A group of teenage music students take part in a composition workshop to create a classical piece inspired by Felix Mendelssohn's 'Fingal’s Cave' with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and composer Barry Russell.
The students develop their own compositions in workshops which help them to understand how to use a leitmotif and how to use different instruments to manipulate tone colour.
This short film is from the BBC series, Tips for Young Composers.
Teacher Notes
After watching this short film, you could ask your students to discuss what musical features they noticed about the piece.
Introduce the idea of a leitmotif and ask students to compose a short melody that can be used as a leitmotif.
Once students have their tune, have them swap with a partner and challenge them to come up with different ways of creating a variation of their partner's theme, or a piece that incorporates their partner's leitmotif.
Curriculum Notes
This short film will be helpful for teaching GCSE music composition. This topic appears in OCR, Edexcel, AQA, WJEC KS4/GCSE in England and Wales, CCEA GCSE in Northern Ireland and SQA National 4/5 in Scotland.
More from Tips for Young Composers:
Developing Melodic Writing - 'The Chairman Dances' by John Adams. video
A composition workshop on melody, harmony and thematic composition, inspired by 'The Chairman Dances' by John Adams.
Instrumentation and Melodic Writing - Monteverdi’s 'Toccata from Orfeo' video
The BBC Philharmonic Orchestra offers a masterclass to students who learn to compose an original piece of music inspired by Monteverdi’s 'Toccata from Orfeo' with a focus on melodic writing and variations.
Melody and Instrumentation - 'Petrushka' by Stravinsky. video
With the help of the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, young music students undertake a musical masterclass in how to compose through an analysis of 'Petrushka' by Stravinsky.
Texture and Structure - Bach's 'Prelude in C Major' video
A composition workshop based on creating a classical piece inspired by Bach’s 'Prelude in C Major', focusing on texture, tone colour, development of musical ideas and structure.
