BOX SET: 6 Minute English - 'Art & culture 2' English mega-class! 30 minutes of new vocab!

Hello. This is 6 Minute English  from BBC Learning English. I'm Neil.

And I'm Sam.

Would you say you're artistic, Sam? Can you draw or paint? Do you dance or play music?

I play the piano a bit. Yes, I'd say I'm quite artistic. How about you, Neil?

Well, if you count playing football as  artistic, then yes. But basically, no,  

I can't paint.   

We've been wondering why being artistic comes more naturally to some people

than others. So, in this program, we'll be asking: Are artists' brains different?

We'll hear two expert opinions, and as usual, we'll learn some useful new vocabulary as well.

So, what do you think, Neil? Are artists' brains different from other people's?

I'm not sure, Sam, but it's true that many artists behave differently,  

often in very strange ways. For example, did you know that Michelangelo worked so hard he  

never took a bath, or that guitar legend Jimi Hendrix once set fire to his guitar on stage?

We'll hear more about the artist's brain soon, but first, I have a question for you. As you said,  

artistic ability comes naturally to some people, including the famous composer Wolfgang Amadeus  

Mozart. Mozart was considered a child prodigy, a young child with very great musical talent. So,  

how old was Mozart when he composed his first piece of music? Was he: 

A. 5 years old, 

B. 10 years old, C. 15 years old?

I'll guess he was A. 5 years old.

Okay, Sam, I'll reveal the answer later in the program. If artists' brains are different,  

it could mean they see the world in unusual ways. Dr. Rebecca Chamberlain is a researcher  

in the neuroscience of art. She investigates how artists see the objects they are drawing by  

measuring saccades, the rapid movements our eyes make as they jump from one thing to another. Here,  

she shares her findings with the BBC  World Service program CrowdScience:

Artists seem to be processing the visual world in a different way to non-artists, particularly  

when they're drawing. The artists actually take a more global approach to looking, so they make  

bigger saccades—bigger eye movements—and shorter fixations on the image. So it's almost like  

they're getting much more of a kind of gist-level view of the thing that they're looking at.

Rebecca's experiments seem to confirm that artists' brains work differently because of  

their processing of the visual world: the way their brains make sense of information. Interestingly,  

'processing' also means 'the act of developing pictures from photographic film'.

When they draw, artists make bigger, quicker eye movements, so they're able to see  

the whole picture—something also known as the 'gist': the overall general impression  

of something without focusing on the details. If you 'get the gist' of what someone is saying,  

you understand the overall meaning of what they say, but not the details.

The second expert to answer our question about the artistic brain is Mike,  

a BBC World Service listener from Malawi. Mike is a self-taught painter who creates large,  

colourful pictures in his studio. According to him, artistic ability isn't something  

you're born with: it can be learned, as he explained to BBC World Service's CrowdScience.

I had this other student. He was like really at zero, like he could not draw at all. So,  

I gave him some tips, and in a month he was really good. He was really surprised, blown  

away. He never expected. So, there are some things that are trainable. It's like a bike. In my case,  

I learned how to do those things without anyone telling me. You know, like if you are drawing  

the face, a human face, the distance between your eyes is the same as one of your eyes.

Mike gives 'tips' to his students: helpful pieces of advice about how to do something,  

in this case, to paint. After getting Mike's tips,  

one of his students really improved and started painting much better. Mike was 'blown away',  

an informal way to say 'very impressed or surprised'.

Like learning to ride a bike,  

Mike thinks that painting is 'trainable', a word from American English meaning that it can be  

taught or trained. For him, this is proof that artists' brains are not so different after all.

So, there we have it—two different opinions, but no final answer to our question. Still,  

some scientists think there may be a third possibility: everyone's brain works by  

focusing on some areas and ignoring others, making a kind of jigsaw puzzle with missing pieces. Maybe  

all of us: you, me, Mozart, and Jimi Hendrix, are just filling in the missing pieces our own way.

Speaking of Mozart, Neil, it's time to reveal the answer to your question.

Right. I asked how old child prodigy  Mozart was when he first composed music,  

and I said he was 5 years old. So, was I right?

Your answer was correct! Mozart was five when he first wrote music, and by the age of six,  

he had performed in front of the Emperor of Austria twice. Now, there's an artistic brain!

Yeah. Okay, Neil, let's recap the vocabulary from this program, starting with 'child prodigy': a  

young child like Mozart with a great talent in something.

'Processing' describes how  

your brain makes sense of the information it receives.

'The gist' of something is a general  

understanding of it without the details.

'Tips' are useful pieces of advice about how to do something better.

If you are 'blown away', you are very impressed or surprised by something.

And finally, 'trainable' means 'able to be trained or taught', in American English.

Once again, our six minutes are up. It's goodbye for now.

Goodbye.

Hello. This is 6 Minute English  from BBC Learning English. I'm Neil.

And I'm Beth.

London has many tourist attractions, from Big Ben to Buckingham  

Palace. Would it surprise you to hear that many tourists' top destination is actually a  

museum? The British Museum contains thousands of important artefacts: objects of special historical  

interest, including ancient Egyptian mummies, an Aztec serpent, and the Rosetta Stone. In fact,  

London has museums on every subject, from trains to fashion.

But recently, many museums have been criticized for stealing ancient treasures during imperial times,  

the age of the British Empire. Many argue that these treasures,  

such as the famous Parthenon Marbles and Benin Bronzes, should be returned.

In this program, we'll discuss the controversial role of museums in the 21st century, and as usual,  

we'll be learning some useful new vocabulary as well.

But first, I have a question for you, Beth.

Another of London's most visited museums, the Natural History Museum, features a grand  

entrance hall which, for decades, contained an impressive life-size model of a dinosaur. But what  

was this iconic dinosaur's name? Was it: A. Dippy the Diplodocus, 

B. Terry the Pterodactyl, or C. Tyrone the Tyrannosaurus?

Hmm, I think the answer is Dippy the Diplodocus.

Okay, Beth, I'll reveal the answer later in the program. Anthropologist  

Professor Adam Cooper has written a  new book, The Museum of Other People,  

which discusses the idea that many museum artefacts were stolen and should be given  

back. Here, he speaks to BBC Radio 4 program Thinking Aloud about two sides of the debate:  

one which saw European culture as  superior, and another which didn't.

These are the two great ideologies  of the imperial age. The one is that  

all societies began from a very rough  base: you know, we all, our ancestors,  

were hunter-gatherers at one stage. And then they go through the stage of farming,  

industry: all this while they're getting  smarter and smarter, their brains are  

getting bigger and bigger, and they're moving from primitive magic to sophisticated religion,  

then maybe on to science. So it's onwards and upwards. That's the imperial idea,  

and we're going to help these other poor benighted people up the ladder with us. And opposed to this,  

there's this other 19th-century ideology which says, no, this is an imperialist myth. We have  

our own culture. There are no better or worse cultures; there are just national cultures.

Imperialists believed that mankind  progressed through stages, starting  

as hunter-gatherers: people who lived before the invention of farming and survived by hunting and  

collecting food in the wild. According to this view, white European culture was best because  

it was the most advanced, so it was their duty to 'help' local cultures 'up the ladder',  

meaning 'to advance or make progress'. Adam Cooper uses the phrase 'onwards and upwards' to describe  

a situation where things are improving, becoming better and better.   

Of course, things didn't get better for everyone, especially the people whose land and possessions were stolen.  

An opposing view argued that each culture is unique and should be valued and protected.

The legacy of colonialism is now being publicly debated, but the question of returning stolen  

artefacts remains complex. Firstly, since many of these treasures are hundreds of years old,  

who should they be returned to? What's more, the history behind these objects is complicated.  

In the case of the Benin Bronzes, for example, questions can be asked about the actions of local  

leaders as well as the European powers.

So how can museums display their artefacts to reflect this  

complex history? Here's Professor Cooper sharing his ideas with BBC Radio 4's Thinking Aloud:

I want to see a lot more temporary exhibitions. And the kinds of exhibitions I am interested  

in are not about one particular tradition, but about the relationships between different cultural  

traditions. Everything is interconnected. Of course, these connections are sometimes violent,  

sometimes oppressive, sometimes very difficult, sometimes very painful. But things are changing.

An 'exhibition' is a display showing a  collection of artefacts. Adam Cooper  

wants exhibitions to tell truthful stories by showing  

the relationships between cultures  and how events are 'interconnected':  

connected or related to each other. And these stories must include all cultures.

Going back almost to the dinosaurs.

And speaking of dinosaurs, Neil,

it's time for you to reveal the answer to your question. What was the name of the  

famous dinosaur which greeted visitors to London's Natural History Museum?

I said it was Dippy the Diplodocus.

Which was the correct answer! The 26-metre-long dinosaur was displayed from 1905 until 2017,

when it was replaced by the skeleton of a female blue whale, promisingly named Hope.

Okay, let's recap the vocabulary we've learned, starting with 'artefact': an object of historical significance

'Hunter-gatherers' were people who lived by hunting and collecting wild food rather than farming.

If someone 'moves up the ladder', they advance or make progress.

The phrase 'onwards and upwards' describes a situation where things are getting better and better.

'An exhibition' is a display of artefacts in a museum or paintings in an art gallery.

And finally, the adjective 'interconnected' describes separate things which are connected or related to each other.

Once again, our time is up. Join us again soon for more trending topics. Goodbye, everyone.

Bye.

Hello. This is 6 Minute English  from BBC Learning English. I'm Neil.

And I'm Beth.

Shh! Quiet, please. I'm trying to read here, Beth.

Oh, excuse me. I didn't know this was a library.

Well, what exactly is a library? Have you ever thought about that?

Well, somewhere with lots of books, I suppose, where you go to read or study.   

A symbol of knowledge and learning, a place to keep warm in the winter, or somewhere to murder victims  

in a crime novel. Libraries can be all of these things and more.

In this programme, we'll be looking into the hidden life of the library, including one of the most famous: the  

Great Library of Alexandria, founded in ancient Egypt in around 285 BCE. And as usual, we'll  

be learning some useful new vocabulary - and doing it all in a whisper so as not to disturb anyone.

Glad to hear it. But before we get out our library cards, I have a question for you, Beth. Founded  

in 1973 in central London, the British Library is one of the largest libraries in the world,  

containing around 200 million books. But which of the following can be found on its shelves? Is it: 

A. The earliest known printing of the Bible, B. The first edition of The Times newspaper  

from 1788, or C. The original  

manuscripts of the Harry Potter books?

I'll guess it's the first edition of the famous British newspaper, The Times.

Okay, Beth. I'll reveal the answer at the end of the program. Libraries mean different things  

to different people, so who better to ask than someone who has written the book on it,  

literally. Professor Andrew Pettegree is the author of a new book, A Fragile History of the  

Library. Here, he explains what a library means to him on BBC Radio 3 program Arts & Ideas:

Well, in my view, a library is any collection of books which is deliberately put together by  

its owner or patron. So in the 15th century, a library can be 30 manuscripts painfully put  

together during the course of a lifetime, or it can be two shelves of paperbacks in your home.

Andrew defines 'a library' as 'any collection of books someone has intentionally built up'. This  

could be as simple as a few 'paperbacks': cheap books with a cover made of thick paper.   

Today, books are available everywhere, from supermarkets to train stations, but back in history,  

that wasn't the case. In earlier centuries, printed books or manuscripts were rare and  

may have been painfully collected over many years. Andrew uses the adverb 'painfully'  

or 'painstakingly' to describe something that took a lot of care and effort to do.

But paperback books and private collections are only part of the story. You may not believe it,  

but libraries are places of power. To find out why, we have to go back in time to the ancient  

Egyptian port of Alexandria in the 3rd century BCE.

The Great Library of Alexandria held the largest collection of books in the ancient world. Founded in the city built by Alexander the Great,  

the library's mission was to bring  together a copy of every book then  

in existence. According to history professor Islam Issa, there were two reasons why the  

Great Library made Alexandria so powerful, as he explained to BBC Radio 3 program Arts & Ideas:

The first is being in a location at  the intersection of the continents,  

and bringing a diverse set of people together to live in harmony, or relative harmony,  

can bring about economic prosperity. And the second is quite simply that knowledge  

equals power. And so the library is  a form of soft power. It's a way of  

saying that Alexandria is an important  centre of knowledge, a regional capital, by being the guardians of knowledge.

Alexandria was the meeting point of different cultures,  

where different ideas and philosophies were exchanged. This atmosphere encouraged people  

to live 'in harmony': 'peacefully and cooperatively' with each other.

But the main reason for the Great Library's importance is that 'knowledge equals power', a saying meaning that 'the more someone  

knows, the more they will be able to control events'. Alexandria became the capital of  

'soft power': the use of political and cultural knowledge rather than military power to influence events.

Now, maybe it's time to reveal the answer to your question, Neil.

Sure. I asked you which famous text  could be found in the British Library.

I guessed it was the first edition of The Times newspaper. So, was I right?

That was the correct answer. In the British Library,  

you'll find the first copy of The Times, along with the first editions of many famous books.

Okay, let's recap the vocabulary we've learned in this program, starting with 'shh', an exclamation used to ask someone to be quiet.

A 'paperback' is a type of book with a cover made of thick paper and sold relatively cheaply.

Doing something 'painstakingly' or ''painfully' means doing it  

in a way showing that lots of care and effort has been taken.

'Harmony' is a situation where people cooperate peacefully with each other. 

According to the expression 'knowledge equals power', the more you know, the more you're able to control events.

And finally, 'soft power' involves using political or cultural means rather than military power to get what you want.

Once again, our six minutes are up. Goodbye for now.

Goodbye.  

Hello, this is 6 Minute English from  BBC Learning English. I'm Neil.

And I'm Georgie. Many people love watching movies at the cinema or going to the theatre  

to see a play. But have you ever imagined what an art gallery would be like if you were blind,  

or how a deaf person might feel at a music concert?

In the UK, the Equality Act of 2010  guaranteed the rights of disabled people  

to equal access to education, employment, and services, including music, theatre,  

and the arts. Since then, the disability  rights movement has worked hard to break  

down barriers for disabled artists  and performers and their audiences.

In this program, we'll be hearing from  a musical composer whose work using new  

instruments allows disabled musicians to express their lived experience through  

music. The phrase 'lived experience' emphasizes the unique experience of disabled people,  

plus the fact that this gives them knowledge and understanding that others do not have. And,  

as usual, we'll be learning some  useful new vocabulary as well.

Great! But first, I have a question for  you, Georgie. Despite 2010's Equality Act,  

it's still difficult for disabled musicians  and music fans in the UK to perform and see

live music. A study by the disabled musicians' group Attitude is Everything found that one-third 

of music venues provided no disabled access information at all. But which London music venue  

was recently given a Gold Award for accessibility for disabled musicians and audiences? Was it: 

A. The Royal Albert Hall B. The South Bank Centre 

C. Brixton Academy

Hmm, I'll guess it was the Royal Albert Hall.

Okay, Georgie, I'll reveal the answer later in the program.

Megan Steinberg is a music composer at the Royal Northern College of Music,

where she collaborates with Drake Music, a leading national organization working in music,

disability, and technology. Megan composes music to be played by new instruments. Here 

she explains what a new instrument is  to BBC Radio 3's program Arts and Ideas:

So, they may have been mass- produced or semi-mass-produced, or they may have been  

designed and built by the musician themselves, just like a bespoke instrument for themselves.

Okay, and they're designed to be accessible to maybe just that one individual performer,  

or maybe also to lots of different  performers with disabilities or differences.

Megan's new instruments are designed to be accessible to be used by someone with  

a disability. More generally, the word  'accessible' means 'enabling someone with  

a disability the opportunity to engage  in the same interactions and enjoy the  

same experiences as people without a disability'.

New instruments are both electronic and acoustic. They might be 'mass-produced': that's when a factory makes  

a lot of the same thing, or 'bespoke': made specially for one person in particular.

So what are these new instruments like? Listen as Megan introduces the Rainbow Harp,  

a new instrument designed for harpist Moena Lavrat, to BBC Radio programme Arts and Ideas:

And the Rainbow Harp is a harp  that has color-coded strings,  

right? And each string color corresponds to a different pitch. So Moena is dyslexic,  

and she really found that traditional  black-and-white musical notation was quite  

an obstacle for her in learning and teaching music. So she and her husband made these harps,  

and they're really colourful, and she uses colour in music.

Moena is dyslexic. She has 'dyslexia', a condition which makes it difficult for her to spell, read,  

and write. So when Moena's harp teacher wanted her to play from written-down sheet music,  

her brain froze. And that's how the Rainbow Harp was invented.

The strings of a Rainbow Harp are 'colour-coded': different colours are used to represent and separate out different  

strings and to produce different notes. It's a great idea and an inclusive way  

for disabled musicians to share their  talent with music fans across the UK.

Which reminds me of my question, Georgie.

Right, you asked me which London music venue was awarded top marks for making music accessible  

for disabled musicians and audiences. I guessed it was the Royal Albert Hall. So, was I right?

Good guess, Georgie, but that was the wrong answer, I'm afraid. The good news for all  

music fans living in London is that the South Bank Centre is accessible, ready, and waiting.

Okay, let's recap the vocabulary we've learned in this program,  

starting with 'lived experience': the  things that someone has experienced  

personally for themselves rather than heard or read about.

If something is 'accessible', it enables everyone to have equal opportunities and experiences regardless of their abilities.  

To 'mass-produce' something means to 'make many copies of it cheaply in a factory',  

whereas a 'bespoke' product has been made specially for one person in particular. A 'dyslexic' person  

has dyslexia, a condition making it difficult for them to spell, read, or write.

And finally, things which are 'colour-coded' use different colours to represent different parts or functions.

Once again, our six minutes are up,  but remember to join us again next  

time here at Six Minute English. Goodbye for now!

Bye!

Hello and welcome to 6 Minute English. I'm Neil.

And I'm Alice.

Oh, sorry, wait a minute, Neil. I'm just finishing this book. Okay,  

last page... nearly there. A fantastic book.

Well, I'm glad you enjoyed that. I'm  glad you finished your book there,  

Alice. We are talking about books in today's program. What was it you were reading there?

Oh, no, never mind, Neil. It's not your  kind of book. You wouldn't like it.

Well, how do you know?

Well, I just think you might read  something a little more intellectual.

Oh, I see. Well, we are talking about the kind of  

books people read and what they say about them today.

Yes, perhaps you read the works of a famous writer, the classics: Charles Dickens, Shakespeare.

People will think you are an intellectual. You can show off by reading these books, the classics.

Or perhaps you read popular novels or romantic fiction, a light, easy read.

When you go on holiday, maybe to the beach, what kind of books do you read,  

and what do you read when you're going to work?

We're going to hear part of a BBC interview with David Adshead from the Commuter Book  

Club. A commuter travels to work by bus, train, or, here in London, the tube—a train that goes all over the city, mostly underground.

And Alice, as usual, we have a quiz question. Are you ready?

Oh, yes, absolutely.

Okay, so it's about classic book sales.  

So, these days, are people buying: A. More classic books? 

B. The same number of classic books? C. Fewer classic books than they used to?

Oh, that's an interesting one. Tricky to guess, but I'm going to say C: fewer classic books.

Okay, well, let's find out the answer  at the end of the program. But now,  

here is David Adshead from the Commuter Book Club.  

What kind of book does he say people  usually take with them to the beach?

People often think that, you know, traditionally you take a light, easy read for the beach. And  

on the train, you maybe read something very different, if only to show off.

Exactly, to appear to others to be more intellectual. But actually, what we're  

finding is that it really comes down to the individual—what they like to read. And actually,  

we've seen this summer a lot of the book sales of some reads is generally sort of lighter books,  

easier to get on with, to take away  on holiday. But the big retailers  

have seen a shift, actually, people  moving sort of slightly higher brow,  

taking away more classic books. Sales in that way have increased.

David Adshead from the Commuter Book Club there. He says that people usually,  

traditionally, take a light, easy read to the beach or on the train.

Yes, he says these books are easier to get on with. David  

says that it really comes down to the individual;  

each person is different. But he says that there has been a shift, a change, in what people read.

Yes, he says that the shops that sell  books—that's the retailers—say the books  

people are buying are more highbrow,  the classics, as we were talking about.

Absolutely. Highbrow books are read by intellectuals,  

or perhaps the people who read  these books are just showing off.

Yes, maybe they are. Well, I wonder  if these people have read any books  

by Fiona Harper. She writes romantic  novels, that story is about love.

Mmm, reading, not highbrow. She was also at this interview about the Commuter Book  

Club. Now, do commuters read her  romantic novels on the tube? Well,  

here is novelist Fiona Harper talking about how she writes her romantic novels. She wants  

people to not stop reading her stories once they start; she wants them to be hooked:

I think what it comes down to most of the time is you just want to write a really good story,  

because if you write a good story, then hopefully people are hooked, they'll be turning the pages.

And do you think, do you wonder whether they're reading them on holiday? I mean,  

presumably they're more likely to  read your stuff on holiday than when  

they're sitting on the tube being  looked at by lots of other people.

I don't know, possibly. Although with the advent of e-readers, you can read anything  

you like and no one knows, or on your  phone. No one knows what you're reading.

Well, well, and that's an important point.

That's the author Fiona Harper  talking about her romantic novels. So,  

do commuters read her books on the tube?

Well, perhaps you don't want others to  see you reading that stuff. It can be  

a bit embarrassing—it shouldn't be. But Fiona says you can also use an e-reader.

An e-reader, that's an electronic book.  Instead of pages, you read off a screen.

Well, if you use an e-reader or tablet,  no one knows what you're reading,  

so perhaps they're reading a  romantic novel, and no one knows.

Okay, let's take a moment to look at some of today's words,  

Alice. Here they are: intellectual, show off, the classics, romantic fiction, light read,  

heavy read, retailers, highbrow,  shift, hooked, advent, e-reader.

And before we go, the answer to today's quiz question. I asked about classic books.

Are people these days buying: A. More classic books? 

B. The same number of classic books? C. Fewer classic books than they used to?

Yes, and I said C, fewer classic books.

Well, I'm afraid to say, Alice, that you're wrong there.

I know. They're reading more classic books.

Oh, excellent! Sales in these books are apparently increasing.

Well, that's good to hear. And that's the end of today's   

6 Minute English. Please do join us again soon.

And keep reading books in English: highbrow classics or a light read—it doesn't matter.

It doesn't matter at all. Goodbye!

Bye!