Composing at Home (Young Instrumentalists)

Compose music inspired by the signals of pulsars and by Ripples in Spacetime II by composer Jia Guoping. 

Compose by borrowing or stealing a tune from a piece you already know. Re-imagine it to create your own melody.

Compose new music using the shape of a skyline near you to create a melody. 

Compose a 60 second mandala melody inspired by A Dust in Time by Huang Ruo.

Compose a melody using the changing shape and colour of clouds. Inspired by Cirrus Light for solo clarinet by British composer Jonathan Harvey. 

Compose melodies inspired by bird song. Inspired by Oiseaux Exotiques by composer Olivier Messiaen.

Compose music inspired by Density 21.5 for solo flute by Edgard Varese. Resource created by Ben Markland.

Compose new music using the shape and character of star constellations. Inspired by Sternklang by the  composer Karlheinz Stockhausen.

Compose using the movements and gestures of a clown. Inspired by the 2nd Movement of Three Pieces for String Quartet by Igor Stravinsky.

Compose new music using the design and pattern of a mandala to organise, group and move around the notes of the D minor scale. Resource created by Ben Markland. 

Fun activities and tips on improvising to develop your skills and confidence. Resource created by Ben Markland.

Compose new music inspired by Octandre by composer Edgard Varèse. Parallel the creative process of BCMG oboe player and composer Melinda Maxwell.

Collection of Q & As with living composers exploring their practice and creative process. 

Compose short melodies from given rhythms and order them into a longer piece inspired by In C by Terry Riley. 

Illustration by Lauren Tucker

Compose a duet and notate it with a graphic score. Perform both parts and bring it together using the free app A Capella

Compose using a code to create a musical cryptogram melody. Inspired by music by Johann Sebastian Bach and Pierre Boulez.

Play along, karaoke style(!), with BCMG trumpet player Richard Blake in a new piece, Counting Steps by New Zealand/US composer Celeste Oram. 

Explore solo improvisation and musical storytelling inspired by Syrinx for solo flute by Claude Debussy. Resource created by Ben Markland.

Find and compose with unusual sounds on your musical instrument. Inspired by A Visible Trace by composer Rebecca Saunders.

Collection of Q & As with living composers exploring their practice and creative process. 

A simple guide to composing. Open your ears, experiment and play.

Compose a spooky duet inspired by Four Nocturnes (Night Music II) for violin and piano by George Crumb

Resources to support BCMG's Creative Composing Lab, July 2022, as part of Flourish! BCMG's Creative Cities project as part of Birmingham 2022. Compose a fanfare for 4 BCMG musicians - oboe, trumpet, double bass and Indian tabla.  

Compose a simple melodies inspired by Ben Somewhen by composer Howard Skempton using the roll of a dice and the toss of a coin.

Celebrate the birthday of composer Howard Skempton by creating your own mash up of the melody Happy Birthday.