KS2 Music: Treasure Island - Info

These web pages are an ideal resource for supporting Music at Key Stage 2 in the classroom while introducting pupils to a classic text - Treasure Island - written by Robert Louis Stevenson over 100 years ago. There are seven songs to learn and vocal coach David Grant is here to teach them - one song per page of the website. The styles range from rock ’n’ roll to rap, blues to waltz...there’s a Latin flavour, lots of opportunity for percussion...and plenty of adventure!

Jim and Silver on the 'Hispaniola'

Jim Hawkins - aged 12 - lives and works at the Admiral Benbow Inn on the Bristol Channel. One day an old sailor - Billy Bones - arrives looking for lodgings and before long other sailors arrive too, looking for him. It turns out that Billy Bones has a map, the key to finding a lost treasure hoard in the Caribbean. For Jim it is the start of the great adventure: he and his friends charter the Hispaniola and sail. But their crew includes a number of pirates including Long John Silver and soon he has control of the ship...

The content for Treasure Island is structured on the seven songs to learn. Each song appears on its own dedicated page and includes the following resources (with links to examples from Song 1: 'Skull and crossbones'):

• Song tutorial video
• Karaoke full vocal version of the song (for rehearsal)
• Karaoke backing track version of the song (for performance)
• A video of the story episode that links to the song
• Lyrics to display or download
• Music to display or download
• A transcript of the story episode
• Notes describing the content of the tutorial and how best to use it

Additionally there is a Clips page where all of the video content has been aggregated and a Resources page where the following additional resources can also be found:

• A transcript of the tutorial video
• A link to download the video of the full vocal version of the song (mp4)
• A link to download the video of the backing track version of the song (mp4)
• A link to download audio of the vocal version of the song (mp3)
• A link to download audio of the backing track version of the song (mp3)

To download the videos you will need to right click on them and then select the appropriate option for PC or Mac.

Use the Tutorial video to begin learning each song: David Grant guides pupils through each song methodically, giving extra attention to any difficult passages or activities in groups.

Use the Story video to watch an episode of the story. Each episode links to the song on the same page and is about 6 minutes long.

Use the Full vocal and Backing track versions of the songs to revise them in preparation for a performance.