Express Yourself: Sad and Joyful

Music can express a huge range of emotions, and can connect directly with our feelings without using words. For centuries, composers have used the orchestra to explore their innermost feelings or to reflect the world around them.

The London Philharmonic Orchestra presents Express Yourself, a series of three short films of contrasting musical moods, aimed at children aged 7-11 and presented by award-winning musician and broadcaster YolanDa Brown.

This series explores music to express feelings of joy, anger, sadness, playfulness and more. Each film comes with free written resources for teachers, offering ways for children to explore the music and emotions further.

In this episode, YolanDa Brown explores sadness through George Walker’s heart-rending Lyric for Strings, then we get joyously happy with Mendelssohn’s Dance of the Clowns.

Download the free teachers’ resources below for ways to delve deeper into the music and emotions presented.