Music to students’ ears

AS and A Level music students from Rochdale Sixth Form College visited the BBC studios at Media City to see the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra performing extracts of Bartok’s Concerto for Orchestra.

A special talk was then given by one of the members of the orchestra explaining how the piece was put together and how Bartok keeps the attention of the listener through various textures, rhythms, harmonic devices and melodic features. Many of the ideas discussed feature prominently in the AS and A2 syllabuses.

Timothy Jackson, Teacher of Music & Music Tech, said: “It was a fantastic opportunity for the music students to hear an orchestra up close and ive; a very different experience from listening to a CD in the classroom. It was a privilege to see and hear an orchestra of such outstanding ability, you couldn’t help but be blown away by the sound they created.”