The flute

The flute is one of the oldest instruments in the world. They can be found in different forms in almost all cultures. We also find flutes in various regions of Spain, some of them are ancestral. Most of them are usually accompanied by a drum or a tabor.

1 Listen and write where each of the flutes comes from in your notebook.

This three-hole flute was found in Germany and is at least 35,000 years old.

2 Search the Internet for videos showing tabor players playing these instruments.

It is a wind instrument. It has got a tube shape and several holes that are covered and uncovered to obtain different musical notes.

The sound is produced inside the tube by the vibration of the expelled air.

Mouthpiece

3 Read, learn and practice the recommendations to get a good sound on the recorder.

Postural control

Maintain a good body position.

Breathing

Administer the air well.

Articulation

Use your tongue to separate the notes with the syllables “du” or “tu” and exhale gently.

Fingering

Place and move your fingers, slightly stretched, as if imitating the shape of a duck’s bill.

1 Observe and learn the hand signs for the following notes.

2 Copy in your notebook the following fragments, write the names of the notes and sing them while you make the hand signs.

3 Associative Analysis Melodic dictation. Listen carefully and order the sounds in your notebook.

1 Listen, act out and sing. Accompany with percussion.

Rueda, rueda por la montaña blanca luz del sol, llega, llega cholo, cholito, que es la Navidad. (repeat)

Vuela, vuela blanca paloma, sigue más allá, lleva, lleva la “buena nueva”, que es la Navidad.

¡Llevaremos la “buena nueva” en Navidad, que esta noche, a media noche, Jesús nacerá.

Singing in a group produces a feeling of wellbeing that is good for our health.

1 Learn the note SI on the recorder. Articulate each sound with the syllable tu. Copy in yout notebook the graphics 1, 2 and 3 and complete them.

To articulate the sounds well, try to control the air that you blow with your tongue with the syllable tu or du.

2 Listen and perform Christmas in my city.

1 Listen, dance and accompany as indicated.

Circle in pairs.

B Turn left and turn right.

C She twirls, he twirls.

(8 bars)

Michel-Richard

Delalande (1657-1726)

Symphonies for the King’s dinners

King Louis XIV of France commissioned these symphonies to accompany his dinners at the palace with music.

Folk instruments are often used in Andalucía during celebrations to accompany traditional songs. Their main characteristic is that they are easy to play and manufacture.

The almirez is played in a similar way to a bell, hitting the inside with the metal mallet.

The sound is made by hitting the mouth of the cántaro with an espadrille. The larger the cántaro, the deeper the sound.

In Andalucía, castanets are also called palillos. They are used in dances such as sevillanas or fandangos.

The caña produces a sound when we shake it of strike it with our fingers.

The pito rociero is a wooden flute. It has only got three holes: two in the front and one in the back.

The anisette bottle is a homemade instrument that you scrape. It is used as a güiro and produces a loud and shrill sound.

In Andalucía, as in different areas of Spain at Christmas, it is popular to get together with neighbours and relatives to sing Christmas carols. Everyone participates and accompanies with clapping and with popular and homemade instruments. This is how joy is expressed in traditional Christmas parties. One of the best examples of the Christmas tradition can be found in Jerez de la Frontera (Cádiz).

Festive gatherings date back to the days of old tenement houses. People shared a common patio and a single charcoal stove. There, people sang Christmas carols by the fire and ate Christmas sweets.

The predominant instrument is the zambomba, hence the name of these festive gatherings in Jerez: The Zambomba.

The zambomba is a typical instrument used at Christmas parties and accompanies the singing of Christmas carols.

It’s a friction drum, with a cylincrical or conical vessel made with baked clay. It is closed at the top with a membrane and has got a rod that gets inside the instrument. When you rub the rod, you produce a low and peculiar sound.

1 Imagine that you have been invited to one of those festive Christmas gatherings in Jerez. Write in your notebook the title of any Christmas carols that you know and draw an instrument that you could play.

1 Remember, write in your notebook and complete with figures and rests.

Copy and colour in your notebook:

I know how to do it

I need help

2 Copy the stave in your notebook and create a rhythm with the pieces of this puzzle. Then interpret.

3 Copy the stave in your notebook and write the name of the musical notes.

I don’t know how to do it Review