BBC's Ten Pieces for Primary Schools

[DracoM]

BBC's ten pieces for Primary Schools are:

John Adams: Short Ride in a Fast Machine
Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 (1st movement)
Britten: "Storm" Interlude from Peter Grimes
Grieg: In the Hall of the Mountain King (from Peer Gynt)
Handel: Zadok the Priest
Holst: Mars (from The Planets)
Mozart: Horn Concerto No. 4 (3rd movement)
Mussorgsky: A Night on the Bare Mountain
Stravinsky: The Firebird suite (1911) (Finale)
Anna Meredith: Connect It



Any thoughts?

[Barbirollians]

I do not know Connect It - otherwise quite a sound choice - albeit I might have preferred Morning from the Sea Interludes.

Rather surprised to see no Tchaikovsky which tends to be immediately appealing to young ears.

[Roslynmuse]

With the exception of Anna Meredith's piece, the Adams and (perhaps) the Britten and Stravinsky, this is very much the same fare we were given at primary school in the 1970s. Not necessarily a bad thing; and as Boilk says, for many it will be a big step in a new direction. My fear, when I heard the short piece on Front Row this evening, was that the delivery will be, in many cases, the sticking point - for one thing, how are already hard-pressed teachers to introduce this into the curriculum when it may be as new to them as it is for the children? And how many will not look beyond the ten 'set works', simply ticking them off as job done? I don't want to pour cold water on this as it is (much) better than nothing; but I'd like to see a resource being set up along the lines of 'You liked that? Then try this!' - each piece generating another five or ten pieces and so on. And - perhaps most importantly - suggesting activities around the pieces so the experience isn't wholly passive (ie just listening). Or am I being hopelessly idealistic? Do schools operate in such a way that allow for such freedom to explore?

[mercia]

how are already hard-pressed teachers to introduce this into the curriculum

looks as if the first thing they have to do is take the children to the cinema for an introduction

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/4KCVB2XVgPQ0JwnqLGJl8y0/about-bbc-ten-pieces

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0211wsb

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-27868018

http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/tv/tenpieces/bbc_ten_pieces_timeline.pdf

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/music-news/10903936/BBCs-Ten-Pieces-project-is-it-the-right-choice.html

memory fades but I'm not conscious of ever having heard any classical music whilst at primary school

[MrGongGong]

Going to the cinema to hear this is an advance on ghetto blaster in the classroom
and i'm sure we would all have quibbles with the choices (it's all a bit safe IMV)

The danger of these things is that if you have a list (as with the Scottish "Concept List" ) people will assume that this is ALL there is or even that these are THE basis etc

But ANY opportunity for youngsters to listen to music played well in an interesting context is welcome IMV

If we are going to have a token woman composer maybe Kaija Saariaho would be a more interesting choice or something by Tansy Davies ? (Not that I know Anna's piece ? but the "Body percussion" thing she did for LNOTP was a rather dull pastiche of Stomp IMV again )

[mercia]

Hmmm, how are youngsters supposed to learn about fugue, canon or note rows from this lot?

did you learn about all those things at primary school ?

[french frank]

I do not know Connect It - otherwise quite a sound choice - albeit I might have preferred Morning from the Sea Interludes.

I think it was commissioned for the project.

The concept is very like the BBC's 'Melody' series on CBeebies - where a mother suggests a piece of music to her small daughter who imagines a story to go with it.

Ten Pieces has been piloted with these results: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01y3j1z

To get children introduced to 'classical music' in a positive way and arouse their enthusiasm is a hugely important start, though I'd like to see a slight difference between a CBeebies approach and a CBBC approach (I don't think CBBC has anything similar at all - and it is an ideal opportunity to 'entertain' children via the television which they already watch).

That said, no bad thing to get teachers enthused (possibly even 'educated' in some cases!). I'm sure teachers can find ways of integrating such content into the NC.

[VodkaDilc]

BBC's ten pieces for Primary Schools are:

John Adams: Short Ride in a Fast Machine
Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 (1st movement)
Britten: "Storm" Interlude from Peter Grimes
Grieg: In the Hall of the Mountain King (from Peer Gynt)
Handel: Zadok the Priest
Holst: Mars (from The Planets)
Mozart: Horn Concerto No. 4 (3rd movement)
Mussorgsky: A Night on the Bare Mountain
Stravinsky: The Firebird suite (1911) (Finale)
Anna Meredith: Connect It



Any thoughts?

I despair of "new" ideas in education. Most of these would have been included in the lessons I taught from the early 1970s onwards, with the exceptions of the first and last - and of that particular Stravinsky extract. The end of The Firebird, as often played on Classic FM, sounds like just that - the end of something. I would substitute the first couple of sections of The Rite of Spring.

[Radio64]

What a totally brilliant initiative. You (or the kids!) don't know how lucky you (they) are to have this kind of thing from a public broadcaster.

I'd find it hard to criticise anything....except for the fact that I can't watch any of it .. (but then again I don't pay a BBC licence fee so...)

[gradus]

A familiar list (why no Tchaikovsky) many of which figured in my primary school's collection of 78's which our musically-minded teachers played to us. As for canon, how about London's Burning on the descant recorder - can't remember any fugue or note rows though.

[Stunsworth]

I despair of "new" ideas in education. Most of these would have been included in the lessons I taught from the early 1970s onwards, with the exceptions of the first and last - and of that particular Stravinsky extract.

As someone who went to primary school in the early 60s I don't recall hearing anything as varied as this. In fact I can only recall one example of a teacher playing a record - Devil's Trill on 78.

Perhaps we we should try and be positive about the initiative rather than, as happens all over the place in Internet forums, highlighting personal negatives.

[Mary Chambers]

Is there a disproportionate amount of noisy 'exciting' music? I hated Beethoven 5 when I was a child. I'd have liked to see at least something more reflective, and some piano music, perhaps Chopin. Tchaikovsky should have been included.

I'm grateful, though, for anything! About time, too.

[french frank]

I don't think it matters WHAT the ten pieces are exactly or who the ten composers are. The fairly unambitious aim is for children to start hearing the music before they will start listening.

If you check the link on the children's comments about the pilot scheme, you can see how - even when they are very young - they are beginning to absorb the ida that 'classical music' is for old people sitting in their chairs. in 2014 the barriers to be overcome are much more substantial than they were 40 or 50 years ago.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

The end of The Firebird, as often played on Classic FM, sounds like just that - the end of something. I would substitute the first couple of sections of The Rite of Spring.

Bearing in mind that some of the pieces selected might also have to be adapted for the small groups of players going into the schools, the Firebird was probably chosen as more practical (and to end a little performance?) - 'tho' I would have suggested the dance at the end of the first tableau of Petrushka.

For practical work with ten-year-old children, it's not at all a bad list - and they may even get to meet a living composer - and a great help for all the many willing Primary teachers who want to give their kids experience of Classical Music but who don't know how to do it. I wish it every success - and extension into Secondary Schools - and an equivalent Jazz initiative.

[amateur51]

memory fades but I'm not conscious of ever having heard any classical music whilst at primary school

I have a very clear memory from about 1958 when I was six or seven of listening to Schubert Der Erlkönig sung by Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau accompanied by Gerald Moore broadcast by BBC through an enormous classroom loudspeaker. There was a programme booklet which we had to share in pairs and it contained the German and English translation and the programme took us through what was happening, the various effects that Schubert attempted in the piano part and that the singer was projecting by aletering his voice. I loved it from the start.