Musical symphony of movie themes
View(s):In a bid to support the Symphony Orchestra of Sri Lanka (SOSL) towards the development of western classical music in the country HSBC once again sponsored the SOSL Outreach Concert last month.
The SOSL performed a free concert for students of music from over 35 schools in and out of Colombo. The hall was packed with over 800 students eagerly awaiting the thrilling program of film theme music that had been detailed in the programme.
The students were given an introduction to the orchestra and the different instruments that form an orchestra. The tone of each instrument was demonstrated through a few bars of music, performed by members of the SOSL. The audience was next given an illustration of how a chord sounds when performed by the strings, by the wind, and finally, the richer tone of the same chord played by the whole orchestra.
Not only were the students introduced to the different instruments of the orchestra, but they also learnt how they were categorised according to their method of producing sound—namely, strings, woodwind, brass,wind and percussion.
The students learnt about the concept of concertos, in which a solo instrument performs with orchestral accompaniment. They also heard singers perform with both orchestral and choral backing, and enjoyed the learning process, as the songs performed were from the popular musicals Sound of Music and Mamma Mia, which were familiar to them.
The other pieces performed showcased different orchestra textures, and demonstrated the various effects created by the careful combination off instruments.
The theme from Star Wars, for example, highlighted the Brass instruments, while music from Pirates of the Caribbean and 007 showed the strings and woodwind in action too. This concert utilized a plethora of percussion instruments, and the students were able to hear the very distinctive sounds of the Glockenspiel, the Xylophone, and bongo drums, and the colours added to the orchestral texture.
The evening’s program demonstrated a number of different types and styles of music—from the Jazz numbers of Chicago, to the more classical sounds of the Warsaw concerto, to the unmistakable sounds of Disco, and the discordant, brooding modern sounds of works like Gladiator and Mission Impossible.
With the use of musical themes from movies the response from the students was overwhelmingly positive. The themes offered students the chance to recognize and enjoy the tunes, and take pleasure from an enriching educational experience.