Love is life,
if you miss love, you miss life.
(Leo Buscaglia)
Цель: повышение интереса обучающихся к английскому языку на основе некоторых произведений группы "The Beatles".
Задачи:
- познакомить обучающихся с группой "The Beatles" и её творчеством;
- прослушать ряд песен группы и познакомиться с их лирическим содержанием;
- создать эмоциональную взаимосвязь между прослушанной музыкой и текстами песен.
Форма мероприятия: литературно-музыкальный вечер.
Оборудование: CD-проигрыватель, экран, компьютер, проектор.
Оформление: плакат с изображением группы "The Beatles", тексты песен, фильмы роберта Земекиса "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" (1978) и Джули Тэймор "Across the Universe" (2007) – на выбор.
Ход мероприятия
Ведущий: Dear friends, dear guests!
You're welcome to our party dedicated to the world-known group "The Beatles".
Участник 1: "The Beatles" is a beat-group from Liverpool. they tried to use a great number of names for the group such as "Johnny & the Moondogs", "Long John & The Beetles", "The Silver Beatles" and finally band became "the Beatles" in August 1960. It was the band founded by schoolfriends: John Lennon (ages sixteen) and Paul McCartney (fifteen) who invited George Harrison to join the band. And later in 1962 Ringo Starr, who previously performed with them occasionally, became their permanent drummer.
Released in October their first single "Love me Do" was a top twenty UK hits. The Beatles made their TV debut with a live performance on the regional news programme "People and Places". In 1963-1965 the world was flooded with "Beatlemania". In comparison with the moderate success of "Love me Do", "Please Please Me" met a more emphatic reception, reaching number two in the UK singles chart after its January 1963 release.
Участник 2: Their first album "Please Please Me" was released in March 1963. It reached number one on the British chart. The band's third single "From Me To You", came out in April and was also a chart-topping hit.
The band's fourth single "She Loves You" achieved the fastest sales of any record in the UK up to that time, selling three-quarters of a million copies in four weeks. It became their first single to sell a million copies.
Performances everywhere, both on tour and at many one-off shows across the UK, were greeted with riotous enthusiasm by screaming fans. Police found it necessary to use high-pressure water hoses to control the crowds, and there were debates in Parliament concerning the thousands of police officers putting themselves at risk to protect the group. In late October 1963, a five-day tour of Sweden saw the band venture abroad. Returning to the UK, they were greeted at Heathrow Airport in heavy rain by thousands of fans in "a scene similar to a shark-feeding frenzy", attended by fifty journalists and photographers and a BBC Television camera crew.
Участник 3: The next day, "The Beatles" began yet another UK tour, scheduled for six weeks. By now, they were indisputably the headliners. The music critic William Mann, who went as far as to suggest that Lennon and McCartney were "the outstanding English composers of 1963".
Beatles releases in the United States were initially delayed for nearly a year. American chart success came suddenly after a news broadcast about British Beatlemania and lead to rush-release "I Want To Hold Your Hand" in December 1963. The band's US debut was already scheduled to take place a few weeks later.
When The Beatles left the United Kingdom on 7 February 1964, an estimated four thousand fans gathered at Heathrow, waving and screaming as the aircraft took off. "I Want to Hold Your Hand" had sold 2.6 million copies in the US over the previous two weeks, but the group were still nervous about how they would be received. At New York's John F. Kennedy Airport they were greeted by another vociferous crowd, estimated at about three thousand people. They gave their first live US television performance two days later on The Ed Sullivan Show, watched by approximately 74 million viewers-over 40 per cent of the American population.
Участник 4: They sang at the Washington Colliseum & Carnegie Hall of that time. The band appeared on the weekly Ed Sullivan Show a second time, before returning to the UK. During the week of 4 April, The Beatles held twelve positions on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, including the top five.
The band's popularity generated unprecedented interest in British music. the next three years were described as the British Invasion. The Beatles' hairstyle, unusually long for the era and still mocked by many adults, was widely adopted and became an emblem of the burgeoning youth culture.
The Beatles toured internationally in June 1964. Staging thirty-two concerts over nineteen days in Denmark, Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand, they were ardently received at every venue. The final show, at Candlestick Park, San Francisco, on 29 August, was their last commercial concert. It marked the end of a four-year period dominated by touring that included nearly 60 US concert appearances and over 1400 internationally.
Участник 5: Freed from the burden of touring, the band's creativity and desire to experiment grew as they recorded in December 1966 "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band", first conceptual album in music history and first net studio works. It became sign event, and it already became the standard of modern show – culture now.
On 25 June 1968, the band performed their newest single, "All You Need Is Love", to TV viewers worldwide on "Our World", the first live global television link.
Although "Let It Be" was the band's final album release, most of it was recorded before "Abbey Road". It was a time when relations between the Beatles were at their lowest ebb. Four million "Abbey Road" copies were sold within two months and topped the UK chart for eleven weeks.
Участник 6: On 8 May 1970 "Let It Be" was released at last. The accompanying single, "The Long and Winding Road", was the band's last; it was released in the United States, but not Britain.
On 17 July 1970 Paul McCartney released a debut solo album "McCartney". This very day he distributed the text of "auto interview", where declared, that "The Beatles" actually stopped their existence. The group was broken up.
Nearly four decades after their breakup, "The Beatles"' music continues to be popular. They have had more number one albums on the UK charts, and held down the top spot longer, than any other musical act.
The American literary critic and professor of English Richard Poirier wrote an essay, "Learning from the Beatles", in which he observed that his students were "listening to the group's music with a degree of engagement that he, as a teacher of literature, could only envy."
Ведущий: Now dear friends, let’s get acquainted with "the Beatles" discography (look at the blackboard, please):
- Please Please Me – 1963.
- With The Beatles – 1963.
- A Hard Day's Night – 1964.
- Beatles For Sale – 1964.
- Help! – 1965.
- Rubber Soul – 1965.
- Revolver – 1966.
- A Collection Of Beatles Oldies – 1966.
- SGT Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band – 1967.
- Magical Mystery Tour (US) – 1967.
- The Beatles (White Album) (2LP) – 1968.
- Yellow Submarine – 1968.
- Hey, Jude (US) (The Beatles Again) – 1969.
- Abbey Road – 1969.
- Let It Be – 1970.
I saw her standing there.
Участник 7: A great many groups sing about love, a fascinating feeling, which captures everybody. This group isn't exception. Now let's speak about their love songs.
It is not the very first song of the famous Liverpool Quartet, and is not their first great hit. Nevertheless, it would be desirable to begin with the song "I Saw Her Standing There", opening their debut album. It is a song about love, as well as the majority of songs in general. But for millions of the fans the official discography of "The Beatles" and love for this surprising group starts with this cheerful song.
No doubt, "The Beatles" managed to express in their songs everything that the young people thought of and experienced when they fell in love, kept failure or got understanding. The song "I Saw Her Standing There" was one of the songs from their first album "Please Please Me". You know that everyone falls in love some day. And everyone experiences joyful shock and astonishment when he notices her at the disco and went to her. And when he is coming to her, his heart is loudly beating in his breast. in a moment he is taking her hand in his hands, dancing with her and it doesn't matter that the night is coming to the end.
Let's listen to the song "I Saw Her Standing There".
Can't buy me love.
Участник 8: "Can't Buy Me Love" is a song from the fourth album named "A Hard Day's Night", which includes songs from their film of the same name. This film has got phenomenal success. And that album consisting of many remarkable songs also was a success.
Let's listen to one of them: "Tell me that you don't need the diamond rings, that you want those kind of things that money can't buy, because money can't buy me love!"
This song became an anthem of the 1960s generation and it is not surprisingly that at that time it was performed during each concert.
I want to hold your hand.
Участник 9: It was the unbloody and friendly invasion. The triumph of the British group, which added a fresh jet to the musical pop-culture of America of the middle of the 1960s, was officially called as "the British invasion". the Europeans managed to unite in their music the achievements of the Americans, their country music, jazz and rock 'n roll and their own musical traditions, tunes of East, and at last, to create such fresh forms and melodies, which became revolutionary. The new young generation needed understanding and sympathy. They needed all "The Beatles" sang about.
The success of the group started with the first American hit of the natives of Liverpool. The song "I Want To Hold Your Hand" got the first line in the American charts. this song is about almighty love: "I want to hold your hand, I can't hide my love, let me only hold your hand, I want to be with you…". one can say that the words are rather simple, but the perfect melody filled these words with new sense and light.
Yesterday.
Участник 10: This song has a lot of musical variations. It was performed by a great number of popular singers in our country (Muslim Magomaev, Byelorussian group "Pesnyary" etc.) and abroad. What did this song attract their admirers by? The song "Yesterday" shows recollections about love which has gone away. But this melancholy is light and tender.
We present you a translation of this song into Russian, which is not very exact (because it is impossible), but it shows the mood of the song and is not less lyrical than the original text.
"Я вчера
Огорчений и тревог не знал,
Я вчера ещё не понимал,
Что жизнь – нелёгкая игра.Без тебя
Я не буду счастлив никогда,
И сегодня вспоминаю я
О том, что потерял вчера.Нет, нам не найти,
Кто же прав, кого винить,
Нет к тебе пути,
Нам вчера не возвратить."
(М. Подберёзовский, 1970)
Now let's listen to the magnificent music of McCartney which shows the mood of sadness and gone-away love.
Oh! Darling.
Участник 11: The following songs such as "Michelle", "Girl", "Eleanor Rigby", "And I Love Her", "Here, There And Everywhere", "Something" can be called the classic of love lyrics. They are famous all over the world. but we'll dwell upon another two songs.
The first song is "Oh! Darling". The musical critics don't pick out this song among others. But the music is marvelous, though the words are so simple: "Oh! Darling, please believe me, that I'll never do you any harm. When you told me that you didn't need me anymore I nearly broke down, I died!" These words probably are not so fresh, but they are very sincere ant touching. I suggest that we should listen to this song.
Don't let me down.
Участник 12: This song is one of the latest ones of the group. It is obviously seen that the author of this song is John Lennon, a delicate and sensitive poet, though sometimes he can be sarcastic, irreconcilable and cynical. "Don't Let Me Down!" is a confession of a man who realized, that he was not saint, he is just an ordinary man. But then he met the only girl, who could see in him a man worthy her love and partnership. This love made him better and cleaner, because nobody ever loved him like she did.
And the lyrical hero asked his beloved not to let him down. John Lennon's words "Don't let me down!" carried several semantic meanings such as "do not give me to fall!" and "do not disappoint me!"
Ведущий: Thank you very much to all the participants!
And now it’s time to watch a well-known film by Robert Zemeckis "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" (or "Across the Universe" by Julie Taymor).
Источники:
- http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beatles.
- Дэвис Х. Авторизованная биография «Битлз» (Пер. с англ. В.Н. Чемберджи, В.В. Познера). М.: Радуга, 1990.