Born: 1954
Nationality: British
Period: 21st Century
Genre: Programme music
Theme: Nature and water
Key musical element:
- Timbre
About Judith Weir
- Judith was born into a Scottish family and grew up in London.
- She has written music which draws inspiration from Scottish folk tales as well as older stories from Medieval times.
- Judith Weir held the prestigious position of Master of the King鈥檚 Music between 2014 and 2024, a post created in 1626 by King Charles I. This meant that for 10 years Judith was heavily involved in the music for Royal events such as weddings, jubilees and coronations.
- Judith has composed for lots of combinations of instruments and voices, and is perhaps best known for her music for opera and theatre.
About the music
- Magic is a movement of a larger work called Storm based on Shakespeare's play The Tempest.
- Judith Weir describes Storm as "the soundtrack" of the play.
- The music tells the story of The Tempest's natural environment: sea, wind, waves, air, and also magic and the spirit world.
- It's written for a small ensemble of 9 players together with female voices and a children鈥檚 chorus.
- The instruments have been chosen carefully for the sounds they make, depicting elements of a storm or the aftereffects of a storm.
Listen out for:
- Percussion made of wood or metal. Both wooden and metal objects could be washed up on a beach following a storm.
- Wooden sounds made by: guiro, vibraslap (which creates a whirring sound and is made of both wood and metal), maracas.
- Metalic sounds made by: whistle, vibraphone, cymbal, tambourine (which has a wooden ring is covered in calfskin and has metal jingles) and a thunder sheet.
- Flutes and piccolos chosen especially by the composer because of their association with air and wind which links with the sounds of a storm.
- The choir of female voices singing words from The Tempest.
- The children's voices singing just one word - what word can you hear them sing?
- There is one more instrument sound that you might expect to find on a beach but maybe not in a composition 鈥 stones!
Watch the films
Classroom resources
Download the lesson plan for four weeks of learning and activities for Magic from Storm (PDF)
Download the Powerpoint slides for four weeks of learning and activities for Magic from Storm (PPT)
Listen to members of the 麻豆官网首页入口 Concert Orchestra, 麻豆官网首页入口 Singers and Finchley Children's Music Group perform Magic from Storm (mp3)
Upload and showcase your creative responses
Upload your creative responses to the 麻豆官网首页入口 Ten Pieces Showcase
Arrangements
These arrangements of Judith Weir's Magic (from Storm) by Sarah Freestone are for 3-part voices and small ensemble. The different ability levels are interchangeable but if using just the Grade 5 arrangement, omitting the bass part would make it really authentic to the original score.
Beginner
Grade 1 - 4
Grade 5 and above
Arranger Ellen O鈥橞rien has also created fantastic open score arrangements of Laura Shigihara's Grasswalk for open ensembles of mixed abilities and user needs.
Download the score, parts and associated files (.zip)
Arrangements for open ensembles
Find arrangements of two of the Ten Pieces for open ensembles, including various adaptive instruments
Explore The Tempest and Shakespeare with 麻豆官网首页入口 Teach
KS2 English - The Tempest
Watch Shakespeare's play The Tempest told in 8 video clips and download the resources pack.
Put on your own version of The Tempest with songs
Use these resources to put on a musical performance based on Shakespeare鈥檚 play
Shakespeare Teaching Resources
Explore more about Shakespeare's life and plays