Music

Autumn term – The Musical Elements

Pupils will explore key concepts building from Primary schools and introducing them to new knowledge.

These topics include:

• The musical elements – The theory behind what creates music.
• The instruments of the orchestra – Investigating the sounds and features of orchestral instruments.
• Reading Rhythms – Using body percussion to explore rhythms and write notation.
• Reading music – An introduction to reading sheet music using boom whackers and keyboards to prepare pupils for future learning.

Assessment: A knowledge and listening test.

Spring Term – Classical Keyboard

Pupils will start the term by recapping previous knowledge and develop their skills such as following notation, improving their hand technique and recognising accidentals through practicing short extracts of in music. Pupils will then demonstrate all of these skills in their assessment piece ‘Fur Elise’ by Beethoven. Pupils will be assessed on their technique, fluency and accuracy in a solo performance. To further their knowledge, we will explore the main features of Classical Music and how knowing this context can influence our performances by including stylistic features in performances.

Assessment: Playing Fur Elise on the keyboard

Summer Term – Pop Song Writing

Pupils will explore the construction and use of chords in Pop music and how this is essential in creating structure and form in music. Using this knowledge, pupils will learn chords on a ukulele and create their own chord sequence using Pop conventions. Pupils will then examine song lyrics, highlighting what criteria is needed for successful lyrics. This learning is then demonstrated by pupils creating their own lyrics. When combined, pupils will work in duets and combine lyrics and ukulele chords to create a verse and chorus of their original Pop song.

Assessment: Written evidence and a performance of final Pop song