Katie Melua – Secret Symphony

Czternastego marca 2012, w Walentynki, słuchaliśmy na zajęciach nagrań Katie Melua… Poniżej załączam kompletny tekst notatki, którą dostali studenci. Na początku każdych zajęć daję studentom taką wirtualną kartkę, na której wyjaśniam cel zajęć, umieszczam zadania/ćwiczenia (z kluczem na dole kartki) i różne inne szczegóły (linki, wyjaśnienia, glosariusze…).

Na zajęciach 14.3.2012 ćwiczyliśmy rozumienie ze słuchu. Na elektronicznej interaktywnej tablicy w mojej klasie puściliśmy nagranie z YouTube’a: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f01JF2EOLdI, po czym studenci starali się zrobić zadane ćwiczenie, w tym wypadku polegające na odpowiadaniu na pytania testujące zrozumienie wysłuchanego i obejrzanego nagrania. Kto ma ochotę zrobić to zadanie? (Proszę nie zaglądać do klucza, który mieści się na dole notatki!)

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Katie Melua – Secret Symphony
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(C) Wlodek Barbosa
(C) www.youtube.com/watch?v=f01JF2EOLdI

This is a listening comprehension task, which means (unsurprisingly) that you’re supposed to listen and… comprehend :-). The input to this task is the sneak preview of the newly published album of Katie Melua, titled “Secret Symphony”: www.youtube.com/watch?v=f01JF2EOLdI. In this video of about 11 minutes duration Katie talks about her work on the new record. This talk is punctuated with excerpts of the songs in the album. Your task is to watch and listen to the entire videoclip first. Then, please have a look at the specific comprehension tasks below. The first two require you to fill in the blanks with the exact words form Melua’s talk (complete text at the bottom of this notecard). The rest just ask general comprehension questions about what she communicated in the following segments of her talk. Each question has a time stamp to help you find the right fragment of the videoclip easily.

The purpose of this exercise is to practice comprehension, but also to reflect on some of the phonetic features of Katie Melua’s English. For example, in the excerpt of the recording of the song below you’ll be able to hear and see a perfectly pronounced <th> sound, with a camera zoom of Melua’s lips while pronouncing it :-). We can also discuss other features of her pronunciation, for example the heavily glottalized /t/ sound, a very common variant in contemporary Southern British (=RP) accent. Have fun!
An excerpt from “There’s gold in them hills”:
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And if we’d get up off our knees
Why then we’d see the forest for the trees
And we’d see the new sun rising
Over the hills on the horizon

There’s gold in them hills
There’s gold in them hills (Time 2:07)

So don’t lose faith
Give the world a chance to say…

COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS:
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1. Time: 0:00
All the albums —- — —- in the past we’ve always had an orchestra on. And it’s been a … an element of the record-making which I’ve enjoyed so much, it’s been so beautiful, it’s been so wonderful — —- — — —- the studio. And, you know, you’ve got the —— —- —-, and you’ve got a basic vocal, but you’d go in a studio, and, you know, you put the orchestra on! And, on a few occasions, maybe – ——- — occasions, I’ve actually sung with the orchestra, which has been probably the greatest feeling in the whole wide world.

2. Time 1:16
This time round, I really wanted to make an album —– — —– *was* the orchestra. And really the perfect person —- – —— — — —- —- was Mike Batt, you know, my long time collaborator and producer. Mike is a beautiful arranger, and it’s very subtly and wonderfully done, but it *is* — —– — — —–, and that’s what makes this record different — — ——.

3. Time: 2:23
What’s so special about how orchestra was used in the recording of this album?

4. Time: 3:40
What did not go according to plan?

5. Time: 4:52
Why was it really easy for Katie Melua to record this album?

6. Time: 6:50
How was the recording of this record different from the previous one?

7. Time: 8:04
How was software used in the production of the album?

8. Time: 8:40
What is the story of the album cover?

9. Time: 9:32
How does Katie Melua feel about the new record?
The first two fragments/paragraphs in their original form:

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All the albums that I’ve made in the past we’ve always had an orchestra on. And it’s been a … an element of the record-making which I’ve enjoyed so much, it’s been so beautiful, it’s been so wonderful to kind of go into the studio, and, you know, you’ve got the rhythm track down, and you’ve got a basic vocal, but you’d go in a studio, and, you know, you put the orchestra on! And, on a few occasions, maybe a handful of occasions, I’ve actually sung with the orchestra, which has been probably the greatest feeling in the whole wide world.

This time round, I really wanted to make an album where the basis *was* the orchestra. And really the perfect person that I needed to do that with was Mike Batt, you know, my long time collaborator and producer. Mike is a beautiful arranger, and it’s very subtly and wonderfully done, but it *is* the heart of the album, and that’s what makes this record different to the others.