Trevor Webb and Nicholas Drewe. A series of books giving practical projects for use in preparation of the GCSE examinations in music. All the books are grounded on the three major principles of the GCSE syllabuses: listening, composing and performing. They may be used either as a complete series or independently. In the early stages the emphasis is on active participation, the subject matter is diverse, allowing scope for the teacher to introduce a broad range of musical topics. The listening and composing elements gain a greater importance within the series as it progresses, although there is always integration between them. Books 1 And 2 contain a variety of projects on rhythm, scales, tunes, chords, writing a pop song, composing with electronic and conventional instruments and composing with voices amongst many other ideas. Books 3 And 4 offer 22 different listening exercises which are based on the works of a wide range of composers including Bach, Handel, Elgar, Britten, Joplin, McCartney and Lloyd Webber. Each piece is presented in the form of a skeleton score and questions are set to develop the pupil's aural perception and musical literacy. The music cassette which accompanies these two books includes recordings of many of the works.
