Music.
Subject Leader: Mrs P Gough
Vision / Intent:
"...every child has the natural ability and desire to assimilate musical ideas and comprehend their combinations into musical forms." Leonard Bernstein
Our aim is to deliver a range of high-quality musical experiences for all as part of a wider curriculum that helps children to achieve their potential.
Approach / Philosophy / Implementation:
All children at Holywell have the opportunity to sing, perform, compose, and listen and respond to music within their weekly Music lesson. In addition, the Music curriculum at Holywell strives to embody the following approaches:
- Sound before symbol: notation is a key skill for musicians but knowledge of standard musical notation - and the available alternatives - should be developed alongside practical music-making opportunities.
- Child-led music making: we start with each pupil's musical background, interests and aspirations. We work to ensure that our music lessons offer genuine opportunities for all pupils to develop their individual creative voices.
- Experiences which enhance cultural capital: close familiarity with a diverse styles of music helps pupils understand the cultural context of the society in which we live. It also enhances empathy and understanding with people from all over the world.
- Equal opportunities for all to engage with music making: We strive to ensure that all pupils have equal opportunities to experience, enjoy and engage with music in all its forms.
- Stylistic diversity: we believe in the inherent value of all styles of music, from all historical periods, and from all the world's cultures. We aspire to introduce pupils to as many of these as we can whilst they are with us at Holywell.
To see our Music curriculum in detail please open the documents below.
Department Members
| Mrs P Gough | Music Subject Leader |
| Miss T Brumsden | Music Teacher |
| Miss D Saunders | Music Teacher |
| Mr S Tabert | Music Teaching Assistant/Technician |
Topic Overview
Year 6
Singing is embedded into each of the modules in Year 6. Students continue learn to sing in unison and in more complicated parts.
Autumn Term
Title of unit: Programme Music
Length in weeks:6-8
Main focus: Composing short programmatic pieces using keyboards in response to a stimulus. Listening and responding to appropriate repertoire.
Assessment focus: Final composition, formative listening work.
Main focus: Composing in response to a stimulus, learning to perform Ode to Joy on the keyboard using correct technique. Listening and responding to appropriate repertoire.
Assessment focus: Final composition, solo performance, summative listening task.
Title of unit: The Ukulele
Length in weeks: 6-8
Main focus: Learning to play the ukulele with appropriate technique including how to play a range of basic chords in context. Listening and responding to appropriate repertoire.
Assessment focus: Group performances, formative listening work.
Spring Term
Title of unit: Improvising 1: ‘Maiden Voyage’ (Herbie Hancock)
Length in weeks: 6
Main Focus: Modal improvisation using keyboards and tuned percussion in response to a given stimulus – Herbie Hancock’s Maiden Voyage. Listening and responding to appropriate repertoire.
Assessment focus: Development of ideas from given starting points in formative and summative performances. Student self-evaluation. Formative listening work.
Title of unit: Samba 2 – ‘The one with the real kit!’
Length in weeks: 6
Main Focus: Learning to play ‘Brazil’ using sound shapes and samba instruments. Listening and responding to appropriate repertoire.
Assessment focus: Final ensemble performance, short composition exercises incorporating key elements of Samba. Formative listening work.
Summer Term
Title of unit: 5 Finger Keyboard Technique
Length in weeks: 6
Main Focus: Learning to play Beethoven’s Ode to Joy and/or other appropriate repertoire on keyboard focusing on correct technique. Listening and responding to appropriate repertoire.
Assessment focus: Final solo performance. Summative end of term listening task.
Title of unit: Film Music
Length in weeks: 6
Main Focus: Composing music on keyboards and/or tuned percussion using leitmotifs inspired by, or to accompany, a short film clip. Listening and responding to appropriate repertoire.
Assessment focus: Final group performance, inc. notation of composition.
Year 7
Singing is embedded into the KS3 curriculum with regular opportunities to develop and extend technique and part singing across a range of different genres.
Autumn Term
Title of unit: Structure and Form in Western Classical Music
Length in weeks: 12 - 14
Main focus: Learning about different structures used in music e.g. concerto, variations, ground bass. Performance work based on excerpts from works studied. Composing and notating a variation on a given theme. Critically responding to a range of associated repertoire through listening activities.
Assessment focus: Group/individual performance of Mozart Rondo theme, group composition, summative listening task.
Spring Term
Title of unit: Improvising 2: ‘Chameleon’(Herbie Hancock)
Length in weeks: 4-6
Main Focus: Improvising over a given riff (Chameleon from Headhunters). Listening and responding to appropriate repertoire.
Assessment focus: Development of ideas from given starting points in formative and summative performances. Student self-evaluation.
Title of unit: Samba 3: ‘The one with Samba Reggae’
Length in weeks: 4-6
Main Focus: Learning to play a Samba piece with Reggae influences (from the Bahia region of Brazil) as an ensemble. Short composition tasks based on given material – e.g. writing calls and responses.
Assessment focus: Final performances of composite pieces and compositions. Formative listening tasks.
Summer Term
Title of unit: The Guitar
Length in weeks: 6-8
Main Focus: Beginning to learn to play the Guitar, focusing on basic technique and chords. Listening and responding to appropriate repertoire. Learning to play Bob Marley’s 3 Little Birds (A, D and E)
Assessment focus: Final solo/ensemble performance of 3 Little Birds. End of term summative listening test.
Title of unit: Motifs, Patterns and Repetition
Length in weeks: 6-8
Main Focus: Learning about how different musical traditions play and write music based on motifs, patterns and repetition. Genres include, Minimalism, Gamelan and North Indian Classical Music.
Assessment focus: Final composition task. End of term summative listening test.
Year 8
Singing is embedded into the KS3 curriculum with regular opportunities to develop and extend technique and part singing across a range of different genres. N.B. The Year 8 SoW for 2021-2022 is focused on providing a recovery curriculum following the impact of Covid-19.
Autumn Term
Title of unit: The Firebird
Length in weeks: 6 - 8
Main Focus: Composing a piece in ternary form using themes from Stravinsky’s Firebird as a stimulus. Listening and responding to appropriate repertoire.
Assessment focus: Final composition, formative listening work.
Title of unit: Gaming Music
Length in weeks: 4 - 6
Main Focus: Performing and adapting a range of gaming music. Listening and responding to appropriate repertoire.
Assessment focus: Final performance and summative listening task. Student self-evaluation.
Spring Term
Title of unit: Keyboard development and technique
Length in weeks: 6
Main Focus: Students choose a keyboard piece to work on for a solo performance assessment from a range of key repertoire including well known classical/pop music which builds on skills learnt in previous units. Focus on correct technique and aiming to play with 2 hands. Listening and responding to appropriate repertoire.
Assessment focus: Final solo performance. Summative listening task.
Title of unit: Ukulele/Guitar development and technique
Length in weeks: 6
Main Focus: Students choose a piece to learn for a solo/ensemble performance from range of key repertoire which builds on skills learnt in previous units and includes more advanced chord sequences. Listening and responding to appropriate repertoire.
Assessment focus: Final performance. Summative listening task.
Summer Term
Title of unit: Samba 4:’The one with Hip-Hop/Drum and Bass’
Length in weeks: 6
Main Focus: Learning to play Samba piece (s) with Hip Hop and Drum and Bass influences (Rapper’s delight). Short composition tasks based on given material – e.g. writing calls and responses. Listening and responding to appropriate repertoire.
Assessment focus: Final ensemble performance of given material and student compositions.
Title of unit: Student Choice Performance/Composition
Length in weeks: 6
Main Focus: Students choose whether to perform a solo/ensemble piece of their choice or to write and perform a composition for a chosen instrument and in a style/genre of their choice.
Assessment focus: Final performance and student self-evaluation.
Year 9
Autumn Term
Title of unit: The Orchestra
Big Concept: Sonority and orchestration
Main Focus: By the end of this unit students will have learned:
About the layout and development of the symphony orchestra.
To recognise visually and aurally orchestral instruments and have an understanding of how they are played.
About the different sound production methods and their characteristic sonorities.
To perform on orchestral instruments (where possible) or use orchestral tones/voices/sounds from keyboards as part of a ‘class orchestra’ with an awareness of the experience of ‘performing together’ as an ensemble and the roles of different instrumental parts and textural layers on the music as a whole.
Assessment focus: Summative listening assessment, ensemble performance, individual performance.
Title of unit: The Nutcracker
Big Concept: To study different aspects of the Nutcracker Ballet by Tchaikovsky.
By the end of this unit students will have learned: How the interconnecting disciplines of dance, choreography, music and storytelling combine to form a ballet. How Tchaikovsky uses different dances to convey different parts of the story. Practical and listening tasks will focus on rhythm, structure, metre, tonality and instrumentation.
Assessment Focus: A final listening task and several short formative performance tasks.
Spring Term
Title of unit: Pop Music
Big Concept: To learn about the key features of Pop Music.
Students will learn about how pop songs are structured and will analyse the key features of popular song including; melody, lyrics, riffs, chords and instrumentation. They will arrange and perform a pop song with a bass line, chords, vocals, riff and melody.
By the end of this unit students will have learned:
The key features of popular music including melody, lyrics, riffs, chords, structure and instrumentation.
To sing and play confidently in an ensemble with stylistic awareness, to create a successful performance.
Assessment focus: Summative listening assessment and group performances of a popular song.
Title of unit: Film Music
Big Concept: To understand the different purposes of music in film and to learn how film music composers use different techniques to successfully convey the mood, story or purpose of a scene.
By the end of this unit students will: Know and understand most of the purposes of film music, Aurally identify a range of different types of film music, Perform more complex leitmotifs and themes from a range of film soundtracks showing accuracy of pitch and rhythm, Use storyboards and/or cue sheets to plan an effective film music soundtrack revising and refining ideas through rehearsal.
Assessment Focus: Formative performances of Leitmotifs and summative composition task to create music for a film scene.
Summer Term
Title of unit: Musicals
Big Concept: To develop understanding of the music in musical theatre through listening analysis and practical performance tasks.
By the end of this unit students will have learned: Types of songs (solo, duet, ensemble, finale), Vocal types and techniques, Musical elements (tempo, dynamics, texture, melody, rhythm), Creative roles within musical theatre (director, choreographer, designer, etc.)
Assessment Focus: Summative Listening Assessment and formative performance and listening tasks.
Title of unit: Music Tech – Minimalism
Big Concept: Use YuStudio music software to create a track from scratch based on minimalist concepts. This unit builds on prior learning about minimalism in year 8.
By the end of this unit students will have learned: how to create a piece from musical cells by using features such as augmentation, diminution, phasing, permutation, static harmony and cellular repetition.
Assessment focus: Final composition task.