Course Overview

Year 7

Pupils begin in year 7 by looking at the basic musical elements of rhythm, tempo, dynamics, duration and pitch. This is done through listening to the works of other composers, as well as the work that they perform and write. At this stage they also learn about reading simple music using graphic scores. This initial topic lasts from September to Christmas, with assessments taking place halfway through and at the end of the unit. This topic uses a variety of musical instruments from percussion to keyboards.

From this point pupils will move on to learning about traditional musical notation. Again, listening work will involve their own work and the work of other (including recordings of professional musicians). The main focus in this topic is on performing on a keyboard, which includes learning where the notes are, what they are called and the link between where notes are written and changes in pitch. This topic runs from Christmas until Easter with assessments made halfway through and at the end of the unit.

The final topic learnt about in year 7 is the ukulele. Pupils will learn about performance skills on the instrument, as well as learning how ukulele/guitar players use a form of notation called tab to write down their ideas. Pupils will again listen to their own work as well as the work of other (including recordings of professional musicians). As with previous topics there will assessments made halfway through and at the end of the unit. This topic runs from Easter until the end of year 7.

Year 8

The first topic looked at in year 8 is music for film and TV. Pupils will listen to/watch a number of different examples of music in this genre. They will then progress from this point to performing some examples of film music before eventually writing their own music to a given film clip. As in year 7 assessments take place halfway through and at the end of this unit. This topic is worked on from the start of the year until Christmas.

The second unit of work in year 8 revolves around song writing. As in previous units pupils will listen to examples of songs, in this instance considering how the lyrics tell a story. From this point they will then learn the various parts of a song before undertaking a group/whole class performance of the piece. Finally they will work in small groups to write their own song, creating lyrics and music for their work. This piece will then be performed at the end of the unit. This topic runs from Christmas to Easter with assessments taking place halfway through and at the end of the unit.

The final topic of work in year 8 is music and space. Pupils look at mixing together different timbres (musical sounds) with dynamics to create soundscapes for the different planets in the solar system. This unit will then move on to introduce manipulation of sound, building upon the skills discussed at the start of the topic. This work will begin after Easter and run through until the end of year 8. Assessment will take place halfway through and at the end of the topic.

Internal Assessment:

Year 7

• HT1 – Assessment of graphic score performances
• HT2 – Assessment of Haunted House composition
• HT3 – Assessment of keyboard performance 1
• HT4 – Assessment of keyboard performance 2
• HT5 – Assessment of ukulele performance 1
• HT6 – Assessment of ukulele performance 2

Year 8

• HT1 – Assessment of thriller/spy film music composition
• HT2 – Assessment of horror film music composition
• HT3 – Assessment of lyric writing
• HT4 – Assessment of pop music composition and performance 
• HT5 – Assessment of creating a soundscape
• HT6 – Assessment of planets composition

Links & Resources

There are no further resources for this subject.