Children's Category: How To Guide
In partnership with Sound and Music

This year we are inviting children to create a graphic score and submit their own 60-second soundscape exploring the theme My Big Adventure. Don’t miss this opportunity to try new ways of making music in the classroom and at home!

Submit your soundscape and graphic score before 28th February 2025 to enter the awards.

For those hoping to find out more about how to incorporate the project into your learning, how to record the sounds and upload, or generally looking for more ideas then watch our "How To" guide (right) created by previous winner and teacher Mark Williamson.

Submissions Open

My Big Adventure

This year we are inviting children both at home and in the classroom to create a graphic score and submit their own 60 second soundscape exploring ideas of play and adventure. We are welcoming creative submissions and encourage you to think about what types of stories you can create with sound alone.

Things to consider:

What kind of journey can you take the listener on?
What type of adventure is it?
Where is it – a real place or imaginary?
What are you feeling?
Are there obstacles on the way or moments of suspense?
How can you depict all this with sounds?

Creating your graphic scores and soundscape

Check out some examples of graphic scores made by other classroom groups, such as the nocturnal themed ones below created by pupils at Seven Mills Primary School.
Create or choose an existing story to explore. Is it a journey into outer space or a day in the life of some playground equipment? Identify sounds and features that you’d like to bring to life in your soundscape (such as voices, objects, animals, transport, nature).
Ask your class how they would like to try writing down their musical ideas. This can include pictures, words, images and lines to suggest different objects, plants, animals, speed, pitch or rhythm.
From these ideas, draw up some graphic scores, either working as a class or in small groups.
Once you have some scores ready, try playing them! Children can use their voices, bodies, instruments or other materials available in the classroom to bring the scores and sounds of the adventure to life.
When you’re ready, record and submit your soundscape.
Take photos of any graphic scores you’d like to submit along with your recorded soundscape.

Recording and submitting your soundscape

The easiest way to do this is on a mobile phone, but if you have a portable audio recorder like a Zoom device or similar then you can use that too. If using a mobile phone:

Android phone: Use the built in ‘Voice Recorder’ app
iPhone: Use the built in ‘Voice Memos’ app

Record the class making their soundscape.
Save the recording to your device's ‘Files’ folder and follow this link to the submissions page.
After completing the required information on the submission form, click on ‘Add File’ underneath ‘Upload your class soundscape recording’. You should then be able to select your recording from your ‘Files’ folder which will attach it to the submission.
Upload the photos of your graphic score(s), for other classroom groups to try recreating in the future!

The deadline is 28th February 2025, 18.00hrs (GMT)

For any technical questions, please email: info@soundoftheyearawards.com

Graphic Score Examples

These nocturnal-themed graphic scores are created by pupils at Seven Mills Primary School. You can find more examples exploring river systems, nocturnal wildlife and more in Minute of Listening's Graphic Scores collection.