Track 25 from Charanga / Saydisc / Christine Richards project - 'Listen to this' for Key Stage 3. Traditional chanting from Easter Island (Rapa Nui) from Saydisc album 'Spirit of Polynesia', recorded by David Fanshawe (3'05")
Main features: rhythmic chanting, use of dramatic pauses.

This Polynesian piece features an ancient style of chanting, accompanying a war dance. The five learning tracks of the Track Explorer focus on the conch shells, the voice of the leader, rhythms, dramatic pauses and the drama of the ending.

Track 19 from Charanga / Saydisc / Christine Richards project - 'Listen to this' for Key Stage 3. Traditional Japanese music for hichiriki, from Saydisc album 'Oboe Collection', performed by Robin Canter (3'39")

Main features: hichiriki, portamento, free tempo, accelerando drum rolls

This haunting track is performed on the hichiriki (a traditional Japanese instrument) and accompanied by a temple drum and bell. The learning tracks of the Track Explorer focus on the three note recurring pattern of the hichiriki and its sliding portamentos, the drum rolls and single drum notes.

Track 21 from Charanga / Saydisc / Christine Richards project - 'Listen to this' for Key Stage 3.

Music from China for er-hu and cheng from Saydisc album 'Evening Song', performed by Jing Ying Soloists (4'38")
Main features: Chinese instruments, pentatonic scale, imitation.

This gentle, meditative piece is played on the er-hu, a stringed instrument and the cheng, a Chinese zither. The learning tracks of the Track Explorer focus on structure, the melody of the er-hu based on the pentatonic scale of G and the cheng's imitation of the er-hu.

Track 23 from Charanga / Saydisc / Christine Richards project - 'Listen to this' for Key Stage 3. A selection of music played on a variety of popular Elizabethan instruments from Saydisc album 'Music from the Time of the Spanish Armada', performed by the York Waits (4'22")
Main features: Tudor music, early instruments.

These five dances from the sixteenth century are played on various early instruments including the pipe, tabor, shawms, Flemish bagpipe and sopranino recorder. The learning tracks of the Track Explorer focus on instrumentation.

Track 4 from Charanga / Saydisc / Christine Richards project - 'Listen to this' for Key Stage 3. Music for Koto from Japan, from Saydisc album 'Kurokami', performed by Rié Yanagisawa (2'21")
Main features: koto, minor pentatonic, use of dynamics, use of silence.

This music from Japan is played on the koto, a large zither. It is based on a poem written by Kobayashi Yoshio, a Japanese poet. The Track Explorer has three learning tracks focusing on descriptions of the phrases and use of pauses.

Track 19 from Saydisc "Percussion Around the World" - notes from Maureen Hanke.

'Rag Megh' is an example of North Indian music featuring the tabla. Tabla are an asymetrical pair of small tuned hand played drums. The smaller treble drum is placed on the right of the two drums and the bass drum is placed on the left.
Listening to traditional performances of North Indian classical music, the tabla mainly keep time in cycles of steady beats and creates increasing elaborate rhythmic patterns around time.

Three main elements of Indian music can be identified in this piece. The drone ( a repeated sound throughout), the tune and the rhythm. The rhythm is played on the tabla, the only skin instrument in the piece. The tune is based on a rag or group of notes and treated with very strict musical rules to create an improvisation that evokes a particular mood. The first part of the improvised melody is without the tabla. The extract starts just before the tabla join in and fades before the piece is completed.

Track 23 from Saydisc "Percussion Around the World" - notes from Maureen Hanke.

Listen to 'Pacific Samba' for a very modern Samba sound. Follow the opening Samba rhythm that features the claves and cabassa. When the section changes, the cowbell begins to play and continues to accompany the bongo and conga improvisation.

Track 22 from Saydisc "Percussion Around the World" - notes from Maureen Hanke.

'Temazcal', composed by Javier Alvarez, features the maracas. Javier is from Mexico City and composes music that combines solo instruments and electronic instruments.
Temazcal means "burning waters" and is composed by taping several several Latin American rhythms and mixing them to create a very modern-sounding and exciting piece.

The word "maraca" is probably pre-Columbian Araucanian in origin and is now universally applied to instruments that we shake to make a sound. It is most associated with the rhythm section of Latin American music, particularly the music of Brazil.
The exact origins of the maraca are unknown but it is likely to have first been created from dried gourds that were filled with seeds or dried fruits. Over time maracas have been created from wood, wickerwork, metal or plastic and can contain beads, dried seeds, small shot or any rattling pieces. Maracas are created to be played in pairs, a female and a male. the male of the pair is slightly larger and holds more of the inner substance.

Temazcal has a long quiet introduction and just when you think nothing will happen - bang! The whole section is a build up to the maraca entry and sounds like a rocket launch as the pitch gradually rises. Once the maraca starts, it plays throughout the whole piece; it does not keep a steady beat but plays very elaborate and exciting patterns.

(In a music session ask the class what the music makes them think of and why. If this was the background music to a film, what do you think the film would be about?)

Track 32 from Charanga / Saydisc / Christine Richards project - 'Listen to this' for Key Stage 2. Chinese music with solo di-zi from Saydisc album 'Like Waves against the Sand' (3'35")
Main features: structure, timbre, pentatonic scale.

This Chinese music is played on a di-zi (a bamboo flute) and yang qin (a Chinese dulcimer). The Track Explorer has three learning tracks focusing on instrumentation, structure and claves.

Track 25 from Charanga / Saydisc / Christine Richards project - 'Listen to this' for Key Stage 2. Carol to the tune of an old French dance from Saydisc album 'A Tapestry of Carols (2'27")
Main features: structure, pitch.

This well-known Christmas carol is sung by a female folk singer, with an accompaniment on glockenspiel, recorder, violin, lute and bass. The Track Explorer has two learning tracks focusing on instrumentation and structure.