Draft: this lesson was written with AI help and has not yet been read by a human editor.
1 What your class asks
This lesson asks you to identify reasons why people make music in their daily lives and the contexts in which they make it, and to recognise musical forms from different communities, times and places. The museum offers one case: qawwali, a devotional song of Pakistan and India. The singing, the listening and your own family's music are for your class to bring. 1
Curriculum expectations, with their official codes
- C3.1 identify reasons why people make music in their daily lives […], and describe contexts in which they make music […]
- C3.2 identify, through performing and/or listening, a variety of musical forms or pieces from different communities, times, and places […]
2 The lesson
Why do people make music, and where?
Put two questions to any music: what is it made for, and where is it heard?
Go deeper
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan was born at Lyallpur, now Faisalabad, into a family in which qawwali had passed down for some six centuries. 2 He began as the tabla player of his father's party. 2 His father had wanted him to be a doctor or an engineer, but relented when he saw his gift. 2 After his father's death in 1964 he became its lead singer in 1965 alongside his uncle, and from 1971 he led it. 2
Think about it
His father wanted another kind of work for him, then changed his mind. What could a child show a grown-up to change their mind about something, and why would it work?
Into the museum
- Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan: his family, the party he led, and the places where he sang.
- Rahat Fateh Ali Khan: a singer of the next generation of the same family.
Try this
Read about Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Write down two places where music is made in your own life, and beside each one who listens.
3 Carry it further
Where this lesson leads in the museum.
4 Check yourself
Nothing here is marked or sent anywhere. It is for you.
In your own words: what does Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan have to do with this lesson?
Compare with the card
A family song of devotion. Qawwali is the Sufi devotional song of Pakistan and India, and the name of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan (1948–1997) is associated with it. His family had passed qawwali down for some six centuries; he led his family's party from 1971 and performed in over forty countries. Who might gather to hear a devotional song, and what would they listen for?
I can now