Symphony Listening Program - Britten
- What
- Symphony Listening Program - Britten
- When
- 10/6/2025
Day 1: This week’s feature composer is Benjamin Britten. The feature composition is the second movement from the Simple Symphony. Britten was composing melodies and themes before he was 12 years old. By the time he was 20, he had composed this Playful Pizzacato, a movement of his Simple Symphony. Britten knew that by having the players pluck the strings, pizzicato, his music would sound light, bouncy, and playful.
Day 2: This week’s feature composer is Benjamin Britten. The feature composition is the second movement from the Simple Symphony. Britten created a bouncy, happy mood in two ways. Plucking the strings, pizzicato, was his first idea. But Britten was even more creative with the melody. He invented motives that were short and had the shape of a wave. He repeated them again and again. Perhaps he was thinking of how it feels to chuckle at a good joke, or giggle at a funny cartoon.
Day 3: This week’s feature composer is Benjamin Britten. The feature composition is the second movement from the Simple Symphony. Britten wanted to make his music sound and feel playful, like musical chuckling. He combined pizzicato, plucking, with short wave-like melodies. Britten arranged these melodies in two large sections. He designed the second section to be played a little slower; it is introduced by strong strumming.
Day 4: This week's feature composer is Benjamin Britten. · The feature composition is the second movement from the Simple Symphony. Britten used pizzicato and short wave-like melodies to create light, bouncy, playful music. He arranged these melodies in large sections-the first was fast, the second a little slower. It is almost as if Britten had discovered a musical way to describe the difference between a giggle and a chuckle.
Day 5: This week's feature composition is the second movement from the Simple Symphony. Can you think of the name of the composer? (Short pause.) Did you remember Benjamin Britten? That's correct. Britten composed his music to put us in a playful mood. He knew how to use the stringed instruments in an amusing way. Britten invented musical laughter-short, wave-shaped melodies played pizzicato.