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Can you clap the cymbal part from Carmen?

Get your clapping hands ready and join the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra as they play some music from the opera Carmen, by composer Bizet. Follow along with host Paul Rissmann and see if you can keep up with the orchestra! How does this piece of music make you feel? Why do you think it has that effect?

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What a colourful exhibition!

As the orchestra plays a piece of music called "The Ballet of the Chickens in their Shells", lots of artworks are flashed up on the screen.These pictures were sent in for the concert from schools around Australia. If the music inspries you, perhaps you could make your own artwork.

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What is Music?: What makes an effective AFL club song?

AFL songs are among the most widely recognised and popular pieces of music in Australia, sung proudly year after year. Would it surprise you to find out they’re rarely original? Discover the early 20th-century origins of most of Australia’s football chants and the stylistic features that make them so effective in energising ...

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BTN: A journey into world music

From Japanese drumming to African choirs, there is a wide world of music to be enjoyed beyond mainstream pop music in Australia. Music from one culture will often sound very different to music from another, using varied musical styles and instruments. Come along on a musical journey and explore the increasingly popular ...

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What is Music?: What makes the music of Star Wars so iconic?

Star Wars begins with the biggest B-flat chord you’ve ever heard! John Williams’s fanfare is so iconic that people usually recognise what they’re watching without even looking at the screen. So, what informs the music and makes it so powerful? What techniques can you apply in your own compositions?

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Come and meet the instruments video

Come and meet the orchestra! The musicians are wearing 4 different colours to show which section they belong to. Can you name the 4 sections of the orchestra? What are the names of some of the instruments in each section?

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Lights out!

Host Paul Rissmann describes a scene where Mussorgsky finds himself all of a sudden in the dark. How does the music add to the scariness of this story?

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The Conversation: arts explainers

This is a collection of short articles (explainers) about arts movements (modernism, cubism), visual arts (film lighting), artistic method (Feldenkrais Method), music (classical, indi), institutions (the Oscars) and more. The articles are written in plain language and are authored by experts from universities in Australia ...

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Musical theatre – music

Discover the key elements of theatre music through performance. Explore the key elements of musical theatre music, lyrics and orchestral score.

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Listen With Your Heart featuring Casey Donovan

An interactive music lesson where students explore the song 'Listen with your heart'.

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The Conversation: Australian music - what is it?

This resource contains a series of articles giving a broad overview of Australian music including its development, examples of genres and artists, interviews and its influence on Australian culture. It can be used to develop a broad understanding Australian music and the influences that have impacted on its development.

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Composing as inspired by Gordon Hamilton SNAP

This set of resources focuses on composition. Students listen to and analyse the orchestral work, SNAP, by Australian composer Gordon Hamilton. They develop their own skills in composition and perform and record their own piece. A video features conductor Richard Gill AO exploring the work SNAP with musicians from the ...

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What is a Symphony Orchestra?

This set of resources introduces students to the instruments in a symphony orchestra and supports development of skills in aural identification of instrumental timbre. Conductor Richard Gill AO and musicians from the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra introduce woodwind, brass, string and percussion instruments in a video resource. ...

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Vivid Sydney – 77 Million Paintings

A series of video interviews with Nick Robertson about Brian Eno's '77 Million Paintings' installation, which was part of an exhibition in Vivid Sydney 2009. The resource includes clips of the installation.

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Listen to music inspired by paintings

This piece of music is called ""Pictures at an Exhibition"". It was written by a Russian composer called Mussorgsky. He was inspired to write this piece of music when he went to see his friend's paintings in an exhibition. As you listen to the orchestra playing the music, perhaps you can imagine you are walking through ...

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Who's that cheeky gnome?

Listen as host Paul Rissmann tells a story about Mussorgsky and a gnome called Harry. How does the orchestra's music help to tell the story?

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What is Music?: What are the musical features of a news theme?

Music that introduces the news has to be not only dramatic and exciting but also neutral. It has to introduce war and disasters, as well as weddings and elections. It turns out, the music we associate with the news worldwide often originates from movies! So, what does an effective news theme often include? How would you ...

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Can you hear the famous rhythm?

Beethoven was a composer who lived about 200 years ago. Have a listen as the orchestra plays one of his most well known pieces of music. Do you recognise it? Can you hear Beethoven's famous rhythm being repeated in the music?

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What is Music?: What is a musical phrase?

Sometimes we come across musical phrases that catch on like wildfire. With every repetition, these phrases take on more meaning. Listen closely for this jazz lick that has appeared in many forms throughout music history. What other popular musical phrases can you think of? What meanings do they carry, and what could you ...

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Introduced Species 360

Composer Katy Abbott, uses the true events of a cargo ship in 1992 spilling nearly 29,000 duck bath toys into the North Pacific Ocean as the catalyst for her work: Introduced Species. Six 360 cameras were embedded into the Sydney Symphony Orchestra's performance of Introduced Species to give the viewer a unique and immersive ...