Years 7 & 8 Curriculum - Music

In Year 7 and 8 students will learn to develop practical skills in Composing and Performing for 1 hour a week. To support this they will learn about the theoretical elements that are appropriate for each unit of work. They will learn about music from different styles and cultures and will have the opportunity to create their own pieces of music. The students will look at how the Musical elements such as pitch, rhythm and tonality are used to underpin the style in which they are working and how to use them successfully within their own music. This theoretical knowledge and musical understanding will enable the students to create music that is increasingly complex as they move towards the end of year 8, as well as enabling them to become more confident composers and performers.

The units of work that are studied in year 7 and 8 are based on the following themes:

• Playing in time
• A cappella
• Impressionism
• Pop Song
• Drumming
• Blues
• Film Music
• Dance Music

Each unit of work builds upon previous knowledge and introduces new skills so that their progress is cumulative over time. Where appropriate, students will be encouraged to use an instrument that they learn outside of the classroom as this can help to create a more ‘realistic’ piece of music. Students will have the opportunity to use tuned and untuned percussion and keyboards as well as their own voices to create their music.

During lessons we make continuous use of verbal feedback to support student progress and help them to identify the way forward. Students also write their own short-term targets identifying what needs to be done next as well as highlighting the current strengths of the work.

Students are assessed on the work from the whole unit and not just their end performance. We are looking at 3 key aspects in each piece – their understanding of the topic/style of music, the quality of the performance and the strength/appropriateness of the musical ideas created and used within their piece.

As students move into year 9 they have the opportunity to develop their skills in either Music or Music Technology, before progressing onto Year 10.