Intro
1. Learn Vocabulary - Learn some new vocabulary before you start the lesson.
2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.
Thanks to the Internet, anyone can hear music from anywhere at any time now. But for most people, there is a certain kind of music that reminds them of home. It’s often the traditional music of their parents and grandparents.
Traditional music is usually folk music, played by common people on acoustic instruments without amplification for many, many years. Some types of traditional music are also well-known art forms now, such as Spain’s Flamenco.
To sing or listen to the songs of your ancestors can make you feel all sorts of things. Listen to Mason and Vanessa talk about the traditional music of their cultures.
Dialog
1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.
2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.
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Mason: I happened to hear on the radio, and I don’t know why they were playing it, one of the songs from “Fiddler on the Roof” the other day. I was raised Jewish, so there’s something about the music of that culture and kind of time period that just gets to me, in a weird way.
Vanessa: How does it get to you? Do you feel a connection to your heritage? It is the old-fashioned sound that reminds you of maybe your grandparents?
Mason: It’s kind of a nostalgic thing. There are surely parts of the world where that music, kind of a Klezmer-y feel is more normal, but to me that only happened on special Jewish occasions like Bar Mitzvahs, or weddings, or High Holy Days or things like that. So it always puts me into an “Oh! Something Jewish is happening!” kind of mode, which was always a special occasion for me.
Vanessa: I see. Now, I grew up listening to Irish music in my house all the time. So to me it sounds normal.
Mason: And you mean U2?
Vanessa: U2, but also more traditional Irish folk music.
Mason: Ok.
Vanessa: So sometimes I’ll be driving and stop at a light, and be blasting some really old-fashioned fiddle music, and I’ll get some funny looks if my windows are down.
Mason: Why is it that a lot of the cultural music feels…I almost want to call it outdated?
Vanessa: Maybe people don’t want to change too much because it makes them feel connected to their heritage, so they don’t want to update it.
Grammar Point
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Discussion
Mason recently heard a song on the radio that reminded him of traditional Jewish music. Hearing music like that reminds him of special occasions when he heard it growing up.
Irish music has the same effect on Vanessa, although it just reminds her of her heritage in general. She heard traditional Irish music every day growing up.
Mason doesn’t know what traditional Irish music sounds like. He imagines it sounds like U2. Vanessa says she’s talking about folk music. Mason thinks that sounds outdated, but Vanessa thinks that’s the point. Some things shouldn’t change.
Tell us about traditional music from your culture. Do you like to hear it? How does it make you feel?
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