BBC Music calls for primary school pupils to get creative with classical music for BBC Proms Ten Pieces concerts

BBC Music’s classical music initiative Ten Pieces will culminate in a celebration of children’s creative responses to 10 pieces of music in two BBC Proms concerts at the Royal Albert Hall in July 2015, it is announced today.

Published: 28 January 2015

The two concerts will take place over the opening weekend of the 2015 BBC Proms, featuring Barney Harwood and Dick and Dom. They will showcase the original 10 pieces of music performed by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales conducted by Thomas Søndergård, as well as a range of children’s creative responses - through compositions, dance, digital art or animation - to the music.

The Saturday concert will be broadcast live on BBC Radio 3, presented by Clemency Burton-Hill and the Sunday concert will be recorded for future broadcast on BBC Radio 2.

Led by BBC Learning and the BBC Performing Groups, Ten Pieces is an ambitious initiative for primary school pupils, which aims to open up a world of classical music to a generation of children. Launching in 2014, the BBC announced 10 pieces of classical music designed to act as a gateway to children to learn more about classical music and inspire them to use music as a stimulus for their own creativity.

The BBC Orchestras and BBC Singers are running a series of Ten Pieces Orchestra Take Over days with musicians from the BBC’s six Performing Groups visiting schools across the UK to hold workshops with children to create their own Ten Pieces-inspired works. These pieces will be filmed so that they become resources to inspire other schools. The Performing Groups are also putting on a series of 18 celebratory free Ten Pieces Schools Concerts across the country, offering schools an opportunity to hear the 10 pieces performed live and highlighting a range of children’s responses to the 10 pieces. From Portsmouth to Anglesey, Falkirk to Derry, the orchestras will reach the breadth of the UK. Many Ten Pieces Champions are also putting on their own Ten Pieces live concerts over the next six months.

Ten Pieces has already seen nation-wide cinema screenings for more than 120,000 children of an immersive film introducing the 10 pieces of music, performed by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, springing children into their exploration of classical music. Primary schools can still order their free copies of the Ten Pieces film on dvd from bbc.co.uk/tenpieces. More than 8,500 primary schools are already involved with the project, and more are coming on board daily. The project has backing from seven Ambassadors, helping to inspire children and the wider public with their passion for classical music: Alison Balsom, Nicola Benedetti, Catrin Finch, Julian Joseph, Cerys Matthews, Suzy Klein and Laura Mvula.

Online resources are available to encourage children to learn more about the repertoire and composers, before developing their own creative responses to the music, often working with some of the 233 music, dance and arts organisations that have signed up as Champions for Ten Pieces in their communities, and who are running lessons, workshops, teacher training on the theme. Responses to the works can be submitted via the Uploader on the Ten Pieces website as either films, audio recordings and/or stills images. The deadline for uploading content is 27 March 2015.

The Ten Pieces 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'
  • Anna Meredith: Connect It
  • Mozart: Horn Concerto No. 4 (3rd movement)
  • Mussorgsky: A Night on the Bare Mountain
  • Stravinsky: The Firebird – suite (1911) (Finale)

Ten Pieces Schools Concerts

  • Wednesday 13 May - Southbank Centre, London: BBC Concert Orchestra
  • Tuesday 19 May – Glasgow City Halls: BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
  • Wednesday 20 May – Caird Hall, Dundee: BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
  • Thursday 21 May – Music Hall, Aberdeen: BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
  • Wednesday 3 June – Salford: BBC Philharmonic
  • Thursday 4 June – Whitehaven Sports Centre: BBC Philharmonic
  • Wednesday 10 & Thursday 11 June – Corn Exchange, Kings Lynn: BBC Concert Orchestra
  • Wednesday 17 June – Thurrock, Backstage Centre: BBC Symphony Orchestra
  • Friday 19 June – Derby Arena: BBC Symphony Orchestra
  • Thursday 9 July – venue tbc: BBC National Orchestra of Wales
  • Friday 10 July – venue tbc: BBC National Orchestra of Wales

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