Time and Tune: Flight
Flight is a unit of the BBC schools radio series Time and Tune from the 1970s, covering Music for primary school pupils.
A unit on the theme of Flight, especially the history of flight, including hot air balloons, aeroplanes, birds and space.
The theme tune for this series was an extract of Jupiter, from The Planets by Holst.
Songs
The six songs from Flight, with a short extract from each. The songs from third-party sources were given new arrangements for Time and Tune.
Flying machines circling round and around,
Looping the loop, almost touching the ground.
Where have you been to Peter?
To the stars by the Milky Way.
Let's sing a song 'bout Toucan Joe,
Toucan Joe, Toucan Joe.
A little light is going by,
A little light is going by.
Drifting slowly across the sky,
All is peaceful for miles around.
Travellers' tales,
Travellers' tales,
You can't believe in travellers' tales.
Other music played during this unit:
- The Planets by Holst
- The Birds by Respighi
- Overture: The Wasps by Vaughan Williams
- Spitfire - Prelude and Fugue by Walton
Episodes
There were 8 episodes of Flight in Summer 1975. The 8 episodes were redone in Summer 1978, and joined by an additional, ninth episode devoted to listening children's own work, broadcast on a different day from the normal programmes.
There was also a preview programme for teachers at the start of term (which is not included in this site's episode count), playing all of the songs and discussing how to use the programmes.
To the best of my knowledge, none of the episodes have been kept by the BBC archives.
| # | Title | Broadcast (1975) | Broadcast (1978) |
|---|---|---|---|
| -. | Preview programme | - | 17 Apr 1978 |
| 1. | Broadcast twenty-one | 24 Apr 1975 | 20 Apr 1978 |
| 2. | Broadcast twenty-two | 1 May 1975 | 27 Apr 1978 |
| 3. | Broadcast twenty-three | 8 May 1975 | 4 May 1978 |
| 4. | Broadcast twenty-four | 15 May 1975 | 11 May 1978 |
| 5. | Broadcast twenty-five | 22 May 1975 | 18 May 1978 |
| 6. | Broadcast twenty-six | 5 Jun 1975 | 25 May 1978 |
| 7. | Broadcast twenty-seven | 12 Jun 1975 | 8 Jun 1978 |
| 8. | Broadcast twenty-eight (concert) | 17 Jun 1975 | 15 Jun 1978 |
| 9. | Broadcast twenty-nine (children's work) | - | 19 Jun 1978 |
Credits
| Pamphlet illustrated by | Rosemary Evans |
| Produced by | Douglas Coombes |
Resources
The usual full-colour pupils' pamphlet, and black and white teacher's notes, were published to accompany the series each time it was broadcast.
The pupils' pamphlet included the words and tunes for the songs, and several short poems about flight by John Emlyn Edwards.
Sources & References
- BBC (1975a) Time and Tune pupils' pamphlet, summer 1975. London: BBC. ISBN 0 563 13672 3
- BBC (1975b) Time and Tune teacher's notes, summer 1975. London: BBC.
- BBC (1978) Time and Tune teacher's notes, summer 1978. London: BBC.
- Mann, Peter (1974) 'Help for the Class Teacher' in Music Teacher, April 1974. London: Evans Bros. pp.12-14