Christopher Norton has a Blog!
Christopher Norton has a Blog!
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I’ve had a blog in the past but it seems timely to start afresh with this one, post-Covid and with lots of interesting possibilities on the horizon. I have finally started to travel again! I did an extensive tour of British Columbia in April, sessions in Ottawa and Montreal in June and a conference in Saskatchewan in August. Masterclasses on my music were a feature of these events, but I also did improvisation sessions with groups of students and, most recently, a session on teaching composition in Fredericton, New Brunswick.
I am definitely a working composer and arranger and I thought it would be interesting for you to hear what a typical week is made up of at the moment. This week, will include work on Smart Start, a new initiative from the Royal Conservatory in Toronto. Nearly 700 songs are featured in a comprehensive new programme of music and activities for very young children. My job has been two-fold – firstly, to add chord symbols to top-line music scores so that average-ability guitarists and pianists might be able to add chordal accompaniment. Secondly I am supplying a click, a reference note (the key-note of the piece) and a piano recording that students and teachers will hear at the same time as seeing the music score.
Project number 2 is the Micromusicals project. I wrote a number of short musicals for junior school while I was living in London, UK and 6 of them were published by Boosey & Hawkes in 2014. The schools in east London that asked for the original musicals wanted more and my wife Wendy and I have now written 30 Micro Musicals!
The objective of the Norton Micromusicals is to include and involve every child in a year group. We have tried to play down the “star” system. In every musical, chorus roles can be as significant as “lead” roles.
Although age/grade levels are suggested, most (except for the very “junior” musicals) can be adapted from Junior through Senior Levels.
The Micromusicals are curriculum-based and have been written to meet curriculum requirements for the age levels suggested.
It’s not necessary to have a stage to mount a musical - many of these musicals have been presented on the floor of an assembly hall or a gym.
For more information click here!
Play all the chords below with the track, then try simple chord rhythms with them.
Micromusicals will be available from:
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