New music education resource from NMC

What better way to study music composition than to start with a group of contemporary works. A new GCSE Composition Resource from the NMC label does just that, taking a group of pieces from the NMC catalogue, by Judith Weir, Mark Bowden, Howard Skempton, Errollyn Wallen, Martin Butler and Tansy Davies as the starting point for creative inspiration for students of the composition module of the GCSE syllabus. 

The contemporary composers' music is used as examples and starting points for detailed composition tasks, listening exercises and activities for students, to help them develop their own composition writing. Further listening Spotify playlists demonstrate additional examples from NMC’s catalogue for each composition element explored in the resource, enabling students to explore more.

The resource has been written by the composer Dr Steven Berryman, and is available on the interactive music teaching platform Focus on Sound. In its first three months (April to June 2020) the resource has been used over 12,000  times by users from the UK and worldwide.

The resource is just one of a number of NMC's education initiatives, aimed at assisting the development of emerging talent and inspiring an interest in new music in younger audience, further information at their website.

"NMC's GCSE Composition Resource is a core part of our education strategy, helping us bring music by living British and Irish composers to new audiences in the classroom. Steven Berryman provides simple yet expert analysis for each piece in the resource, which pulls out key tools and examples students can use to inspire and encourage creativity in their own compositions." - Alex Wright, Development and Partnerships Manager, NMC Recordings

Further details from the NMC website, and there are also Spotify playlists.