Music: Secondary: Key Stage 3

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The key takeaways are that the music curriculum aims to equip pupils with cultural knowledge associated with music, develop performing skills, use improvisation to unlock creativity, and gain a deeper appreciation of music through analysis and reflection.

The main principles of the music curriculum are to build on the national curriculum, induct pupils into powerful cultural knowledge of music, develop performing skills for social activities, use improvisation for creativity and identity, and gain understanding through analysis and reflection.

The curriculum is designed to build knowledge of musical elements like structure, pitch, melody, harmony, tonality, texture, tempo, rhythm, dynamics, articulation, and sonority. It also aims to develop performing, composing and critical listening skills as well as contextual awareness.

 

Music 
Secondary: Key Stage 3 
 

 
Curriculum plan 2020-21   

 
1. Curriculum Principles 
 
Our curricula build on the National Curriculum for Music and specifically aims to equip pupils with the knowledge 
and skills that will enable them to:  

● Be inducted into the powerful cultural knowledge associated with music. 

● Discover and develop their performing skills to a level of proficiency that enables them to participate in social 
music making activities. 

● Use improvisation to unlock creative potential and musical identity/individuality. 

● Gain a deeper understanding and appreciation of the music they engage with through systematic analysis 
and reflection. 

Coherence and flexibility 


Our approach to teaching in the EYFS integrates formal and free-flow understanding to unlock imagination and 
creativity. From Key Stage 1 onwards, activities that stimulate more conscious understanding are phased in, 
introducing pupils to the building blocks of music that shape the world around them. In the KS3 curriculum, units 
are considered and connected, and primarily last for a term to allow knowledge to be secured. A number of these 
units can be taught out-of-sequence to allow them to complement schools’ existing curricula.   

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Knowledge organisation 
We offer a cumulative and knowledge-rich curriculum that is designed to introduce and secure key m​usical 
learning ​in a sequential and connected manner.  

As such we have created a pathway that progressively builds pupils’ m


​ usical understanding​, through the 
development of ​knowledge​ (music thinking: knowing ‘about’) and s
​ kills​ (music making: knowing ‘how to’) in 
context. Knowledge is broken down into elements that anticipate the language used by exam boards: structure, 
pitch and melody, harmony and tonality, texture, tempo, metre and rhythm, dynamics and articulation, and sonority 
(performing forces and playing techniques). Skills are broken down into performing, composing and critical 
listening. In addition, pupils will grow their knowledge of the context in which the music with which they engage 
was created and performed. It is this development of knowledge, skills and an awareness of context combined 
which drives musical understanding, a deep, personal and internalised understanding of how music ‘works’ and 
how it enables meaning. 

   

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Knowledge selection 
The core knowledge covered in our secondary units is set out in the table below: 

Phase  Structure  Organisation of pitch  Texture  Tempo, metre  Dynamics and  Sonority 
and rhythm  articulation  (performing 
Melody  Harmony and  forces and 
tonality  playing 
techniques) 

Put  Repetition +  High + low  Pleasant +  Full and sparse  Fast + slow  Loud + quiet  Instruments 
simply  contrast  clashing  Long + short  Smooth + 
detached 

Year 7  Repetition, riff,  Step, leap,  Pentatonic,  Solo, unison,  Pulse, tempo,  Loud (forte),  Voice 
ostinato, groove,  balanced  major keys,  two-part, layers,  bar, bar line,  quiet (piano),  (vocalising, 
bar, phrase,  phrase, question  major and minor  full, sparse,  simple time  mezzo piano,  singing, 
balanced  and answer,  triads, chord  polyrhythmic,  signatures,  mezzo forte,  beatboxing), 
phrase, sections,  treble clef, scale  relationships,  melody and  semibreve,  fortissimo,  body percussion, 
intro, verse,  degrees, stave,  tonic, dominant,  accompaniment minim, crotchet,  pianissimo,  gumboot 
chorus, outro,  semitone, staff  primary and  , harmony, call  quaver,  crescendo,  dancing, 
addition,  notation,  secondary  and response  semiquaver,  diminuendo,  keyboard, 
subtraction,  improvisation,  chords, root  rest, rhythm,  staccato, legato,  ukulele, acoustic 
song, call and  ostinato  note, 3​rd​, 5​th​,  polyrhythms,  accent  guitar, drumkit, 
response     inversions, chord  syncopation,  strumming, stab 
   charts, chord  sustained,    
symbols  on-the-beat,    
off-beat, dotted    
crotchet, tie, 
count-in, upbeat 

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Year 8  Ground bass,  Bass clef,  Major keys (D),  Contrapuntal,  Triplet,  Slurs, detached  Basso continuo, 
signal, strophic,  intervals, octave,  root position,  canon, entry,  compound time     harpsichord, 
12 bar blues, lyric  scale, passing  key signatures,  voice, walking  signatures,  spread chord, 
structure aab  note, ornament,  blues scale,  bass, broken  swung quavers,  cello, violin, bow, 
   trill, ascending,  seventh chords,  chords, block  shuffle  bowed, master 
   descending,  blues scale,  chords,     drummer, 
   sharps, flats,  bassline, chord  monophonic,     djembe, strokes, 
blue notes  progression  polyphonic  bass, tone, slap, 
         flam, tremolo, 
      slide, bottle 
   necking, 
picking, double 
bass, bass guitar, 
brushes 
(drum-kit) 

Year 9  Head, solos,  Hook,  Extended  Backing vocals,  Clave, quantise,  Fade in,  Synthesized 
loops, mix-in, A  melismatic/  chords, minor  counter melody,  120bpm,  crescendo, fade  sound, reverb, 
section,  syllabic text  keys (D  homophony,  habanera,  out,  panning, filter, 
breakdown,  setting,  harmonic  doubling, mix-in,  repetition, tal –  diminuendo,  FX, automation, 
build, drop,  arch-shape,  minor), key  breakdown,  sam, theka, free  balance  post-production, 
pre-chorus,  conjunct,  relationships,  drop, chordal,  tempo,     trimming, zoom, 
chorus, middle  disjunct,   sus chords,  arpeggio  interlocking,     stinger, drum 
eight,  chromatic  drone, rag,     moderato,     fills, picking 
instrumental,  passing notes,  extended     allegro     Afrobeat: ‘horns’, 
alap, jhalla  sargam – sa, re,  chords, Aeolian           percussion—clav
   pa, tihai, grace  mode on C,           es, maracas, 
   notes, upper  chord     shekere, conga 
   mordents,  relationships,  Neotango: 
   development,  bitonality,  bandoneon 
motif  atonality, note  North Indian 
   cluster  classical: sitar; 
   bansuri; tabla; 
   tanpura 
   Afro Celt Sound 
   System: 
   bodhran, 
whistle, 

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tambourine, 
shaker, talking 
drum, extended 
techniques 

Inclusive and ambitious 


We recognise that our curriculum needs to meet the needs of pupils coming from a variety of cultures and 
backgrounds with different levels of experience and prior knowledge. The music curriculum aims to ensure that all 
pupils:  

● Have access to high quality musical experiences that deliver life-enhancing benefits through curriculum, and 
adopt habits and behaviours that foster a respectful and joyful community  

● Experience a knowledge-led curriculum where pupils gain ne​w musical learning and t​he ability to retain it.  

   

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2. Subject structure overview 
 

Year  Unit Title  Unit emphasis  Length  Useful prior knowledge  


Group  of Unit 

7  Stomp and Sing  Rhythm  13  None 

7  The Power of the Pentatonic  Melody  13  None 

7  Band Musicianship 1: The  Harmony (popular)  13  Keyboard performance 


four-chord trick  

8  West African Music  Rhythm, texture and structure  13  None 


(West African) 

8  The Beauty of the Baroque  Melody, harmony and texture  13  Keyboard performance; staff 
(classical)   notation (treble clef) 

8  Band Musicianship 2: The Blues  Melody and harmony (popular)   13   Instrumental performance 

9  Fusions  Melody, harmony and rhythm  10  Instrumental performance; 


(non-Western/jazz)  staff notation 

9  Using technology musically:  Harmony, texture and sonority  9  Keyboard; how to manipulate 
EDM  (popular)   musical elements  

9  Using technology musically:  Tonality, texture and orchestral  9  Keyboard; how to manipulate 
Film Music  sonority (music for stage and  musical elements  
screen)  

9  Band Musicianship 3: Songs for  Melody, harmony and rhythm  9  Instrumental performance; 
a better world  (popular)  composition 

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3. Suggested sequence 
 
 
Year 7  Unit 1 - Stomp and Sing  Unit 2 - The Power of the  Unit 3 - Band Musicianship 1: 
Pentatonic  The four-chord trick 

Purpose  In this unit, pupils will be  Pupils are introduced to  Pupils develop an 
performing (using their bodies  pentatonic scales and learn the  understanding of harmony, 
and voices as instruments),  secrets of effective melody  chords and chord relationships, 
composing and notating a  writing. They begin to navigate  whilst developing basic 
‘Stomp’ inspired piece. Pupils  staff notation in the treble clef.   instrumental or tech skills. They 
will also explore how the voice  develop ensemble skills that 
can be fully utilised in  support connected playing and 
performance and composition.   are introduced to chord charts 
Pupils will compose within a  and rhythm grids.  
given structure using 4 beat 
rhythmic patterns as their 
building blocks. Pupils will learn 
how to notate their rhythmic 
patterns using staff notation.   

Outcome  Pupils understand how rhythm  Pupils understand how  Pupils understand how different 
is what gives music its energy  balanced melodies are  musical styles employ different 
and movement. They  structured. They understand  kinds of accompaniment and 
understand that much music is  that the pentatonic scale is used  that many pop songs are made 
made up of a series of patterns  in a variety of music including  up of just 4 chords. They 
and how these patterns can fit  folk, jazz and classical.  understand how harmony 
together to create a larger  supports melody. 
structure.  

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Year 8  Unit 4 - West African Music  Unit 5 - The Beauty of the  Unit 6 - Band Musicianship 2: 
Baroque  The Blues 

Purpose  Pupils work with increasingly  Pupils develop their ability to  Pupils look to progress their 
complex rhythms, textures and  play an independent line within  ensemble skills as they perform 
structures. They drive forward  a polyphonic/contrapuntal  and improvise within a band. 
their ability to improvise,  texture by playing Baroque  They consolidate and extend 
perform independent parts and  music. They deepen their  their knowledge of harmony 
create new music that  understanding of the  and improve their musical 
embraces the traditions of  relationship between melody  literacy as they work from staff 
djembe drumming and more  and harmony by composing  notation, chord charts, and 
contemporary music from  short original melodies to fit a  tablature.  
across West Africa.   given ground bass.  

Outcome  Pupils understand that rhythm is  Pupils understand how  Pupils understand how layers 
an essential element in all music  combining ideas which stay the  and parts work in a 12-bar blues 
and that it can be used to add  same and those which are ever  structure. They understand the 
energy, build excitement, or  changing builds interest in  music devices inherent in this 
communicate stillness and calm.  music. They are familiar with  style and can include these in 
They understand the status that  performance practices of the  their own practical work.   
music in West Africa has and  late 18th century and learn to 
how this music is learnt and led.  recognise some musical devices 
  of the Baroque period.  

Year 9  Unit 7 - Fusions  Unit 8 - Using technology  Unit 9 - Band Musicianship 3: 
musically: EDM and Film Music  Songs for a better world 

Purpose  Pupils explore the characteristic  Pupils apply their knowledge of  Pupils approach this unit with a 
ideas of different musical styles  melody, rhythm and harmony  rounded sense of musical 
and traditions through  to the world of Electronic Dance  understanding and 
performance and analysis, and  Music, learning how to  performance technique. They 
critical listening.  manipulate texture and exploit  can apply that understanding 
technology.  across a number of contexts 

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Pupils engage with complex  In Film Music, pupils explore  and compose an original song 
melodic, rhythmic and  extended instrumental  which demonstrates this.  
harmonic material by fusing  techniques, tonality, harmony 
two contrasting musical  and tempo to compose music 
styles/traditions.   that reflects different images 
and characters. 

Outcome  Pupils understand the purpose  Pupils understand how the  Pupils understand how, for 
of musical devices found in  careful structuring of ideas is  centuries, music has been used 
music from a range of cultures  vital to successful composition,  to draw attention to political 
and traditions, such as tango,  regardless of the genre, style or  issues and draw attention to 
bhangra and afrobeat, Students  tradition. They understand how  social change in pursuit of a 
understand how fusion music  music can communicate and  better world.  
relates to its origins.  enhance mood, character and 
setting. 
 

Which units could be taught out of sequence?  


These units are designed to meet a range of starting points and teaching needs. That said, we suggest the strong 
foundational knowledge built through units 1 and 4 are a good jumping off point for pupils in years 7 and 8. Units 7, 
8 and 9 could stand alone and be taught out of context.  

Each unit of learning lasts approximately one term. This is so pupils have the opportunity to develop and consolidate 
their musical understanding at each stage before moving onto the next. We recognise that in this context, teachers 
may need to set smaller selections of work, therefore each unit is broken down into a number of shorter 'cycles' of 
learning with knowledge checks and assessment tasks built in.   

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4. Unit specifics 
 

Stomp and Sing, Year 7 


Lesson Number  Core Content 

1  Performing pulse and rhythms 


Performing a structured piece 

2  Exploring basic beatboxing sonorities 


Performing a structured piece 

3  Exploring the ability of the voice 


Inspiration from ‘Bring Me Little Water, Sylvie’ 

4  Communicating the meaning of a song effectively 

5  Exploring more advanced body percussion techniques 

6  Exploring how the composer Anna Meredith uses body percussion 

7  Pause Lesson - for review 

8  Inspiration from ‘Elefantea Nun Da’ 

9  Singing in two-part harmony 

10  Exploring gumboot dancing 

11  Creating a structured rhythm-focused composition 

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Exploring repetition and contrast 

12  Developing rhythmic ideas 

13  Layering rhythmic ideas 


Exploring metre 
 

   

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The Power of the Pentatonic, Year 7 
Lesson Number  Core content that develops musical understanding 

1  Understanding how pitch is organised 


Feeling beat 1 in simple triple time 
Improvising pentatonic phrases 

2  Understanding treble clef notation 


Performing the first two phrases of ‘Amazing Grace’ 

3  Performing the final two phrases of ‘Amazing Grace’ 


Creating a simple accompaniment 

4  Performing ‘Amazing Grace’ in a manner that c


​ ommunicates the meaning of the song 

5  Pause Lesson - for review 

6  Improvising a pentatonic answer phrase 


Singing ‘Fly Peacock Fly’ 
Exploring how folk music uses pentatonic scales 

7  Composing balanced pentatonic question and answer phrases 


Understanding the role of the tonic and dominant scale degrees 

8  Understanding how adding dynamics shapes a melody 

9  Creating a simple accompaniment 

10  Exploring how classical music uses pentatonic scales 


Performing pentatonic melodies by Bartok and Debussy 

11  Exploring other time signatures 

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Exploring other phrase lengths 

12  Composing a longer balanced melody 

13  Creating a countermelody 


 

   

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Band Musicianship 1: The four-chord trick, Year 7 
Lesson Number  Core Content 

1  Understanding the role of chords in a musical texture 


Understanding how chords are constructed 
Performing sustained chords (Am and Em) 

2  Performing off-beat chords (G) 


Exploring how reggae uses off-beat chords 

3  Performing chords in rhythmic patterns (C and F) 


Understanding the primary chords in a major scale 

4  Performing syncopated chords 


Understanding the secondary (minor) triads in a major scale 
Understanding how contrast is achieved in a song structure 

5  Pause Lesson - for review 

6  Performing contemporary pop songs 

7  Performing popular music drum patterns 

8  Exploring how popular music drum patterns communicate a style 


Understanding how and why the band set-up has changed 

9  Identifying musical contrast in a song 


Understanding how a musical group communicates and balances 

10  Understanding chord inversions 


Composing a successful 4-chord chord progression 

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11  Understand how to add interest and contrast to a chord sequence 

12  Understanding how word are set to music 


Exploring how to compose lyrics in a structure 

13  Understanding how to compose a rap 


 

   

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West African Music, Year 8 
Lesson Number  Core Content 

1  Performing rhythms of the song “Kuku” from Guinea 


Understanding how the djembe is played 

2  Performing the unison response of “Kuku” 


Understanding how to lead and follow signals 
Composing signals and a call and response 

3  Improvising creative rhythms 

4  Understanding that there are many types of drums in West Africa 


Exploring the textures in “Kuku” 
Creating polyrhythms and hemiolas 

5  Exploring percussion of West African countries 


Composing with rhythm, texture and sonority  

6  Singing the melody of “Kuku” 


Understanding the structure of “Kuku” 
Exploring melody in West African musics 

7  Pause Lesson - for review 

8  Composing in a structure 

9  Understanding what a griot and an oral tradition are, and the role of music in West African 
society 

10  Performing melodies and rhythms from Ghanaian music 

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11  Exploring the afrobeats music of Yemi Alade 

12  Comparing and exploring West African musics through performance and composition 

13  Comparing and exploring West African musics through performance and composition 

   

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The Beauty of the Baroque, Year 8 
Lesson Number  Core Content 

1  Understanding how a D major scale is built 


Performing “Pachelbel’s Canon” 
Knowing when the Baroque period was, and where 

2  Performing countermelodies in “Pachelbel’s Canon” 


Responding to staccato and legato articulation markings 

3  Performing more countermelodies in “Pachelbel’s Canon” 


Exploring Baroque ornamentation 

4  Understanding more about Baroque instruments and ensembles 


Performing Pachelbel’s melodies in canon 

5  Arranging Pachelbel’s melodies into a 4-phrase melody 

6  Pause Lesson - for review 

7  Exploring Baroque ground basses 


Performing Pachelbel’s ground bass 
Understanding bass clef notation 

8  Exploring the relationship between a bassline and chords 

9  Composing a bassline 

10  Composing a simple melody using notes from accompanying chords 

11  Composing a more elaborate melody that uses passing notes, Baroque rhythms and 
staccato/legato articulation  

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12  Exploring other Baroque structures 

13  Arranging melodies into a Baroque structure 


 

   

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Band Musicianship 2: The Blues, Year 8 
Lesson Number  Core Content 

1  Performing and transposing a 12-bar blues bass line 

2  Understanding building primary chords from a bass/root note 


Understanding the function of a turnaround chord 
Performing a 12 bar blues chord sequence 

3  Performing blues rhythms 


Explore walking basslines 

4  Performing a jazz head 

5  Exploring a blues scale 


Improvising a successful and stylish answer to a jazz head 

6  Pause Lesson - for review 

7  Understanding how to improvise longer phrases 

8  Understanding how blues singers communicate emotion 


Understanding how blues lyrics are structured 

9  Inspiration from “All Blues” 

10  Creating a blues accompaniment 

11  Composing a structured blues melody 

12  Learning about instrument playing techniques in order to communicate the blues genre 

13  Understanding how improvisers communicate when performing in a band 

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Fusions, Year 9 
Lesson Number  Core Content 

1  Understanding how and why fusion music is created 


Composing and performing rhythmic ideas influenced by "Water No Get Enemy" 

2  Performing harmonic ideas influenced by “Water No Get Enemy” 

3  Exploring the musical ideas in tango and neotango 

4  Understanding the role of the musical layers in tango 


Understanding the function of chromatic passing notes 

5  Improvising an alap on a rag 


Improvising on a rag above a drone 

6  Performing and improvising around a chaal 

7  Performing melodic, harmonic and rhythmic ideas in ‘Release’ 


Exploring the Aeolian mode 

8  Developing melodic, harmonic and rhythmic ideas from the styles or traditions of music 
studied 

9  Fusing melodic, harmonic and rhythmic ideas from the styles or traditions of music studied 

10  Fusing melodic, harmonic and rhythmic ideas from the styles or traditions of music studied 

   

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Using technology musically 1: EDM, Year 9 
Lesson Number  Core Content 

1  Understanding the role of a DAW in music creation 


Creating drum beats 
Understanding rhythmic displacement 

2  Composing chord sequences 

3  Adding interest to chord sequences 

4  Exploring basslines 

5  Harmonising melodic riffs 

6  Integrating and manipulating samples in a dance track 

7  Understanding the purpose of a mix-in 

8  Understanding the purpose of a breakdown, build and drop 

9  How balance, FX, panning and dynamics can musically enhance a dance track 

   

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Using technology musically 2: Film Music, Year 9  
Lesson Number  Core Content 

1  Understanding how and why film music has changed from mickey-mousing 

2  Exploring timing and sonority in live film music 

3  Understanding the role of a DAW in music creation 


Understanding the difference between foley and sound effects 

4  Understanding the difference between diegetic and non-diegetic sound 

5  Exploring how an underscore can communicate a mood or setting 


Understanding what extended instrumental techniques are, and how and why composers 
exploit them 

6  Developing musical elements in an underscore to reflect the mood or setting in a film clip 

7  Exploring tonality and harmony in an underscore to reflect the mood or setting in a film clip 

8  How to exploit sonority, dynamics, pitch, rhythm and tempo to compose successful leitmotifs 

9  Developing leitmotifs further to reflect changes in a character’s mood or situation 


 

   

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Band Musicianship 3: Songs for a better world, Year 9 
Lesson Number  Core Content 

1  Understanding how John Lennon employed melody to communicate the lyrics of his protest 
song ‘Imagine’ 

2  Understanding how and why tempo, metre and rhythm choices help to communicate the 
message of a song 

3  Exploring how artists cover songs 


Understanding how John Lennon employed texture, tonality and harmony in his protest song 
‘Imagine’ 

4  Understanding song structure and roles in a band 


Exploring contemporary protest songs 

5  Understanding how drum patterns communicate different song styles 

6 or 7 *  Exploring voicing and accompaniment style of chords 

6 or 7 *  Exploring how to write lyrics and melody 

8  Understanding the purpose of hooks 

9  Exploring fluency, contrast and a sense of direction within a song 

10  Beginning to compose your own ‘song for a better world’ 

11  Completing your own ‘song for a better world’ 


 

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*Students will have different starting points, and this will be narrated at the start of both lessons. 

   

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Appendix: Musical Understanding – some background 
observations 
 

Musical Understanding is a distinct and unique form of musical knowledge, which many have long considered the 
most important aspect of learning for curriculum music*. It acts as the driver for all practical activity in the 
classroom, with each unit of work designed to develop learning at a particular stage of musical understanding. 
Practical skills, and knowledge about theoretical concepts, are therefore important not simply because they are 
useful in themselves, but primarily because they enable progression in musical understanding. 

At its simplest, musical understanding has been described as knowledge ‘of’ music: a deep, personal and 
internalised understanding of how music ‘works’ and how it enables meaning. This usefully distinguishes it from 
other forms of musical knowledge: knowledge of ‘how to do’ music (i.e. the musical skills of performing, composing, 
etc) and knowledge ‘about’ music (i.e. concepts such as the elements or dimensions of music, and information 
about composers, notation, styles of music, etc). 

It has been defined clearly over the years by both significant music educators and by various bodies connected with 
the National Curriculum for music. The most recent of these include the original Level statements for music in the 
National Curriculum, the Secondary Strategy KS3 programme, the Assessing Pupil Progress project, and the 
Exemplification of Standards materials. Although not all of these offered a single, overarching definition, they each 
provided a set of written statements defining progression in musical understanding, and in some cases also 
provided examples of pupils’ music making and thinking which reflected the different stages of progression. 

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There are two key consequences of using musical understanding to define progression in musical learning:  

1. Each unit is designed to develop a particular stage of understanding, with all the units for at least one year’s 
set of units addressing a similar stage. This is because progression through the stages is a long-term process, 
and requires careful introduction, consolidation and development across a range of musical contexts before 
moving on to the next stage. This provides a very clear rationale as to why certain units and their associated 
activities / learning are placed where they are. It also enables teachers to be explicit with pupils as to why 
certain activities or music are being studied: ‘this will help you understand how music is created in layers, 
instead of in sequences of single sounds’; or ‘this will help you understand how music from this tradition / part 
of the world uses a different process for making music than we’ve seen in other sorts of music we have 
explored’ . 

2. The creative challenges which can be offered to pupils are both more sophisticated and more targeted: rather 
than just asking pupils to make a contrasting section for their ‘stomp’ parts for instance, teachers can ask 
pupils to find out how many different combinations they can make from the parts or layers of sounds they 
have already created – solos, two parts in different pairings, three layers of sound, etc; or rather than just 
asking pupils to ‘create a blues’, teachers might ask pupils to find their own way of ‘walking’ the bass line from 
one chord root to another. The consequence is that there is potential for pupils to be given lots of short, 
focused creative challenges rather than long, broad tasks. 

*Teachers may wish to explore the new resources on the ISM web site, which describe and explain the history of 
musical understanding over the course of the past 50 years, including its importance within the National Curriculum 
in England.  

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