MUSIC
Department Vision
The WGSB music curriculum aims to provide all pupils with a high-quality music education which engages and inspires children to develop a life-long love of music, increases their self-confidence, creativity, and imagination, and provides opportunities for self-expression and a sense of personal achievement. We offer opportunities for students to develop their talents in all aspects of music including composition, singing and appreciation.
The students will develop an ability to listen to, and appreciate a wide variety of music, including different styles, periods and cultures
The students will have opportunities to explore and express ideas and feelings about music, in a variety of ways, for example through singing.
The students will explore a range of musical elements, for example: pitch, tempo and dynamics.
Encourage active involvement in creating and developing musical ideas using voices and instruments – both tuned and un-tuned.
Help the students develop self-discipline and creativity.
Enable all students to have access to music and to develop an enjoyment of music which will always be part of their lives.
“The Music Department is an alternative universe where pupils are often unrecognisable from who they are outside of it. The shy become confident. The agitated become calm. The lonely become included. The quiet become heard, and the lost become found. Music reveals the real child.”
V Fleischfresser
Year 7
Year 7
| Topic | Learning outcomes | |
| Term 1 | Building bricks and the elements of music | Elements of music Whole-class rhythm games Listening activities focussed on the different elements Key word and Italian terms Graphic scores The Keyboard |
| Term 2 | Music notation and Keyboard skills | keyboard skills workbook Intro to music software Learning to read and write the pitches of the treble clefLearning to play simple pieces at the keyboard, reading from stave notationPractising rhythmic dictations (applying the theory) Practising pitch dictations (applying the theory) |
| Term 3 & 4 | Rhythm and time signatures | Rhythm and time signatures Whole-class rhythm gamesListening activitiesLearning note-valuesLearning about time signaturesLearning to add bars to musical extractsPractising rhythmic dictations (applying the theory). Dotted rhythms |
| Term 5 & 6 | Sonority city | Layout of the orchestra Instruments and their families -Texture and Timbre Tuned and untuned percussion Continued practising of rhythm/pitch dictation Instrumental ‘show and tell’ |
Year 8
Year 8
| Topic | Learning outcomes | |
| Term 1 | Pentatonic scales andImprovisation | Call and response Intro to African American Spirituals Sibelius notation task Learn to play the pentatonic scale on the keyboard Compose a pentatonic melody at the keyboard |
| Term 2 | The Blues | Learn to play the 12 bar blues on keyboards Learn about triads Learn to play the pentatonic Blues scale (C Eb F F# G) on the keyboard Compose a simple pentatonic Blues scale melody at the keyboard Wilmington blues Improvisation |
| Term 3 | Off beat – Reggae | Exploring the origins Reggae and syncopation Primary triads I IV & V Bass lines in Reggae songs Hooks and riffs Exploring Lyrics Creating a Reggae arrangement |
| Term 4 and 5 | Chromatic and major scales | Tones and semitones Learn about major and minor Chromatic scales Listen to examples of pieces in major and minor keys Drones |
| Term 6 | Keyboard | Major/minor tonality Pavan for jack point class performance |
Year 9
Year 9
| Topic | Learning outcomes | |
| Term 1 | Popular song | Song structure Music Genres Key terms Note and rest values Basic guitar riffs |
| Term 2 | Samba | Instruments, Structure and Texture of samba music Ostinato, cyclic and poly Rhythms Call and response Composing samba rhythms |
| Term 3 and 4 | Soundtracks | Film/TV Music Composing for film Using DAWS software Effect of music on film Performing Bond themes on the keyboard. |
| Term 5 and 6 | Video game music | Perform some well-known game music on keyboards Sound effects Composing for different genres of video game |
