Music - Key Stage 3
KS3 students follow a course in music designed to motivate, challenge and elicit success, regardless of background or aptitude. Through the integrated practical activities of performing, composing and listening students deepen and expand their knowledge, skills and understanding.
Schemes of work are closely linked with the National Curriculum Programme of Study in Music, providing opportunities to actively engage in different forms of music making, to appreciate a wide variety of styles and genres and to understand the ways in which music is structured and influenced by time and place.
Most units last approximately half a term and build upon previous units: although different styles, ideas and genres may be explored, students will constantly revisit, consolidate and develop the skills and knowledge they have already acquired. Students are assessed at the end of each unit, although teacher, peer and self-assessment is an ongoing process throughout.
Year 7 Projects
| Term | Title | Content |
|---|---|---|
| Autumn 1 | Bridging Unit: What can I hear? | The Elements of Music; understand how music is created using composition, analysis and performance tasks. |
| Autumn 2 | Rhythm & Pulse | Rhythms & time signatures; understand how rhythms are written, perform set tasks and create rhythmic compositions. Listening tests. |
| Spring 1 | Pitch & AABA | Pitch; Learn to read music, compose, write and perform a AABA structured composition. Written tests on pitch. |
| Spring 2 | Keyboard skills | Keyboard; Learn to play keyboard, read music and use the functions to enhance performances. |
| Summer 1 | Form & Structure | Analysis; explore different structures in music, perform, compose and analysis tasks. |
| Summer 2 | Ostinato & cyclic music | Composition; pentatonic scales, modes, riffs, hooks. |
Year 8 Projects
| Term | Title | Content |
|---|---|---|
| Autumn 1 | Minimalism | Historical context; composition & performance including phasing, rhythmic displacement, layering. |
| Autumn 2 | Triads & Improvisation | Triad chords; chord sequences, improvisation using chords. |
| Spring 1 | Theme & Variation | Performing skills; composition, how to create variations altering pitch, rhythm, timbres, instruments, pulse, order. |
| Spring 2 | Samba | World Music; context, characteristics, syncopations, rhythm performances and instruments. |
| Summer 1 | Reggae | Context, characteristics, styles, syncopation, rhythms. |
| Summer 2 | Performance choice | Project work to produce a lead sheet of a composition and performance piece for the end of Year 8. |
Year 9 Projects
| Term | Title | Content |
|---|---|---|
| Autumn 1 | Hip Hop | Context, characteristics, devices and conventions; compose a backing track & write rap lyrics. Final group track recorded in the studio |
| Autumn 2 | Ground Bass | Performance; composition analysis, group performance of Pachelbel’s canon with a ‘twist’ |
| Spring 1 | 4 chord song writing | Idiomatic characteristics and devices of a typical pop song; compose a 4 chord sequence, perform on band instruments, write lyrics and a melody line, group performance of final song. |
| Spring 2 | Experimental music | Historical context; Impressionism, serialism, improvisation, adaptation of materials/equipment available. |
| Summer 1 | Pop band | Popular song in context; analyse the structure, learn to play as a band, study new instrumentation, TAB, chord sequences of a pop song a recreate a cover using band instruments. Assessment of performing skills. |
| Summer 2 | Final Project | An opportunity for students to further extend one of the topics previously studied. |
