The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #168944   Message #4081396
Posted By: Nigel Parsons
30-Nov-20 - 07:08 AM
Thread Name: Music Workshop (BBC Schools) - contents
Subject: Music Workshop (BBC Schools) - contents
Yet another series of BBC schools music broadcasts which I will add here just in case someone is searching for an included song.

From: This site an introduction:

"Most of the Music Workshop programmes have two main sections. The first teaches songs. The second adds accompaniment for classroom instruments. Between these two main sections there is a short sequence devoted to music for listening, or an extract from the term's story.

"The whole of each term is devoted to a story, developed through songs. This leads to a complete performance in the last programme of term."

- adapted from BBC Annual Programme Guides throughout the 1970s and 1980s

History
Music Workshop began in autumn 1964, replacing the earlier series Rhythm and Melody, initially for 8-9 year-olds only but this age range was gradually expanded.

In autumn 1966 the normal Music Workshop series, expanded to ages 8-10, was renamed Music Workshop Stage One, and a new series of Music Workshop Stage Two for 10-12 year-olds was introduced.

In autumn 1975 Music Workshop Stage Two was renamed Music Makers, and Music Workshop Stage One returned to simply being called Music Workshop.

When the series began in 1964 there were actually two broadcasts a week: a main 20 minute programme covering the songs (Music...), and a 10 minute follow-up programme on another day of the week covering classroom instrument work (...Workshop). This format continued when the series was split into Stages, so that in the late 1960s there were 4 separate Music Workshop broadcasts every week.

In autumn 1969 the two halves were brought together into a single half-hour programme (well, half an hour for Stage One and half an hour for Stage Two) with roughly the first 15 minutes devoted to the Music, and the last 15 minutes to the Workshop.

In autumn 1985 the programmes were reduced to 25 minutes, and finally in autumn 1994 down to 20 minutes.

The series is still going strong, available as a podcast from the BBC website (but only during the terms when it is broadcast on the radio) and with one whole unit including songs and accompaniments, playscript and workshop exercises, available freely online.