Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra by Benjamin Britten

Here is a fun and creative way to introduce young people to the joys of the orchestra and the thrill of music-making. This app is aimed at 7–11 year olds but will be enjoyed by much younger children and grandparents alike! It is also a great resource for the classroom. At the heart of the app is a new, complete recording of Benjamin Britten’s The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra conducted by Sir Mark Elder. The games and quizzes are an engaging way of becoming familiar with the music while learning about the instruments, musical terms and composition.


Features
- Full recording of Benjamin Britten’s The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra
- Witty and vibrant illustrations by Sara Fanelli
- Specially devised games and quizzes to enhance an understanding of the music
- Beautifully produced scrolling short score based on Britten’s original manuscript
- A new narration accompanying the music
- Entertaining videos of the performance and instrumentalists
- Simply and directly written sections on the instruments of the orchestra and Benjamin Britten’s life
- Recordings of some of Britten’s early works
- Archive photographs

The App includes:
The Active Score – even if you don’t read music, you can enjoy the patterns the notes make and see which instruments are playing as you listen to the orchestra. Or watch the video of the performance. Be your own narrator and read the commentary as the music plays!

The Aural Quiz – how well do you know the instruments of the orchestra?

The Personality Quiz – a light-hearted way of thinking about your personality and those of the different instruments. You may get an idea of which instrument you would like to play!

The Variation Game – you can compose your own variations and get an idea of some of the choices a composer makes.

The Fugue Game – introduces you to a musical form called a fugue and shows you how it works. You can create your own version of Britten’s fugue by rearranging it in lots of different ways.

The Orchestra Pages – provide a detailed look at the instruments of the orchestra. Listen and read about them. Meet the players from the Royal Northern College of Music and Sir Mark Elder.

The BB Pages – find out about Benjamin Britten’s life, his childhood and how he came to write The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra. Enjoy the family snapshots and recordings of some of his earliest works.

This app was created to celebrate the centenary of Benjamin Britten’s birth by the Britten Pears Foundation in collaboration with the Royal Northern College of Music.

Some users have reported that the app sometimes crashes. The problem is almost certainly memory leak from other open apps on your iPad. Try turning your iPad off and then turning it back on. Relaunch the app, which should now work properly.