Year 9 Music for Stage & Screen
Watch and listen to 'The Circle of Life' Broadway cast performance from 'The Lion King', the 'most successful musical of all time'. Use the sheet music below to prepare your own performance of the song using voices and/or percussion, keyboard and other instruments.
Listening: Comparing Musical Theatre Songs
Alongside 'The Lion King'; 'Wicked', 'Phantom Of The Opera' and 'Hamilton' are among the 'most successful' musicals of all time. Each composer uses the elements of music in very different ways to communicate narrative (story) and emotion in these works. Compare the use of musical elements in three contrasting songs from these musicals to show how the composer uses them to communicate narrative and emotion.
Wicked: The Wizard & I
hopefulness, optimism, determination
Elphaba, a witch and the heroine of our story, goes to college where she's ostracised for her unusual manner and green skin. Elphaba, who has a talent for magic, learns about and resolves to meet the wonderful Wizard of Oz who, she believes, will recognise her talent and see past her differences.The Phantom Of The Opera: Title Duet
fear, control, interdependence
The Phantom, who haunts the Paris Opera House, finds Christine, a young singer, who he believes he can control through his paranormal powers to realise his musical ambitions. He frightens away the opera's star, causing Christine to take her place. In the song, the Phantom takes credit for Christine's supernatural voice, and Christine recognises that she has become his mask on stage.Hamilton: My Shot
anger, defiance, conviction
At the beginning of America's War of Independence from British rule (1775-1783), Alexander Hamilton has escaped poverty on the Caribbean island of St. Croix to study at King's College in New York, where he meets three fellow future revolutionaries. He impresses them with his oratory, conviction and ambition born from his anger towards the British who rule over them.You will use musical notation to compose and notate film music.
To help you to understand and write this notation more fluently, try to complete the notation quizzes here.
You can complete the quizzes in any order.
If you can, try to score 100 points before moving on to the next quiz.
Use the music notation guide here or on the right of this page to help you.
1Music Notation Guide.pdfClick here for more composing resources
You will compose a fanfare style theme and introductory soundtrack to the film ‘Star Wars: A New Hope’.
The composition will be inspired by the original soundtrack.
The music will accompany a montage of action sequences from the Star Wars films depicting spacecraft in battle.