The O’Brien International School
Scheme of work for Music
Essentials for this subject:
∙ We aim to develop a love for music across a wide range of genres, to inspire exploration and composition in order to enable an eventual skill of critical engagement.
∙ We aim to inspire through practical and engaging lessons. Through their time at our centre, the children will take part in unison and part singing, composition and performance and will work together for a specific purpose. ∙ We aim to develop strong listening skills which can be then used across the wider curriculum.
∙ Through their music learning, we aim to increase the child’s self-confidence, ability to work cooperatively as part of a team and to give them a sense of achievement.
∙ Specialist teacher into offering piano, flute and guitar lessons.
∙ Choir – annual Christmas Carol Service and paly.
∙ Specialist music teacher.
∙ We pride ourselves on how well our pupils can sing. All children attend a weekly whole school singing assembly which includes fun warm-ups, high energy singing, singing in harmony and part songs.
Music
Year 1
Statutory requirements ( National curriculum) | Our Essentials | Suggested Activities |
Pupils should be taught to: ∙ Use their voices expressively and creatively by singing songs and speaking chants and rhymes. ∙ Play tuned and untuned instruments musically. ∙ Listen with concentration and understanding to a range of high quality live and recorded music. ∙ Experiment with, create, select and combine sounds using the inter-related dimensions of music. Key Vocabulary Loud Quiet Rhythm – a structured pattern of beats Sound Song Instrument Music Movement Dance Patterns Frog Tadpole Beat (Linking to heartbeat) Pulse – constant beat Rhythm – a structured pattern of beats Beat – a unit of rhythm Perform | ∙ Music should be used to enrich the whole curriculum eg as starting points for writing, introducing topics. ∙ Children to take part in a Christmas production and regular singing activities. ∙ Children to use the following questions as starting points for each half term: Autumn 1 –Exploration of sound How many ways can we make sounds? Pupils will experiment with, explore and create sounds with different instruments. They will be able to name our classroom instruments and will be able to find different ways to play them. They will explore their own body sounds and will make up their own patterns and compositions using body sounds and untuned instruments. Autumn 2 – Exploration of sound How can music help me to tell a story? Pupils will create their own musical ideas to tell a story using a selection of instruments and graphic notation. They will progress to being able to record their musical ideas using graphic scores. They will learn and perform songs for their Christmas play. | Music in Action – p. 4,5,8 Music Express ‘Sounds Interesting’ Funky Feet – ‘Yummy, Scrummy Pasta’ BBC Ten Pieces – Mars Music Express ‘Sounds Interesting’ continued Music in Action p.43,44,45 (Using Stories) Funky Feet – Three Bears Link to current text in class – creating music to accompany the story. |
Ensemble Pitch – High and Low Volume Tempo – Fast and Slow Unison- playing together | Spring 1 – Feeling the pulse Why does music need a beat? Pupils will be able to feel, move to and play to the beat. They will explore different ways of moving to a given pulse. They will focus on the Charanga hip hop unit ‘Hey You’. They will look at how the rap must fit to the pulse. They will listen to and appraise hip hop songs, perform their own song and will play and compose their own melodies with the song. Spring 2 – Pulse and Rhythm How can I be a musical director? Pupils will read basic rhythms represented by pictures and will be able to lead children performing them. They will perform more than one rhythm together at the same time. They will explore how to lead a group of others when performing a rhythmic composition. Summer 1 – Notation How can I record the music I make? Pupils will be able to create their own musical scores and their own basic notation. They will draw simple graphic scores and will perform. They will link these to texts used in English in order to add embellishment to the story. Summer 2 – Rhythm and Notation How can I make my music shine? Pupils will perform musically with creativity by showing awareness of the inter-related dimensions of music. They will vary their music, particularly focussing on dynamics and texture. They will focus on the Charanga unit ‘Hands, Feet and Heart’ and will look at how to record their own musical ideas to add to the song. | Music in Action Follow my Leader pg 12 Move to the Pulse pg 13, Hand Jive pg 22 Clap Your Name pg 15 Echo Clapping pg16 Choose a Rhythm pg 17 Charanga – ‘Hey You’ – hip hop unit Music Express – ‘Feel the Pulse’ Music in Action Patterns and Pulse pg19 25,29,30,31,32 Music Express – Taking Off Lots of frogs and tadpoles activities. Music in Action Starting Graphic Notation pg 7 Graphic Notation pg 46 Families pg10 Music Express – What’s the score? (continue to summer 2 if necessary Creating graphic scores for music linked to topic. Music in Action Loud and Quiet pg 47 Rhythmic Composition pg 49 Chance Music pg52 Charanga – ‘Hands, Feet Heart’ unit Funky Feet – Funky Feet |
Music Year 2
Statutory requirements ( National curriculum) | Our Essentials | Activities |
Pupils should be taught to: ∙ Use their voices expressively and creatively by singing songs and speaking chants and rhymes. ∙ Play tuned and untuned instruments musically. ∙ Listen with concentration and understanding to a range of high quality live and recorded music. ∙ Experiment with, create, select and combine sounds using the inter-related dimensions of music. Key Vocabulary All previous: Express Melody Rhythmical pattern Melodic pattern Steady pulse Tempo Pitch Volume Pulse Beat Butterfly Caterpillar | ∙ Children to use the following questions as starting points for each half term: ∙ Alongside the scheme, music should be used to enrich the whole curriculum eg as starting points for writing, introducing topics. ∙ Children to take part in a Christmas production and regular singing activities. Autumn 1 – Exploring Rhythm How do rock stars make music more interesting? Pupils will be able to describe different features of music and can compose their own rhythms. They will understand how important duration is in music. They will study the Charanga rock unit ‘I wanna play’. During this will listen to different rock songs and will be explain why they like certain songs more. They will improve their own rock song performance and will compose melodies to play in the middle of the song. Autumn 2 – Exploring Rhythm How do I write down my own music? Pupils will learn how to record crotchets and quavers as formal notation. They will use this knowledge to record their own rhythmic ideas. They will learn and perform Christmas songs for their play. They will learn the song ‘Ho ho ho’ and will look at how the melody is recorded in order to play chime bars during the instrumental section. Spring 1 – Pulse and Rhythm How does my heartbeat link to music? | Music in Action – p.23,24 Music Express – The Long and Short of it Charanga – I wanna play unit (rock) Music in Action – p.26,27 Charanga – Ho, ho, ho Christmas Musical – all children have a part. |
Pupils will learn about different types of pulse and will be able to move accordingly. They will be able to confidently find and move to the pulse in different pieces of music. They will look at the use of pulse in the song ‘Zootime’ and will listen to other reggae songs. They willplay simple melodies and their own simple compositions following the pulse of the music. Spring 2 – Exploring Pitch How can my music tell a story? Pupils will use pitch to create their own musical stories. They will use their voices to tell short musical stories. They will then use chime bars to do the same. They will look at how the composer of ‘Short Ride in a Fast Machine’ uses pitch and rhythm to describe the journey of his machine. They will compose their own machine piece in groups and will perform. Summer 1 – Genres of Music Would the world be boring if music was all the same? Pupils will be able to recognise and describe different genres of music. They will listen to and appraise a wide range of music. They will study the Charanga unit ‘In the Groove’ which focuses on lesser known genres. They will sing the songs in the different genres and will play melodies and compose simple patterns. Summer 2 – Exploring Sounds Why is creating music so much fun? Pupils will independently create, arrange and perform their own musical ideas. They will use graphic scores to record their own music and will make independent choices over instruments and structures. They will work on improving and performing their ideas. | Charanga – Zootime unit (Reggae) Music Express – Feel the Pulse Pulse and rhythm consolidation games Music in Action – p.32-35 Music Express – Taking Off BBC Ten Pieces – Short Ride in a fast machine Friday Afternoons – Fast Car Music in Action – p.37,38 Music Express – Rain, rain, go away Charanga – In the groove unit (different genres) Music in Action p.51.53.54.55 Music Express – Sounds Interesting Compositions linked to topic. |
Music Year 3
Statutory requirements ( National curriculum) | Our Essentials | Activities |
Pupils should be taught to: ∙ play and perform in solo and ensemble contexts, using their voices and playing musical instruments with increasing accuracy, fluency, control and expression. ∙ improvise and compose music for a range of purposes using the interrelated dimensions of music. ∙ listen with attention to detail and recall sounds with increasing aural memory ∙ use and understand staff and other musical notations ∙ appreciate and understand a wide range of high quality live and recorded music drawn from different traditions and from great composers and musicians. ∙ develop an understanding of the history of music. Key Vocabulary All Previous: Notes Dynamics Forte- loud Piano – quiet Solo Background rhythm Ostinato – repeated rhythm Musical effect – happy – major sad or spooky minor. | ∙ Children to use the following questions as starting points for each half term: ∙ Alongside the scheme, music should be used to enrich the whole curriculum eg as starting points for writing, introducing topics. ∙ Children to be given the opportunity to learn a musical instrument ie classroom percussion. Autumn 1 – Descriptive Sounds I can write words but how do I write music? Pupils will learn to record rhythmic notation and simple ways to record pitch. They will make the transformation to formal notation and will be confident at performing crotchets, quavers and rests. Autumn 2 – Rhythmic Patterns How can I make my compositions a universal language? Pupils will continue to work on recording rhythmic notation. They will compose their own rhythms and rhythm grids and will use these to create rhythmic compositions based on topic. Spring 1 – Pitch (Pentatonic Scale) How do musicians know which notes to play? Pupils will understand and compose with the pentatonic scale. They will understand which notes are in the scale and will develop their own simple melodies. They will study pop music and will focus on the music of ABBA – they will listen and appraise ABBA | Music in Action p. 6,7,9 Introduce new vocabulary – stave, bar line, crotchet, quaver Music Express – Animal Magic Charanga toolkits – Rhythm grids Composer – Andrew Lloyd Webber Music in Action – P. 8,11 Music Express – Play it again World Beats – Sound Explorers Trailblazers – Rhapsody in Blue Music in Action – P. 24,25,28 Music Express – Dragon Scales |
songs, sing and perform ‘Mamma Mia’ and will play melodies on chime bars with the song. They will look at using the pentatonic scale to compose their own melody to play with the song. Spring 2 – Pitch and timbre Why are ABBA considered to be great pop musicians of their time? Pupils will study pop music and will focus on the music of ABBA – they will listen and appraise ABBA songs, sing and perform ‘Mamma Mia’ and will play melodies on chime bars with the song. They will look at using the pentatonic scale to compose their own melody to play with the song. Pupils will also consider how changing the timbre can make music sound effective and will explore how to change the timbre in their own performing. Summer 1 – Performing Together How can I shine in a musical performance? Pupils will understand how to improve a musical performance. They will learn the piece ‘Upside Down’ in multiple instrumental part and will be able to play all the parts. They will be able to put them together to produce a class ensemble performance. They will work through the Charanga reggae unit ‘Three Little Birds’ – listening and appraising reggae songs, learn and perform the song and will compose their own simple melody to perform with it. Summer 2 – Listening Does all classical music sound the same? Pupils will listen and appraise a selection of pieces by the great Romantic composers and will compare them to other classical pieces from different periods eg baroque, 20th Century – can they hear differences? | Developing Musical Skills – Ping Pong, Taj Mahal Dancing, Ping pong pitch History – Classical – The ‘hen’ symphony – Haydn (LtM History) plus Haydn as composer focus. LtM Elements – Stamping tubes Music in Action – 10, 15, 50,51,52 Charanga – Mamma Mia pop unit. Music Express – Painting with Sound. Music to listen to – Bob Dylan Music in Action – p.61, 14 Charanga – Three Little Birds reggae unit Music in Action Together – Upside Down Composer – Miles Davies Listening – Romantic composers eg Beethoven, Brahms Music in Action – 13,36,37,38 Music Express – Salt, Mustard, Vinegar, Pepper |
Music
Year 4
Statutory requirements ( National curriculum) | Our Essentials | Activities |
Pupils should be taught to: ∙ play and perform in solo and ensemble contexts, using their voices and playing musical instruments with increasing accuracy, fluency, control and expression. ∙ improvise and compose music for a range of purposes using the interrelated dimensions of music. ∙ listen with attention to detail and recall sounds with increasing aural memory ∙ use and understand staff and other musical notations ∙ appreciate and understand a wide range of high quality live and recorded music drawn from different traditions and from great composers and musicians. ∙ develop an understanding of the history of music. Key Vocabulary All Previous: Dynamics Forte- loud Piano – quiet Fortissimo – Very loud Pianissimo – Very quiet Crescendo – Gradually getting louder Diminuendo – Gradually getting quieter | ∙ Children to use the following questions as starting points for each half term: ∙ Alongside the scheme, music should be used to enrich the whole curriculum eg as starting points for writing, introducing topics. ∙ Children are given the opportunity to continue learning instruments with Wakefield Music Hub. Autumn 1 – Playing as an ensemble How do musicians know when to start and stop? Pupils will be able to play in parts musically. They will work through the glockenspiel course on Charanga in order to play simple pieces confidently as a group. They will study salsa music and will be able to play different salsa rhythms together using a leader and breaks to know when to start and stop their rhythms. To listen and appraise ‘Mars’ from The Planets and to hear when the different instruments start and stop. Autumn 2 – Dynamics How can changing the dynamics create such drama in Music? Pupils will recognise the term ‘dynamics’ and will complete a selection of activities exploring how to change the dynamics during their performing. They will be able to discuss the dynamics they hear in different excerpts of music. They will apply their knowledge to playing as an ensemble. | Music in Action – 39,40,26,56 BBC Ten Pieces – Mars Charanga – Glockenspiel Course Developing Musical Skills – Conducting Composers – Rogers and Hammerstein Music in Action – p.53,54 Music Express – Class Orchestra World Beats – Salsa History/ Listening – Classical – A Christmas Carol – Ashworth Composer – Vivaldi LtM Elements– Intro and Baris gede ‘bandrangan’ |
Spring 1 – Musical Structure What makes a great musical performance? Pupils will recognise and be able to use the inter-related dimensions of music to improve their own performances. To study the Charanga unit ‘Don’t stop believing’ by listening and appraising, singing the song and composing their own melody. To recognise how to improve their performance. To learn and perform the different parts for ‘Super Sequence’ and to work together to polish the performance as a class. Spring 2 – Exploring Pitch How does a great melody paint a picture? Pupils will be able to pick out a melody and will be able to describe how it moves in terms of pitch and can describe the effect it has on the music. They will listen to Mars from the Planets and will compose a simple piece as a group for ‘Earth’ in the style of The Planets. Summer 1 and 2– Pitch, Melody and Scales How are musical notes organised? Pupils will understand the musical scale and will start to learn how these notes are represented using the stave. To use our knowledge of the scales to compose melodies using the pentatonic scale. To use our knowledge of the 8 note scale to play pieces on boomwhackers (8 notes). To listen to the piece ‘Unsquare Dance’ and to break it down – to recreate the piece ourselves. They will listen to examples of 20th Century music and will compare different styles of music. They will listen to how the music is organised and how it makes us feel. | Music in Action – p. 16,17,18 Charanga – Don’t stop believing unit Music in Action together – Super sequence Music in Action – p.27 Music Express – Salt, Vinegar, Mustard, Pepper BBC Ten Pieces – The Planets and Earth from Trailblazers Music in Action p. 28, 29,12 and 61 Music Express – Dragon Scales Boomwhackers in Action – Calling All Colours pg8 Rise and Fall pg10 Ready to Whack pg12 Button Box pg16 Pentajam pg18 Elements – Unsquare Dance Listening 20th Century music – John Williams Beatles Gershwin |
Music
Year 5
Statutory requirements ( National curriculum) | Our Essentials | Activities |
Pupils should be taught to: ∙ play and perform in solo and ensemble contexts, using their voices and playing musical instruments with increasing accuracy, fluency, control and expression. ∙ improvise and compose music for a range of purposes using the interrelated dimensions of music. ∙ listen with attention to detail and recall sounds with increasing aural memory ∙ use and understand staff and other musical notations ∙ appreciate and understand a wide range of high quality live and recorded music drawn from different traditions and from great composers and musicians. ∙ develop an understanding of the history of music. Key Vocabulary All previous: Diction – style of pronunciation Ensemble Stave notation Quavers Crotchets Minim Semi-quaver Time signature 4/4 Bar line | ∙ Children to use the following questions as starting points for each half term: ∙ Alongside the scheme, music should be used to enrich the whole curriculum eg as starting points for writing, introducing topics. ∙ Children to be given opportunity to further develop their vocal skills – in order to sing in parts confidently and with greater control and accuracy. ∙ Children to start learning to read and write music on the stave. Autumn 1 and 2– Timbre How can we create different types of sounds? Pupils will understand how we can vary our voices and instruments to make our music more creative and suitable for purpose. Using plastic cups, explore how they can be used to make different types of sounds – learn ‘The Cup Song’. Listen to BBC Ten Pieces ‘Night on a Bare Mountain’ and discuss how the effects were created by the instruments. Create our compositions inspired by the sounds we heard in the piece. | Music in Action – p. 19 Look at formal notation of semiquavers (butterflies and caterpillars) Body sounds compositions Music Express and Charanga – Cyclic patterns The Cup Song BBC Ten Pieces Night on a Bare Mountain Extras – African songs – Oleo History/ listening – Medieval – Estampie royal (LtM History) Composer – John Williams LtM Elements – Tomorrow the fox Mussorgsky 5 pieces World Beats – Salsa/Taiko |
Spring 1 – Pitch/Melody/Rounds How can music bring us all together? Pupils will sing and perform music in parts. They will be able to sing some simple part songs and rounds. They will learn the parts for the piece, ‘China Town’ and then will put all the parts together to perform. They will study the Charanga unit ‘Happy’ which will involve listening activities, studying the structure of the song and playing instruments (school and own) along with the music. Spring 2 – Structure and starting points for composition I’ve created lots of sounds – are they music? Pupils will look at different musical structures and will focus on rondo form. They will listen to BBC Ten Pieces ‘Connect It’ and will explore how the composer put the selections of sounds together to make a piece. They will use this as an inspiration to create their own piece mixing body sounds, voices and instruments. They will listen to pieces like ‘Inspector Morse’ and will investigate how sounds from the environment can be used as starting points for musical compositions. Summer 1 – History of Music How has music changed over time? Children will listen to a range of music this half term from different points in history. They will particularly focus on music from the baroque period and will find out what purpose such music had. They will complete a unit on rock music and will look at how 20th century rock and pop music developed. | Composer – Vivaldi Compose a Christmas advert – what musical effects can they add – think about the use of timbre. Music in Action p.31 Music Express – Roundabout Charanga – Happy pop unit Songs in parts and rounds MinA Together – China town History/listening – Baroque – Chiacona Composer – Britten Music in Action – p. 63 and 64 (Rondo Form) Composer – Stevie Wonder LtM Elements – Inspector Morse BBC Ten Pieces – Connect It Extra – Music Express – Stars, Hide your fires Charanga – Livin’ on a Prayer Listen to composers of Rennaisance music 1400s and 1600s. Monteverdi Josquin Des Prez LtM Elements – Five pieces for orchestra |
Summer 2 – Chords Which notes can I play together? Pupils will understand what a chord is and which notes can be played together musically. They will be able to play some chord sequences. They will use this knowledge to perform some pieces on Boomwhackers. | Listening activities – include music from different periods for quickfire listening questions. Encourage the children to become independent in their appraising ie to be able to discuss the music without prompts. Music in Action – p. 68,70 Boomwhackers in Action – Whackerblast pg26 Boom Boom Boom pg28 |
Music
Year 6
Statutory requirements ( National curriculum) | Stanley Grove’s Essentials | Activities |
Pupils should be taught to: ∙ play and perform in solo and ensemble contexts, using their voices and playing musical instruments with increasing accuracy, fluency, control and expression. ∙ improvise and compose music for a range of purposes using the interrelated dimensions of music. ∙ listen with attention to detail and recall sounds with increasing aural memory ∙ use and understand staff and other musical notations ∙ appreciate and understand a wide range of high quality live and recorded music drawn from different traditions and from great composers and musicians. ∙ develop an understanding of the history of music. Key Vocabulary All Previous: Further notation to be added. Musical phrase Improvisation Internalise Culture Tradition | ∙ Children to use the following questions as starting points for each half term: ∙ Alongside the scheme, music should be used to enrich the whole curriculum eg as starting points for writing, introducing topics. ∙ Children should have a basic grasp of reading and writing music. Autumn 1 and 2 – Lyrics and Notation What is the universal language of music? Pupils will be able to read and write music using formal notation. To be able to record all rhythms including the minims. Most pupils should be able to record notes on the stave ( c-c). Pupils should be able to use the Doctor Who theme to create their own simple theme tune. Children will learn how to put together a simple song of their own and will perform in groups. Spring 1 and 2 – Ensemble playing and structure How do great composers organise their ideas? Pupils will understand different structures of music. They will know the difference between binary, ternary and rondo form and use it for their own compositions. Pupils will play boomwhackers accurately and will compose their own pieces. They will look at a work by Tchaikovsky and will study how the piece is put together. They will play their own | Music in Action – p.21, 70 Stave work – reminders of where each note sits on the stave and activities to practise this. Rhythmic notation – consolidation of crotchets, quavers, minims, semiquavers and rests. Music Express – Songwriter BBC Trailblazers – Doctor Who. Link to looking at famous female composers – were they always given the recognition they deserved? History/ Listening – Renaissance – Martin said to his man Composer – John Barry Music in Action – p. 55,56 – look at Binary, Ternary and Rondo form Charanga – The Fresh Prince of Bel Air unit. Boomwhackers in Action – Relax and Together MinA Together – Circus |
class orchestra piece and will be able to describe the structure of the piece. They will listen to hip hop music and will be able to recognise the features of the genre and how the music is structured. They will compose their own short phrases to play with ‘The Fresh Prince of Belair’. Summer 1 and 2 – consolidation What have I learnt in music at primary school – where do I go from here? Children will consolidate all they have learnt over their time at primary school. They will assess whether they can read and write music with confidence and will use this knowledge to complete musical activities. They will use their listening and appraising skills to study a selection of music from the classical period and will present their favourite to a group/the class (perhaps other classes). They will play together with confidence and will continue to compose their own melodies. | History/ Listening – Romantic – Waltz from Serenade for strings – Tchaikovsky Composer – Lennon and Mccartney – The Beatles unit Extra – World Beats – Samba Music in Action – 32,33,58,62 Music Express – Who knows? Charanga – Hip hop unit (continue from work in Spring), Lean on Me unit |