Guitar Melody and Friends

# Melody, Melody

# Listen to the music, let your mind run free

# Melody, Melody

# From the castle or the jungle to the Arctic sea

# To be as loud as a storm

# Or quiet as a sigh

# As dainty as a dance step

# Or soaring high in the sky

# Melody, Melody

# Listen to the music, let your mind run free

# Melody, Melody

# The musical imaginings of Melody. #

And friends.

'I'm really excited today cos we're going to meet a friend of mine.

'Ned. He comes to this music school.

'It's like a normal school, but he also learns a musical instrument.

'Before long, we arrive at the school. It's huge!

'And I can hear musical instruments.'

-Melody, I can hear a...

-BOTH:

-Piano!

Let's have a listen.

PIANO PLAYS

-Oh, it's lovely, isn't it? And also, oh! Can you hear the cello?

-Cello.

It's playing a really sad bit now. Let's have a listen.

CELLO PLAYS

And over here...

-BOTH:

-The electric guitar.

-Shall we have a listen?

-Yes, please.

ELECTRIC GUITAR PLAYS

'This is Ned. Isn't he cool?'

-Hi, Ned.

-Hello, Ned.

-Hi, Melody.

So this is the electric guitar we could hear?

-What can you feel, Melody?

-A wire.

Yeah, a long wire and it travels all the way up to...

This is called the amp which, basically, is just one big

-speaker to make me really, really loud.

-Wow.

-So it's louder than a normal guitar.

-Wow!

What can you feel down there? Can you feel anything?

-Knobs.

-Little dials. What do these do, Ned?

These two control the volume in the guitar. I can either

make it really loud, or subtle and quiet.

These two control the tone,

-so I can make it either sharper or soft and mellow.

-Wow.

A soft kind of piece of music. That's lovely.

What about the shape? Can you feel the shape round there, Melody?

'The guitar body was curved and very smooth.'

It's a nice, smooth shape, isn't it?

Very smooth, the way it's been cut.

-What can you feel along here?

-Strings.

-Can you count them?

One, two, three, four, five, six strings.

Six strings and they all lead up to...

Where can you feel up there?

What happens at the top, Ned?

That's the head where I tune all my strings

so that the guitar doesn't sound nasty and horrible.

When they start going looser it starts to sound

really not very nice.

They have to keep turning them and checking that they're in tune.

Every time you pick it up.

Are you able to show us the different ways you play it?

The first one you learn is normal finger picking.

-HE FINGERPICKS

-Wow.

And then you've got your chords.

HE STRUMS CHORDS

-Good, isn't it?

-Amazing.

And then you can make a really, really big, loud sound.

You just change one little setting on the speaker and you've got a...

-Are you ready for this? Whoa!

-Whoa!

HE PLAYS LOUDLY

'I think Fudge liked playing a loud guitar. Hee-hee-hee!'

-Can I have a go?

-Would you like a go?

-Yeah, of course.

All right, lovely. Thank you.

So just strum with the back of your nail.

SHE STRUMS CHORDS

Yeah, amazing.

'Ned made shapes with his fingers, and I strummed the strings.'

Grand finale. Yeah.

Love it! Fantastic! Brilliant, Ned.

Is that the only guitar that you play? Do you play others?

I also play acoustic guitar which gives a more soft, classical sound.

-Would we be able to hear a little bit of that?

-Yeah, of course.

HE PLAYS CLASSICAL GUITAR

-Wow, Ned. Thank you so much. That was brilliant.

-Thank you, Ned.

Come on, Melody.

We've got to get to the recital, and Ned needs to get ready.

And we've got to find our friends.

-Good luck, Ned. Thank you.

-Bye.

'I have some friends who are going to listen to the music with me.

'I wonder what it will make them think of.'

-Hello, everybody! ALL:

-Hello!

-Are you excited to listen to the music? ALL:

-Yes!

We'd like you think about what pictures come into your head

when you listen to the music.

'The lights go down, and Ned arrives.'

Today, I'm going to play

Bach Cello Suite No 2, the first movement.

MUSIC: Cello Suite No. 2 by Bach

It's wonderful watching somebody play.

Can you see how his fingers move across

the strings and the fretboard?

And his other hand plucks the strings. It's so clever!

'The music makes me think of a hot summer's day with

'a bright sun beating down.

'I can see a desert.

'Look, someone's walking!

'They're searching.

'She's found it! It's a horse!

'What are they doing?

'She's going to try and ride it.'

HORSE NEIGHS

'Look, the horse is almost dancing!

'SHE did it!

'And they're riding away together.

'Ned played so well.

'The music really made me think I was in Spain.'

-Thank you very much, Ned.

-'We waved goodbye at the end of the show.

'After the recital, Mum and I go and meet up with our friends.

'I can't wait for them to tell me what they thought of it all.'

-Hello, everybody. ALL:

-Hello!

-Hello, how are you?,

We are so happy to see you again.

Did you enjoy the music that Ned was playing on the guitar?

-ALL:

-Yes.

-Really good, wasn't he?

He was so talented with his fingers.

We're going to have another listen and

see what you can see in your imagination.

When you listen to the music, let your imaginations run free!

Ready?

As Ned plays, my friends listen really carefully.

MUSIC: Cello Suite No. 2 by Bach

Issy, what did that section make you think of?

Like something was floating.

What do you think would be floating in the air very lightly?

-What could it be?

-A leaf, maybe?

'Then Eladie has an idea.'

Raindrops dropping in puddles, and, like, making more puddles.

Kai, is there anything different that you saw in your imagination?

I thought there was, like, someone playing Italian music.

And Poppy?

I felt like some people were floating in the air with some wings.

Really? Why do you think the music made you feel that?

Because it felt softly like the winds carried him somewhere.

MUSIC CONTINUES

Kyle, what could you hear in that last little section?

It made me think of bugs scurrying around on the floor.

-Where were they scurrying around?

-They were scurrying around

on the garden pavement.

I thought of in Mexico having a burrito,

and the music was playing in the restaurant.

Oh, great! Bugs and burritos. Hm.

MUSIC CONTINUES

Oh, wow, I could definitely see all

of your lovely ideas in my imagination.

We need to get going now, but thank you.

'Everyone has different ideas, but it's all from the same music.

'I love it when so many ideas happen.'

'So that music made my friends think of rain, people flying,

'and even scuttling beetles.'

So, did you like the ideas the children had, Melody?

Yes, but I didn't think about the raindrops or the bugs.

Me either. The same piece of music can mean

different things to different people.

-Mummy, can I listen to it again, please?

-Of course you can.

And the music made me think of a horse.

What did it make you think of?