Subjects

 

Fakenham Academy Music Department Curriculum Summary

 

Last updated:

 

Vision:

Throughout KS3 Music, students are given opportunities to create compositions, perform to peers and listen to and analyse many styles of music. The broad and balanced curriculum is designed to develop students’ knowledge and skills through the study of a variety of genres, styles and traditions. All students approach their learning through fun, practical music making enabling them to engage with a wide range of styles and further embed their musical knowledge. Our underlying ethos is to promote resilience, confidence and a love for learning in which students are supported to explore new musical ideas. Alongside curriculum lessons, a range of extra-curricular activities are available, to further enrich and enhance students’ personal growth and musical development. We endeavor to prepare students for KS4 and 5 music in which they can increase their musical knowledge, talent and skill.

 

Yearly Intent Statements

 

What are the aims of specific stages of the curriculum?

 

Year 7: By the end of the year…Students will have basic knowledge with a number of the elements of music and with playing instruments. They will all have the opportunity to play an instrument as part of their curriculum lessons and they will embed this knowledge by learning about the elements of music. They will use this to explore instrumentation and sonority when they learn about the instruments of the orchestra. Students will continue to learn about rhythm, dynamics and notation when composing pieces of ‘African music’. They will explore rhythm, music notation, tempo and timing when they learn to play the keyboard and throughout each topic they will have the opportunity to sing individually and as a group. The year will end with students having their first experience of music technology when they learn how to create a short piece of dance music.

 

Year 8: By the end of the year… Students will develop the skills they have gained during Year 7. They will extend their keyboard knowledge by composing a piece of ‘Theme and Variation’ style music. Performance skills will be developed during the ‘Samba’ topic where students will learn about rhythmic and drum notation, performing a piece of music as a class. Students will continue to use their creativity to write the music for an advert, using the elements of music from Year 7 throughout. Students will return to music technology where, this year, they will learn to remix a piece of classical music into a dance style and they will finish the year with a Ground Bass, classical composition, introducing them to Bass Clef notation. Throughout, students will learn about the elements of music including and apply them in the relevant contexts.

 

Year 9: By the end of the year… Students will further develop the skills they gained during Year 8 and 7. They will use their keyboard skills to perform a piece of Blues music as a pair. They will spend more time developing their skills in music technology, as this tends to be an area of particular interest. They will have the opportunity to learn about and create music for a film scene, also learning about jobs in this area of the music industry. They will improve their drumming skills by learning how to play drum beats using body percussion, tables and chairs. Giving students the opportunity to play modern music is important and they will work on a rock and pop topic where they are given the opportunity to create their own pieces using keyboards and ukuleles. They will finish the year, returning to music technology where they will create a piece of ‘fusion’ music, looking at influences from a range of styles of music. Again, the elements of music will be focal points throughout these topics when students focus on: Dynamics, Rhythm, Melody, Instrumentation/Sonority, Harmony, Structure and more advanced music technology techniques.

 

Year 10: By the end of the year… Students will use the knowledge gained in KS3 about styles of music, performance and composition if they choose to continue to take music into Year 10. Students will gain an in-depth knowledge of all of the elements of music (DR F SMMITTTH) and be able to use this when completing aural exam questions. They will embed this knowledge further when exploring the set work ‘Africa’ by Toto and when learning about AOS2 Music for Ensemble. Regarding composition, students will learn compositional skills and use this to start a ‘free’ composition of their choice which will be informally assessed twice during the year. Throughout, they will take part in individual instrumental lessons where they will develop their skills in performance as part of their assessment. They will submit 3 solo recordings during Year 10 which will be informally marked. 

 

Year 11: By the end of the year… Students will continue to use the knowledge and skills gained from Year 10. The course is a 2 year linear course with all coursework and exams in Year 11. Students will finish their first ‘free’ composition and begin their second ‘set brief’ composition, choosing a brief set by the exam board. They will begin to work on their ensemble performances in their instrumental lessons and will complete this and their solo performance as part of their final assessment. They will use their knowledge of the elements of music to analyse their second set work ‘Badinerie’ by Bach and AOS1 Musical forms and devices. They will extend this to AOS3 Film Music. This will culminate in revision and practice questions and their final GCSE exam.

 

Rationale behind sequencing:

 

Year 7

• An introduction to music as students will have mixed experiences at their different primary schools.

• Introduces students to singing as a group and a range of different instruments. Allowing them the opportunity to experiment with these, hopefully promoting them to take lessons privately and engage with extra-curricular clubs.

• Pupils will move on to basic rhythm notation and learn this practically. Using their knowledge so far, they will compose a short piece of music.

• Students will extend their knowledge from rhythm notation to stave notation through playing the keyboard.

• Finally they will use their knowledge of instruments, notation and timing to create a piece of music using music technology software. This allows them to experiment with other styles of music.

• This is all underpinned by the elements of music which play a key role in all years of music.

 

Year 8

• Theme and Variations at the beginning of Year 8 allows students to develop their keyboard skills from Year 7. They will still have a good knowledge and understanding of the instrument and will be challenged to play a more difficult piece, experimenting with varying this in different ways.

• Samba will extend students' knowledge from their African music topic, however this time they will be able to use different instruments which are more style specific and written notation rather than rhythm grids.

• Students will benefit from composing to a more specific brief (as they have to do at GCSE level) and this will be introduced to this through music for advertising. Students have 2 topics where they have experienced composing and for this advertising topic they will need to use their knowledge of notation to write what they believe to be a good jingle. There will be cross-curricular links with drama as students may choose to act out their adverts as well.

• Students will revisit music technology by learning to remix a piece of classical music. They will need the skills they learned during their dance music topic at the end of year 7 and will have gained other musical skills through other topics to aid this.

• Finally, they will complete a ground bass composition which will extend their knowledge further to include bass clef notation. 

• This is all underpinned by the elements of music which play a key role in all years of music.

 

Year 9

• Students will extend their keyboard skills by learning to play ‘The Blues’ in pairs. This will involve treble and bass clef notation (as learned at the end of Year 8) with a particular focus on timing and syncopation. 

• They will use their skills in syncopation to aid with chair drumming, which also builds on African music and Samba. This is an enjoyable, practical topic drumming to modern pieces. It is more accessible for students irrespective of their interest in music.

• Students will focus more on music technology this year, another important area as it shows a variety of ways into the music industry and tends to be of considerable interest. Students will use skills from their advertising topic to create music for a film scene - this will use the music tech programme that students have used throughout year 8 and 9, but will delve into new aspects they will not have used before.

• Next students will learn a new skill when playing the ukulele. This will involve chords they have played before but transferring to a string instrument. They will combine this with keyboards to either play or write their own pieces.

• To finish up the year, students will learn about fusion music, creating pieces (using computers) which are fusions of different styles. 

• This is all underpinned by the elements of music which play a key role in all years of music

 

Year 10

• Students will ideally be having instrumental lessons - or will be starting at the beginning of the course - and so the majority of their performance work will take place here. They will have gained skills during their performance topics in Year 7-9 which will be of use when they perform to their classmates. Students will complete class assessments at the end of each term where they will perform and classmates will mark them. This helps with their familiarity with the mark scheme. During Year 10 they will focus on their solo performance.

• Of initial importance are the Elements of Music. These will have been an integral part of their curriculum in KS3 and they will have a basic understanding of what they are. The first part of this course will be spent understanding each one in depth, learning the key words needed and applying these to basic exam questions.

• Moving on from this, students will complete their first in depth analysis (they will need their Elements of Music knowledge for this) - ‘Africa’ by Toto. Alongside this they will learn about pop and fusion music. They will use skills learned throughout year 7-9 to analyse and understand the music.

• They will move on from this to have a brief look at Music for Ensemble and will build knowledge on musical theatre, jazz and blues - which they will have studied initially at KS3.

• Throughout the year students have 1 lesson a week composing. In this they will learn the basics of composition - most of which they will have studied when writing music in year 7-9 - and will use this to create a free composition in a style of their choice.

• This is alongside regular homework on ‘Focus on Sound’ which provides exam style questions.

 

Year 11

• In the final year of this course, students will need to complete and submit all coursework. They will continue to work on both their performance and composition from Year 10. Focus this year in composition will be on their set-brief piece which comes directly from the exam board. They must choose a brief from one of the 4 areas of study and compose this using the elements of music mentioned throughout the course. Alongside this they will continue their free composition from Year 10. 

• In performance, students spend time working on an ensemble piece but will continue practising their solo’s in readiness for their final coursework deadline.

• Using their Elements of Music knowledge, students will analyse their second set work ‘Badinerie’ - Bach and complete extra work around Musical Forms and Devices.

• They will extend this further to look at the final two areas of study - Music for Ensemble (in more depth) and Film Music. They will study Film Music first, ensuring they have a good knowledge of how their key words could be used in the exam. They will have some experience with this from their topic in Year 9. Finally they will look at Ensemble music which encompasses styles like Jazz and Blues (similar to their studies in Year 9) and Musicals.

• This will culminate in time for revision and exam practice before their final examination.