Memorable rendition of "St James Infirmary Blues" by Cab Calloway. Soundtrack includes excellent examples of musical cliches.

KS3 idea: The first half could be played as a stimulus for discussion about reasons why the soundtrack composer sometimes decorates the texture with quick notes, trills, flourishes etc.

Betty Boop runs out of gas in Feud County, and wins over the initially hostile hillbillies with her dancing.

KS3 idea: About half way through, the music soundtrack stops altogether for a while. This could be used to stimulate a discussion on the effective use of silence in film soundtracks. There are also some novelty animal effects in the song near the end of this 1930s cartoon.

Soundtrack includes excellent examples of musical cliches.
Bimbo visits a south sea isle, where he meets a dusky maiden who does a hot hula and looks a lot like Betty. Also a stereotyped headhunter tribe... The Royal Samoans perform in live-action.

KS3 idea: The introduction features a pacific islands ensemble vocal performance, followed by footage of a dancer with instrumental and vocal backing musicians 'The Royal Samoans'. The cartoon that follows concerning Betty's visit to Bamboo Isle is perhaps musically less noteworthy, except for a passage where guitars play extended harmonics and a portrayal of 5 dancers performing to body percussion only.

Cadbury's dairy milk advert, accompanied by Queen - Don't Stop Me Now. We hear Queen's 'Don't stop me now' as the soundtrack, while models of airport ground support vehicles race along the runway.

KS2/3 idea: Ask pupils to describe (using musical vocabulary) how the music changes as the race begins. On which beats of the bar does the snare drum play? [Ans: beats 2 and 4 (the backbeats)]

The soundtrack to this advert is 'Something in the Air' by Phil Collins. To start with the mood is quite gentle and the gorilla sits passively in facial close-up. But then about two thirds of the way through the camera pulls back to reveal that the gorilla is seated at a drum kit. The gorilla suddenly plays a loud tom fill followed by very heavy two-handed (flams) snare hits on beats 2 and 4 of the bar (the 'backbeats').

KS2/3 idea: Discuss with pupils what is the musical effect of the heavy backbeats. Get them to count the beats of the bar out loud at the beginning, then after a few more seconds get them to mime (or play) on beats 2 and 4 - do they match the gorilla when it begins playing? Can KS3 pupils describe what the bass drum is doing (even though they can't see)

This advert features two kids performing a rapid 'eyebrow dance' whilst sitting in a photography studio. The song featured in the advert is "Don't Stop The Rock" by Freestyle.

KS2/3 idea: Ask pupils on which beats of the bar do the kids first twitch their eyebrows? [Ans: beats 2 and 4 (the backbeats)]. The girl improvises a sycopated rhythm on the balloon toward the end. Which percussion instrument in the track also plays similar syncopated patterns? [Ans: cowbell] Can pupils improvise their own syncopated rhythms as the soundtrack plays?

KS3/4 idea: The soundtrack is based on 2 chords (Fm and Eflat) and might be used as a stimulus for pupils to compose a similar advert soundtrack using, say, Am and G.

-YouTube Awards 2007 - Top Six Finalist, Best Short Film
-WINNER: Fitzroy Short Film Festival (Melb, Aus)
-WINNER: DearCinemaFest Short Film Festival (Int.)
and more...

Mr Roberts finds himself awoken inexplicably in a white room. A man sits before him at a desk and in between them stands a black button. If Mr Roberts pushes it, he will receive a briefcase filled with millions of dollars. Or he can take the key to the door and leave penniless. The catch? Pushing the button will result in the death of a human being. What would you do?

KS3 idea: The music soundtrack is always low in the mix throughout this film and there are no 'big tunes' at all. Discuss with pupils whether it was worth including music at all. What does it add? Can pupils accurately describe the musical texture and how it develops through the film? Why does the music fall silent for a few seconds in the middle of the film?"

This is a mixture of movie cartoon with real life footage of the Mills Brothers quartet. The only musical instrument used is the guitar but the Mills Brothers create the illusion of other instruments (tuba, trumpet and saxophone) by using their voices and hands in clever ways. There is a 'bouncing ball' karaoke section in the middle where cinema audiences of the day would have sung along to the the song 'I ain't Got Nobody'.

KS3/4 idea: This is an interesting historical example of the earliest days of animated cartoons. There is no real storyline to the cartoon and there are frequent changes between cartoon and real camera shots of the musical performers. This may seem puzzling now, but would all have seemed exciting and new to audiences at the time, especially as films with soundtracks had only recently been invented. As a modern contrast to the Mills brothers' extended vocal techniques you could try getting KS3 pupils to devise a voice-only soundtrack to a section of cartoon footage, but allow them to use modern electronic processing equipment/software to create new effects.

Dramatic theme music for the 2002 Spiderman movie and subsequent sequels (II & III). Composer of TV & Film music Danny Elfman has also written well known themes such as The Simpsons, Desperate Housewives and Tim Burton's Batman.

Shorter version of Murray Gold's 2005 version of Dr Who theme.
KS3 pupils may want to compare the structure of the two and could be set the task of 'chopping' or re-writing another longer piece to create a shorter TV theme version. Primary teachers may want to use this as 'tidy-up' music in the classroom.