A Knowledge Organiser that captures the essential knowledge and skills learnt throughout the unit Music, Year 5, Composition to Represent the Festival of Colour.
This resource is designed to support pupils as they explore how music can express ideas and emotions through colour and celebration. Inspired by Holi—the Hindu festival of colour—pupils compose their own music to represent the joy and symbolism of this springtime event. The unit introduces vocabulary and musical concepts including graphic score, synaesthesia, tonality (major and minor), and layering. Pupils also learn to apply the inter-related dimensions of music such as texture, timbre, dynamics, and tempo to create expressive and vibrant compositions.
A Knowledge Organiser that captures the essential knowledge and skills learnt throughout the unit Music, Year 5, South and West Africa.
This resource is designed to support pupils as they explore the musical traditions of South and West Africa, where rhythm, movement and expression are central to performance. It highlights key vocabulary and techniques such as call and response, ostinato, polyrhythms and syncopation, alongside guidance for improving performance through fluency, accuracy, control and expression. Pupils are also introduced to traditional percussion instruments including the djembe, balafon, kalimba and shekere. It is perfect for consolidating essential musical knowledge and fostering an appreciation of African musical culture.
A Knowledge Organiser that captures the essential knowledge and skills learnt throughout the unit Music, Year 5, Blues.
This unit introduces pupils to the fundamental elements of blues music, focusing on its distinctive features and historical context. Pupils learn about the 12-bar blues structure, the blues scale, and key musical concepts such as chords, bars, and improvisation. They explore how blues music often conveys emotions, particularly sadness, which is reflected in the term “the blues.” The unit also covers specific musical techniques like bent notes and the use of quavers, enhancing pupils’ understanding of rhythm and melody. Through engaging with this unit, pupils develop their ability to perform and compose blues music, fostering creativity and musical expression.
A Knowledge Organiser that captures the essential knowledge and skills learnt throughout the unit Music, Year 5, Musical Theatre.
This resource supports pupils as they explore the world of musical theatre, understanding how music, songs, spoken dialogue, and dance combine to tell a story. It introduces key vocabulary and concepts such as composer, lyricist, librettist, script, score, director, choreographer, and performers, helping pupils grasp the various roles involved in creating a musical. The unit also covers different types of songs within musicals, including character songs that express a character’s feelings and action songs that describe events in the story. Additionally, pupils learn about transitions in music and the historical development of musical theatre, from opera and operetta to modern film musicals, book musicals, jukebox musicals, and rock and hip-hop musicals.
A Knowledge Organiser that captures the essential knowledge and skills learnt throughout the unit Music, Year 5, Composition Notation (Ancient Egypt).
This resource supports pupils as they explore musical composition inspired by Ancient Egypt. It introduces vocabulary and concepts such as melody, ensemble, call and response, structure, verse, unison, improvising, notation, major, minor, tempo, and motif. Pupils learn to create compositions using both traditional staff notation and letter notation, experimenting with rhythms and melodies that reflect the theme of Ancient Egypt. The unit encourages creativity and collaboration, enabling pupils to develop their musical understanding and compositional skills.
A Knowledge Organiser that captures the essential knowledge and skills learnt throughout the unit Music, Year 5, Looping and Remixing.
This unit introduces pupils to the genre of Electronic Dance Music (EDM), focusing on the use of loops and remixing techniques. Pupils learn key vocabulary such as loop, remix, backbeat, layers, and structure, and explore how repeating sections—known as loops in dance music, ostinatos in classical music, and riffs in jazz—are used to build musical pieces. Through composing and performing activities, pupils create their own remixes by layering rhythms and melodies, enhancing their understanding of musical texture and structure.
A Knowledge Organiser that captures the essential knowledge and skills learnt throughout the unit Archived Unit: Advanced rhythms.
This unit introduces pupils to the Kodály Method, emphasizing learning music through listening, singing, movement, and dancing before reading and writing. Pupils explore rhythmic patterns using Kodály rhythm syllables such as ‘TA’ (crotchet), ‘Ti-Ti’ (quavers), ‘SH’ (crotchet rest), and ‘TWO’ (minim). They engage with Steve Reich’s ‘Clapping Music’ (1972), experimenting with clapping rhythms and canons to develop their understanding of pulse and rhythm. Through these activities, pupils enhance their improvisation skills and deepen their appreciation of complex rhythmic structures.
A Knowledge Organiser that captures the essential knowledge and skills learnt throughout the unit Music, Year 6: Dynamics, pitch and texture (Theme: Coast – Fingal’s Cave by Mendelssohn).
This unit supports pupils as they explore how classical music can depict natural scenes, focusing on Felix Mendelssohn’s Fingal’s Cave. Pupils examine how composers use the inter-related dimensions of music—structure, texture, dynamics, timbre, pitch, tempo, and duration—to represent the sea’s movement and atmosphere. They learn key vocabulary such as graphic score, ensemble, conductor, and composition, and engage in activities like improvisation and creating their own musical compositions to convey imagery. Through this exploration, pupils deepen their understanding of how music can evoke emotions and tell stories.
A Knowledge Organiser that captures the essential knowledge and skills learnt throughout the unit Music, Year 6, Theme and Variations (Pop Art).
This resource supports pupils as they explore the musical form of theme and variations, drawing inspiration from the bold and vibrant Pop Art movement. It introduces key vocabulary and concepts such as melody, rhythm, pulse, phrase, and notation, helping pupils understand how composers develop and transform musical ideas. The unit also familiarizes pupils with orchestral families—strings, woodwind, brass, and percussion—and includes Kodály rhythm syllables to reinforce rhythmic understanding. Pupils enhance their compositional skills and deepen their appreciation of musical structure and creativity.
