.

 This is a band playing Nimrod Enigma Variations  by Edward Elgar. This music is always played at UK Remembrance ceremonies. We learnt about this music when we were learning about Anzac Day music earlier in the year.

Poppies at the Tower of London

Here's a video of the poppies at the Tower of London.

In London, a special display of ceramic poppies has been at the Tower of London to commemorate World War 1.  Each poppy represents  a British soldier  or   Empire soldier who died in the war. There are 888,246 poppies, each one hand made.

This week also marks the 25th anniversary of the pulling down of the Berlin Wall. The wall was built in 1961 by East Germany to try to stop its people leaving the Communist part of the country to join the democratic western part of the country.  The wall was patrolled by guards who were ordered to shoot anyone who tried to escape.  Finally, in 1989, the wall was pulled down and the two parts of Berlin - and Germany - were reunited into one country. There were many celebrations, including a Beethoven concert conducted by Daniel Barenboim which he did for free for the people who had been on the Eastern side of the Berlin wall.  This is a small part of that concert.   

This is Daniel Barenboim conducting the Allegretto from Beethoven's Symphony Number 7 in A major.  This was also played at the concert, although this is a later recording.

Here's a simple version of the notes and note values (below). This is just one line of music; listen to how the  rest of the music adds more to the tune.

Click on this link to hear  the complete version of the Allegretto, with a bar graph of the different tunes played which combine to form the overall sound.  Try following one particular line each time you watch it.  Can you hear the repeated pattern of the notes in the music written  above?  Can you hear the theme repeated in different ways, especially towards the end?Listen for the change in dynamics, too.  Note where it gets louder and softer.

Here's your air guitar version. Listen to it get louder as it progresses. 

Here's another electric guitar/ heavy metal version. Listen for changes in tempo (speed) and dynamics (loud / soft).

2014 Term 1, Week 11: Elgar's Variation IX - Nimrod. Preparation for Anzac Day

This week we will be looking at some of the music associated with Anzac Day, and practising some of the songs for our Anzac Assembly  next term.

The Last Post is played to commemorate the war dead - at funerals or other public commemorations. It is also played on Anzac Day before a two-minute silence.

This is a video of the Last Post being played at the Anzac Memorial in Hyde Park in London.

Here's a video of the Last Post being played at the Gallipoli Dawn Service. Can you see the flags of Australia, New Zealand and Turkey?

This is Reveille played at the 2011  Dawn Service at the National War Memorial in Wellington.
What do you think is the purpose of the drums?

This is a recording of the Maori Battalion marching song sung in Maori.
Here's Howard Morrison singing part of the the Maori Battalion marching song.

Here's the Australian National Anthem - which we should know because they are responsible for the A in Anzac... 

This is called Nimrod by Edward Elgar.  It's from a longer piece of music called Variations on an Original Theme for Orchestra ("Enigma"), Op. 36, or the Enigma Variations for short. Nimrod is Variation 9.

Elgar was a British composer, who wrote this in the 1890s. It was not written about war at all, but it has come to be associated with Remembrance Day in Britain, and is often played at commemorative or solemn occasions.  Many people  have used this as background music when they create video memorials for loved ones lost in war.

The visual quality of this video is not that great, but you can really see the conductor (Daniel Barenboim) working to get the best feeling and sound out of the orchestra.It is a live recording so you can hear background noises.

Listen to  the music start softly and get louder and stronger.
Can you hear the themes in this music?
What instruments can you hear?
What instruments play for only some of the time? 
How does the conductor get the orchestra to play louder or softer?
Why do you think this piece of music became associated with commemorating those who died in war?

Vocabulary:

wreath -  an arrangement of flowers - often a circle - to place at the cenotaph in remembrance of thos who died in war
cenotaph - is an 'empty tomb' erected  in honour of people who are buried elsewhere - or  in unknown places
Last Post -  is music played by a bugle at military funerals or to commemorate those who have been killed in war
bugle - is a simple brass instrument, a bit like a trumpet, but it has no valves or buttons to press. The notes are played by moving the position of the lips. A bugle is usually used to play the Last Post and Reveille. Follow this link to read an article and see a video about a bugle that was used at Gallipoli by  New Zealand bugler and which will be used to play the Last Post and Reveille this Anzac Day.
The Ode - is a verse from a poem (For the Fallen by Laurence Binyon) which is said after the Last Post. One person usually says The Ode, then everyone repeats the last line, "We will remember them". After that there is silence of about one to two minutes.

Here's an interesting  link  called Last Post, First Light from the  Stuff  website.  It has lots of videos and articles relating to Anzac Day  and New Zealand's involvement in any conflicts from World War 1 onwards. It also includes interviews and videos of Anzac Day commemorations. It is updated any time a relevant article is added to the Stuff website.