Key Stage 3
Class work in Year 8
Note naming in both the treble and bass clefs Rhythms in simple time
Keyboard playing. Pupils will learn a number of tunes and develop technical control
The elements of Music. Pupils will be encouraged to listen to their own performance and those of others in order to develop their understanding of the elements of music and their skills of appraisal.
The instruments of the orchestra. String, woodwind, brass and percussion instruments.
The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra-Britten:
The Carnival of the Animals and Danse Macabre-Saint Saens
Singing selected songs from "Singing Matters".
Class work in Year 9
Progression has been built into the scheme of work so pupils will build on the Year 8 work as follows:-
Keyboard playing will continue and develop and composition/improvisation will be an integral part of the classroom activities.
Classroom percussion instruments will be used in ensembles and pupils who play orchestral instruments will be encouraged to bring these when appropriate.
Pupils will be introduced to a wide variety of music and this will include some, or all, of the following topics- Jazz, Rock and Roll, selected Classical works.
Pupils will study various forms namely binary, ternary, rondo and variation. They will also write their own pieces in binary and ternary form.
Pupils will study the history of Jazz and develop performance and improvisation skills.
Irish Traditional Music will be introduced.
Pupils will be encouraged to further develop their understanding of the elements of music by exploring the structuring process and melody writing in more detail as they listen and compose.
Pupils will sing appropriate material to link up with any of the above.
Class work in Year 10
The scheme builds on the work done in Year 9 but we endeavour to take account of the pupil's interests, ever increasing maturity and their musical interests.
We study two versions of the Adagio for Strings, the original one by Samuel Barber and the one by William Orbit.
We study 3 versions of the Pavane by Gabriel Faure; one for orchestra and chorus, one for strings and one by S Club7 which uses the Faure tune.
Music for Movies. We investigate the impact of film music and the role of music in the movies through a study of selected soundtracks, by for example John Williams and James Horner.
All pupils are actively encouraged to develop their keyboard skills and embark on a programme of practical work to learn tunes and basic chords. We obviously have to take into account any previous experience so the workbooks are designed to show progression and pupils can progress at a suitable pace.
All pupils who play orchestral instruments or guitar are encouraged to develop their ensemble skills in performing activities, express their own ideas and feelings and so develop their appraisal skills.