Welcome to Composition Lab, a new resource specially devised by
Psappha to support music composition in schools.
Through more than 100 bitesize films presented by Charles
Hazlewood we explore every orchestral instrument through five
different ensembles using twenty-one of the North West's top
professional musicians.
Begin your exploration in the 'learn about...' section as
Charles Hazlewood guides you through music from Beethoven to Peter
Maxwell Davies and styles ranging from ragtime to
contemporary. We look at how a work is composed,
performances, instrumental techniques and a special interactive
section, 'mix your own', in which you have the opportunity to
literally mix your own version of the piece or listen to the inner
lines, the choice is yours!
You can also find short programme notes and biographies of the
composers as well as background information on the instrument
groups written by eminent musicologist, Paul Griffiths. We also
provide the tonal ranges of the instruments and manuscript paper
set up for the ensembles we showcase. All of this can be downloaded
as useful PDFs for further off-line use.
This new innovation is brought to you by Psappha in
collaboration with Lancaster University with funds provided by the
Ernest Cook Trust.