In Steve Mastin’s classroom, pupils do not just read, look at and observe their historical sources. They listen to them. Steve’s classroom is already full of music. He uses it variously - to focus, settle or simply to expand the cultural curiosity of his pupils. Pupils expect to walk in to the sound of Elgar or Mozart. Music is sometimes used to create period atmosphere. Here, however, Steve extends the rationale. He links his use of music to traditional source evaluation in history lessons. In the same spirit as Jamie Byrom writing in TH 91 (May 1998), he offers a model that helps to make critical thinking about sources constructive, whilst extending and reinforcing pupils’ historical knowledge and enjoyment of narrative at the same time.