Tools to help you make your own music, inspired by OrchLab themes. This includes individual or group activities using instruments you may have, and OrchPlay, an interactive music player that you can use to make sounds online.
Composers often use pictures as a starting point for the pieces of music they create. For instance, in 1874 the Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky created Pictures at an Exhibition, a piano piece which was inspired by the art works of the painter Viktor Hartmann. Mussorgsky went to an exhibition of Hartmann’s paintings at the Imperial
Posted in Create & Compose, Listen & Discover, Resources
OrchLab Soundmakers are a set of web-browser based instruments that you can use on a computer, tablet or mobile phone. The instruments available are called Circles, Squares, Percussion, Lines and Bars. Below you can find a video which introduces Bars to you. Feel free to use this as a starting point and then be as creative as you like with
Posted in Create & Compose, Resources, Staff guidance & training
In this activity, you’re going to play some famous tunes from orchestral music with the London Philharmonic Orchestra! All you need is a set of chime bars, bells or an iPad/tablet, and you can play in a group or by yourself. For each tune, we will tell you which notes you need, and you can
Posted in Create & Compose, Resources
Rise and shine! In this activity, we’re going to create a soundscape to represent dawn, inspired by Tchaikovsky’s famous ‘Fantasy Overture’ from Romeo and Juliet. A soundscape is a musical picture which uses layers of different sounds and melodies. For this soundscape, you will work in a group to create some different sounds to represent
Posted in Create & Compose, Resources
In this activity, play and sing along with us as we perform a song that’s guaranteed to make you feel cheerful – ‘Happy’ by Pharrell Williams! This song was featured in the movie ‘Despicable Me 2,’ and was so popular when it came out that it was the most successful song of 2014! For this
Posted in Create & Compose, Resources
OrchLab Soundmakers are a set of web-browser based instruments that you can use on a computer, tablet or mobile phone. The instruments available are called Circles, Squares, Percussion and Lines. Below you can find a video which introduces Lines to you. Feel free to use this as a starting point and then be as creative
Posted in Create & Compose, Resources, Staff guidance & training1 Comment
In this activity, Joy Stacey and the LPO perform an OrchLab favourite: ‘Take Me Home, Country Roads’ by John Denver. This song is all about the American state West Virginia, but perhaps you could add your own lyrics about one of your favourite places? Watch the video titled ‘About this activity’ first. Then, when you
Posted in Create & Compose, Listen & Discover, Resources
‘Lean on Me’ was released by Bill Withers in 1972, and became instantly one of the most popular soul tracks of all time. We love performing it in OrchLab sessions, so we’ve created a video version so you can play or sing along whenever you like! Watch the video titled ‘About this activity’ first. Then,
Posted in Create & Compose, Listen & Discover, Resources
OrchLab Soundmakers are a set of web-browser based instruments that you can use on a computer, tablet or mobile phone. The instruments available are called Circles, Squares, Percussion and Lines. Below you can find a video which introduces Percussion to you. Feel free to use this as a starting point and then be as creative
Posted in Create & Compose, Resources, Staff guidance & training