update of KS2 COMPOSING

A NOTE REGARDING THIS BOOK AND THE LATEST RELEASED CURRICULUM.

This book was written in the light of a previous National Curriculum. However, the latest Curriculum (2013) has made hardly any change in the requirements. This note brings the book up to date.

1] The overview states that – at Key Stage 2 – Pupils should be taught to:

 Mu2/1.1    play and perform in solo and ensemble contexts, using their voices and playing musical instruments with increasing accuracy, fluency, control and expression

Mu2/1.2    improvise and compose music for a range of purposes using the interrelated dimensions of music

Mu2/1.3    listen with attention to detail and recall sounds with increasing aural memory

Mu2/1.4    use and understand staff and other musical notations

Mu2/1.5    appreciate and understand a wide range of high-quality live and recorded music drawn from different traditions and from great composers and musicians

Mu2/1.6    develop an understanding of the history of music.

This is very much as before. This book fully addresses Elements 1.1, 1.2 and 1.3, and 1.4 in part.

2]   The book shares the approach and is fully in line with latest Programmes of Study, released in September 2013, which states:

Music is a universal language that embodies one of the highest forms of creativity. A high-quality music education should engage and inspire pupils to develop a love of music and their talent as musicians, and so increase their self-confidence, creativity and sense of achievement. As pupils progress, they should develop a critical engagement with music, allowing them to compose, and to listen with discrimination to the best in the musical canon.

3] The required Aims are that all pupils:

perform, listen to, review and evaluate music across a range of historical periods, genres, styles and traditions, including the works of the great composers and musicians            

learn to sing and to use their voices, to create and compose music on their own and with others, have the opportunity to learn a musical instrument, use technology appropriately and have the opportunity to progress to the next level of musical excellence 
                   

understand and explore how music is created, produced and communicated, including through the inter-related dimensions: pitch, duration, dynamics, tempo, timbre, texture, structure and appropriate musical notations.

This book, while encouraging and supporting the other stated Aims, specifically deals with the creating and composing of new music, notating it (writing it down), performing it, and listening, reviewing and evaluating it. It also directly addresses the inter-related dimensions of music (pitch, duration etc) from a foundation of listening.

The latest statement of Attainment targets requires that:

By the end of each key stage, pupils are expected to know, apply and understand the matters, skills and processes specified in the relevant programme of study

For Key Stage 2, this means:

Pupils should be taught to sing and play musically with increasing confidence and control. They should develop an understanding of musical composition, organising and manipulating ideas within musical structures and reproducing sounds from aural memory.

Pupils should be taught to:

play and perform in solo and ensemble contexts, using their voices and playing musical instruments with increasing accuracy, fluency, control and expression 


improvise and compose music for a range of purposes using the inter-related dimensions of music 


listen with attention to detail and recall sounds with increasing aural memory 


use and understand staff and other musical notations 


appreciate and understand a wide range of high-quality live and recorded music drawn from different traditions and from great composers and musicians 


develop an understanding of the history of music.

These are fully supported in this Scheme of Work. All the topics are specifically included in the lessons and workshops except for: 1] the study of Staff notation; and 2] Listening to other music and discovering about its history.

There is also very little in this book about Singing. Please see David Stoll’s SEALSONGS for guidance on that subject at Key Stage 2.

David Stoll, 2017