7. The Contemporary period

The final video focuses on the Contemporary period and includes a brief summary of previous episodes.

The video

7. The Contemporary period

Naomi introduces the current period of music history and explains how new instruments and technologies - such as streaming music files - has greatly increased possibilities for composition, on a global scale.

We hear a clip from ‘Connect it’ by Scottish composer Anna Meredith (born 1978) and explore how it is an example of a contemporary composer using the human body as an instrument.

In the Contemporary period, music can be recorded, so that we can listen to it anywhere, anytime. Naomi lists many different popular music styles which sit alongside more traditional genres which are still being written, such as the symphony and string quartet.

Music in the past was written for live performance; today it is also for recording and to accompany other media, such as video, film and TV.

We hear a clip from the 'Doctor Who' theme tune, composed by Ron Grainer and realised by Delia Derbyshire of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop in 1963 (the current arrangement is by Segun Akinola, born 1993).

Naomi and Ludwig listen to a well-known baroque piece, Pachelbel’s ‘Canon’, that has been copied and transformed by modern composers and musicians, including Maroon 5.

Naomi and Ludwig then take a whistle stop tour through the centuries to look back at their music journey through the various periods - Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, Romantic, Nationalistic, 20th Century and Contemporary.

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Teacher Notes

Using a piece of string marked out in centuries from 1100 to the present day, cut out the names or pictures of the composers studied and peg them onto the timeline. This will help children to form a sense of chronology. If you did this for the previous videos you can add to it. Also peg on the names given to the different eras of music studied so far: Medieval (1100-1400), Renaissance (1400-1600), Baroque (1600-1750), Classical (1750-1810), Romantic (1810-1910), Nationalistic (1800-1950), 20th Century (1900-2000), Contemporary.

Explore the resources at Ten Pieces to delve deeper into the music of Anna Meredith.

Explore the resources at Ten Pieces to delve deeper into the theme tune for 'Dr Who'.

Use the musical elements/interrelated dimensions as headings. Can you select one of the pieces of music listened to and describe it using these headings? Or can you select one heading, such as dynamics, and compare the dynamics of each of the music clips in the video. Headings you might choose to consider include:

  • pitch (how high/low the music is)

  • dynamics (whether the music is quiet or loud)

  • tempo (if the music is fast or slow)

  • timbre (the quality of tone, or sound of the instrument - is it brassy, dull, sparkly, etc)

  • texture (is there one line, or many parts)

  • duration (can you feel a driving pulse? can you pick out a repeated rhythm?)

  • structure might also be relevant - although hard to pick out on such short clips - for example, in a song are there verses?

Can you make your own recorded music? Select a song or compose a piece and record it. How can you share this music - by putting it on a school website or one of the many possible online platforms.

This episode will be relevant for teaching Music at KS2 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Also, Second Level P5-P7 level in Scotland. It covers listening and appraising, enabling children to develop a sensitivity to and understanding of music from varied genres, styles and different times. Children are encouraged to build a sense of chronology and begin to understand how musicchanged over time by listening with attention to detail to a variety of music written by the great composers.

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Resources

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