Now, though, primary schoolchildren the length and breadth of Britain will have the opportunity to meet the story’s various characters –Clara and Franz (in whose home the Christmas party takes place), the Mouse King, Snowflakes and, of course, the mysterious Dr Drosselmeyer – in the less awe-inspiring surroundings of their own classrooms.
This comes courtesy of Ten Pieces and The Nutcracker Lesson Live, a special 30-minute BBC programme to be live-streamed to primary schools on Monday, 13 November at 2pm.
As a complement to the live-stream, a Ten Pieces ‘Live Lesson Extra’ is available online – bbc.co.uk/livelessons – to enable teachers to follow up with their students, so that eventually the children will be able to choreograph their own original dances.
Ten Pieces is a joint initiative from BBC Music and BBC Learning, which aims to open the world of classical music to 7-14-year-olds across the UK, and lead them to develop their own creative responses to music.
For this particular programme, they joined forces with the Royal Opera House and the Royal Ballet School. The Nutcracker Lesson Live will be introduced by CBBC’s Naomi Wilkinson and Karim Zeroual, alongside students of the Royal Ballet School.
The Nutcracker Lesson Live is part of the much wider Ten Pieces programme, which was launched in 2014, has inspired three successful Proms concerts, and last year won a BAFTA award.
The programme includes a range of short films on music as varied as Elgar’s Enigma Variations, Aaron Copeland’s Rodeo and, of course, Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker, all targeted at young children. They can be used by teachers, or better still, by parents who believe in the value of music and dance in a child's development.
The Ten Pieces Live Lesson will be live-streamed via webcast at bbc.co.uk/live
| What | Ten Pieces and The Nutcracker Lesson Live |
| Where | BBC1 | MAP |
| When |
On 13 Nov 17, 14:00 Dur.: 30 minutes |
| Price | £N/A |
| Website |