Hello.

Welcome to your lesson today on analysing, "The cellist of Sarajevo" By Steven Galloway.

I'm Miss Sutherland and I'll be teaching you today.

Our learning outcome for today is to understand and analyse the opening of the Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway.

I'm really excited to read this extract with you.

It's a really brilliant extract.

We're going to begin our lesson by going through our three key words.

Today we have besiege, permeates and core.

To besiege a place is to surround a place with armed forces in order to capture it or force its surrender.

Now, The Cellist of Sarajevo is about how Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina was besieged in the 1990s.

Permeate means to spread through and be present in every part.

So if a key theme in a text is love, we might say that love permeates that text.

And core means the basic and most important part of something.

So we'll be looking at what lies at the core of the opening of The Cellist of Sarajevo to fully comprehend and analyse it today.

Pause the video now and reflect upon those three keywords.

So, we have two learning cycles today.

We're going to begin with reading The Cellist of Sarajevo, and then we're going to work on analysing The Cellist of Sarajevo.

So let's begin with reading this brilliant extract.

So today we'll be reading the start of the Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway.

A cellist is someone who plays the cello, which is a bass instrument from the violin family, and I've put a picture of what that instrument looks like on the screen there for you.

The novel, as we've mentioned, is set during the 1990s, a time when the city of Sarajevo, which is the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina was war-torn and besieged.

This means that Sarajevo was surrounded by armed forces.

Reflecting on how that might make the citizens living in Sarajevo feel might help with your comprehension of the text today.

So pause the video now and reflect on what it might have felt like to live in Sarajevo in the 1990s.

Reflecting upon the context of a text before you read it will really help with your comprehension of it.

Now, I want you to discuss what initial ideas or themes come to your mind about this novel based on the context.

Pause the video and discuss.

Now, you may have said that the theme of violence, pain, grief could all be themes in this novel because of the fact that Sarajevo was besieged.

That might mean a lot of violence for the citizens, a lot of grief for the citizens.

But we need to also zoom in to the cellist part of the title, and that might lead us to believe that there are completely different themes in this novel.

So we might suggest that playing the cello is an example of playing music, and music could represent hope, could represent joy, could represent harmony.

So potentially we've got conflicting themes in this novel.

We might have pain, destruction, violence and grief, but we also might have beauty, joy, and hope.

And we've got all that simply from breaking the title of this novel down.

That's how important it is to reflect upon the title as well as the context before you read a novel.

Now, I want you to think about this.

How might people think about art and music during times of grief and destruction? 'Cause as we've said, The Cellist of Sarajevo refers to someone that plays beautiful music on the cello, but also someone who lives in a war torn place.

So how might people think about art and music during times of grief and destruction? Pause the video and discuss.

Potentially, you've said that during times of grief and destruction, music and art can provide comfort, can be a destruction from all the pain and violence around you.

And art and music might become even more important for people during these times than they usually are due to the hope that they might bring.

Great discussions.

So let's read the opening of The Cellist of Sarajevo.

We're going to read from paragraph one, beginning, "It" to the end of paragraph three, ending with, "day." I put three words on the screen there to help with the comprehension of this extract.

Pause the video and get reading.

I hope you enjoy this extract.

Wow, what a powerful extract.

I really hope you enjoyed it.

I wonder what your favourite part was.

I really liked how Galloway managed to link his paragraph on 1945 to the present day.

I think that was done really seamlessly, and I think it was a really clever way to add some depth into the opening of this novel.

Let's now answer some questions to check your comprehension of what you've just read.

Where does The Cellist live? Does he live in Dresden, Italy or Sarajevo? Pause the video and answer that question.

Well done if you said The cellist lives in Sarajevo.

There's a huge clue in the title that The Cellist lives in Sarajevo, but it's also clarified in the opening of the novel because it mentions that The Cellist is one of the besieged residents of the city of Sarajevo.

Now, Dresden and Italy are both mentioned in the opening of that novel, so you have to be careful not to get confused.

Dresden is the place in which someone uncovered a charred manuscript in 1945.

Italy is also mentioned in the extract because Italy is where the musicologist is from, and the musicologist found a charred manuscript in Dresden.

Now, when is the novel taking place? That's your next comprehension question.

Does the novel take place in 1945, in the 17th century or in the 1990s? Pause the video and answer that question now.

Well done if you said the novel was taking place in the 1990s.

Now, we talked about that before we read the novel.

That was a bit of context that I gave to you, but if you were reading carefully, you'd realise that Galloway mentions The Cellist story is taking place nearly half a century later from 1945.

Now, half a century is 50 years.

So if the teller story is taking place nearly 50 years after 1945, that comfortably brings you to the 1990s.

You have to be careful again with these other dates because 1945 is mentioned in the text, but that's when a charred manuscript was found in Dresden.

That's not when the main events of The Cellist story are taking place.

And the 17th century is also mentioned because that's when the Italian composer lived.

So there are a lot of places and a lot of dates mentioned in the first three paragraphs of this novel.

So it's really important to check our comprehension.

Well done everyone.

Now, I want you to discuss the following to check your comprehension of the extract.

Number one, what do you think is happening in the opening paragraph? Number two, what happened in 1945? Number three, what was the Italian musicologist able to do in the 12 years that followed 1945? What two feelings do people have about the finished adagio? And why does the adagio appeal to the cellist? Those are your five questions to discuss.

Off you go.

I heard some brilliant ideas there, well done.

What do we think is happening in the opening paragraph? The opening paragraph describes some sort of weapon falling.

Although Galloway doesn't tell us exactly what it is, we might assume that it's a bomb falling.

We might assume that it is falling in Sarajevo because that's when the main events of the novel are taking place, and we know that it's war-torn during the time it is set.

What happened in 1945? In 1945, an Italian musicologist uncovered a charred manuscript in Dresden.

And the reason this manuscript was charred was because Dresden music library was bombed during World War II.

In the 12 years that followed that manuscript being found, the Italian musicologist was able to re-piece that manuscript and convert it into a full piece again, because obviously pieces were missing as it had been burnt.

People have two feelings about this finished adagio.

And remember, adagio is a piece of music that should be played slowly.

So people have two feelings about this piece of music.

Firstly, they feel it doesn't resemble the original piece of music, and secondly, they feel that regardless of that, it's still a beautiful piece of music.

And number five, why does the adagio appeal to the cellist? If you are reading carefully, you would've noticed that the adagio appeals to the cellist because it represents hope.

The reason for that is because the adagio was found in a firebombed library in Dresden after World War II, and the cellist is currently experiencing war in his own city.

So the fact that this beauty and this joy could be found in a place that has witnessed destruction, potentially gives the cellist hope that the same beauty and joy can be found in his own life whilst he experiences that same pain and destruction.

Well done on answering those five questions.

I hope you're really secure with your comprehension of this opening now.

Now, I want you to read the opening of the novel again.

It's really important to read things over and over so you get more secure and confident with them.

I want you to now think about what lies at the core of the opening.

Remember, something that lies at the core is something that lies at the heart of the story, something that is the most important part of the story.

I want you to read again from paragraph one, beginning, "It" To paragraph three, ending with, "day." Answer the following questions to think about what lies at the core of this opening.

Number one, what story permeates the opening of the novel? Number two, what could the meaning or moral of these opening paragraphs be? And number three, how might the story of the agio be significant to the cellist's own life considering the context of this novel? And lastly, summarise in one word, what theme permeates this opening? Remember, permeates means spread through.

So what theme spreads through this whole opening? So pause the video now.

Enjoy your second read, and I hope you can find out what lies at the core of this extract.

Off you go.

Here's what you may have said.

Number one, what story permeates the opening of the novel? The story of an Italian musicologist finding a musical manuscript amongst the destruction of Dresden after World War II and then being able to restore it into a beautiful piece permeates the opening of this novel.

So that story lies at the core of these first three paragraphs of The Cellist of Sarajevo.

What could the meaning or moral be of these opening paragraphs? The meaning or moral of the opening is perhaps how beauty and hope can be found after all else is destroyed.

And that's shown through that story of the Italian musicologist finding the manuscript in Dresden.

Number three, how might the story of the adagio be significant to the cellist's own life considering the context of this novel? The cellist is living in war-torn Sarajevo in the 1990s.

So this story may give him hope that his own situation may improve and recover.

If after all the destruction of World War II beauty could still be found, The Cellist may hold onto that hope that the same is true for him after the war in Sarajevo ends.

And number four, summarise in one word what theme permeates this opening.

Hope is a word that could summarise this opening 'cause as we've said, the story of the manuscript being found in 1945 and being restored provides hope, and this hope is something that the cellist holds onto and hopes for his own situation.

Well done in answering those four questions there on the text.

We're going to now move on to our second learning cycle now where we'll analyse The Cellist of Sarajevo.

We're going to be looking at what stands out to us in this extract.

And so we're now only going to focus on the first paragraph of The Cellist of Sarajevo.

I want you to discuss what stands out to you in this first paragraph of the text.

Pause the video and discuss.

Let's go through what some Oak students said about what stands out to them.

One student said, "The way the writer describes the weapon's action is powerful." Another student commented that, "It is interesting that the writer doesn't mention what is falling and where it is falling." And, "The way the writer orders the information is interesting.

The final sentence is very dramatic." So there are three things that stood out to some of the Oak students.

Maybe you agree, maybe you had your own ideas.

But let's unpick some of these ideas in more detail before analysing the reasons for Galloway's choices.

So the way the writer describes the weapon's action is powerful.

That's what one of our students has said.

I want you to discuss what makes the description of the weapon's action powerful in the first paragraph.

Let's really unpack that now.

Pause the video and discuss.

You may have said the verbs stand out to you.

The verbs, "Screamed, splitting, and exploded." Make the description of the weapon's action powerful.

Now discuss what are the connotations of each of these words? What's the connotations of, "Screamed, splitting and exploded?" Pause the video and discuss.

Now, you may have said that, "Screamed" Has connotations of pain, agony, and loss, and a split/explode has connotations of damage and destruction.

So by answering those two questions, we've unpicked why the description of the weapon is particularly powerful.

We've said that the verbs that Galloway uses make the description of the weapon's action powerful because of their powerful connotations, such as, "Screamed" Having connotations of pain, agony, and loss, and, "Split and explode" Having connotations of damage and destruction.

Let's now unpick our next idea.

The way the writer orders the information is interesting.

The final sentence is very dramatic.

Let's unpick why the order of information is interesting and how the final sentence is dramatic.

So discuss, how would you describe the ordering of the sentences in the opening paragraph? Pause the video and discuss.

"The ordering of the sentences" You may have said, "Mimics the actual course of the falling bomb." We first learn that it falls from the sky.

We next learn that it chooses a target.

Then we hear of the impacts, and then we hear of the devastation it causes.

Now I want you to discuss why is the closing sentence particularly significant? Pause the video and discuss.

You may have said the closing sentence shows the impacts of the weapon and how everything changes, seemingly irreparably after the bomb is dropped.

The final sentence suggests that nothing will be the same after this bomb is dropped and that makes the closing sentence very powerful and significant.

Let's check your understanding of what we've just talked about then.

Which words from the opening paragraph of The Cellist of Sarajevo are particularly powerful at showing violence? Pause the video and answer that question now.

The words, "Screamed, splitting" And, "Exploded" Are particularly powerful at showing the violence of the bomb in that opening paragraph.

Now, an important part of analysis is focusing on why a writer chooses to write in a certain way.

I want you to discuss the following three questions, and they're all about paragraph one of The Cellist of Sarajevo.

They're really going to help you unpick why Galloway chose to write this paragraph in the way that he did.

Your first question, why might Galloway have used the verbs, "Screamed, splitting exploded"? Number two, why might Galloway have chosen to omit details about whether violence is happening? And why does Galloway choose to start with, "It" And end with the destruction of the world? Remember, considering your ideas about what was at the core of this extract will help you to answer the questions more effectively.

See, if you said hope lies at the core of this extract, try and bring that theme or idea into your answers in some way.

Pause the video and get discussing, off you go.

Great job there.

Let's go through what you may have said.

Why might Galloway have used the verbs, "Screamed, splitting, exploded"? Galloway may have used the verbs, "Screamed, splitting" And, "Exploded" To emphasise the intense destruction that the weapon caused and how it had the power to change everything in the citizen's lives.

Why might Galloway have chosen to emit details about where the violence is happening? So Galloway doesn't tell us in that initial paragraph where the bomb is falling, why not? Galloway may have emitted details about the specific weapon and its target to enable the reader to universalize the message of the extract that in the phase of destruction of any scale in any conflict, people will always find hope.

So Galloway's message could be that whether it's World War II or whether it's the siege of Sarajevo in the 1990s, people will always find a way to hope.

And number three, why does Galloway choose to start with, "It" And end with the destruction of the, "World?" Galloway orders his paragraph by starting with something small and almost anonymous, "It." The focus then widens and the target comes into clearer view.

Finally, the world explodes.

by structuring the sentences from small to large Galloway shows us how seemingly small things can be dangerous, and how quickly and easily everything of importance can be destroyed.

Well done on answering those three questions to explore why Galloway writes that first initial paragraph in the way that he does.

I hope you've enjoyed digging deeper into the opening of The Cellist of Sarajevo today.

Here's what we've learned in today's lesson.

The theme of hope permeates the opening of The Cellist of Sarajevo.

Galloway uses powerful verbs to describe the weapon's destruction.

Galloway structures the opening paragraph of his novel to mirror the way in which the weapon falls.

Galloway may have purposely emitted details in his opening to universalize his message.

And when we analyse a text, we must consider why a writer chose to make a particular decision.

Thank you so much for joining me in today's lesson.

I hope to see you in another lesson looking at another interesting piece of fiction soon.