Session 5: Musical inspirations –  listening and research

 Aim

Students should learn how artists develop their own music, using music that inspires them, without infringing copyright and why copyright is important to artists. 

Curriculum links: 

KS4
Independent learning
Music (listening)

Introduction

This module looks at musical inspiration from past generations for today’s young songwriters.

• You are going to listen to examples of these artists’ current songs, and compare these with songs that inspired them.
• What do you hear in the original songs that you think may have inspired these artists?
• How is this reflected in their own original material?
  

Jamelia

See interview with Jamelia, July 2008

Link to BBC Sold on Song resource to get some information on one of the songs that inspired Jamelia – ‘Midnight Train to Georgia’ by Gladys Knight and the Pips – and listen to the track (note that it wasn’t written by her, but by long-time Pips collaborator and composer Jim Weatherly, and that it was first called ‘Midnight Plane to Houston’!)

You can also link to UK Intellectual Property Education Resource, ‘Think Kit’, for more information about Jamelia’s songwriting and how important copyright is to her.

Danny Jones - McFly 

Visit the BBC Sold on Song resource to get some information on the man who inspired Jones' - Bruce Springsteen. See if you can identify any links between their music.