Each year group has an individual focus. All units and every lesson consist of performance, composition and listening, and all of them have at least at two of the three disciplines.
Year 7
The aim for Year 7 is to develop understanding of the fundamentals in music - how to build compositions, how to perform properly and how to understand music when listening to it. The units are as follows:
Performing Music – for the first half term, all students in Year 7 will work towards a performance in the form of a public concert. Students will learn to sing in two part harmony and as part of a massed choir. The focus for development will be building confidence in music, learning to read notation and exploring the musical elements that enhance performances.
Keyboard skills- this is a performance based task that teaches the fundamentals of performance technique and musical score reading. It is focused on ensuring that all students learn basic keyboard skills (those students that already have instrumental skills will further develop them). The skills learned in this unit enable all students to be able to compose in a variety of styles. The unit
Chords- students expand on the knowledge of scales in the previous unit by working out how to form chords and how to harmonise a melody effectively. With this unit as the concluding one for Year 7, this completes a solid base from which further musical development can be made in Year 8.
Story music- a look into the elements of music with an open-briefed creative task as part of an assessment alongside a listening test. This unit acts as a bridging unit from Key Stage 2, enabling students to explore and understand the key elements of music.
Rhythms- students learn the different rhythmic values of notes and create their own rhythmic compositions. Students will work collaboratively to put their theoretical understanding into practice.
Year 8
The aim for Year 8 is to develop understanding of the fundamentals in music from Year 7 into more complex compositions and performance frameworks. Music from other continents are explored and the musical elements are embedded through both performance and composition.
The units are as follows:
The Blues – exploring the way that Blues music has shaped the music of today. Students will learn about the context in which Blues music developed and use performance to demonstrate an understanding of harmony and structure. Instrumental skills will be developed on both the keyboard and the ukulele’s.
Advertisements- students will use computer skills to develop a piece of music using Logic music creation software. This operates as an introduction to how the music mac room works ahead of Year 9 film music and looks at how to build up layers of sound on a computer, whilst also building on a student’s knowledge of notation gained from Year 7 and earlier in Year 8.
Cartoon Music – exploring how music reflects movement on screen, students will compose exploring musical elements with a focus on texture and melody. Building on the skills learned in the previous term, students will learn how to manipulate MIDI on a DAW (Logic or Band lab).
African Rhythms- students will investigate the context and the features behind a range of African music, focusing on the drumming tradition from Western Africa. This is an extension on composing with rhythm in Year 7, creating more complex polyrhythms and introducing short-form improvisations.
Reggae Music- students investigate the context and the features behind reggae music, acquiring the skills to compose their own reggae section. This is the first time that students compose a more substantial set of parts that combine with each other, the nature of the musical features, which are comparatively simple to other genres make this more achievable at this year group.
Year 9
The curriculum in Year 9 continues to build on skills from the previous year's by pulling together both composition and performance skills. The modules are designed to prepare students fully for the GCSE Music course.
The units are as follows:
Film Music – composing music for a film clip through the exploration of melody, texture and harmony. Building on the skills developed in the previous year, students use DAW platforms to effectively to manipulate MIDI. Students learn how to write effective melodies underpinned by strong harmonic progressions. Texture is also explored in greater depth.
Song writing – using instrumental and vocal skills students work collaboratively to create a structured piece that has strong harmonic underpinning. The pieces are developed using the musical elements and then realised at the end of the unit.
Jazz – melodic riffs, extended chords and melodic variation are all explored through a class collaborative performance. Students will have opportunity to use their own instruments, keyboards and voice to develop their aural skills.
Melody and Harmony – developing score reading skills whilst embedding theoretical understanding of music. Students perform a variety of pieces, and develop the skills to analyse musical notation in scores.
Theme and Variation - students develop their understanding of scales and chords from the previous units by creating variations on common themes. Both performance and notation skills are developed.
