Music Department Curriculum Map 2016-17
KS3 Music
Year 7 and 8 students receive two music lessons over a two week timetable. Most students (who do not take additional instrumental lessons), arrive with an average baseline music NC level of 3b. Year 7 SOW are designed to fill in any gaps some students miss at KS2 (Unit 1 Musical Elements, Unit 2 Rhythm & Pulse skills) and start to introduce knowledge, skills and understanding needed later for KS4 (Unit 3 Instruments of the Orchestra, Unit 4 Folk Music). In year 8 SOW continue to prepare students for KS4 by giving students the opportunity to develop their individual performance techniques and ensemble skills throughout a number of SOW (Unit 1 Ground bass, Unit 2 The Blues, Unit 3 Reggae) as well as exposing students to a range of musical traditions, styles and genres as preparation for KS4 component 3. Please note that in any group/ensemble assessments students are assessed for their individual contribution and skills.
Basic KS3 Curriculum Map
Year 7 / Year 8Autumn 1 / Unit 1: Musical Elements
Exploring sounds and the musical elements. Developing keyboard and vocal skills. / Unit 1: Ground bass
Developing rehearsal and ensemble performance skills.
Autumn 2 / Unit 2: Variations
Exploring ways to develop musical ideas using musical devices.
Spring 1 / Unit 2 Rhythm & Pulse
Exploring rhythms and note values.
Developing ensemble and percussion instrument skills. / Unit 3: The Blues
Exploring improvisation, developing ensemble skills further. Developing an understanding of the social context of The Blues.
Spring 2 / Unit 3: Instruments of the Orchestra
Exploring timbre.
Developing listening & appraising skills, as well as keyboard skills further.
Summer 1 / Unit 4 Folk Music
Exploring musical arrangements.
Developing ukulele skills and vocal skills further. / Unit 4: Reggae
Exploring syncopation and how chords, bass lines, riffs, hooks and lyrics are used in Reggae.
Summer 2
Key: KS4 Edexcel GCSE Music Area of study & Components
* please note some units cover more than one AOS; the most predominant link is highlighted.
General music theory & basic skills
Instrumental music 1700 – 1820
Vocal music
Music for stage and screen
Fusion
Component 1 Performance / C1
Component 2 Composition / C2
Component 3 Listening & appraising / C3
Year 7
Unit 1 Musical elementsWhen / Autumn 1 & 2
Content / This unit develops awareness and understanding of the elements of music providing students with a foundation of musical vocabulary to describe a variety of music at Key Stage 3. During this unit, students explore how the elements of music can be adapted and manipulated. They beginning to develop basic keyboard technique and build develop their vocal skills further.
Knowledge & skills covered / The musical elements, basic keyboard and vocal techniques.
Assessment type / Baseline listening & appraising test (completed lesson 1).
Written listening & appraising assessment (C3).
Solo keyboard performance of ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star’ (C1).
Assessment date / End of Autumn 2.
Unit 2 Rhythm & Pulse
When / Spring 1
Content / This unit develops students’ awareness of the importance of pulse as a fundamental upon which music is built and performed. Through the integrated activities of performing, composing and listening, students will begin to develop their own feeling for and awareness of a regular pulse. Students will be able to make a clear distinction between pulse and rhythm and learn to use rhythm grids as a method of recording rhythms. Students are introduced to note values and notation and compose, perform and notate their own rhythm compositions including time signatures and the grouping of note values into bars to form regular units.
Knowledge & skills covered / Reading notation, ensemble performance skills, and individual rhythm skills.
Assessment type / Written notation assessments (C3)
Group Rhythm grid composition (C2).
Class ‘Talking Drum’ or Kuku performance (C1).
Assessment date / End of Spring 1.
Unit 3 Instruments of the Orchestra
When / Spring 2
Content / This unit develops students’ understanding about orchestral instruments and families/sections of orchestral instruments. Students learn about the construction, sound production and timbres of different orchestral instruments using Benjamin Britten’s “Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra” to enhance their learning. Students are introduced to the modern symphony orchestra and learn about its layout, grouping and the instruments which belong to each section including their individual and characteristic timbres.
Knowledge & skills covered / Knowledge of instruments of the orchestra, keyboard technique, timbre identification listening skills.
Assessment type / Solo keyboard performance of ‘Hedwig’s theme’ (C1).
Written listening & appraising assessment (C3).
Assessment date / End of Spring 2.
Unit 4 Folk Music
When / Summer 1 & 2
Content / During this unit, students will develop their knowledge and understanding of folk music as a musical genre. This unit also develops students’ ability to analyse, create and perform their own musical arrangements of traditional folk songs. They listen to examples of folk music from different times and different places and compare the use of instruments, musical elements and compositional devices used. Students will perform as part of small ensembles and arrange their own folk songs using features they have learned from the unit.
Knowledge & skills covered / Knowledge of folk music traditions, basic triad chords, ensemble skills, arrangement skills, ukulele skills, further vocal techniques.
Assessment type / Ensemble arrangement and performance (C1).
Written listening & appraising assessment (C3).
Assessment date / End of Summer 2
Year 8
Unit 1 Ground bassWhen / Autumn 1
Content / Students learn about how composers use the musical device of ground bass in compositions as a foundation in the baroque period. They work in small ensembles to make an arrangement of ‘Pachelbel’s Canon’ selecting parts to with awareness of texture and dynamics.
Knowledge & skills covered / Knowledge of ground bass, baroque period, musical textures, dynamics revision, ensemble skills.
Assessment type / Ensemble performance (C1).
Written listening & appraising assessment (C3).
Assessment date / End of Autumn 1
Unit 2 Variations
When / Autumn 2
Content / This unit follows on from ground bass by developing students’ ability to recognise, explore and make creative use of the elements of music found in variation form (often used with a ground bass). Students begin this unit by working with a famous theme and exploring different musical ways in which this can be varied and developed, using the elements of music and exploring changes in tonality and rhythm. Students explore how composers have used variation form in a selection of music from different times and places.
Knowledge & skills covered / Variation form structure, musical devices (retrograde, inversion, augmentation, diminution), tonality, composition skills.
Assessment type / Ensemble composition (C2).
Written listening & appraising assessment (C3).
Assessment date / End of Autumn 2.
Unit 3 The Blues
When / Spring
Content / This unit develops students’ understanding of bass lines and chords as a harmonic foundation upon which a melody can be constructed upon and as a foundation for improvisation. Students begin by learning about the history, origin and development of the Blues and its characteristic 12-bar Blues structure exploring how a walking bass line is developed from a chord progression. Students also explore the effect of adding a melodic improvisation using the Blues scale and the effect which “swung” rhythms have as used in jazz and blues music. Students are introduced to seventh chords and how these are formed and their characteristic sound used in jazz and blues music. Students examine the lyrics of blues songs before composing their own set of lyrics for a performance of their blues song using different textural layers.
Knowledge & skills covered / Social context of the Blues, harmony and chord theory, blues scale, swung rhythms, composition and improvisation skills.
Assessment type / Ensemble composition (C2).
Written listening & appraising assessment (C3).
Assessment date / End of Spring 2.
Unit 4 Reggae
When / Summer
Content / This unit explores reggae music and the culture it comes from. After exploring the origins of reggae music as one of a number of different styles of Caribbean music, students learn about the importance of bass lines in reggae music and how offbeat chords are a key feature of music of this genre. Students explore the strong and weak beats of the bar, syncopation and the effect that this has on reggae music, before looking at how “fragmented” melodic parts can be used as bass line riffs and melodic hooks. Students look at the famous reggae musician, Bob Marley and his influence on Rastafarianism to a worldwide audience through the lyrics of reggae songs and explore the different textural layers which make up reggae music.
Knowledge & skills covered / Social context of Reggae, syncopation, song structure, bass lines, hooks, riff, ensemble performance skills.
Assessment type / Ensemble performance (C1).
Written listening & appraising assessment (C3).
Assessment date / End of Summer 2.
KS4Music
The Edexcel GCSE Music 2016 course is studied by all KS4 students. On average since 2015-16 approximately 14 – 18 students opt to continue to study music at KS4. Year 9 SOW are designed to give students a solid theoretical foundation and basic performance and composition skills ready for deeper listening & appraising work from year 10 onwards, and skills needed for their controlled performance and composition components which are completed in year 11 in accordance with the exam board.
Basic KS4 Curriculum Map
Year 9 / Popular song / Song writing / Film music / Samba / Scales from around the worldWhen / Autumn 1 / Autumn 2 / Spring / Summer 1 / Summer 2
Year 10 / Instrument Music 1700 - 1820 / Music for stage and screen / Vocal music
When / Autumn / Spring / Summer
Year 11 / Fusions / Coursework recordings, revision & exam technique
When / Autumn / Spring
Key: KS4 Edexcel GCSE Music Area of study & Components
* please note some SOW cover more than one AOS; the most predominant link is highlighted.
General music theory & basic skills
Instrumental music 1700 – 1820
Vocal music
Music for stage and screen
Fusion
Component 1 Performance / C1
Component 2 Composition / C2
Component 3 Listening & appraising / C3
Year 9
Popular songs (C1 & C3)When / Autumn 1
Content / In this unit, students explore the genre of popular song, learning how different artists and groups have created different musical arrangements of the same song. Students learn about different musical devices used in popular songs including how the different structural elements are sequenced horizontally to produce the classic form of a popular song, as well as how different textural layers combine vertically showing awareness of the different parts used in a popular song. Students explore hooks and riffs and learn about their function within popular songs. Students work in small ensembles to independently arrange and perform their own cover version of a pop song.
Knowledge & skills covered / Song structure, musical devices, arrangement and ensemble performance skills.
Assessment type / Recording of an ensemble performance (mark /30).
Assessment date / End of Autumn 1
Song writing (C2 & C3)
When / Autumn 2
Content / Following on from the Popular song unit, students learn to compose their own song individually . Basic music theory (chords, intervals) are covered as well as melody writing and lyric setting skills.
Knowledge & skills covered / Composition skills
Assessment type / Recording of own song composition (mark /30)
Assessment date / End of Autumn 2
Film music (C2 & C3)
When / Spring
Content / This unit aims to give students the experience of being “film soundtrack composers” and explores the challenges and musical devices used in film soundtrack composition. The unit focuses on three genres of film soundtrack: Action/Thriller Soundtracks, ‘Western’ Soundtracks and “Horror Movie” Soundtracks. Students begin by exploring Leitmotifs and how they have been used to represent certain “characters” or “situations” in films, before exploring how Themes have been used in film soundtracks and performing a number of “James Bond” Themes. Students compose their own soundtrack to the new James Bond film trailer “Spectre” learning how film composers use “Cuesheets” to create music to fit with exact timings. Pupils perform a famous Theme from a ‘Western’ exploring how film music composers use instruments “associated” with ‘The Wild West’ to create a sense of Time and Place. Finally, students explore soundtracks to “Horror Movies”, learning about Concords and Discords and how composers of “Horror Movies” use Discords, instrumentation and extremes of Pitch to create their own “Horror Movie” soundtrack using a Storyboard to help them with their planning. During this unit students develop music technology skills (Garageband) in order to compose their own score for a film clip.
Knowledge & skills covered / Leitmotif, harmony, revision of musical elements and how they can be manipulated, music tech and composition skills
Assessment type / Recording of own film score composition (mark /30)
Assessment date / End of Spring 2
Samba (C1 & C3)
When / Summer 1
Content / This unit introduces the polyrhythmic style of Latin-American Samba and identifies its roots in African and Spanish/Portuguese music. Through performing Samba, students will learn the sounds and understand the roles of each instrument used in Samba, learn about rhythmic loops, polyrhythms, call and response and improvisation in Samba and experience the exhilaration and physical impact of percussion ensemble music. The unit is based around a flexible class Samba performance piece - “Samba de Janeiro” which can be used solely as a percussion piece or with optional melodic parts added.
Knowledge & skills covered / Performance and listening & appraising skills.
Assessment type / Recording of ensemble performance (mark /30)
Wider listening exam question.
Assessment date / End of Summer 1.
Minimalism (C2)
When / Summer 2
Content / This unit develops students’ understanding of polyrhythmic music and contemporary minimalist styles exploring how different polyrhythmic textures and musical conventions are used by minimalist composers including the use of repetitive and changing rhythmic and melodic motifs in different styles of minimalist music. The main focus of this unit is rhythm: cyclic rhythm, polyrhythm and moving in/out of phase and also looks at structure including cyclic structure and motivic transformation. Students explore a range of minimalist music including “Clapping Music”, “Tubular Bells” and “Oxygene (Part IV)”.
Knowledge & skills covered / Minimalism techniques, composition skills.
Assessment type / Recording of composition (mark /30)
Wider listening exam question.
Assessment date / End of Summer 2.
Year 10