Try this as a way into expressionism in music without turning your pupils off.

On a sheet of blank paper, ask pupils to express an emotion in the form of a pattern, caricature, series of colours or a picture of an object. List emotions to help everyone get started - anger, hate, love, jealousy and depression. Discuss the pictures and how they link with the emotions they are expressing.

Then look at expressionist art and talk about the emotions behind these pictures. Munch’s The Scream (right) is a good one to use, although there are many others. What do your pupils make of these pictures and why?

Then introduce and play examples of expressionist music and ask pupils for their reactions to the moods and emotions, which they associate with what they have heard. Try extracts from Berg’s Wozzeck or something from Schoenberg’s Five Orchestral Pieces.

This scaffolded approach gives pupils a way into the music and enables more focused listening.

Anthony Anderson is head of music and an Advanced Skills Teacher at Beauchamp College in Leicestershire.