TEXT books which composer Edward Elgar used to teach himself music have gone on display at the Elgar Birthplace Museum.

The music primers contain notes and comments written into the margins of the books by Elgar himself.

"The primers are really interesting. Elgar was very much a self-taught musician and he used these books as a young boy to help teach himself about harmony and composition," said museum director Cathy Sloan.

The Lower Broadheath museum re-opened on Tuesday after its winter closure and the primers will join the usual exhibits, including Elgar's violin and gramophone.

"Elgar taught himself a lot just by listening to music and by playing with other musicians. The primers were another way he taught himself," said Mrs Sloan.

Elgar, who was born in 1857, went on to become one of England's best-loved composers and Birmingham University's first Professor of Music in 1905.

Lecture notes from his time at the university have survived and the Elgar Birthplace Museum will be loaning these to Birmingham University for a centenary exhibition which runs from February 4 to April 3, at the Barber Institute of Fine Arts.

The Elgar Birthplace Museum is open every day from 11am-5pm.