The Philharmonia Orchestra is pleased to announce its own e-Christmas card, together with BT.

The Christmas card contains three video performances by members of the Philharmonia's brass section. Away in a Manger, Ding Dong Merrily on High and We Wish You a Merry Christmas

KS3/4 idea: This cartoon is set in 'tin can alley' and pupils will benefit from some prior knowledge of the context of the 'tin pan alley' song factory of the day. Some think the name itself came from the cacophony of several different styles and pieces being heard all at once, and this is the premise of this cartoon and its title - a battle between jazz ('hep cat') and classical (symphony) styles.

There are a number of ways of using this cartoon in class.
1. Simply as a novel follow up to works that you may have been studying in other contexts (e.g. trad jazz, Poet and Peasant Overture, William Tell Overture, etc.)
2. Discussion of some of the musical jokes (e.g. contrary motion piano glissandi to match order that keys fall from keyboard that has ended up in cat's mouth!)
3. As a stimulus idea for a creative project on a 'battle of the styles' theme - pupils choose two pieces in different styles and find some way of combining them in a single piece - you could maybe add the stipulation that by the end they must work out some clever way of making the two pieces co-exist - this could lead on to an exploration of related composition techniques used by Charles Ives (e.g. in 'Putnam's Camp' from 'Three Places in New England').

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.

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.

Excellent example of descriptive use of dynamics, as suggested on www.m4t.org (KS1/2)

Also known as Fingal's Cave inspired by a cavern known as Fingal's Cave on Staffa, an island in the Hebrides. Good example of Orchestral, descriptive music from the Romantic era.