We Can Play! with The BBC Philharmonic Orchestra

March is Women’s History Month, an opportunity to support schools in their ongoing work to celebrate the achievements and contributions of women globally, both during the month and throughout the rest of the year. This year’s theme of ‘Moving Forward Together! Women Educating and Inspiring Generations’ feels most apt in the context of our project, which culminates in a performance of two fantastic pieces by women composers in the summer term, in conjunction with The BBC Philharmonic Orchestra.

Twelve local Manchester schools will be visiting the BBC MediaCity studios on Wednesday 11^th June for one of three workshops, where children will have the incredible experience of playing alongside The BBC Philharmonic Orchestra. The project specifically centres around two highly contrasting but equally inspiring women composers, Marianne von Martínez and Laura Shigihara. Even though the lives of these two women are separated by over two centuries, they do share some common ground in their pioneering efforts within the traditionally male-dominated sphere of composition. 

Marianne von Martínez was born in 1744 in Vienna, Austria – a city that calls itself home to many of the most prestigious classical composers of the era. In 1773, Marianne von Martínez was the first woman to be awarded the title of ‘Honorary member of the Accademia Filharmonia Bologna’, paving the way for other female composers to achieve similar levels of status and recognition. Additionally, Marianne von Martínez is credited with being the first woman composer to write a symphony, namely ‘Overture (Sinfonie) in C major’. The first movement of this symphony features in the BBC’s 2025 Ten Pieces listing, of which all ten pieces chosen this year were written by women composers. Further teaching resources and supporting materials related to this piece can be accessed via the BBC 10 Pieces webpage.  

Laura Shigihara is a contemporary composer from the U.S. A prolific artist within the realm of video games, Laura Shigihara has produced the audio for over 35 published video game titles. Laura Shigihara’s original compositions have drummed up over 50 million views on YouTube and have been referenced in settings as diverse as Billie Eilish interviews for Rolling Stone, to television shows including True Blood and Modern Family. Laura Shigihara runs her own studio where she developed the highly acclaimed game, Rakuen, and is the director of the animated series Farmer in the Sky. Grasswalk features in the BBC’s 2025 Ten Pieces listing- a piece taken from the 2009 game Plants vs. Zombies. The soundtrack plays whilst the gamer protects their home from a zombie attack by harnessing plant power. The BBC have collaborated with Laura Shigihara to produce the first live orchestral recording of this piece. 

Taken collectively, the event and the resources provided by the BBC creates an exciting opportunity to introduce classical music to the next generation in a way which is both highly engaging and accessible. The BBC’s 10 Pieces and accompanying materials not only supports the key pillars of musical development, but also pertinently encourages children to consider the sociological impact of music – its resonances within both historical and contemporary society. Further useful classroom CPD links are detailed below: 

• BBC Ten Pieces webinar: Creative Ways to use teaching resources in the classroom (in partnership with the Independent Society of Musicians). 

• Arts Award: ‘Arts Award Discover’ is the start of the ‘Arts Award Adventure’ – it takes children and young people on an artistic journey as they explore the arts all around them, investigate different art forms, research an artist, and then share their discoveries with others. To achieve ‘Arts Award Discover’, young people create a personal arts log of experiences. This provides evidence of taking part in arts activities, researching artists or craftspeople and their work, sharing their arts discoveries. 

Finally, it would be great to see some of our schools getting creative with classical music and developing imaginative responses to the Ten Pieces. Potential ideas for the creative responses include, but are not limited to, musical responses, as well other art forms such as painting, drawing, dance, poetry, digital art etc. For example: 

• To listen to a different piece of gaming music by Laura Shigihara and ask the children to come up with ideas about what the game could be about. 

• To create a composition based on motifs learned from either of the above two pieces, and to develop a short piece using any motifs as stimulus. 

• To compose a short piece of music for a game – this could be a music-technology based project and could be done on a program like Garageband, or alternatively this could be done on traditional instruments in groups. 

Additionally, some examples from previous years are detailed on the BBC webpage.

Feel free to then upload your responses to the BBC Ten Pieces repertoire here for your chance to feature in the Ten Pieces creative showcase.