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!’

Henry Purcell (1659-1695)

Listen to: Dido & Aeneas, King Arthur, and The Fairy Queen.

Purcell inspired 20th Century British composers Michael Tippet and Benjamin Britten, and you could make a lovely English music topic out of investigating the musical links between these three composers.

Will Todd (b1970)

Listen to: Mass in Blue (the Credo in particular is guaranteed to get your KS2 pupils excited!), The Call of Wisdom, and No More Sorrow.

Some of Todd’s work is influenced by his background as a jazz musician, so you could make an interesting topic on fusion styles, allowing you to broaden out your pupils’ listening experience beyond the classical genre.

Orlando Gibbons ( 1583-1625)

Listen to: The Silver Swan, The Cries of London, and Hosanna to the Son of David.

Gibbons’ fantastically atmospheric ‘The Cries of London’ could be used to link with drama or history work, and/or could provide a stimulus for composition creating a soundscape piece about your own city. You could even compare this piece with Lionel Bart’s ‘Who will buy’ from the musical Oliver!

Bob Chilcott (b 1955)

Listen to: Can you hear me, Like a singing bird, and All for Love of One.

Chilcott has written a number of great pieces for children’s voices so you could make a nice link between your listening and performing work by studying his music. You might also consider compositional work focusing on texture (one of the interrelated dimensions of music) by taking inspiration from the different approaches Chilcott takes to texture in his works, from straightforward homophonic textures to the more complicated polyphony of ‘Like a Singing Bird.’

Peter Warlock (1894-1930)

Listen to: Capriol Suite, Serenade for Strings, and Bethlehem Down.

A colourful character (careful which biographical information you choose to share with your KS2 classes!) Warlock was inspired by the music of the Elizabethan era, so you could make a link with your listening work on Gibbons, as well as looking at the work of John Dowland who was a major influence.

Ed Sheeran (b 1991)

Listen to: Shape of You, and Shivers.

These two songs both make effective use of instrumental motifs (short repeating tunes) as a structural feature, which could lead to composition work focusing on structure with your classes.

Roxanna Panufnik (b 1968)

Listen to: Four World Seasons, Love Abide, and Dance of Life: Tallinn Mass.

Born in Britain of Polish heritage, Panufnik is influenced by music from all around the world, and actively tries to build bridges between faiths and communities through her musical works. You could find inspiration for some great cross curricular links for PSHE and RE

Karl Jenkins (b 1944)

Listen to: Adiemus, The Armed Man, and Requiem.

This Welsh composer specialises in music with a ‘hypnotic’ quality, making use of simple repeated patterns. You will find a lot of his music very accessible to sing and play, as well as listen to.

Hannah Kendall (b 1984)

Listen to: The Spark Catchers, and Tuxedo: Vasco ‘de’ Gama.

Kendall has an interesting composing process involving the use of art as graphic scores which she then fleshes out at the piano. This approach could be an interesting way to explore the link between a musical score and sound, with your own pupils trying to create music from a piece of artwork.

John Dankworth (1927-2010)

Listen to: Experiments with Mice.

This brilliant set of variations on Three Blind Mice is really a history of jazz, with each variation an imitation of different jazz artists and bands. This would be a great introduction to jazz for your pupils, and you could go on to investigate some of the artists mentioned in the track. Alternatively you could compose your own three blind mice variations!