Delia Derbyshire Doctor Who Theme original theme composed

Delia Derbyshire Doctor Who Theme (original theme composed by Ron Grainer) Secondary / KS 3 / 3 rd & 4 th Level Classroom Lesson Plan Written by Rachel Leach

Trailblazer Composer Delia Derbyshire created a new soundworld using electronic sounds, using these to arrange the melody for Doctor Who – one of the most famous TV shows ever!

Lesson outcomes After this lesson, pupils will be able to: • listen and reflect on a piece of orchestral music • create their own piece of music using instruments, voice and technology • perform as an ensemble • learn musical language appropriate to the task

Curriculum checklist Learners will: • play and perform in ensemble contexts, using voices and playing musical instruments • improvise and compose music for a range of purposes using the interrelated dimensions of music • listen with attention to detail and recall sounds with increasing aural memory

Glossary of music terms Term Definition Found sounds found in the ‘natural’ world or made from nonmusical objects and then used to make music Graphic Score a visual (often diagrammatic) representation of music. There are no rules for graphic scores, the composer (i. e. you!) invents them Melody another word for ‘tune’, like a musical sentence Orchestrate choose which instruments perform which parts of the music Ostinato a repeating (often rhythmic) pattern Sample a small snippet of an existing sound recording

Lesson 1 Watching and listening

Background – the composer Delia DERBYSHIRE (1937– 2001) • British composer of electronic music • Member of the legendary BBC Radiophonic Workshop – a group of pioneering musicians and engineers responsible for producing sound effects and incidental sounds for TV and radio

Background – the music Doctor Who Theme • • • The famous melody was actually written by Australian composer Roy Grainer. Delia’s task was to ‘realise’ or ‘arrange’ theme using electronic sounds to match the futuristic sci-fi nature of the programme Derbyshire’s version uses ‘found sounds’ that were manipulated electronically. She recorded the sound of everyday objects onto tape and then changed the speed of the tape to create different pitches or looped single sounds over and over to create rhythms. This was back in 1963 before computers made such experiments easy! Scandalously, Derbyshire was not credited with the composition of the now iconic original version and received very little money for it

Watch/ listen to the opening theme!

Listen to three different versions of theme Version A How does it make you feel? What instruments can you hear? What sounds can you hear? (describe them if you can’t identify them) Similarities and differences Which is your favourite version and why? Version B Version C

Lesson 2 Ron’s theme - live!

Doctor Who, Doctor Who

Main melody

Find some everyday objects in the classroom to perform the music

Lesson 3 Found sounds

‘Found sounds’ = everyday objects, and not traditional instruments. Name some that you can see around you.

Find and record some interesting sounds that you find. Upload these into your music editing software!

Lesson 4 Manipulation and special effects

Create a bank of new sounds and samples

Let’s get creative! 1. Upload sounds 2. Manipulate and experiment 3. Listen back 4. Guess which objects they were originally

Lesson 5 Looping, pitching and composing

Let’s make an ostinato! • Loop a sound to make a rhythm – this is like Delia’s bass line • Structure your ideas into a new piece – What is your music describing? – Come up with a name for your work – What type of TV show or film would your music accompany?

Lesson 6 Structure and finish

Do what Delia did, and ‘realise’ or ‘arrange’ the Doctor Who theme You can use: Found sounds Real instruments Body percussion Samples Vocal sounds

Taking it further – cross-curricular activities SOUND EFFECTS: The BBC Radiophonic workshop existed to make sound effects for TV and radio. Try making sound effects to accompany a play, film or podcast. LITERACY: write the first episode of your invented TV show. Do this as a play script, stage it and add sound effects! RESEARCH: discover more about the BBC Radiophonic Workshop and its pioneers. UPLOAD: Show us what you’ve created! Submit your creative responses using our Uploader for a chance to be featured on the Ten Pieces website.