Carnegie Hall's 'The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra' takes your students on an online safari to find all of the instruments in the orchestra in the wild. It is up to you, Violet, and her Uncle Ollie to find them, collect them, and guide them to the orchestra stage. Through the game you follow the form of the actual music. Are you ready to return to your Instrument Safari? Type in your Secret Name and Secret Password and you're off! Don't worry about the information you're sending to Carnegie Hall. Start studying Benjamin Britten's 'The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra'. Learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools.
Young Person's Guide To The Orchestra
Success! A copy of this quiz is in your dashboard.
Question types: Multiple Choice, Essay. Instructions: Choose the appropriate answer after thoroughly reading each question. Use the provided video that will be referenced in the quiz. Some light research may be required to answer certain questions.
- Who composed this piece, and in what year?
Benjamin Britten, 1946
Benjamin Britten, 1954
Igor Stravinsky, 1960
Aaron Copland, 1944
Aaron Copland, 1948
- After the entire orchestra's introduction, in what order do the instrument families play the theme?
Brass, Woodwinds, Strings, Percussion
Woodwinds, Strings, Brass, Percussion
Percussion, Strings, Brass, Woodwinds
Woodwinds, Brass, Strings, Percussion
- At around 2 minutes into the piece, what instrument is playing?
Trumpet
Flute
Violin
Cello
- What is the order of solo instruments in the Strings section of the piece (After Woodwinds, end of part 1 and beginning of part 2--just use the related videos to pick part 2)?
Violins, Cellos, Violas, Harp, Double Basses
Violas, Violins, Cellos, Double Basses, Harp
Cellos, Double Basses, Harp, Violins, Violas
Violins, Violas, Cellos, Double Basses, Harp
- The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra is based on what composer's theme, 'The Moor's Revenge'?
Patrick Henry
Henry II
Henry Pintell
Henry Purcell
- Beginning with the Woodwind solo section (around 2 min into it), count all instruments that have their own solo part. Include Strings, Brass, and Percussion (Use part 2 of the video for Brass and Percussion (Perc. counts as one instrument). For every instrument you hear, that counts as one variation. How many variations are there, total?
15
17
13
12
10
- No wrong answer here - What is your favorite instrument/family of instruments/section in The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra, and why?
The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra is a 1945 musical composition by Benjamin Britten with a subtitle Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Purcell. It was based on the second movement, 'Rondeau', of the Abdelazer suite. It was originally commissioned for the British educational documentary film called Instruments of the Orchestra released on 29 November 1946, directed by Muir Mathieson and featuring the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Malcolm Sargent;[1] Sargent also conducted the concert première on 15 October 1946 with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic in the Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool, England.
The work is one of the best-known pieces by the composer, and is often associated with two other works in the context of children's music education: Saint-Saëns' The Carnival of the Animals and Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf.[citation needed]
Young Person Guide Orchestra Game Of Thrones
This work, in the composer's own words, 'is affectionately inscribed to the children of John and Jean Maud: Humphrey, Pamela, Caroline and Virginia, for their edification and entertainment'.[2]
Instrumentation[edit]
The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra is scored for symphony orchestra:
Young Person's Guide To The Orchestra Interactive Game
- Woodwinds: piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets in B flat and A and 2 bassoons
- Brass: 4 horns in F, 2 trumpets in C, 3 trombones (2 tenors and 1 bass) and bass tuba
- Percussion: timpani, bass drum, cymbals, tambourine, triangle, snare drum, temple blocks, xylophone, castanets, tamtam, and whip
- Strings: harp, first and second violins, violas, cellos and double basses
Young Person's Guide To Orchestra Game
Structure[edit]
Young Person's Guide To The Orchestra Online Game
The work is based on the Rondeau from Henry Purcell's incidental music to Aphra Behn's Abdelazer,[3] and is structured, in accordance with the plan of the original documentary film, as a way of showing off the tone colours and capacities of the various sections of the orchestra.
In the introduction, the theme is initially played by the entire orchestra, then by each major family of instruments of the orchestra: first the woodwinds, then the brass, then the strings, and finally by the percussion. Each variation then features a particular instrument in depth, generally moving through each family from high to low (the order of the families is slightly different from the introduction). So, for example, the first variation features the piccolo and flutes; each member of the woodwind family then gets a variation, ending with the bassoon; and so on, through the strings, brass, and finally the percussion.
After the whole orchestra has been effectively taken to pieces in this way, it is reassembled using an original fugue which starts with the piccolo, followed by all the woodwinds, strings, brass and percussion in turn. Once everyone has entered, the brass are re-introduced (with a strike on the tamtam) with Purcell's original melody.[4]
The sections of the piece and instruments introduced by the variations are as follows.
- Theme
- Allegro maestoso e largamente
- Tutti, woodwinds, brass, strings, then percussion
- Variation A
- Presto
- Flutes and Piccolo
- Variation B
- Lento
- Oboes
- Variation C
- Moderato
- Clarinets
- Variation D
- Allegro alla marcia
- Bassoons
- Variation E
- Brillante: alla polacca
- Violins
- Variation F
- Meno mosso
- Violas
- Variation G
- Lusingando
- Cellos
- Variation H
- Cominciando lento ma poco a poco accel. al Allegro
- Double basses
- Variation I
- Maestoso
- Harp
- Variation J
- L'istesso tempo
- French horns
- Variation K
- Vivace
- Trumpets
- Variation L
- Allegro pomposo
- Trombones and tuba
- Variation M
- Moderato
- Percussion (Timpani; Bass drum & Cymbals; Tambourine & Triangle; Snare drum & Wood block; Xylophone; Castanets & Tam-tam; Whip; percussion tutti)
- Fugue
- Allegro molto
Narration[edit]
The narration for the documentary film was written by Eric Crozier, the producer of the first production of Britten's opera Peter Grimes, and is sometimes spoken by the conductor or a separate speaker during performance of the piece. The composer also arranged a version without narration. The one without narration is more often recorded. The commentary often alters between recordings.
A new narration was written by Simon Butteriss for the Aldeburgh Festival and broadcast live by CBBC presenter Johny Pitts with the BBC Symphony Orchestra for the Britten 100 celebrations in 2013.
Comedian and author John Hodgman wrote a new narration of The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra in 2015 for a series of performances with the Boston Pops Orchestra.[5][6][7]
References[edit]
Young Person Guide Orchestra Game Of War
- ^'Instruments of the Orchestra', British Film Institute, accessed 24 May 2013
- ^'Essential Britten: A Pocket Guide for the Britten Centenary', John Bridcut, accessed 14 January 2014
- ^'Programme Notes'. London Chamber Orchestra. 18 April 2013. Archived from the original on 4 August 2013. Retrieved 3 August 2013.
- ^'Programme Notes'. London Chamber Orchestra. 20 March 2013. Archived from the original on 4 August 2013. Retrieved 3 August 2013.
- ^'John Hodgman in the Young Person's Guide: Boston Pops: WCRB: WGBH'.
- ^Boston Pops (14 May 2015). 'Excerpts from John Hodgman's Debut Narration with Boston Pops' – via YouTube.
- ^'Excerpts from John Hodgman's debut narration with Boston Pops'.
- Boosey & Hawkes No. 606. Benjamin Britten – The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra Opus 34.