Curriculum – Music

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Curriculum – Music

Music

The Curriculum

Curriculum Intent

All students should have the opportunity to experience a musical education and understand the ways that music has shaped the cultural world in which we live today. Musical experiences have the ability to stay with us for life; therefore, we want all students to leave SHSG with their own memories of our department and the community which we foster here, from remembering composing their own Blues song in Year 8, or performing at prestigious concert halls both nationally and internationally. Students experience a rich curriculum where they are taught to perform and compose in a range of styles, developing an increasingly sophisticated knowledge of music and its influences exceeding the scope of the National Curriculum. Not only should students leave SHSG with an understanding and appreciation of a broad range of musical styles, they should also be able to justify their opinion and present their views with assurance. We want our students to be innovative, to be team-players and to have the drive to compete on the international stage. We want them to value a deep knowledge of musicology, to engage critically with the subject and perform and present with confidence, encouraging them not to shy away from hard work but instead harness the resilience that is required to be truly successful in music, embracing challenge and seeking opportunities to reach the next level.

What does it feel like to be a student in the Music Department?

As a musician at Southend High School for Girls, you are part of a unique community through which you are supported in exploring and developing your own personal musical interests and skills. Alongside a rigorous academic and creative curriculum, you will have the opportunity to engage with a range of musical styles and activities to broaden your thinking. Right from the start of your musical journey you will immerse yourself in academic and practical music in an integrated way, with opportunities to compose, perform, and analyse music both in curriculum and extra-curricular time.

By the end of Key Stage 3, you will have developed the necessary performance skills to be able to communicate musically both individually and in groups, you will be equipped with the compositional skills to organise musical ideas logically to create a specific effect, and you will listen to and appraise music belonging to a broad range of music. You will develop and hone your skills in each of these discrete areas across your GCSE studies, working with increasing independence to produce music that has a clear sense of personal style and maturity; most importantly, you will broaden your experience and interests, and develop your imagination and creativity.

Studying A Level music is a hugely rewarding endeavour not only in the classroom, but through your immersion in the subject practically as a performer and a composer, working with younger musicians to help shape their own love for the subject. You will study in detail the development of the symphony and explore the new directions explored in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries in classical music, as well as appraising music from the jazz, rock and pop, and musical theatre genres.

Our A Level students embody what it means to be an SHSG musician: astute, driven, collaborative, and passionate; with the academic competence to succeed on the most rigorous undergraduate degrees and the practical talent to excel in your chosen specialism, at Southend High School for Girls you will have the opportunity to grow into a truly unique and empowered musician. Whether or not you choose to take your musical studies further post-18, you will be suitably equipped to secure instrumental and choral scholarships at the most respected institutions in the UK and internationally; furthermore, during your seven years at SHSG, you will form lifelong friendships and become a part of a wider family of musicians who have contributed much to the life and legacy of the school. Once you leave Year 13, you will remain a part of this community and we will be proud to celebrate your personal successes with you, whether in the musical world or otherwise.

Please click on the button below to download the assessment policy for Music.

Download Department Assessment Policy

Journey

Music Curriculum

Key Stage 3 (Years 7 - 9)

At Southend High School for Girls we teach a curriculum that is ambitious and takes students on a learning journey beyond the national curriculum for music. The SHSG music curriculum is what we believe will expose and challenge students to a cultural capital in music that is the best that has been thought and said in this subject.

The music curriculum is planned and delivered using the intellectual framework of the classical education model, the Trivium:

  • Grammar (Knowledge and skills) knowledge, learning by heart, subject terminology, cultural capital, practical skill development – including composition, and instrumental or vocal performance.
  • Dialectic (Enquiry and exploration) debate, question, challenge, analyse, evaluate, compose and arrange music.
  • Rhetoric (Communication) essays, speeches, performances, presentations.

Year 7 – 9

Pre-requisite or helpful knowledge from Year 6 music ready to study in Year 7 if applicable
The government’s non-statutory document, the ‘Model Music Curriculum’ would be an excellent foundation for Key Stage 3 study; specifically, a knowledge of the instruments of the orchestra and the ability to read staff notation.

The topics below have been chosen as they reflect the ambitions of the national curriculum, and as a grammar school, also challenge students beyond the national curriculum. They have been carefully sequenced in this order to build a student’s learning journey to achieve the aims of our music intent. Along the way students are assessed and topics will be revisited in assessments to keep each stage of this learning journey alive.

Year 7

Term 1

The Elements of Music

  • Rhythm and metre: notation in simple and compound time.
  • Rhythmic exploration with percussion instruments
  • Pitch in treble and bass clefs; scale and intervals
  • Melodic exploration through piano composition and singing
  • Italian terminology for dynamics, tempo & articulation

Assessment

  • Baseline assessment
  • Four-bar rhythmic composition using Sibelius software
  • Eight-bar melodic composition
  • Vocabulary tests: recall of notation and terminology
  • Homework on rhythm and pitch

Note: the above assessments inform the overall assessment for the short progress report.

Term 2

Orchestra

  • Instruments of the Orchestra: families; pitch and timbre-characteristics
  • Development of the orchestra 1600-1900
  • Historic musical periods: Baroque, Classical, Romantic, 20th Century: key composers, and characteristics.
  • Programme Music: Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf

Assessment

  • Ternary form composition of original themes depicting characters from Peter and the Wolf.
  • Recall tests on periods of music and orchestral listening tests identifying instruments
  • Homework on orchestral listening and researching composers.

Term 3

Theme & Variations

  • Composition task based on Mozart’s Variations on ‘Ah vous dirai-je, maman’
  • Preparation for end-of-year examination

Folk Songs

  • Summer project on Folk songs of the British Isles
  • Folksong exploration through singing and piano

Assessment

  • Variations composition performed at the keyboard
  • End-of-year examination based on year 7 topics
  • Recall tests on musical elements: from rhythm and pitch to dynamics and tempo
  • Homework: revision for end-of-year examination.

Year 8

Term 1

Blues

  • History and origins of blues music
  • Reflection on slavery and blues’ expression
  • Development of the genre: from Delta to Chicago to R&B.
  • Twelve-bar blues chord progression
  • Chord extensions: 7ths
  • Improvisation on the blues scale
  • Piano performance

Assessment

  • Twelve-bar blues performance at keyboard
  • Presentation on ‘Women in blues’.
  • Homework on blues appraising

Note: the above assessments inform the overall assessment for the short progress report.

Term 2

Jazz & fusions

  • History of Jazz in seven styles: Ragtime, Trad., Swing, Bebop, Cool, Latin jazz, Funk.
  • Key musical features
  • Performers and pioneers
  • Exploration of a Jazz standard: Autumn Leaves
  • Reggae origins and musical features
  • Reggae song performance: Three Little Birds.

Assessment

  • Arrangement of Jazz standard, Autumn Leaves, using Sibelius
  • Reggae performance
  • Homework on Jazz and Reggae.

Term 3

Music journalism

  • Music review
  • Preparation for end-of-year examination

Summer project:

  • Four-chord song on ukulele.

Assessment

  • End-of-year examination based on year 8 topics in addition to selected year 7 topics.
  • Song feedback
  • Homework on journalism.

Year 9

Term 1

Film music

  • History of film music from Silent Movies to current trends
  • Film composition devices
  • Composition of a horror film scores.
  • Key works and composers

Assessment

  • Composition of film score synchronised to film.
  • Homework on film score listening and appraising

Note: the above assessments inform the overall assessment for the short progress report.

Term 2

Popular Music 1950-2010

  • Origins and development of rock and pop music, including socio-cultural factors
  • Diversification of rock music in the 1960s-70s
  • The rise and influence of soul and hip hop
  • Grunge, Indie, Britpop, and EDM.
  • Current trends and influences: research and presentation.

Assessment

  • Paired presentation on an influential 21st century artist
  • Homework on popular music listening and appraising.

Term 3

Music for Stage

  • History of Music Theatre
  • Study of keyworks, including West Side Story, Company, Les Misérables and Hamilton
  • Preparation for end-of-year examination
  • Musical theatre performance group project

Assessment

  • End-of-year examination
  • Homework on Musicals: listening and appraising
  • Summer project: Musical theatre stage performance

Achieving outstanding outcomes in music – knowing and remembering even more that what is expected of a grammar school KS3 curriculum.

In KS3 we assess student progress and attainment against the degree to which students have secured the key knowledge, skills and understanding that have been defined as being essential within each subject for a given year. (see above)

When reporting student progress this will be determined by the quality of work being produced at that point within each subject given the context of this selective grammar school.  Progress will be reported according to the following standards:

  • Working beyond expected year standard
  • Working at expected year
  • Working towards expected year standard

To go beyond what is expected of a music student in KS3, students should engage with music as much as possible, from hearing live music in concerts to playing in ensembles in and beyond school, and practising their own instrument regularly, refining performance skills. Students must read widely and listen to radio and podcasts dedicated to music to engage in current thought and practices around music in society. Students must also engage with music theory and learn specific terminology to support their understanding and analytical skill in music. Furthermore, students should also compose and/or arrange their own music at an instrument or using computer software to develop their creative, technical, and organisational mastery of music.

 

Recommended reading in music for Lower School (Years 7 – 9)

Please click on the download button below to open the reading list for Key stage 3:

Download

Useful websites for Lower School (Years 7 – 9)

Focus on Sound

Musictheory.net

ABRSM Theory trainer app

Instruments | Philharmonia

Tim Hansen: How to read music | TED Talk

Anita Collins: The benefits of music education | TED Talk

The Cleveland Orchestra – YouTube

Music-specific language to master in Lower School (Years 7 – 9)

  • Students will use musicology-specific terminology in each area of the curriculum as relevant.
  • All required terminology is collated through a termly glossary.
  • For revision-purposes, terminology should be broken down into:
    • Generic terminology, including Italian terms used commonly in Western classical music, and elements of music.
    • Topic-specific terminology, for techniques and stylistic features related to a particular genre or practice.

Key Stage 4 (Years 10 - 11)

At Southend High School for Girls we teach a curriculum that is ambitious and takes students on a learning journey beyond the national curriculum for music. The SHSG music curriculum is what we believe will expose and challenge students to a cultural capital in music that is the best that has been thought and said in this subject.

The music curriculum is planned and delivered using the intellectual framework of the classical education model, the Trivium:

  • Grammar (Knowledge and skills) knowledge, learning by heart, subject terminology, cultural capital, practical skill development – including composition, and instrumental or vocal performance.
  • Dialectic (Enquiry and exploration) debate, question, challenge, analyse, evaluate, compose and arrange music.
  • Rhetoric (Communication) essays, speeches, performances, presentations.

Pre-requisite or helpful knowledge from Key Stage 3 music ready to study at GCSE

  • Students should be comfortable performing to at least a grade 2 standard on their chosen instrument.
  • Students should be able to compose music with an intended purpose with a clear sense of key, structure, and melodic line.
  • Students should have good aural skills in identifying a range of instruments, have a secure understanding of the elements of music (perhaps having completed some ABRSM theory grades), and a genuine interest in studying music from a range of musical styles.

The topics below have been chosen as they reflect the ambitions of the exam board specification, and as a grammar school, also challenge students beyond the exam board specification. They have been carefully sequenced in this order to build a student’s learning journey to achieve the aims of our music intent. Along the way students are assessed and topics will be revisited in assessments to keep each stage of this learning journey alive.

Year 10

Term 1

Area of Study 1: Musical Forms and Devices

  • Transition booklet: Intro to GCSE Music
  • Musical periods 1650-1910: Baroque, Classical and Romantic
  • Binary, ternary, minuet and trio, rondo, variation and strophic forms.
  • Musical devices, E.g. sequence
  • Set work: Badinerie by J.S. Bach
  • Composition skills: developing composition 1
  • Performance workshops: developing performance skills

Assessment

  • End-of-unit test
  • Composition 1, first draft.

Term 2

Area of Study 2: Music for Ensembles

  • Chamber Music
  • Jazz & Blues
  • Musical Theatre

 

Area of Study 3:
Music for Film

  • History of film
  • Film music devices
  • Ten-mark question

Assessment

  • Soloist concert performance
  • Composition 1 Review draft
  • PPE: Component 3: Appraising paper.

Term 3

Area of Study 4: Popular Music

  • Rock and Pop genres
  • Instrumentation
  • Chord Sequences
  • Technology
  • Bhangra and fusions
  • Set work: Africa by Toto

Assessment

  • End-of-unit test
  • Homework: listening and appraising
  • Composition 1, final draft

Year 11

Term 1

Focus on Composition and Performance coursework:

  • Developing composition 2: based on a brief from the exam board
  • Solo performance recording
  • Ensemble Performance recording
  • Revision for PPE

Assessment

  • Practice questions
  • Feedback on performances

Term 2

Focus on revision and completion of coursework.

  • Revision of Areas of Study 1 to 4
  • Practice papers

Assessment

  • PPE, Component 3: Appraising paper
  • Homework: revision and practice listening questions.

Term 3

Preparation for GCSE exam

  • Past papers

Assessment

  • Past paper feedback
  • Homework: revision

Achieving outstanding outcomes in music – knowing and remembering even more that what is expected of a grammar school KS4 curriculum.

In KS4 we assess student against the core content and assessment objectives as outlined by the relevant GCSE examination board specification.  For music this is Eduqas GCSE Music, Accreditation No.601/8131/X  To go beyond what is expected of a music student at GCSE and achieve outstanding outcomes in music, students should read widely, engage in watching Ted Talks and recommended research, and learn key language and subject specific terminology. Most importantly, students should engage with practical music as much as possible, from hearing live music in concert halls, festivals and other gig venues, to practising their own instrument regularly and working towards practical examinations such as ABRSM or Trinity grades. GCSE students should also participate in at least one extra-curricular ensemble, as well composing their own music using appropriate computer software to notate and/or produce the music.

Recommended reading in music for GCSE

To view the reading list for Key Stage 4, please click on the download link below:

Download

Useful websites, TED Talks and research for GCSE

GCSE Music | Eduqas

Focus on Sound

Musictheory.net

ABRSM Theory trainer app

musictheory.net

Jazz History Tree – The Jazz History Tree

BBC Radio 3 – Sound of Cinema

BBC Radio 4 – Add to Playlist

BBC Radio 2 – Elaine Paige on Sunday

Anita Collins: The benefits of music education | TED Talk

Dallas Taylor: What silence can teach you about sound | TED Talk

Tasos Frantzolas: Everything you hear on film is a lie | TED Talk

Music-specific language to master at GCSE

  • All required terminology is given in the Eduqas specification glossary (Appendix C)
  • Students will use performance, composition, and musicology-specific terminology in each area of the curriculum as relevant

A-Level (Years 12 - 13)

At Southend High School for Girls we teach a curriculum that is ambitious and takes students on a learning journey beyond the national curriculum for music. The SHSG music curriculum is what we believe will expose and challenge students to a cultural capital in music that is the best that has been thought and said in this subject.

The music curriculum is planned and delivered using the intellectual framework of the classical education model, the Trivium:

  • Grammar (Knowledge and skills) knowledge, learning by heart, subject terminology, cultural capital, practical skill development – including composition, and instrumental or vocal performance.
  • Dialectic (Enquiry and exploration) debate, question, challenge, analyse, evaluate, compose and arrange music.
  • Rhetoric (Communication) essays, speeches, performances, presentations.

Pre-requisite or helpful knowledge from GCSE music ready to study at A Level

  • Students should be confident performers in their chosen instrument, playing at a Grade 5 level by the end of Year 11 as a minimum.
  • Students should be able to compose music to a given brief, demonstrating good creativity and independence, as well as a sound grasp of relevant software to assist in the composing process.
  • Students should have good aural skills in identifying a range of instruments (Western classical, pop, jazz, and those from other cultures), have a secure understanding of the elements of music (preferably having completed ABRSM Grade 5 theory), and a genuine interest in studying music from a range of musical styles.

The topics below have been chosen as they reflect the ambitions of the exam board specification, and as a grammar school, also challenge students beyond the exam board specification. They have been carefully sequenced in this order to build a student’s learning journey to achieve the aims of our music intent. Along the way students are assessed and topics will be revisited in assessments to keep each stage of this learning journey alive.

Year 12

Term 1

Development of the Symphony 1750-1900

  • Set work: Haydn Symphony No.104
  • Stamitz & Mannheim
  • Sturm und Drang
  • Patronage and the Enlightenment

Areas of study: B/C/D
(Rock / Musical Theatre / Jazz)

  • Choice and focus on one of these areas of study for the course.
  • Sub genres and associated composers
  • Wider listening
  • Dictation practice

 

Composition 1: free composition

Assessment

The following informs the short report:

  • End of unit tests
  • Q12 tests on Symphony set worksbl,
  • Performance in class: feedback.

Composition 1 – first draft

Term 2

Development of the Symphony 1750-1900

  • Set work: Mendelssohn Symphony No.4
  • Romanticism
  • Expansion of orchestra
  • Introduction to Q14 the essay
  • Dictation practice

Into the 20th Century

  • Impressionism
  • Set work: Debussy’s Nuages from Nocturnes

Area of Study B/C/D

  • Focus on comparison question

Assessment

The following contributes to the PPE grade:

  • Soloist concert – performance contributes towards end-of-year grade*
  • Composition 1 -review draft submission
    (Easter)

Term 3

Development of the Symphony 1750-1900

  • Programmatic symphonies (Tone Poems)
  • Nationalism
  • Dictation practice

Into the 20th Century

  • Neoclassicism
  • Set work:

Poulenc’s Trio for Oboe, Bassoon and Piano

  • Expressionism

Assessment

The following contributes to the PPE in addition to submitted work last term

  • PPE, appraising paper
  • Performance: recorded from soloists’ concert*

Composition 1 – final draft submission (July).

Year 13

Term 1

Development of the Symphony 1750-1900

  • Essay Practice
  • Preparation for performance recital
  • Composition 2 – brief set by the exam board.

Into the 20th Century

  • Wider Listening (Q8)
  • Impressionism, Expressionism, and Neoclassicism

Assessment

  • Practice performance recitals
  • Practice questions
  • Composition 2 – draft submission

Term 2

Consolidation:

  • Areas of study A, B/C/D and E revision
  • Completion of Composition 2
  • Preparation for recital

Assessment

  • PPE: Component 3: Appraising paper
  • Composition 2- review submission (February)
  • Final performance recital – externally assessed by a visiting examiner.
  • Composition 1 and 2 – final submission (Easter)

Term 3

Final revision

  • Past Papers
  • Targeted revision

Assessment

  • A Level Music Component 3: Appraising

Achieving outstanding outcomes in music – knowing and remembering even more that what is expected of a grammar school KS5 curriculum.

In KS5 we assess student against the core content and assessment objectives as outlined by the relevant A Level examination board specification.  For music this is Eduqas GCE A Level Music, Accreditation No.601/8146/1.  To go beyond what is expected of a music student at A Level and achieve outstanding outcomes in music, students should read widely, completing their independent learning log to record and reflect on reading while enthusiastically engaging with academic concepts, language. Student should engage in high quality music journalism and cultural programmes via radio and podcasts and/or through specialist music publications and journals, they should watch Ted Talks and other recommended research while actively and independently pursuing research interests, such as through an EPQ. Most importantly, students should engage with practical music as much as possible, from hearing live music in concert halls, festivals and other gig venues, to practising their own instrument(s), refining their tone and technique, and pursuing the highest level of performance practice through ABRSM or Trinty grades in additional to young musician competitions. Furthermore, A Level students should participate in at least two extra-curricular ensembles, and find the opportunity to lead ensembles, as well as composing their own music using appropriate computer software, seeking to enter into young composer competitions or workshops.

Recommended reading in music for A Level

To view a reading list for Key Stage 5, please click on the download link below:

Download

Useful websites, TED Talks and research for A Level

AS and A Level Music | Eduqas

ALevelMusic.com « Tom Pankhurst’s A-Level Music Site

Dictation Resources | Dr. Derek K. Remeš (derekremes.com)

Aural Skills Guru – YouTube

Charles Cornell – YouTube

teoria : Music Theory Web

BBC Radio 3 The Listening Service

BBC Radio 3 – Sound of Cinema

BBC Radio 4 – Add to Playlist

BBC Radio 2 – Elaine Paige on Sunday

Hanako Sawada: The secrets of the world’s most famous symphony | TED Talk

Diane Allen: How to find “flow” (and lose yourself in it) | TED Talk

Anita Collins: The benefits of music education | TED Talk

Music-specific language to master at A Level

  • All required terminology is given in the Eduqas specification glossary (Appendix C)
  • Students will use performance, composition, and musicology-specific terminology in each area of the curriculum as relevant
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