Ten pieces

Ten pieces

At Drake we focus as a school on a piece of music each month through the BBC’s Ten Pieces.
We listen to it, watch musicians playing it, learn about the composer and the period of music it was written in, respond through art and writing and share together in enjoying the music.
As well as listening to our Ten pieces, we incorporate a listening opportunities across our curriculum that reflect the world: past, present and future, in all its diversity.

Our Ten Pieces for this year are:

September – A Short Ride in a Fast Machine by John Adams
https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/ten-pieces/KS2-3/zkthsrd

October – Symphony No. 5 by Beethoven
https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/ten-pieces/KS2-ludwig-van-beethoven-symphony-no-5-1st-movement/zrsf3k7

November – Storm Interlude by Britten
https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/ten-pieces/KS2-benjamin-britten-storm-interlude-from-peter-grimes/z4fsv9q

December – we are revisiting: Symphony by Ravi Shankar
https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/ten-pieces/classical-music-ravi-shankar-symphony-finale/znk8bdm

January – we are revisiting: Symphony No. 1 in E minor by Florence Price
https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/ten-pieces/classical-music-florence-price-symphony-no1/z48rscw

February - Mars by Holst
https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/ten-pieces/KS2-gustav-holst-mars-from-the-planets/zf6hsrd

March – Connect It by Anna Meredith
https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/ten-pieces/KS2-anna-meredith-connect-it/zhyyb82

April – Horn Concerto by Mozart
https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/ten-pieces/KS2-wolfgang-amadeus-mozart-horn-concerto-no-4-3rd-movement/zmxtng8

May – A Night on Bare Mountain by Mussorgsky
https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/ten-pieces/primary-music-ks2-mussorgsky-night-on-bare-mountain/zvw2t39

June – We are revisiting: Overture by Grażyna Bacewicz
https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/ten-pieces/classical-music-grazyna-bacewicz-overture/zf2k382

Last year we used BBC's Ten pieces Trailblazers set.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/ten-pieces/ten-pieces-trailblazers/zfpy7nb

Ten Pieces Trailblazers challenged students to rethink orchestral music - what it sounds like, who can make it, and how it's used - through ten trailblazing composers and their pieces of music.
The set of pieces showcased works that have helped expand our musical horizons, pieces that have introduced new cultures and sound worlds into the orchestra, and composers whose lives and works have made them pioneers.

Home learning
In May, we have carried on learning about our composer Heitor Villa-Lobos and his piece of music The Little Train of the Caipira. From our homes, we wondered what the train might look like and how it might be travelling.