Popeye the Sailor snores while he sleeps, which disturbs Mouse, who is also trying to sleep. A war breaks out between Popeye and Mouse which Mouse eventually wins.
KS3 idea: Focus pupils' attention on the music that suggests sleep immediately after the opening credits. It's sometimes difficult to hear clearly with all the superimposed sound effects - they'll have to concentrate really hard. Ask what musical features of this suggest sleep [slow tempo, simple 3-note melodic phrases, subdued bassoon timbre, quiet dynamic, delicate accompaniment figure]. Divide the class into groups, tell them the first 3 melody notes are E, G, D, and give them 10 minutes to extend this into a really, really simple 4-phrase idea of their own to suggest sleep (the simpler the better). Give them advice about accompaniment figures as you think appropriate. After 10 minutes ask the class to vote for the group whose sleep music sounds most promising. Then give a further 10-15 minutes during which the voted group can refine their music further, while the other groups all develop an entirely new short section of very contrasting 'wake-up' music. When the time is up, get them to perform their sections as a Rondo (sleep, wakeup1, sleep, wakeup2, sleep, etc.) with each group taking its turn in the structure. This will bear some resemblance to the structure of the cartoon, where bouts of sleep are interspersed with various woken antics. So you could either play the whole cartoon through before they start, pointing this out as a model, or maybe leave it until after the creative work is finished and draw out any similarities/differences then.
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