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  2. Music >
  3. Lower key stage 2 >
  4. Year 4 >
  5. Musical motifs: Reading the stave >
  6. Lesson 4: Composing a motif
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This is preview content for the 2026-27 academic year. Your feedback will help us improve these units.

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This is preview content for the 2026-27 academic year. Your feedback will help us improve these units.

Learning objective

  • To notate pitch accurately on the stave.

Success criteria

  • I can draw notes in the correct place
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National curriculum

Music

Pupils should be taught to:

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Cross-curricular links

English

Spoken language

Pupils should

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Before the lesson

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Lesson plan

Recap and recall

Show the Presentation: Which pitch? Play the audio clips and ask the children to match each sound to a character by thinking about pitch.

Learning objective

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Adaptive teaching

Pupils needing extra support:

  • Could use only the notes C, D and E for their motifs.
  • Could place counters on a whiteboard to show the notes getting higher or lower and write the note names underneath instead of using the stave.

Pupils working at greater depth:

  • Should extend their motif by adding additional sentences to notate.
  • Could explore using different dynamics when playing their motifs.
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Assessing progress and understanding

Pupils with secure understanding can: 

  • Draw notes accurately on the stave.
  • Follow the notes
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Vocabulary definitions

  • compose

    Create music using original ideas.

  • notation

    A written system to represent musical sounds.

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In this unit

Assessment - Music Y4: Musical motifs

Lesson 1: Notes on the stave

Lesson 2: Reading the stave

Lesson 3: What is a motif?

Lesson 4: Composing a motif

Lesson 5: Performing a motif

Created by:

Kapow Primary team
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Maintained by: Kapow Primary team

Last update: 26th May, 2026

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Lesson 3: What is a motif? Previous Lesson
Lesson 5: Performing a motif Next Lesson

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