One of the most popular exponents of the Piedmont blues style, guitarist and singer Blind Boy Fuller recorded, between 1935 and 1940, 135 sides that found their way into the repertoires of a great number of bluesmen of the pre-World War II era.

An excellent example of descriptive music and simple rhythmic/melodic ostinato (KS2)

Written in 1908 when the "thin red line" of British soldiers held back the Russian advance. Excellent example of music with steady pulse (KS1 & KS2) and also music for specific purpose.

Suggested listening at KS2 from www.m4t.org - piano only, descriptive of a fly moving in it's erratic way.

From The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra, Benjamin Britten's introduction to each instrument, it's unique sound, tuning and range.

From The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra, Benjamin Britten's introduction to each instrument, it's unique sound, tuning and range.

From The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra, Benjamin Britten's introduction to each instrument, it's unique sound, tuning and range.

From The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra, Benjamin Britten's introduction to each instrument, it's unique sound, tuning and range.

This is a mixture of movie cartoon with real life footage of the Mills Brothers quartet. The only musical instrument used is the guitar but the Mills Brothers create the illusion of other instruments (tuba, trumpet and saxophone) by using their voices and hands in clever ways. There is a 'bouncing ball' karaoke section in the middle where cinema audiences of the day would have sung along to the the song 'I ain't Got Nobody'.

KS3/4 idea: This is an interesting historical example of the earliest days of animated cartoons. There is no real storyline to the cartoon and there are frequent changes between cartoon and real camera shots of the musical performers. This may seem puzzling now, but would all have seemed exciting and new to audiences at the time, especially as films with soundtracks had only recently been invented. As a modern contrast to the Mills brothers' extended vocal techniques you could try getting KS3 pupils to devise a voice-only soundtrack to a section of cartoon footage, but allow them to use modern electronic processing equipment/software to create new effects.

Second movement of Britten's Simple Symphony. The piece is played entirely pizzicato by strings.

KS1 idea - an ideal track for listening and/or to accompany movement, particularly in context of QCA Unit 7 'rain, rain, go away' as the pizz strings paint a vivid rainy scene.