Composing programme music with a 'golden brick'
I can use a small musical idea, called a golden brick, to inspire and structure a short piece of programme music.
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- Year 4
Composing programme music with a 'golden brick'
I can use a small musical idea, called a golden brick, to inspire and structure a short piece of programme music.
Copyrighted materials: to view and download resources from this lesson, you’ll need to be in the UK and
Lesson details
Key learning points
- Programme music is music that has been inspired by something non-musical. For example, a story or a piece of artwork.
- Deep Field composed by Eric Whitacre is a symphonic work in four movements that is an example of programme music.
- Music can be mapped as we listen to help us make sense of the musical journey.
- A piece of music can be inspired and built from one small musical idea. Eric Whitacre calls this a ‘golden brick'.
Keywords
Programme music - instrumental music that aims to represent something non-musical, such as a story, picture, scene, idea or emotion
Movement - a self-contained section of a large-scale musical composition, like a chapter in a book
Musical map - lines, shapes, colours and symbols that represent the flow of the music
Golden brick - Eric Whitacre’s term to describe a small musical idea that is the core building block on which the whole piece is built
Common misconception
Musical maps and graphic scores are the same.
A musical map is not the same as a graphic score, although it may look very similar. A graphic score is created by a composer to notate their musical ideas. A musical map is created by the listener to make sense of what they are hearing.
Equipment
Pencils and paper, and select art resources e.g. colouring pencils, chalks or pastels. Pitched percussion for each group (golden brick) plus a selection of other percussion instruments.
Licence
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