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.
iPads make fantastic digital musical instruments, and we use them a lot in OrchLab sessions thanks to their adaptability and accessibility. GarageBand is a free music-making app that is installed on the majority of iPads and iPhones, and has many helpful features that you can use to make music. You can look at our previous
Posted in Create & Compose, Staff guidance & training
Play and sing along to this classic soul song, originally recorded by Marvin Gaye and Tammy Terrell in 1967, and released on the legendary Detroit-based record label, Motown Records. ‘Ain’t No Mountain High Enough’ was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999, and is surely one of the most uplifting love songs ever
Posted in Create & Compose, Resources
Can you imagine a film without background music? What would it be like? There are examples (for instance Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds), but they’re very rare – and often the lack of music creates a weird tension, leaving the viewer on edge, not quite knowing what to make of a scene. Film music helps the
Posted in Create & Compose, Resources
In this resource, we’re going to look at some of the different ways you can use the new OrchLab Soundmaker, Patterns, including some tips and ideas on how you might use OrchLab Patterns with some of the other Soundmakers on the OrchLab website. OrchLab Soundmakers are a set of web-browser based instruments that you can
Posted in Create & Compose, Resources, Staff guidance & training
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, Bars and Patterns. Below you can find a video which introduces Patterns to you. Feel free to use this as a starting point and then be as creative as you like
Posted in Create & Compose, Resources, Staff guidance & training
Ahoy! In this activity, we’re going to create musical waves inspired by Felix Mendelssohn’s ‘Hebrides Overture.’ This piece was inspired by Mendelssohn’s visit to Scotland in 1829 and it’s also known as ‘Fingal’s Cave,’ after the landmark which inspired it. However, its original title was ‘The Lonely Isle’ – you can learn more about Mendelssohn’s
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Play, sing and dream about sunny California with this popular classic, originally recorded by The Mamas and the Papas in 1965 and later released by The Beach Boys in 1986. ‘California Dreaming’ was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2001 and was included in Rolling Stone‘s list of the 500 greatest songs of
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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