Open University lecturers Catherine Tackley and Naomi Barker outline how music is written down, what a musical score is and what it does. You will also learn how musicians use and interpret musical scores in their work.

Open University lecturers Catherine Tackley and Naomi Barker outline how music is written down, what a musical score is and what it does. You will also learn how musicians use and interpret musical scores in their work.

Overcoming the challenge of writing down how sounds relate to the time they occupy was a major breakthrough in the history of Western music notation. Professor Susan Rankin talks to Open University Professor David Rowland about how difficult it was to convey both pitch and rhythm in a way that was relatively easy to learn and easy for musicians to use.

Overcoming the challenge of writing down how sounds relate to the time they occupy was a major breakthrough in the history of Western music notation. Professor Susan Rankin talks to Open University Professor David Rowland about how difficult it was to convey both pitch and rhythm in a way that was relatively easy to learn and easy for musicians to use.

In this video, pianist Alexander Panfilov performs the first six variations of Mozart’s Twelve Variations on ‘Ah, vous dirai-je, Maman’. Alexander is a postgraduate student at the Royal Northern College of Music and will be performing in the Leeds International Piano Competition.

In this video, pianist Alexander Panfilov performs the first six variations of Mozart’s Twelve Variations on ‘Ah, vous dirai-je, Maman’. Alexander is a postgraduate student at the Royal Northern College of Music and will be performing in the Leeds International Piano Competition.

Pianist Alexander Panfilov explains how he works with the score to discover more about textures and structures of the piece as he prepares for his performance.

Pianist Alexander Panfilov explains how he works with the score to discover more about textures and structures of the piece as he prepares for his performance.

The final movement of Schubert’s Piano Quintet in A major, D. 667, known as the Trout quintet. The performance was filmed at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester and features Siobhan Doyle (violin), Kimi Makino (viola), Christopher Mansfield (cello), Filipe Dandalo (double bass) and Jeremy Young (piano).

The final movement of Schubert’s Piano Quintet in A major, D. 667, known as the Trout quintet. The performance was filmed at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester and features Siobhan Doyle (violin), Kimi Makino (viola), Christopher Mansfield (cello), Filipe Dandalo (double bass) and Jeremy Young (piano).

Siobhan Doyle (violin), Christopher Mansfield (cello), and Jeremy Young (piano) discuss how they use a score to work together as they rehearse and create a performance. Each player will have a slightly different view of the music, as he or she will generally only see the line of music that they play as an individual. This notation for a particular player is often called a ‘part’. The performance was filmed at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester.

Siobhan Doyle (violin), Christopher Mansfield (cello), and Jeremy Young (piano) discuss how they use a score to work together as they rehearse and create a performance. Each player will have a slightly different view of the music, as he or she will generally only see the line of music that they play as an individual. This notation for a particular player is often called a ‘part’. The performance was filmed at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester.

Siobhan Doyle (violin), Christopher Mansfield (cello) and Filipe Dandalo (double bass) talk about different elements of instrumental colour that they work into their performance of this variation of Schubert's Trout quintet. The performance was filmed at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester.

Siobhan Doyle (violin), Christopher Mansfield (cello) and Filipe Dandalo (double bass) talk about different elements of instrumental colour that they work into their performance of this variation of Schubert's Trout quintet. The performance was filmed at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester.

Siobhan Doyle (violin), Kimi Makino (viola), Christopher Mansfield (cello), Filipe Dandalo (double bass) and Jeremy Young (piano) talk about how their parts fit together in layers in variation Number 3 of Schubert's Trout quintet. The performance was filmed at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester.

Siobhan Doyle (violin), Kimi Makino (viola), Christopher Mansfield (cello), Filipe Dandalo (double bass) and Jeremy Young (piano) talk about how their parts fit together in layers in variation Number 3 of Schubert's Trout quintet. The performance was filmed at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester.

Conductor Mark Heron talks to Catherine Tackley, of the Open University, about what happens in rehearsals. He talks about ‘rehearsal marks’, letters placed in the score to help a conductor to identify a particular place to the players when starting and stopping to practise particular parts of a piece.

Conductor Mark Heron talks to Catherine Tackley, of the Open University, about what happens in rehearsals. He talks about ‘rehearsal marks’, letters placed in the score to help a conductor to identify a particular place to the players when starting and stopping to practise particular parts of a piece.

Conductor Mark Heron talks to Catherine Tackley, of the Open University, about ‘rehearsal marks’, letters placed in the score to help a conductor to identify a particular place to the players when starting and stopping to practice particular parts of a piece.

Conductor Mark Heron talks to Catherine Tackley, of the Open University, about ‘rehearsal marks’, letters placed in the score to help a conductor to identify a particular place to the players when starting and stopping to practice particular parts of a piece.