To explore the instruments of the orchestra through listening to Benjamin

Brittens Young Persons Guide to the Orchestra

To understand how an orchestra is organised
To be able to recognize the sound of the individual instruments

Young Persons Guide to the

Orchestra
Composed in 1946 musical

composition by British composer

Benjamin Britten
Features each set of instruments
in short character sketches that
exploit the emotional and
coloristic capacities of each
For his theme in the work, Britten
drew on another theme from a
piece called Abdelazer English
Baroque composer called Henry

 What families are the instruments of the

orchestra grouped into?
Write down your own definition of the
instrumental families
Listen to the first part of The Young Persons
Guide to the Orchestra and write down the
order in which the instrumental families take the
main theme
For each family brainstorm which instruments
belong to each family (rotate
http://www.justinlocke.com/orchfaq.htm

round)

Main theme

STRINGS violin, viola, cello, double bass, harp

You can spot these instruments because they are all made of wood,
have a similar shape and use a bow. The harp is the odd one out!
WOODWIND piccolo, flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, contrabassoon
You will see all the players of these instruments have to blow in them
to make a sound.
BRASS trumpet, French horn, trombone, tuba
These are easy to spot as they all made of brass. Like the woodwind
instruments, the players also have to blow into these instruments to
get a sound but have to make a buzz sound with their lips.
PERCUSSION timpani, bass drum, snare drum, cymbals, xylophone
To get a sound on these instruments you have to hit them. There are
many different types of percussion instruments but the ones listed are
the main ones.

 Draw the orchestra

Brainstorm some questions you dont know the
answer to e.g. what is the difference between a
violin and a viola?

http://www.justinlocke.com/orchfaq.htm

Purcell Young Persons Guide to the Orchestra

Variation

Main Melodic
Instrument(s)

Comments based on Music Elements

Woodwind

1 2:01
2 2:34
3 3:35
4 4:20
Strings
5 5:12
6 5:45
7 6:47
8 7.55
9 8.55
Brass
10 9.43
11 10.35

Variatio
n and
timing

Main Melodic
Instrument(s)

Comments based on Music Elements

Woodwind
1 2:01

Piccolo

2 2:34

Oboes

Slow, - Lento- smooth longer notes

3 3:35

Clarinets

Moderate speed - short flutters of melody, passages marked by the

tuba

4 4:20

Bassoons

Fast - Grumpy sounding

Flutes

Fast Presto, high pitch notes

Strings
5 5:12

Violins

Fast and lively, conversation between violins 1 and 2

6 5:45

Violas

Less quick, romantic, long sustained notes

7 6:47

Cellos

Descending pattern

8 7:55

Double Basses

Gets faster

9 8:55

Harp
Brass

French Horns

Solemn and serious

11
10:35

Trumpets

Fanfare like

12-

Trombon

10
9:43

Tuba

Powerful

Main Theme

Main Theme
What information can you gather from the
main theme?
Clap the rhythm
Can you name the notes?
Do you know the names of the symbols?
Can you learn to play it?
Can you break down into smaller chunks?
What is the shape of the melody line? Are
there any patterns in the melody?

Main Theme
Vocabulary
Time Signature - How many beats are there in
each bar/measure?
Key Signature chart in resources section
Can you break down into smaller chunks?
What is the shape of the melody line? conjunct (steps), disjunct (leaps)
Do the intervals ascend or descend?
Are there any patterns in the melody?
Rhythmical, melodic etc, sequences?

Time Signature

Key Signature

Circle of Fifths
Go down a whole step from CB flat
and that is the one flat for the key
of F. From F, go down a perfect fifth
to B flat. B flat will have two flats.
To figure out which sharp to add, just
go down one half step from the key
signature (the second note of the
perfect fifth)

Main Theme
Compositional devices What makes
this an effective melody?
Twinkle Twinkle
Happy Birthday

http://www.dsokids.com/listen/byinstrument/.aspx

Young Persons Guide

http://www.mhhe.com/socscience/music/kamien9
e/part01/chapter02/youngpersonsguide/
brittenguideinteractive.htm
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/young-persons
-guide-to-orchestra/id665019589?mt=
8
http://www.slideshare.net/zhqxiaoyong/a-young-p
ersons-guide-to-theorchestra
http://www.animatedscience.co.uk/animations/or
chestra/
orchestra.htm
https://www.bsolive.com/sitefiles/resources/docs/

Homework Instrumental
Families
Brass Percussion
Strings
Woodwind

Prepare a presentation about your instrument family. Which should include the
following elements:
An introduction to the main instruments in the family
Soundclips, videos
What makes them a family? What is unique about them?
How are they played?
What are the common elements that make them a family?
How can we tell the different instruments in the family apart from each other.
Describe their timbre
Which is the highest pitch, lowest pitch instrument
How do they modify or change their sound?

At any point in composing a piece of music, a composer has to decide

what to do next. There are only three options.
The composer can:
say it again (i.e. repeat exactly)
say it again differently (i.e. compose a varied repeat)
say something new (i.e. introduce new and contrasting material)
The art of composing consists of learning how to make the right choice,
at the right moment, from these three options. What is right in any
given circumstances is always a matter of judgment.

Performance deadlines every term

solo performance - recorded
Listening diary
Composition improvisation using
pentatonic scale- blues
Other scales etc
Using Dragon scales backing track
Using 12 bar blues
Call and response patterns using
pentatonic
At the beginning of lessons etc
Move into more formal composing
using the pentatonic scale for
example
Use lesson plans for kids rock and
jazz in the classroom book

Analyzing Memorable Melodies

aithless Insomnia
ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=175&v=iD6An7tKfAw\

Faithless Insomnia
One thing that stands out about Insomnia
is repetition.
Theres an A and B section. The A section
(first 4 bars) features a downwards slope
from the 1st beat.
The B section instead travels upwards from
the E to the F-sharp instead of dropping
down to the D. This provides some
variation while keeping the overall melody
memorable.

Melodic Texture
Texture - the interweaving of melodic and
harmonic elements in the musical "fabric". It
can be transparent, dense, thin, thick, heavy,
light - Polyphonic, Homophonic, Monophonic etc
Homophonic - Many melody lines/pitches but
only ONE rhythm played together
Polyphonic - Many melody lines/tunes, many
rhythms played by many people
Monophonic - A single melody line/tune played
by many people

Elvis Guitar Broke Down Friday

Every Good Burger Deserves Fries

Grannys Brains Dont Function

Anymore
Good Birds Dont Fly Away

Code Breaker

Purcells Rondeau
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVivtti-nw
Listen to main theme from Henry Purcell
Identify Rondo form
A Rondeau theme
B contrasting section: lighter, brighter
A Rondeau theme
C contrasting section: longer, with drawn-out
rhythms
A Rondeau theme

How Music Works - Melody

https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=PnbOWi6f_IM

http://www.musictheory.net/exercises/notehttp://static1.1.
sqspcdn.com/static/f/801966/24803549/1398804524530/Grand-S
taff-Note-Name-Speed-Test-A-100-Notes.pdf?token=%2BHH%2BGy
xhMYPkHxENJtv8ejN%2BO2g%
3D
Speed challenge

Basic Theory
http://www.schoolportal.co.uk/GroupDownloadFile.asp?
ResourceId=3420403

Set Works
Trout Variations (4th movement, Quintet in A major, D667),
Schubert

The piece is known as the Trout because the fourth

movement is a set of ariations on Schubert's earlier
Lied "Die Forelle" (The Trout).
The quintet was written for Sylvester Paumgartner, of
Steyr in Upper Austria, a wealthy music patron and am
ateur cellist, who also suggested that Schubert inclu
de a set of variations on the Lied
.
The rising sextuplet figure from the song's
accompaniment is used as a unifying motif
throughout the quintet, and related figures appear in
four out of the five movements all but the Scherzo.

1. Listening

http://www.wwnorton.com/college/mu
sic/listeninglab/shared/listening_guide
s/bach_brandenburg_concerto_no_2.p
df

Rudiments
Standard staff notation including dynamic, tempo and expression
markings, simple ornaments and articulation signs, treble, bass and
alto clefs, key signatures up to 4 sharps and 4 flats in major and minor
keys, time signatures, major, minor and perfect intervals.
Melody and rhythm
Major, minor, chromatic, whole-tone and pentatonic scales. Blue notes.
Melodic movement (ascending or descending by step or leap).
Phrasing. Call and response. Duple, triple or irregular metre.
Syncopation, swing, polyrhythm.
Harmony
Primary chords: I, IV, and V(7); secondary chords: II and VI. Perfect,
imperfect and interrupted cadences. Modulations to related keys (subdominant, dominant, relative minor, relative major).

ternary form pieces (three sections, ABA)

rondo form pieces (often ABACA, i.e. an extension of the ternary
principle)
arch form pieces (often ABACABA, i.e. an adaptation of the Rondo
principle)
dances e.g. Minuet, Waltz, Tango
song writing either with pre-existing lyrics, or the candidates own
words
theme and variations
a solo for the learners own instrument, with piano accompaniment if
appropriate

Composition Tasks

Ground Bass
Blues
Pentatonic - Debussy
Harmony to a melody ABA form
Call and answer. What makes a good
melody line?
Film/Atmospheric devils chords,
dissonance

Compose a variation

Happy Birthday, Twinkle twinkle

Use noteflight
Orchestrate the song
Vary speed, dynamics, range
Repeat parts or mix up the order
Create different moods scary, exciting.
Major, minor
Choose one part of the tune to play with

 http://edmprod.com/ultimate-melody
-guide
/

Main Theme
You could write out the main melody
but leaving some notes out.
As a basic activity, just leave out
one or two notes at a time in a
passage which moves by step or
contains repeated notes.
Input the theme into Noteflight to get
used to using it