8. Arts – Music and Fine Arts, Cultural Life in our Town (Hudba a umění, kulturní život v našem městě)
Music, the fine arts and architecture are parts of our everyday lives as they bring us beauty and joy. It is arts that help us better understand the history and meaning of life. Many people think arts help heal the mental state of their body and therefore take part in various therapies involving music, dance, drama and arts.
Music is around us for all our lives. Mothers sing lullabies to their babies. Music and singing are taught in kindergartens and schools, and a lot of children play some musical instrument in music schools. (piano, flute, trumpet, clarinet, oboe, drums, guitarre, violen, keybord ). People listen to music on various radio stations or buy CDs, young people prefer to download songs from the Internet. In great towns there are concert halls or musical clubs. Village parties (discos) with local band playing have been still popular.
There are many kinds of music – classical music, folk music and country music, many pop genres, rock music, …………… I usually listen ………………….
Theatres aren’t so popular nowadays – they have been replaced by TV programmes and CD/ DVD films. There are various theatre genres such as puppet shows, tragedies, comedies, musicals or historical drama or such a special genres as ballet, operas, operettas or musicals.
Cinemas – On the one hand, it seems fewer people go to the cinema these days as many tickets are expensive. Others watch films on TV, satellites or cable television with lots of programmes, or for someone it is more comfortable to hire a cassete or DVD with their favourite film (it is much cheaper and they can watch it in their homes). On the other hand, cinema has its special atmosphere for many people. The sound features are much better, so is the quality of film, and watching film on large screens people enjoy the show more intensively. There are many kinds of films, e.g. action films, comedies, horrors, westerns, war films, spy films, adventurous films, sci-fi, intellectual films, historical films, cartoons, soap operas,….. As to me I prefer ……………………………. , because ………………………………. .
The best film, actor, actress, director, etc. are awarded by Oscar prize every March – it is the most prestigious award of the international film industry. Some Czech films won this prize, too. (Kolja by Zdeněk Svěrák, Ostře sledované vlaky by Jiří Menzel, …. ). Every July , The International Film Festival is held in Karlovy Vary. This festival has become very popular an is attended by many international celebrities every year.
Works of fine arts can be seen in galleries – the best known are in Saint-Petersburg (Ermitáž), Paris (Louvre) or London (Tate Gallery). We have many famous painters – e.g. Picasso, van Gogh, Monet, Manet, Rembrandt, Rubens …….. Jan Zrzavý, Mikoláš Aleš, Josef Mánes …… Alfons Mucha is very famous even abroad. Everyone knows his calendars with typical pictures or round women usually in the countryside.
