The Planets CD-ROM

Subject: Music
Level: Secondary
Age Group: 14 - 16
Order Number: 11085

As in The Planets Suite itself, these PowerPoint presentations are an interesting intermingling of musical creativity, astronomy and Roman and Greek classical mythology. This CD-ROM comprises PowerPoint presentations for each of the seven movements, the main emphasis being on compositional activities.

Mercury – seeks to encourage a lively composition using the hirojoshi scale, about a courier.

Venus – offers the chance to compose music about the Greek or Roman Venus, or Kileken.

Mars – after careful examination of Holst’s use of musical devices, students compose a war piece.

Jupiter – students are asked to compose a contemporary dance piece using the Aeolian mode.

Saturn – considers old age, and develops musical ideas using the pentatonic scale.

Uranus – is about composing a chromatic piece on Prometheus or the duet of Ouranos and Gaia.

Neptune – has a choice of subject between Neptune and Poseidon, and a sea shanty to arrange.

There are also performing activities and listening questions to develop the student’s understanding further.

Whilst it is envisaged that the Unit of Work will encompass all seven presentations over a period of a term, there is no reason that the teacher should organise it thus. Neither is there a specific starting point nor order to them.

There is a Teacher’s Notes document to accompany each presentation, which explains the purpose of the individual slides. The presentations can be used either as a teacher-led white-board activity, or students can use them by themselves at a workstation.

A recording of the work is not included.

This resource includes 8 PowerPoint shows, 44 slides, 4 MIDI files and 12 pages of teacher's notes.

Once purchased, the CD-ROM can be freely copied and networked throughout the school.