MUSIC UNIT BRAINSTORM
Title/Context:
Sounds and symbols
Class:
Stage: 8
Quality Musical Experience(s):
 Hello song
 Christmas stockings composition, using different timbre and dynamics
Element(s):
Timbre: distinguish between different ways of playing percussion instruments
Dynamics: understand and identify getting louder/quieter
Skills:
1b i) Demonstrate increased accuracy and control of technique on a wider range of
untuned percussion instruments
1c ii) Rehearse and perform as a class
2b i) Structure sounds in an order appropriate to a specific purpose in response to
given starting points
3b i) Respond to music through a variety of art forms including dance, movement and
artwork, showing greater expression
1 Controlling sounds through singing and playing – performing skills
 Hello song
 Boom-chikka-boom
 Echo clapping (use different body sounds)
 Pass the beater
 Air music
 learn chants for Bonfire night and Christmas stocking music
2 Creating and developing musical ideas – composing skills
 Bonfire night – sound effects
 Christmas stocking music (with chant)
3 Responding and reviewing – appraising skills
 respond to symbols through creating sounds
 recognise music getting louder/quieter – conduct/tap/talk about/tell story of music
 Air music – using hand actions to represent sounds
Vocabulary/signs/symbols/objects of reference:
louder/quieter
descriptive words for sounds
symbols representing sounds
4 Listening, and applying knowledge and understanding
 symbols quiz – which sound is being played?
 developing own symbols for Christmas stocking music to use as score for
performance
Musical examples:
As the Wagon passes – Elgar
Cross-Curricular links, including use of ICT
 Dance – to music, link to Christmas theme
 Art – exploring different shapes/lines
 Literacy – descriptive words, word play – rhyming in chants,
 IT – use of tape recorder to record music performed, listen back
Performance opportunity:
End of term assembly – introduce with Hello song, perform Christmas Stocking music
MUSIC UNIT OF WORK
Class:
Stage: Eight (L2)
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Understanding Element(s):
(paragraphs 4a/b)
Timbre: distinguish between different ways of
playing percussion instruments
Dynamics: understand and identify getting
louder/quieter
Developing Skills:





(paragraphs 1, 2 & 3)
1b i) Demonstrate increased accuracy and
control of technique on a wider range of
untuned percussion instruments
1c ii) Rehearse and perform as a class
2b i) Structure sounds in an order appropriate
to a specific purpose in response to given
starting points
3b i) Respond to music through a variety of
art forms including dance, movement and
artwork, showing greater expression



Quality Musical Experience(s):


Hello song
class composition – Christmas stockings
using different types of sounds and
dynamics
Applying Understanding:


Term: Autumn B
ACTIVITIES
(including differentiation)
Title/Context: Sounds and symbols
Specific
EVALUATION OF
Assessment
LEARNING
Opportunities
Hello song – getting louder/quieter for each verse
Echo clapping – listening skills, exploring different body sounds
Boom chikka boom - exploring different vocal timbres and dynamics
Pass the beater – play different types/dynamics of sound, respond to timbre
flashcard, experiment with different ways of playing the same instrument
Air music – exploring vocal sounds by following different hand actions,
match drawn symbols to hand actions, explore instrumental sounds for
same symbols
Bonfire night - learn chant and add sound effects (vocal/instrumental), think
about ways of recording sounds through symbols e.g.
Quiz – children choose a symbol to play using an untuned instrument,
others listen and guess which symbols it is (could be linked with pass the
beater)
Christmas stocking music – learn chant together, think about what might be
inside a stocking, explore sounds for each toy in stocking, repeat chant
between each new sound. Think about use of dynamics – if sounds are
added on top of each other, dynamic will increase.
Practise as class, tape record and listen before final performance
Perform in school assembly
Use and explore a variety of signs or symbols
linked to understanding of timbre to
communicate own musical ideas
Listening - each session
 As the Wagon Passes – listen for music getting louder/quieter, talk about
story of the music, conduct the music using bigger actions as it gets louder,
tap steady beat getting louder/quieter with the music, dance interpretation
Vocabulary/signs/symbols:
Repertoire/resources:
louder/quieter
descriptive words for ways of playing e.g.
shaky
Hello song, Bonfire night chant, Stocking chant Timbre flashcards,
classroom instruments, As the Wagon passes – Elgar, (Fanfare 1CD – Cambridge
University Press, ISBN 0-521-45860-9)
Cross-Curricular Links and activities (including ICT):



1b i
Dance – to music, possibly link to Christmas theme – Elves filling stockings
Art – exploring different shapes/lines
Literacy – descriptive words, word play – rhyming in chants
2b i
1c ii
Performing Opportunity


Hello song to start off assembly, teach
rest of school
Composition in assembly