This short resource is a perfect activity for higher ability GCSE or A Level composition pupils who are looking to compose typical ‘Romantic’ music as often found in cinema. It takes pupils through the common features found in Romantic film cues by analysing a particularly stereotypical scene from the modern remake of ‘Cinderella’. This activity could easily be adapted to suit any Film Music Scheme of Work, but will complement the other HiggsTeach Film Music resources particularly well. This resource comes as a bonus part of the HiggsTeach Film Music Mega Bundle. I hope you and your pupils enjoy this resource!

This lesson resource explores the use of Ostinato and Pedal in Film Music with pupils, and encourages them to create their own and manipulate the Elements of Music to create different moods. This resource includes a number of embedded musical examples to illustrate different uses of Ostinato, as well as exposing your pupils to different genres and improving their listening skills. This Film Music resource comes with a built-in task and a worksheet, and all files come in editable formats so that you can adjust the lesson to suit your pupils. It also includes PDF files in case of formatting issues. This resource is perfect for KS3 pupils just starting out on their musical journey, or for KS4 pupils as an introduction to the Film Music Set Works at GCSE in all major exam boards. You could use this Film Music resource as a supplement lesson in your own Scheme of Work, or buy it as part of the HiggsTeach Film Music Bundle, which comes with a full Scheme of Work as well as Bonus material to push your highest ability pupils even further with their composition. I hope you and your pupils enjoy this resource!

This lesson resource introduces pupils to Leitmotifs, and how they can be used to deepen our connection with characters, places, things, or ideas within a film. It also explores how manipulation of musical elements changes our perception of a character or mood, even when using the same Leitmotif. With a number of embedded musical examples, this resource is designed to expose pupils to a wide range of genres. This Film Music resource comes with two built-in task and a double-sided worksheet, and all files come in editable formats so that you can adjust the lesson to suit your pupils. It also includes PDF files in case of formatting issues. This resource is perfect for KS3 pupils just starting out on their musical journey, or for KS4 pupils as an introduction to the Film Music Set Works at GCSE in all major exam boards. You could use this Film Music resource as a supplement lesson in your own Scheme of Work, or buy it as part of the HiggsTeach Film Music Bundle, which comes with a full Scheme of Work as well as Bonus material to push your highest ability pupils even further with their composition. I hope you and your pupils enjoy this resource!

This lesson resource gives pupils an introduction to the wonderful world of Film Music. There are many embedded audio examples from a wide range of films, illustrating the many different ways that music is used to heighten the emotion and drama on the screen, from telling us how to feel about a character to showing us the location of our film before we even see the first scene. This Film Music resource comes with two built-in tasks and a worksheet, and all files come in editable formats so that you can adjust the lesson to suit your pupils. It also includes PDF files in case of formatting issues. This resource is perfect for KS3 pupils just starting out on their musical journey, or for KS4 pupils as an introduction to the Film Music Set Works at GCSE in all major exam boards. You could use this Film Music resource as the first lesson in your own Scheme of Work, or buy it as part of the HiggsTeach Film Music Bundle, which comes with a full Scheme of Work as well as Bonus material to push your highest ability pupils even further with their composition. I hope you and your pupils enjoy this resource!

This resource tracks the rise in popularity of the Rock genre as a separate entity as it moved further away from mainstream pop. We start with the counterculture movement of the 1960s, moving into psychedelia and the increase of ‘Garage Rock’ bands that lead into the development of Hard Rock in the early 70s. This resource finishes by outlining the rise of Punk in the late 70s as a reaction against mainstream pop and rock. This resource includes many audio examples, and is fully animated for ease of delivery. A PDF of the powerpoint is also included in case of formatting issues, but there is no interactivity. This resource is part of the ’Sound of Popular Music’ series. This series is designed carefully to allow pupils to draw parallels between their musical, historical, practical, and technical knowledge, and further appreciate how developments in Music Technology shaped the course of popular music throughout the 20th Century. In doing so, pupils are better equipped to deal with exam-style questions, particularly extended responses. I hope you and your pupils enjoy this resource!

This resource and accompanying worksheet will aid your delivery of the content required for the Samba em Preludio - Esperanza Spalding set work as part of the Edexcel GCSE Music course. This resource would easily cover a series of lessons and can be worked through at your own/your pupils’ pace. This PowerPoint includes all the relevant information and knowledge required to understand this set work, including an in depth exploration of the harmony in Samba em Preludio - Esperanza Spalding. It is fully animated for ease of delivery, includes embedded video examples, and is optimised for either classroom learning or remote learning. This resource also includes an example of a past question (and the mark scheme) to expose pupils to the types of questions they might face. The PDF of the powerpoint is included to avoid formatting issues, but does not include the interactivity. I hope you and your pupils enjoy this resource!

This is a great resource to supplement the teaching of more advanced harmony, particularly in the creation of sevenths, further extended, and altered chords. ***PDF included to avoid any formatting issues. *** This resource is fully animated for ease of delivery, and is set up for use during remote learning. Pupils often struggle to achieve good marks with harmony in composition, and this resource is perfect for aiding and enhancing composition with sevenths, extended, and altered chords at both **GCSE and A Level. ** This resource will also support the teaching of a number of jazz, pop, or film-based set works across many different boards, and could also be used to help more able younger pupils extend their knowledge. I hope you enjoy this resource!

This resource is designed to supplement the teaching of the Edexcel A Level set work The Duchess: ‘The Duchess: Opening’; ‘Mistake of Your Life’; ‘Six Years Later’; ‘Never See Your Children Again’; ‘The Duchess (End Titles)’ This powerpoint will give pupils an introduction to pieces of music that will enrich their extended answers, in a way that clearly links them to features in the set work. It also includes embedded audio/video examples for ease of delivery. This resource should also inspire pupils to listen around the set work, and discover new and exciting music that will complement their A Level Study. I hope you and your pupils enjoy this resource!

This resource is designed to supplement the teaching of the Edexcel A Level set work ‘Mozart: The Magic Flute’ This powerpoint will give pupils an introduction to pieces of music that will enrich their extended answers, in a way that clearly links them to features in the set work. It also includes embedded audio/video examples for ease of delivery. This resource should also inspire pupils to listen around the set work, and discover new and exciting music that will complement their A Level Study. I hope you and your pupils enjoy this resource!

This simple resource gives pupils a brief overview of the options available to them when attempting to record live sound. It should be used to start a conversation about the relative benefits and drawbacks of each technique. I hope you and your pupils enjoy this resource!

In this resource, we explore the trailblazing recording and production techniques of Joe Meek and Phil Spector in the 1950s-60s. We explore how they crafted their own vision of recorded music, and how they manipulated their sound in unique and innovative ways to pave the way for the ‘modern producer’, rather than engineers in lab coats. This resource is fully animated for ease of delivery, and contains many embedded audio examples. It also contains an exam-style comparison question between Meek and Spector’s work. This resource is part of the ’Sound of Popular Music’ series. This series is designed carefully to allow pupils to draw parallels between their musical, historical, practical, and technical knowledge, and further appreciate how developments in Music Technology shaped the course of popular music throughout the 20th Century. In doing so, pupils are better equipped to deal with exam-style questions, particularly extended responses. I hope you and your pupils enjoy this resource!

This resource explores Reverb, from its beginnings as a by-product of recording in a room to the essential effect used by every engineer and producer. This resource also explores the various parameters and characteristics of reverb, the graphical representation of reverb, and how to read a reverb graph (Early reflections, Body RT60, Decay etc.) This is essential knowledge for all A level Music Technology pupils, and forms an integral part of the deeper understanding required to access the **highest possible marks. ** This resource is part of the ‘Effects’ series, examining the historical development, characteristics, and technical features of some of the most common effects that your pupils use on a day-to-day basis. I hope you and your pupils enjoy this resource!

This resource is an exploration of the electric guitar, including it’s history, construction, and electronics. This resource explores all the relevant information needed to be successful at A Level Music Technology. This resource is a great way to improve pupils’ (and teachers’) knowledge and understanding of technology that is rarely practised/used by most but is an essential part of the specification. Includes: Brief History Construction of different types of electric guitar single coil and humbucker pickups An overview of outboard effects and modifications This resource is also an excellent companion to the upcoming ‘Sound of Popular Music’ series, in which the historical context of this technology is explored in more detail, providing pupils with a solid foundation upon which to build high quality extended answers, rich in both technical and contextual information.

A grid to quickly allow students to work out the correct chords in any major key. Can be used with younger pupils who are just starting their compositional journeys or more GCSE or A Level pupils who need a quick compositional reference tool.

This resource is a great place to start when introducing Synthesis to A Level Music Technology students. It introduces the three main processes/components involved in subtractive synthesis: Oscillators, Filters, and Envelopes. This Powerpoint is fully animated to allow for ease of delivery and is designed to spark curiosity about synthesis and synthesisers, ready for further development throughout later lessons. This resource also contains a task to foster creative exploration within a variety of software instruments. This resource contains essential knowledge for A Level students, particularly for Technology-Based Composition (All boards) and for their Component 3 & 4 exams (Edexcel specific). I hope you and your pupils enjoy this resource! NB This resource is written with Logic X as DAW in mind. It is easily adaptable for Cubase, Ableton, or any other DAW.

This resource is part of the ’Sound of Popular Music’ series. This series is designed carefully to allow pupils to draw parallels between their musical, historical, practical, and technical knowledge, and further appreciate how developments in Music Technology shaped the course of popular music throughout the 20th Century. In doing so, pupils are better equipped to deal with exam-style questions, particularly extended responses. This resource charts the rise of Motown, and how a consistent approach to recording, massive output, and a focus on quality made Motown a force to be reckoned with in the 1960s. This resource also explores the Motown ‘process’, and what it was that gave Motown its distinctive sound. I hope you and your pupils enjoy this resource!

This resource explores the explosion in popularity of Rock’n’Roll with the first ‘post-war’ generation, and how improvements in recording (pioneered by Sam Phillips and other influential artists/engineers/studios) and the availability and mass-distribution of records paved the way for the first pop mega-stars. This resource is part of the ’Sound of Popular Music’ series. This series is designed carefully to allow pupils to draw parallels between their musical, historical, practical, and technical knowledge, and further appreciate how developments in Music Technology shaped the course of popular music throughout the 20th Century. In doing so, pupils are better equipped to deal with exam-style questions, particularly extended responses. I hope you and your pupils enjoy this resource!

This resource is part of the ’Sound of Popular Music’ series. This series is designed carefully to allow pupils to draw parallels between their musical, historical, practical, and technical knowledge, and further appreciate how developments in Music Technology shaped the course of popular music throughout the 20th Century. In doing so, pupils are better equipped to deal with exam-style questions, particularly extended responses. In this resource, we explore the early developments of tape technology pre- and post- WWII. This will give pupils a basic understanding of the relative recency of recording technology, and the rapid rise and immense popularity of recorded media. This resource contains a ‘recording comparison’ task, that could be used either as a classwork or homework task. I hope you and your pupils enjoy this resource!

This resource is designed to supplement the teaching of the Edexcel A Level set work ‘Vivaldi: Concerto in D Minor (Op. 3, No.11)’ This powerpoint will give pupils an introduction to pieces of music that will enrich their extended answers, in a way that clearly links them to features in the set work. It also includes embedded audio/video examples for ease of delivery. This resource should also inspire pupils to listen around the set work, and discover new and exciting music that will complement their A Level Study. I hope you and your pupils enjoy this resource!