5 Ways to Get Your Children into Classical Music

Struggling to get the young ones on board with some Mozart and Mussorgsky? Don’t seem to be interested in any Prokofiev or Purcell?

With the help of BBC Ten Pieces, we have 5 exciting ways to open up the world of classical music to the younger generation:

Take Diversity’s dance masterclass!

Jordan and Perri from Diversity share their five steps to creative choreography with John Adams’ A Short Ride in a Fast Machine. Covering theme, style, teamwork and practice, you can get children dancing to classical music in the living room!

Short Ride in a Fast Machine was composed for the opening of an American music festival called 'Great Woods' in 1986. It's written for large orchestra and is described as a fanfare. A fanfare is normally a loud flourish played on brass instruments that introduces someone or something and grabs your attention. Watch this short Ten Pieces film - a lively animation that makes an exciting introduction to John Adams' minimalist music!

Watch Art Ninja’s Mussorgsky Masterclass and let the kids create their own masterpiece to music using sponges and paints!

BBC Ten Pieces takes no responsibility for the subsequent clear up operation.

A Night On The Bare Mountain describes a short story in which St John sees a witches' Sabbath on the Bald Mountain near Kiev in the old Russian Empire. It's a wild and terrifying party with lots of dancing but when the church bell chimes 6am and the sun comes up the witches vanish. Watch the Ten Pieces film to find out more!

Join CBBC's Naomi Wilkinson and Karim Zeroual plus special guests from the Royal Ballet School for a Live Lesson surrounding Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker.

Children will learn to create their own original dance moves, inspired by Tchaikovsky’s music.

The story of The Nutcracker and the Mouse King was transformed into a magical ballet in 1892 – and is now a Christmas favourite. A bit like a Tchaikovsky 'Toy Story', the enchanting narrative is full of wonderful characters and follows a young girl called Clara who is given a wooden nutcracker as a present. When the nutcracker comes to life as a handsome prince the two have to escape the Mouse King to reach the Land of Sweets, which is ruled by the Sugar Plum Fairy.

Sunday 29 July, 3.15pm, Imperial College Union Concert Hall

Barney Harwood presents this exciting free event, which lets children step into the role of a press reporter with a chance to pose questions to leading artists from across the Proms season!

Our panel this year consists of BBC Young Musician of the Year finalist Jess Gillam, composer Bushra El-Turk and broadcaster and presenter Katie Derham!

Sunday 29 July, Royal Albert Hall, 1pm & 5pm

Join CBBC’s Naomi Wilkinson in a thrilling musical adventure for all the family inspired by the BBC’s Ten Pieces project, including Copland’s foot-stomping ‘Hoe-Down’ from Rodeo, the dramatic ‘O Fortuna’ from Orff’s Carmina burana, the lyrical Largo from Dvořák’s ‘New World’ Symphony and a selection of colourful portraits from Elgar’s ‘Enigma’ Variations.

Along with the Ten Pieces Children’s Choir, young performers and some very special guests, discover the characters and stories behind some spectacular orchestral pieces and watch the imaginations of a new generation of music-makers take flight!