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Curriculum Music Lessons

Our curriculum music lessons are an integral part of our music provision and are made up of two parts. Specialist teachers from the Bromley Youth Music Trust (BYMT) come in to teach each week and provide an excellent music curriculum for our students. In KS2, each class receives half a term of lessons each term from BYMT. These lessons range from using tuned and untuned instruments and singing in three parts, to listening and responding to music and composing their own.

Year 1 have 'Music Makers' lessons from BYMT and each Year 2 class have a term of learning to play the 'pBuzz'.  Information about the content of these lessons can be found below in the relevant tabs.

In the half-terms when BYMT are not teaching music lessons, our skilled teachers use the Charanga programme to teach weekly music lessons. 

Our long term plan can be found below, as well as a breakdown of the objectives taught by BYMT.

 Year 1 and 2

Autumn 1 – Using Voices

  • Children will use their voices expressively and creatively by singing songs and speaking chants and rhymes.
  • Children will also learn how to combine different parts together to create one piece of music.

Autumn 2 – Beat/pulse and rhythm

  • Children will learn to clap, stamp and play the beat/pulse of different pieces of music.
  • Children will be taught to internalise the beat by counting the beat in their heads.
  • Children will learn the difference between beat and rhythm and will clap rhythms.
  • Children will have a chance to play different rhythms using djembe drums.

Spring 1 – Tuned and untuned instruments

  • Children will spend half a term learning how to play a piece of music on glockenspiels.
  • During this unit, children will be exposed to what the music looks like in standard music notation.
  • Children will be given the chance to perform their pieces to other classes.

Spring 2 – Musical elements (pitch, tempo, dynamics)

  • Children will be taught about what pitch is and follow the pitch of songs using their hands.
  • Children will learn about tempo and how the tempo changes in different pieces of music. They will also consider how this changes the effect of the music.  
  • Children will learn about dynamics (louds and softs) and will experiment with how these are created within music.

Summer 1 – Listening and responding

  • Children will listen with concentration and understanding to a range of high-quality live and recorded music.
  • Children will respond to music by considering how it makes them feel and what the images it conjures up in their imaginations.

Summer 2 – Composition

In this unit, children will experiment with, create, select and combine sounds using the inter-related dimensions of music they have learnt about throughout the year.  

 Year 3

Singing

Sing songs with confidence in a variety of styles
  • Sing songs in a variety of styles
  • Show increasing accuracy of pitch
  • Show an awareness of the shape of the melody
  • Imitate increasingly longer phrases
  • Understand that posture, breathing and diction are important
  • Demonstrate an awareness of character or style in performance
  • Chant or sing a song (or round) in 2 simple parts
  • Follow simple hand directions from a leader
  • Recognise simple structures of songs (verse/chorus)
  • Recognise longer-shorter/faster-slower/higher-lower sounds
  • Compose actions (and words) to go with songs
  • Listen with concentration to longer pieces/extracts of music

Instruments

Sing, clap and play a variety of tunes made of up minims, crotchets and pairs of quavers, and confidently play at least 4 notes on the recorder

 

Year 3 will have a term of recorder lessons this year
  • Keep a steady beat on an instrument in a group or individually
  • Copy a variety of rhythms
  • Read a variety of rhythms using simple notations
  • Play a number of tunes on the recorder, using at least 4 notes
  • Begin to recognise notes on the treble staff
  • Copy a short melodic phrase by ear
  • Perform as an individual (in class)
  • Perform as a group to an audience
  • Recognise simple structures of songs (verse/chorus)
  • Recognise longer-shorter/faster-slower/higher-lower sounds
  • Identify repetition in music, both by ear and by notation
  • Compose short phrases of music

Terminology to be covered

Pitch, tempo, melody, harmony, dynamics, rests, ostinato, beat/pulse, rhythm

Year 4

Singing

Sing songs with confidence in a variety of styles with an increasing awareness of tone and the shape of the melody
  • Sing songs in a variety of styles, with an increasing awareness of tone and the shape of the melody
  • Sing songs showing musical expression (phrasing, changes of speed and dynamics)
  • Imitate increasingly longer phrases
  • Be aware of posture, diction and breathing when singing
  • Demonstrate an awareness of character or style in performance
  • Sing two/three part rounds with more confidence and increasing pitch accuracy
  • Follow simple hand directions from a leader (stopping/starting, playing faster/slower, louder/quieter)
  • Recognise simple structures of songs (verse/chorus/bridge)
  • Recognise longer-shorter/faster-slower/higher-lower sounds
  • Listen with concentration to longer pieces/extracts of music
  • Compose short phrases of music
  • Describe music using appropriate musical language

Instruments

Year 4 will have a term of recorder lessons amongst using other instruments throughout the year.

They will also have the opportunity to take part in Band on the Run and/or Strings Attached.

They will also take part in a composition project for a term.
  • Keep a steady beat on an instrument in a group or individually
  • Maintain different ostinato patterns against a steady beat
  • Read an increasing variety of rhythms using simple notations
  • Begin to recognise more notes on the treble staff
  • Copy short melodic phrases by ear
  • Perform as an individual (in class)
  • Perform as a group to an audience with increasing confidence
  • Play music in a metre of two or three time
  • Recognise longer-shorter/faster-slower/higher-lower sounds
  • Identify repetition in music, both by ear and by notation
  • Compose short phrases of music
  • Describe music using appropriate musical language

 

 Terminology to be covered

Pitch, tempo, melody, harmony, dynamics, rests, ostinato, beat/pulse, rhythm

 Year 5

Singing

Sing simple 2 part songs with confidence. Perform with attention to phrasing, dynamics and pitch
  • Sing confidently in a variety of styles, with expression
  • Communicate the meaning and mood of a song effectively
  • Sing a simple 2 part (homophonic) song with confidence
  • Maintain own part in a round (in 3 or 4 parts)

 
  • Listen with concentration to longer pieces/extracts of music
  • Compose short phrases of music
  • Describe music using appropriate musical language
  • Know what makes a good performance

Instruments

Read simple rhythms and notes with confidence and play at least 5 notes in a variety of songs.

 

(Glockenspiels etc.)
  • Keep a steady beat on an instrument in a group or individually
  • Read an increasing variety of rhythms using simple notations
  • Read and play a selection of notes with confidence from conventional notation
  • Copy longer melodic phrases by ear
  • Perform as an individual (in class)
  • Perform as a group to an audience with increasing confidence
  • Play music in different metres
  • Play music in 2 parts, maintaining own part
  • Recognise longer-shorter/faster-slower/higher-lower sounds
  • Identify repetition in music, both by ear and by notation
  • Compose short phrases of music
  • Describe music using appropriate musical language

 Terminology to be covered

Pitch, tempo, melody, harmony, dynamics, rests, ostinato, beat/pulse, rhythm

 Year 6

Singing

Sing 2 part songs with confidence. Perform with attention to phrasing, dynamics and pitch
  • Sing confidently in a variety of styles, with expression
  • Communicate the meaning and mood of a song effectively
  • Sing a 2 part (homophonic) song with confidence
  • Maintain own part in a round (in 3 or 4 parts)
     
  • Recognise structures of songs (verse/chorus/bridge/rounds)
  • Listen with concentration to longer pieces/extracts of music
  • Compose different phrases of music
  • Describe music using appropriate musical language

 Instruments

Read a wider range of notes on the stave, and play a variety of songs in 2 and 3 parts
  • Keep a steady beat on an instrument in a group or individually
  • Read an increasing variety of rhythms using simple notations
  • Read and play with confidence from conventional notation
  • Copy longer melodic phrases by ear
  • Perform as an individual (in class)
  • Perform as a group to an audience with increasing confidence
  • Play music in different metres
  • Play music in 2 and 3 parts, maintaining own part
  • Recognise longer-shorter/faster-slower/higher-lower sounds
  • Identify repetition in music, both by ear and by notation
  • Compose short phrases of music
  • Describe music using appropriate musical language

 

Terminology to be covered

Pitch, tempo, melody, harmony, dynamics, rests, ostinato, beat/pulse, rhythm