LSO Discovery is a collection of musical activities, concerts and resources that the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) has developed and gathered together for children of all ages.
There is lockdown listening for ages 7 and upwards:
“A series of daily musical listening tasks for you to do at home – with your children, with your class or even by yourself.
They are designed to be done with the minimum of preparation and equipment – often just paper and pens – and can be achieved in under 10 minutes.” (LSO)
Where’s Simon is suitable for ages 5–12 (Key Stages 1, 2 & 3) it is a quiz and fun activities following listening to a concert recorded during lockdown.
“Trying our quiz, explore some LSO players’ listening recommendations and download the parts to play along yourselves during Part 2.” (LSO)
For Key Stage 1 there is Olivia Forms a Band:
“An interactive Sound Explorers concert based on the popular children’s book Olivia Forms a Band by Ian Falconer. Sing and play along with three original songs, hear pieces of classical music performed by LSO musicians and see illustrations from the book on screen.” (LSO)
There are practice tracks, word sheets and a resource pack of creative activities for teachers to download and use in school when or where possible.
‘Space but not as we know it’ is an online concert and suitable for KS2. “Find out what happens when an orchestra has to keep its distance! Rachel Leach explores the separation of sounds, how music travels around an orchestra and what you can hear between the notes.
There are also warm-ups along with listen and draw activities to get involved with as well as free resources for teachers to download.”(LSO)
There is so much more on this website: LSO Discovery Digital Activities – there is an option to filter projects and resources according to age group, along with an area called LSO Play where children can view the orchestra in one of the big concert halls through four different camera angles. There are also teacher resources packs, and lots more info on each of the projects.
These are just great activities that could be used as music lessons any time anywhere!
