Curriculum Allocation

Music is taught for one 100-minute lesson per fortnight.

Curriculum Period 1, 2025-26: "Rhythm and Performance Skills"

Curriculum content: 

Students learn to perform a Grade 1 drum study, developing their understanding of the musical elements and rhythm notation. Students then use these skills to compose and perform a drum study, before transferring to pitched percussion performance and composition on the keyboard. Students learn to perform and compose their own melodies, developing their aural skills and ability to use pitch notation. Students will also explore and develop their vocal skills through a variety of singing activities in preparation for the annual Christmas Concert performance - this will include learning vocal repertoire from "The Little Mermaid", which they will go on a school trip to watch at the New Victoria Theatre at the end of the autumn term.

Students will begin to develop their their technical instrumental skills by learning to perform at the keyboard using rhythm and pitch notation (treble clef in Curriculum Period 1).

Students will also develop their listening and appraising skills, learning to use the language of the musical elements to describe the music they hear, compose and perform. 

Assessment

Students' practical work will be assessed at a weighting of 60% of their overall grade in line with the assessment weightings at GCSE Music. They will sit a short listening and appraising assessment, in which they will apply their theoretical understanding of the musical elements to unfamiliar music.

Curriculum Period 2, 2025-26: "Melodies and Notation"

Curriculum content

Students will develop their vocal and technical instrumental skills further by learning to perform at the keyboard with good technique and musicality; they will work through a set repertoire, increasing in technical difficulty and musical demand (using treble and bass clef staff notation). Students will also learn to perform and compose canons and rounds, using their vocal and keyboard skills in conjunction with their knowledge of staff notation.

Students will develop their listening and appraising skills, learning to analyse familiar and unfamiliar music using the language of the musical elements and their contextual knowledge of musical cultures and genres.

Assessment

Students' practical work will be assessed at a weighting of 60% of their overall grade in line with the assessment weightings at GCSE Music. They will sit a short listening and appraising assessment, in which they will apply their theoretical understanding of the musical elements to unfamiliar music.

Curriculum Period 3, 2025-26: “Pop Music 1: Chords and Structures"

Curriculum content:

In the final Curriculum Period of Year 7, students will develop their instrumental, vocal and listening skills, learning to perform a variety of pop music repertoire.

Students develop a practical and theoretical understanding of chord progressions, learning how to fit chords and melodies together and composing their own chord progressions to fit pop melodies. Students will also listen to and appraise a broad range of pop song styles from 1950 to the present day, and will develop their understanding of different roles in pop bands and typical pop music structures.

Students will develop their musicianship by performing a variety of pop song chord progressions in ensembles, in which they will also improvise melodies at the keyboard (or an instrument of their choosing). They will also develop their understanding of career pathways in the pop music industry.

Students will return to, and build on, this particular area of musical learning again in Year 9.

Assessment

Students' practical work will be assessed at a weighting of 60% of their overall grade (30% performing, 30% composing) in line with the assessment weightings at GCSE Music. They will sit a listening and appraising assessment, in which they will hear unfamiliar listening extracts and will apply their theoretical understanding, including their understanding of pop music structures, terminology and chords.

Subject advice and guidance:

If you need any further guidance then please contact Mrs Reardon-Davies, the Director of Teaching and Learning for Music, via email: april.reardon-davies@endon.set.org