''Music Time'' is a British

educational Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. Vari ...

television programme that primarily focused on music as part of the

BBC Schools BBC Schools, also known as BBC for Schools and Colleges, is the educational programming strand set up by the BBC in 1957, broadcasting a range of educational programmes for children aged 5–16. From launch until June 1983, programming was based o ...

strand from 23 September 1970 to 18 March 1991. It was first presented by Mari Griffith and Ian Humphris from 1970 to 1972, it was then presented by Kathryn Harries and

Peter Combe Peter Charles Combe OAM (; born 20 October 1948) is an Australian children's entertainer and musician. At the ARIA Music Awards he has won three ARIA Awards for Best Children's Album, for ''Toffee Apple'' (1988), '' Newspaper Mama'' (1989) an ...

from 1977 to 1981, and finally presented by Jonathan Cohen and Helen Speirs from 1983 to 1991. It first aired on

BBC1 BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...

from 1970 to 1981, and then aired on

BBC2 BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...

from 1983 to 1991.

Format

The programme is aimed at primary school children aged between 7 and 9. It teaches singing, instrumentation, and basic elements of

music theory Music theory is the study of the practices and possibilities of music. ''The Oxford Companion to Music'' describes three interrelated uses of the term "music theory". The first is the "rudiments", that are needed to understand music notation (ke ...

and performance through simple, easily understandable songs. These often form part of a production intended to be performed by schools, and usually performed at the end of the programme (though in later years, as with ''Tarfa and the Trolls'', the full performance was sometimes at the beginning of the programme). This would often be a

pantomime Pantomime (; informally panto) is a type of musical comedy stage production designed for family entertainment. It was developed in England and is performed throughout the United Kingdom, Ireland and (to a lesser extent) in other English-speaking ...

in the autumn term. The programme also includes animated films (usually produced by Bura and Hardwick) based on classical works such as ''

Coppélia ''Coppélia'' (sometimes subtitled: ''La Fille aux Yeux d'Émail'' (The Girl with the Enamel Eyes)) is a comic ballet from 1870 originally choreographed by Arthur Saint-Léon to the music of Léo Delibes, with libretto by Charles-Louis-Éti ...

'', ''

Lieutenant Kijé Lieutenant Kijé or Kizhe (russian: Пору́чик Киже́, translit. Poruchik Kizhe), originally Kizh (Киж), is a fictional character in an anecdote about the reign of Emperor Paul I of Russia, in which the cover up of a transcript ...

'' and ''

Háry János ''Háry János'' is a Hungarian folk opera by Zoltán Kodály with a Hungarian libretto by Béla Paulini and Zsolt Harsányi. The opera, in four acts, is in the manner of a ''Singspiel and is based'' the comic epic ''The Veteran'' (''Az obsitos'') ...

''.

Episodes

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The Planets ''The Planets'', Op. 32, is a seven- movement orchestral suite by the English composer Gustav Holst, written between 1914 and 1917. In the last movement the orchestra is joined by a wordless female chorus. Each movement of the suite is name ...

, OriginalAirDate={{Start date, 1991, 1, 7, df=y – {{End date, 1991, 3, 18, df=y , ShortSummary= *Episode 1: A Space Journey (7 January 1991) *Episode 2: Mars (14 January 1991) *Episode 3: Mercury (21 January 1991) *Episode 4: Jupiter (28 January 1991) *Episode 5: Uranus (4 February 1991) *Episode 6: Saturn (11 February 1991) *Episode 7: Venus (25 February 1991) *Episode 8: Neptune (4 March 1991) *Episode 9: The Planets 1 (11 March 1991) *Episode 10: The Planets 2 (18 March 1991)

External links

BBC Music Time clip

''Music Time''
at Broadcast for Schools 1970 British television series debuts 1991 British television series endings 1970s British children's television series 1980s British children's television series 1990s British children's television series 1970s British music television series 1980s British music television series 1990s British music television series British television shows for schools BBC children's television shows Music education in the United Kingdom