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Lesson 1: Listening for dynamics and tempo

Exploring and analysing a piece of music to understand how different musical elements, such as instruments, tempo and dynamics, help convey the story of the three bears.
Close-up of blue musical notes on a green and yellow gradient background.

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Learning objective

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Success criteria

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Before the lesson

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Lesson plan

1. Recap and recall

Before starting this unit, you might want to check the children can recall how to:

  • Engage with and respond to longer pieces of music.

  • Begin to explain why the music has a certain effect on them.

  • Talk about the tempo of music using the vocabulary fast and slow.
  • Talk about the dynamics (volume) of music using the vocabulary soft and loud.

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Created by
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Elizabeth Stafford Music specialist

After a brief spell as an opera singer, Liz embarked on a 20-year career in music education, teaching at early years, primary and secondary. After Liz had her daughter, she started her own business Music Education Solutions® Limited, helping teachers across the UK deliver music with confidence. Liz teaches Foundation Stage and KS1 music in a primary school, and is also Programme Leader for the largest Level 4 Certificate for Music Educators centre in the world! She is Editor of Primary Music Magazine, a writer for Music Teacher Magazine, and a reviewer for the British Journal of Music Education.

 

Elizabeth has created lesson plans and resources for a wide range of Music topics including KS2 projects on musical theatre and lessons to encourage pupils to create musical compositions to represent Holi.

 

Find out more

Maintained by: Kapow Primary teamLast update: 8 April 2026

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