Professional Focus Paper
Course: Music
1.
Level: National 4
Who is this paper for and what is its purpose?
This paper is for teachers and other staff who provide learning, teaching and support as learners work towards
Music National 4.
Curriculum for Excellence is a unique opportunity to raise achievement and to ensure that all learners are better
prepared than they have been in the past for learning, life and work. This is because the new curriculum gives real
scope to build learning 3–18 in a joined-up, seamless way. As a result, progression in learning can be much
stronger with a clear focus on attributes and capabilities, skills (including higher-order thinking skills), and
knowledge and understanding. These are delivered through the experiences and outcomes of the 3–15 Broad
General Education (BGE) and, at the senior phase, through programmes that build directly on the BGE leading to
qualifications. Because of a strengthened focus on the nature and quality of learning experiences, self-motivation is
likely to be increased and learners consequently more engaged and enthused. To ensure continuity and
progression, qualifications at the senior phase have been designed to embrace this unambiguous focus on highquality learning.
Curriculum for Excellence has the flexibility to meet the needs of all learners in their local circumstances, enabling
each to achieve their very best. For example, some centres may take the opportunity to offer qualifications over two
years which might involve learners bypassing qualifications at a given level, whereas others may enable learners to
work towards qualifications within one year. In both cases, the advice in this paper is relevant to the learning and
teaching approaches that learners will encounter. This paper, then, is intended to stimulate professional reflection
and dialogue about learning. It highlights important features of learning which are enhanced or different from
previous arrangements at this SCQF level.
How will you plan for progression in learning and teaching, building on the Broad General Education?
2.
What’s new and what are the implications for learning and teaching?
Music National 4 consists of four Units providing learners with the opportunity to develop and consolidate practical
skills in performing and creating music, while developing a broader understanding of music styles and concepts.
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Music: Performing Skills
Music: Composing Skills
Understanding Music
Added Value Unit
To achieve Music National 4, learners must pass all of the required Units including the course assessment, which
covers the added value element of the course.
MUSIC
What are the key aspects of Music National 4?
Integrated approach to skills development
The practical and experiential nature of Music National 4 includes flexibility in the contexts for learning. It allows
learners to develop and extend their interest in music, and to develop performing skills on their two selected
instruments or on one instrument and voice. Opportunities for learners to develop composing skills, broaden their
understanding of music concepts and styles, and engage in self-reflection on their capabilities and progress are all
part of the Music National 4 course.
An example of how skills can be further developed is provided by learning to perform music, which demands skills
of autonomy, interpretation and creativity, as well as providing the opportunity to increase confidence and selfesteem. The practice required to develop these skills can promote independent and collaborative learning,
perseverance, can help learners to plan and organise, to make decisions and to take responsibility for their own
learning. The skills that learners gain throughout Music National 4 will be valuable for learning, life and work.
Wider range of evidence of learning
Flexible approaches to collecting evidence should have been developed already in the BGE, and these should
continue in Music National 4. Assessment should be an integral part of learning and teaching, be ongoing and in
dialogue with learners, and can be carried out at any point throughout the Units.
Audio or video recordings of individual and/or group performances could record a learner’s ability to play sections
of music at the appropriate level of difficulty. Portable digital recorders are ideal for this purpose and the recordings
could then be stored in an e-portfolio.
Creating original music through exploring sound, composing, arranging and/or improvising will be achieved through
practical work, in which learners will undertake creative activities that could be evidenced by, for example, audio
recordings, notated music and use of computer music programs. Activities should not be prescriptive and should
not in any way constrain the creative process. Some young people will need little in the way of stimuli, whereas
others will need closer instruction in techniques, such as song composition or using improvisation to create an
instrumental piece. These experiences should be gained through practical activities in which learners can build on
prior musical experiences gained through the elements of listening to and/or performing music. Evidence of how
well learners understand music concepts can be found in the way they use concepts in creative work and can
explain what they have done, and the way they explain the music they are performing using appropriate technical
language. Other sources of evidence may come from specific listening activities. A learner’s understanding of
musical styles, such as reggae, African music and rap, could be evidenced in a variety of formats including
presentations, video, audio files, podcasts, or answers to questions in response to music excerpts or discussions
with the teacher.
In all cases, a thorough understanding of how music works is best demonstrated through using concepts in
practical contexts. Self-reflection is an integral part of Music National 4 and this may take different forms such as a
log or diary, blog or recorded interview.
Teachers should determine the most appropriate assessment methods for their learners, and often the evidence
(which may be oral or observational) will be gathered during normal classroom activities, rather than through formal
assessment instruments.
Hierarchy of Units
The Units in the music courses from National 3 to Advanced Higher level are designed in a hierarchy. This means
that learners may be able to achieve and be certificated for an additional Unit at the level above the level of the
MUSIC
course they are studying. The hierarchical approach encourages all learners to achieve at the highest level, and
build a strong platform for further learning at the next level.
Added Value Unit
The course assessment is the Added Value Unit, which in Music National 4 consists of a performance (preparing
and performing a programme of music on two selected instruments or instrument and voice).
What are the key features of learning in Music National 4?
Active learning
Performing together in multi-instrumental groups can be particularly motivational for learners. This approach should
be used as a core approach to learning to perform, to learning creative skills and to learning how music works.
Learners will be expected to take an active role in their learning, and the practical nature of the music course allows
them to work individually and collaboratively to develop skills across all of the units. Performing on their two
instruments, or instrument and voice, provides opportunities for learners to use ongoing practice and rehearsal to
improve the quality of their technical and performance skills. Useful opportunities for shared listening experiences
and for composing stimuli could come from music being performed by learners in the classroom.
Learners should be encouraged to investigate and listen to the different ways composers develop ideas and music.
They should explore and experiment with their own ideas, and develop these in their own work. For the
Understanding Music Unit, learners may be asked to research particular concepts and be given choices as to how
they wish to present the information to the class, for example, the percussion family concepts – timpani, snare
drum, bass drum, cymbals, triangle, tambourine, guiro, xylophone, glockenspiel; and the presentation could include
a digital presentation with performed or recorded excerpts; a recorded interview in the style of a radio broadcast; or
a video showing each instrument being played and an audio description, for example.
Lessons should be challenging and ensure progression, and learners should play an integral part in the decisions
that shape their learning. Personalisation and choice is about much more than just choosing the instrument they
want to play. They could choose the pieces they want to practise; to play solo or in a group; the style of music they
compose in; to use technology to compose; to devise their own rehearsal schedule for home and school; to
arrange, improvise or compose music. The skills of evaluation they have developed in the BGE will help them to
analyse their own learning and decide next steps, encouraging them to take ownership of their progress and
motivating them to apply their knowledge and skills in new ways.
How can you introduce a wide variety of learning and teaching approaches which will motivate and challenge
learners?
Learning independently
Teaching approaches in Music National 4 should continue the collaborative and independent learning that learners
will have experienced in the BGE. In the Performing Skills Unit, learners develop their independent learning skills
by practising and rehearsing their own choice of instruments or instrument and voice. The ability to undertake this
task effectively requires self-motivation, concentration, perseverance, self-reflection and target setting. When
creating music, learners may listen to, discuss and explore compositional techniques and concepts as a class, then
individually experiment and develop these in their own composing tasks. By reflecting on their own composing
work, and listening to the work of composers who have written in a similar style, learners can develop and refine
their musical choices. To develop aural skills and knowledge, concepts and topics could be researched by learners
individually, and then presented to peers. Examples could include a comparison between the Baroque
MUSIC
and Romantic periods; excerpts of music to demonstrate simple and compound time signatures; or research into
the families and instruments in a wind band.
How will you ensure all learners are challenged when they are working independently?
Responsibility for learning
Taking responsibility for their own learning should be expected of learners, and they may find it useful to set targets
and track their progress in a log or diary, showing self-reflection on their strengths and areas for development.
Voice memos on their phone, a written diary or blogging are some suggestions of acceptable ways for them to
track their reflection and progress. Regular self, peer and teacher feedback will identify areas for improvement and
next steps, and this approach could be used across all Units. Research in assessment suggests that learners learn
best, and attainment improves, when they:
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understand clearly what they are trying to learn, and what is expected of them;
are given feedback about the quality of their work, and what they can do to make it better;
are given advice about how to make improvements; and
are fully involved in deciding what needs to be done next.
Therefore supportive communication and feedback will aid responsibility for learning, and give learners the skills
and confidence to develop their own next steps.
As their practical and composing skills develop, learners will gain the aural skills necessary to listen critically to
their work and make decisions about how best to improve it. Learners studying Music National 4 should be
motivated, challenged and encouraged by teachers to achieve their highest standards.
How will you check that learners are regularly tracking their progress and self-reflection?
Collaborative learning
Collaborative approaches, and the motivational impact of performing together in groups using different instruments,
are widely recognised as excellent teaching strategies in the music classroom. Learners will develop skills of
negotiation, tolerance, resilience, self-management, problem solving and aural perception by working together.
Opportunities for collaborative work arise in all parts of the music curriculum – composing, performing and
understanding music – and teachers should find innovative ways to allow this to happen.
Performing and evaluating together will develop communication skills among learners, leading to improvements in
the performance. Group discussions that identify problems to be solved, and approaches to improve them, are
great ways to develop communication. With careful guidance from staff, learners will develop appropriate language
to analyse what went wrong and what the most effective solutions are. For example, in their discussions they may
identify that the pianist is slowing up because they cannot play their left hand up to speed yet; the vocalist is too
quiet; or the drummer is not playing fills at appropriate points.
Collaboration works very well for composition too – ideas can be tried out and discussed; one person may play a
walking bass while another improvises; learners may listen to, discuss and identify concepts in music, then
compose their own group piece using some of the concepts they have heard.
MUSIC
A collaborative approach to listening to music can also be effective, for example, learners could question each
other about the music they have chosen to hear, asking about the tempo, time signature, instrumentation,
dynamics and tonality.
How will you ensure learners show respect for their peers and value the opinions of others ?
Applying learning
Music National 4 will help develop a depth of understanding and appreciation for music, in addition to practical and
creative skills. The knowledge and skills acquired in Music will be applicable in a wide range of contexts.
Aural skills can be developed in all areas of the course – as learners practise they should be learning to listen to
their tuning, tone, dynamics, rhythms; as they are experimenting and composing with sound they should be
listening to the flow of the melody, the effectiveness of their chosen instrumentation, the development of their
rhythmic and melodic ideas. These listening skills can be further developed in many useful and imaginative ways in
the Understanding Music Unit.
The performance will require the ability to perform music and respond to others in solo and/or in groups; the ability
to maintain musical flow and realise the composer’s intentions; and the ability to evaluate their own performing
skills, and identify areas for improvement.
Many of the skills learned in the course, for example, self-motivation, independent and collaborative learning, aural
perception and evaluation, are key transferable skills for the learner’s future learning, life and work.
Links with other curriculum areas, such as expressive arts and languages, can help learners to apply and make
connections in their learning. For example, a French poem could be the stimulus to compose a song; or an art
exhibition may require live music to be performed.
How can you ensure that learners can access opportunities to apply their learning in other curriculum areas?
MUSIC
3.
Qualification information
The SQA website provides you with the following documents:
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Assessment Overview
Course Specification
Unit Specification
Support Notes
Course Assessment Specification
Unit Assessment Support Packages
Full information on arrangements for this qualification is available at the SQA website:
Music National 4: http://www.sqa.org.uk/sqa/47387.html
4.
What other materials are available on the Education Scotland website which staff
could use?
http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/nqmusic/index.asp
http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/nationalqualifications/subjects/music.asp
http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/learningteachingandassessment/curriculumareas/expressivearts/principlesan
dpractice/index.asp
http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/learningteachingandassessment/curriculumareas/expressivearts/index.asp
Support materials have been produced over the last year to support Curriculum for Excellence and further support
materials and events are planned. This downloadable list is updated quarterly with the most up-to-date details
available from the page below.
Published and planned support for Curriculum for Excellence:
http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/publishedandplannedsupport
T +44 (0)141 282 5000 E enquiries@educationscotland.gov.uk W www.educationscotland.gov.uk
Education Scotland, Denholm House, Almondvale Business Park, Almondvale Way, Livingston EH54 6GA
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