Track 11 from Charanga / Saydisc / Christine Richards project - 'Listen to This' for Key Stage 3. Also used as track 18 of Saydisc Percussion Around the World.

Traditional music from Rajasthan, from Saydisc album 'Rajasthani Folk Music', performed by Habib and Ramjan Khan (3'47"). Main features: pentantonic scale, drone, rondo, melodic decoration, improvisation, circular breathing.

This piece of Rajasthani folk music features the use of the dadara santara, a double flute with a drone pipe and the dholak, an Indian drum. The three learning tracks of the Track Explorer focus on instrumentation, the drone and pentatonic melody.

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 33 from Charanga / Saydisc / Christine Richards project - 'Listen to this' for Key Stage 2. English Country Dance from Saydisc album 'English Country Dances' (1'53")
Main features: instrumentation, structure, drone.
This dance is played on a hurdy-gurdy, flageolet, dulcimer and fiddle. The Track Explorer has two learning tracks focusing on structure and drone.

Track 24 from Charanga / Saydisc / Christine Richards project - 'Listen to this' for Key Stage 2. Jewish song from the Sephardi tradition, from Saydisc album 'Raisins and Almonds' (1'53")
Main features: instrumentation, melody.
This Sephardic folk song features the rebec (a stringed instrument) and the lauto (a metal strung lute). The Track Explorer has three learning tracks focusing on instrumentation, melody and drone.

Track 23 from Charanga / Saydisc / Christine Richards project - 'Listen to this' for Key Stage 2. Dance music from the time of Queen Elizabeth 1, from Saydisc album 'Music from the time of the Spanish Armada (1'17") Main features: instrumentation, structure, drone.

This lively dance from the Tudor period features the Northumbrian bagpipes and soprano shawm. The learning tracks of the Track Explorer focus on instrumentation, structure, drone on bagpipes and percussion sections.

Track 29 from Charanga / Saydisc / Christine Richards project - 'Listen to this' for Key Stage 1. Music for Northumbrian Small Pipes from Saydisc album 'On Kielder Side' (1'15") Main features: structure, drone. This Scottish dance, a reel, is played on Northumbrian small pipes. The Track Explorer has two learning tracks focusing on structure and drone.

KS1/2 idea - The children can try playing a drone by playing two continuous notes a fifth apart, for example C and G. For a minor, more melancholy sound, try D and A. A school keyboard or metalophone would work really well. Other children can try creating their own folk melodies over the top of the drone.

Track 33 from Charanga / Saydisc / Christine Richards project - 'Listen to this' for Key Stage 1. From Saydisc album 'Music from the time of the Spanish Armada (0'48") Main feature: drone. This tune, popular in Elizabethan times, is played on Flemish bagpipes and a sopranino recorder. The Track Explorer has one learning track focusing on features of the music.

Track 24 from Charanga / Saydisc / Christine Richards project - 'Listen to this' for Key Stage 1. Dance music played on a hurdy-gurdy from Saydisc album 'The Music of the Hurdy-Gurdy' (1'47") Main features: rondo form, drone. This piece features the hurdy-gurdy, or 'wheel fiddle' (an instrument dating back to the Middle Ages). The Track Explorer has one learning track focusing on structure.

Track 20 from Charanga / Saydisc / Christine Richards project - 'Listen to this' for Key Stage 1. English Country Dance from Saydisc album 'English Country Dances' (1'46") Main features: early instruments, structure, drone. This English country dance, popular in the seventeenth century, is played on early instruments such as the mandore, regal and bass viol. The Track Explorer has three learning tracks focusing on instrumentation, structure and drone.

This Mix and Match resource is one of a range of resources relating to track 05 Rasti Bore of the Saydisc 'Listen To This, KS3' world music recordings. Or it could be used in conjunction with any piece that uses a drone.

The 3 excerpts in the top row all play drones (on different notes). The 3 excerpts in the bottom row all play melodies (in different keys). The task is to match each drone to the melody it fits with best. Users are encouraged to sing the drone note as they test it against the different melodies.