Year 7
Year 7 is just the start – you will build on any skills you already have, and learn to read music, write songs, play the piano and begin to perform confidently in front of an audience.
Topics you will learn about include:
- Notation: how to read music and play the keyboard
- The Blues: advanced keyboard skills – including both hands together chords and Improvisation
- Performance Skills: Learning a piano piece accurately and how to use expression in our performance
- Melody Writing: how to write our own music
- Garageband Skills: how to record and produce music
Every lesson you will: play an instrument, work with other people and learn something new!
Year 8
Year 8 is where you begin to learn how your skills fit into the music industry. This helps you to see how you might progress with music as part of your future.
Topics you will learn about include:
- Song Writing: composing your own pop song
- Film Music: how the music industry works and how we can apply these skills to our composing, creating a suitable mood in our music
- Performance Skills: learning a piano piece accurately and how to use expression in our performance
- Genres Project: how to take an existing song and remix this into a different genre
- Ensemble Skills: how to arrange a performance as an ensemble
Every lesson you will: play an instrument, learn how what you’re doing fits into the music industry, and build on your composition skills!
Year 9
Year 9 is where you build on these skills even further and refine them using more complex pieces of music.
Topics you will learn about include:
- The Blues: how to use advanced keyboard skills and arrange our own piece
- Melody writing: how to write a melody in a different key
- Performance Skills: how to play and perform a classical piece of music accurately
- Hamilton: how musical features are used in musical theatre and how we can recreate a class performance of some of the music
- Summative Project: how can you use your knowledge from KS3 for creating a composition of your choice
At the end of Year 9 you can choose whether to take music into KS4 to gain a qualification. If you don’t choose to do this, you’re still a welcome part of our department, and there will be lots of opportunities for you to continue your love of music by performing and composing.
