Music — Year 8

 

Music Overview

Term 1: The Ukulele

Students will look at chordophones, and – in particular – the ukulele, exploring its history and common uses. They will learn to play chords, develop strumming and picking techniques, and build rehearsal and performance skills. Composition: For their performances, students will arrange and adapt popular songs for the ukulele

Performance: Students will perform in small groups playing chords to accompany sung performances.

App: Students will learn the history of chordophones and the ukulele, and analyse their use in a wide range of musical extracts

Group performance using ukulele and vocals

  • Spiritual
  • Moral
  • Social
  • Cultural
Develop the individual:

Develop performance skills, encourages self expression, builds team working skills through group performance.

Create a supportive community:

Encourages students to work co-operatively with peers and to develop group enterprise.

Term 2: Song Writing

Students will explore approaches to pop and rock song writing, looking in particular at composing music for occasions. Covers melody, chord sequences, structure and lyric writing.

Composition: Students will build compositional skills including lyric writing and a study of melody and harmony. They will compose an original piece collaboratively.

Performance: Whole class performances and group deconstructions of popular songs.

App: Students will deconstruct and examine popular songs, and apply lessons learned in their own compositions.

Original song composition

  • Spiritual
  • Moral
  • Social
  • Cultural
Develop the individual:

Develop composition skills, encourages self expression, builds team working skills through group performance.

Create a supportive community:

An original piece is composed collaboratively encouraging teamwork and co-operation.

Term 3: 20th Century Art Music

Students will study the evolution of 20th century art music and atonality, and it's impact on music history.

Composition: Students will compose and perform minimalist pieces, and use sequencing and audio manipulation software to produce original soundscapes

Performance: Small group and whole class performances of minimalist pieces.

App: Students will compare and evaluate various forms of experimental music,and analyse it's influence.

ICT: Audio recording and manipulation skills in Logic Pro

Experimental soundscape composition

  • Spiritual
  • Moral
  • Social
  • Cultural
Develop the individual:

Develop performance and composition skills, encourages self expression, builds team working skills through group performance.

Create a supportive community:

Students will need to perform in groups and as a class developing skills that enable working together.

Term 4: The Blues

A study of jazz and the blues, looking at its development, cultural context, and influence. Focus on the 12 bar blues structure and improvising in the blues scale.

Composition: 12 bar blues composition, including improvisation.

Performance: Students will develop keyboard and improvisational skills, and demonstrate these in paired performances.

App: Students will look into the cultural history of the Blues, and analyse how this is reflected in the music.

Keyboard performance including improvisation

  • Spiritual
  • Moral
  • Social
  • Cultural
Develop the individual:

Develop performance and composition skills, encourages self expression, builds team working skills through group performance.

Create a supportive community:

Term 5: Music for Dance

Students will look at the history of music composed for dance, focusing particularly on modern dance music.

Composition: Modern dance composition using keyboards and sequencing software, focusing on suitability for purpose.

App: Students will compare music composed for dance from throughout the history, examining it's fitness for purpose and cultural context.

ICT: Synthesis and drum/ostinato programming in Logic Pro.

Dance music composition using music technology

  • Spiritual
  • Moral
  • Social
  • Cultural
Develop the individual:

Develop performance and composition skills, encourages self expression, builds team working skills through group performance.

Create a supportive community:

Students will think about how people have worked together to create pieces.

Term 6: World Music: Caribbean

A look at the history of music from the West Indies, and how it has affected popular music of today. Focus on reggae and learning to play a popular song, including vocals, tune and chords.

Performance: In small groups students will perform arrangements of popular reggae songs using instruments of their choice.

App: Students will analyse reggae's influence on other musical styles, and be able to explain the construction of a song using

musical terminology.

Reggae performances in bands

  • Spiritual
  • Moral
  • Social
  • Cultural
Develop the individual:

Develop performance and composition skills, encourages self expression, builds team working skills through group performance.

Create a supportive community:

Students will develop an understanding of how the work of one culture can influence the work of another.