Best of British
Dr Liz Stafford explores the work of some home-grown ‘great composers and musicians’ In England the KS2 music national curriculum calls for children to listen to the music of ‘great composers and musicians’ from different cultures and traditions. Clearly the more cynical of us might detect the shadow of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven in the use of this phrase, but the curriculum actually leaves the choice of composers and musical traditions wide open.
With this in mind, here are the British composers that I would choose to study with my pupils. These are personal choices based entirely on my love of their music and the potential I can see to engage pupils and support other areas of the music curriculum through listening to their works. Some of them are obvious, some are more unusual, but all of them are ‘great!’
