Composition notation (Ancient Egypt)
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Composition notation (Theme: Ancient Egypt)
Important update!
The licence for the song ‘Gift of the Nile’ (Out of the Ark) used in this unit expires at the end of July 2026. From September 2026, it will be replaced with an alternative song. Presentations, audio files and activity sheets will be updated accordingly. If you have previously downloaded these resources, please download the updated versions before teaching the unit. The musical progression of the unit will not be affected.
Unit outcomes
Pupils who are secure will be able to:
- Sing in time and in tune with other people and the backing track.
- Remember the lyrics to a song.
- Identify the structure of a piece of music and match this to non-standard notation.
- Improvise their own piece of music.
- Play a melody with reasonable accuracy.
- Perform with confidence and in time with others.
- Compose and play a melody using stave notation.
- Contribute meaningfully to the group performance and composition.
- Use hieroglyphic notation to show the structure of their piece.
Suggested prior learning
Adapting and transposing motifs (Theme: Romans)
Get startedLessons
Lesson 1: Here come the Egyptians
- To sing with accuracy, fluency, control and expression.
Lesson 2: Hieroglyphic score
- To explore and use different forms of notation.
Lesson 3: Play like an Egyptian
- To understand note length.
Lesson 4: Pitch pyramids
- To read simple pitch notation.
Lesson 5: Egyptian farewell
- To use hieroglyphs and stave notation to write a piece of music.
Key skills
Key knowledge
Related content
Resources
Unit resources
Cross-curricular opportunities
None relevant to this unit.