Heroes of Troy: 5. Lament

School Radio > Music > KS2 Music: Heroes of Troy

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Patroclus joins battle wearing Achilles's golden armour. He meets Hector, the Trojans' superhero, and Patroclus is slain. Achilles returns to the battle to avenge his young friend…only one outcome will satisfy him.

Tutorial: 'Lament'

Song style: folk
Sung by: grieving relatives on both sides
Subject: The tragic waste of life in a ten year war
Learning experience: To learn to sing Song 5 ‘Lament’ smoothly and sadly

The story

Synopsis:

Patroclus returns to the battle wearing Achilles's armour but Hector spots him in the fray and the young warrior freezes. Their battle is short and soon Patroclus lies dead in the sand. But the Soldier sees an opportunity: he returns to Achilles and tells him everything…and his words have the desired effect.

When Achilles gets to the battlefield it is dusk so he spends the night lamenting his lost cousin, makes peace with Agamemnon and in the morning the gods deliver him a new set of golden armour.

When the battle resumes Achilles seeks out Hector and has his vengeance. He drags Hector's body back to the Greek lines and does not return it until some days later when King Priam comes in person to request his son's body. Later there are funerals for Patroclus and Hector.

See Resources below for a quiz about the story episode.

Song: 'Lament'

Learn the ‘Lament’ - about the suffering on both sides of the conflict.

Once you have learnt the song singing with vocal version you can polish your performance singing with just the backing track.

Click here for the lyric sheet.

Click here for the music sheet.

Download the song audio (mp3 files)

Resources

More from this series

School Radio > Music > KS2 Music: Heroes of Troy

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5 - Part 6 - Part 7 - Clips