Music at key stages 1 and 2

By engaging children in making and responding to music, music teaching offers opportunities for them to:

• develop their understanding and appreciation of a wide range of different kinds of music, developing and extending their own interests and increasing their ability to make judgements of musical quality;
• acquire the knowledge, skills and understanding needed to make music, for example in community music-making, and, where appropriate, to follow a music-related career;
• develop skills, attitudes and attributes that can support learning in other subject areas and that are needed for life and work, for example listening skills, the ability to concentrate, creativity, intuition, aesthetic sensitivity, perseverance, self-confidence and sensitivity towards others.

Content of music at keystages 1 and 2

All key stages

At all key stages, music teaching should:

• develop each of the interrelated skills of performing, composing and appraising in all activities;
• extend these skills by applying listening skills and knowledge and understanding of music.

• how sounds are made, changed and organised, for example through the use of the musical elements and structures;
• how music is produced, for example through the use of instruments, and musical processes including relevant symbols and notations;
• how music is influenced by the time and place, for example how it can be affected by the venue, occasion and purpose.

During key stage 1 children listen carefully and respond physically to a wide range of different kinds of music. They play musical instruments and sing a variety of songs from memory, adding accompaniments and creating short compositions, with increasing confidence, imagination and control. They explore and enjoy the way sounds and silence can create different moods and effects.

During key stage 2 children sing songs and play instruments with increasing confidence, skill, expression and awareness of their own contribution to a group or class performance. They improvise, and develop their own musical compositions, in response to a variety of different stimuli, with increasing personal involvement, independence and creativity. They explore their thoughts and feelings through responding physically, intellectually and emotionally to a variety of different kinds of music from different times and cultures.

These experiences should be recognised and built upon by:

• maintaining an emphasis on action songs, especially in the early part of key stage 1;
• making music fun, for example by using musical games to extend skills and the understanding of musical concepts;
• recognising that individuals are likely to respond in very different ways and that this needs to be encouraged while also increasing their awareness of others in group and class performances.

Progression in music is shown through the different expectations at each key stage. The information in the following table is based on level 2 being the expectation for the majority of children at the end of key stage 1 and level 4 being the expectation for the majority of children at the end of key stage 2. The aim should be to enable children to achieve these expectations with confidence, independence and ownership.

There are three ways in which children make progress in music. These are:

• progression in the breadth of experience, for example increasing the range of:
  • kinds of music used as stimuli for making and responding to music, including different musical styles, genres and traditions, and moving from the familiar to the unfamiliar;
  • other forms of stimulus used, including poetry, dance, pictures and children's own feelings;
  • musical activities in and out of the classroom and the school;
  • knowledge, skills and understanding that are taught and learned through children's own work;
• progression in the challenge/demand of the experience and depth of learning, for example increasing the:
  • children's level of engagement with the music and musical experience;
  • length and complexity of rhythmic and melodic material, developing children's ability to sing in tune and play rhythmically;
  • subtlety of the expressive use of tempo, dynamics, timbre and texture;
  • length of children's aural memory and their accurate use of notations;
  • children's understanding of the musical elements, processes and contexts and their ability to make more complex connections between areas of knowledge and skill;
• progression in the quality of the outcome, for example increasing:
  • children's confidence, independence and ownership;
  • children's musical sensitivity and expression (playing a simple piece better);
  • the creativity of children's responses, for example so that they produce unexpected outcomes;
  • children's ability to communicate their own intentions through music.

Just as it is possible to speak without meaning or sense, it is possible to sing or play an instrument in a way that is not musical. The fundamental aim of music education is to help children appreciate and achieve musical quality.

Quality can be seen from the very earliest stages and levels and in all experiences. Musical quality is difficult to define, but it can be seen in the way that one performance will completely engage the listener, while another performance will not. Quality in music is not just dependent on accuracy, but instead on the way that sounds are used expressively. For example, a musical response can communicate a mood or feeling very strongly even though some notes may be missed or played inaccurately. Musical quality requires confidence, independence and ownership, and these characteristics need to be developed constantly.

In music it is much better to revisit and consolidate learning than to constantly attempt to try new things. The aim should be to do more of less in order to achieve quality.

This scheme of work is based on a limited number of units, many of which should be revisited at least once during each of the two-year programmes (for years 1 and 2, 3 and 4, and 5 and 6). Each unit identifies a 'key learning objective' that is described in the 'About this unit' section on the front of the unit. These objectives form a series of 'stepping stones' that enable the children to progress through the key stage.

The three dimensions of progression in music described above are reflected in the eight national curriculum levels for the subject. Increasing challenge/demand is shown in progression across the levels, ie from level 1 to level 8. Breadth/Range is shown both across and within each level. Quality is shown within each level.

• ongoing skills - singing, listening and responding, for example through movement or dance;
• descriptive skills - using and controlling the expressive musical elements;
• disciplined skills - rhythmic skills, which develop the sense of pulse and rhythm, and melodic skills, which develop the sense of pitch and phrase;
• ensemble skills - performing the music of others.

The table 'strands of progression across the units' shows how skills can be developed in this scheme of work.

Musical literacy is developed within all these strands. The strands provide a focus that enables teachers to integrate the knowledge, skills and understanding in the national curriculum programmes of study. For example, in Unit 2 'Sounds interesting', which focuses on descriptive sounds, children develop performing, composing and appraising skills and apply relevant knowledge and understanding. In the primary phase, in particular, aspects from each of the statutory requirements should be developed in every unit of work.

Progression in singing lies at the heart of the music curriculum because the voice is the most immediate instrument. It provides the means to share music-making spontaneously with others regardless of age, gender, background and ability.

Very few children are unable to sing if they are given help. Most people, including teachers, who feel that they cannot sing have just not received the right help at the right time.

While some children will be able to sing in tune with little help, many children will need to be taught how to find and control their singing voice. It can be helpful to remember that some children have a voice that is naturally higher or lower than other children and that they may therefore find it difficult to match the pitch of the song if it is not within their natural range. For those who find it difficult to find a given note, it can be effective to let them sing their own first note then help them make their voice go higher or lower. Try letting them start the song. Some children will need much reinforcement to begin to recognise how they can make their voices change in pitch.

The ongoing skills units (Units 1, 8 and 15) include many activities that will help children develop their singing skills.

Teachers need to help children extend the length of music to which they will listen attentively. Suggesting points to listen for and playing music while children are involved in other quiet activities can help.

Children like what they know. So a key aim for music education is to help children get to know a wide range of different kinds of music through repeated listening. The younger the child, the more open he or she is to unfamiliar music. So key stage 1 and the early part of key stage 2 should use as wide a range of different kinds of music as possible.

One of the most interesting outcomes from the development of this scheme of work for music has been the recognition of the need to make a distinction between descriptive skills, for example the ability to use sounds to describe stories and pictures, and disciplined skills, for example a sense of pulse and pitch.

The development of descriptive skills is essential because it enables children to explore the way sounds can communicate both concrete and abstract images. Children tend to find it easier at first to make sound effects, for example the sound of a dripping tap, but they should be encouraged to explore the more abstract use of sounds, for example sounds that could describe a country scene or sounds that are pleasing in themselves.

The development of disciplined skills is also vital for all children if they are to progress in subsequent key stages. For example, a child who has not developed a sense of pulse will find it very difficult to contribute to group and class performances of songs and published music. Without this skill they cannot access many areas of community music-making. The development of disciplined skills must be done in ways that involve musical expression, for example children recognising that the pulse may slow down at the end of a piece of music and that subtle changes of timbre and dynamics can make music sound more interesting.

Descriptive and disciplined skills should not be developed in isolation. For example, in some units the descriptive-skill activities lead into disciplined-skill activities and vice versa. Towards the end of key stage 2 there is less of a need to make the distinction between the two types of skill: children should be encouraged to use both in most work. By key stage 3 the two types of skill should be fully integrated.

Children should be helped to understand how every performer has an important contribution to make and that the success of the end result is dependent on how well the group and class can work together.

In addition, children should learn how to interpret music written by others, for example how to achieve and increase an intended effect. And they should learn about making arrangements and using improvisation to develop given ideas.

The national curriculum requires that children should develop the ability to use a range of notations in relevant musical traditions. This could include, for example, learning about chord symbols when exploring music in a popular tradition, about mnemonics for some African and Indian musical genres, and about western staff notation for instrumental and vocal music within the western classical tradition.

Within this progression there are many smaller steps, for example, when notating what they hear, key stage 1 children will often start by drawing the instrument that makes the sound. Then they may begin to describe the way the sound is made, for example, using a strong sweeping line to show the hitting of a drum. Next they may create more abstract symbols for the sounds. Most notations tend to lie within the abstract, for example a picture such as diagram A for four sounds played with an equal time between them.

Children should become familiar with different ways in which sounds can be represented. This should include the way that sounds are described in western staff notation, although, at this stage, accurate reading and writing of staff notation are not requirements.

Many music educators believe that staff notation should not be introduced all in one go but should be built up over several years. This could involve developing children's understanding of the rhythmic symbols first (see diagram B) before exploring melodic lines and the ways pitch is shown (see diagram C). Only when both aspects are secure - when children can 'read' them confidently - should they be brought together in the established form of western staff notation. However, the use of songs written in staff notation can be a good way to help children become familiar with this form.

Many pieces of music that teachers will use while teaching this scheme of work will be protected by copyright, either because the composer or writer is still alive or because he or she died less than 70 years ago. The following information should help clarify the position in relation to the use of copyright music in the classroom.

Copyright provides both the means by which composers are paid for each use of their work, and a framework that encourages investment in new composers. (It is important to remember that the future livelihoods of some of today's schoolchildren will one day depend upon the recognition of the copyright of their creative work - whether musical, literary or artistic - and proper payment being made for it.)

The copyright regime in this country allows teachers a certain amount of latitude in the classroom in recognition of the value of using copyright material in education and of the need for teachers and pupils to have reasonable access to it. The system therefore represents a careful balance between the interests of copyright-owners and educationalists.

For the purpose of instruction in the classroom and in their preparation for lessons, teachers may:

• freely transcribe music in hand;
• make copies of short excerpts of musical works (but not whole movements);
• arrange works in a way that is not prejudicial to the honour or reputation of the original composer (subject to crediting the composer and attaching a warning lable in a prescribed form);
• do whatever may be necessary to set exams (other than for the purposes of examining a performance of a work).

Music may also be performed and recordings of music played freely in the classroom for the purposes of instruction. However, permission must be obtained prior to any copying, performance or other use of a musical work outside the classroom, either directly from the copyright-owner or from a body operating a licensing scheme on behalf of copyright-owners.

Further information can be obtained from www.licensing-copyright.org.uk