This is a band/orchestra and choir arrangement for Joyful Joyful from Sister Act 2. I arranged this for the ensembles I have in school but have uploaded the Sibelius files to be edited to suit whatever ensemble you have. I have also included just a choir/piano version.

This is a 6-week project on Hip-Hop where the main focus is Ground Bass. I would normally teach Hip-Hop music on FL Studio, this is a project designed for distance learning and is a composition task to be completed on BandLab, which these students have not done before so it also includes a ‘how to’ for what they need to do. There is a quiz included and one main task, a submission on BandLab.

This is an entire unit of work aimed at year 9 students. It involves product design, marketing research and pitching as well as creating a radio advert (the key musical aim). This has key terminology, practical activity and homework.

This is a 6-week project on Blues Music. I would normally teach Blues music in a practical way however, this is a project designed as a composition task to be completed on BandLab, which these students have not done before so it also includes a ‘how to’ for what they need to do. There are several smaller tasks (research task, performance tasks, quiz) and one main task, I’ve asked students to either complete the practicals on a keyboard or a keyboard app but the main bulk is all BandLab.

This is music in advertising project I’m doing with year 8 and 9 this half term. involves them designing a product and creating a radio advert for the product to include an underscore, jingle and voiceover. Currently it’s geared up for google suite, for example it says things like “upload your answers to google classroom” but this is easily adaptable for your softwares. I teach this live on google meet and share the PowerPoint with the students but it could be done entirely remotely. As students are doing it remotely I’m allowing them to do it with any software they may have access to, or on an instrument or using BandLab education online. I’ve included links for how to use GarageBand and BandLab to support students.

This is a scheme of work I use with year 9. It introduces them to reggae and African a capella singing through practical activities. It then moves onto a larger project for the rest of the half term.

This is a scheme of work I use with year 9. It introduces them to Calypso music, through a class steel pan ensemble performance of yellow bird (music provided), the following week introduces students to Reggae and there is another class performance on the steel pans of Three Little Birds (music again provided). It then moves onto a larger project for the rest of the half term, a fusion of a pop song. I love this unit as I find that it really sets students up for GCSE courses, using much of the same vocabulary. Although the music resources are for Steel Pans in the case of Yellow Bird, there is a version of Three Little Birds not for Steel Pans if you don’t have any. n.b Any stars in the powerpoint are hyperlinks to the musical examples.

This is a performance project I’m doing with year 7 this half term, it involves getting them listening actively by going with the elements and a performance (on any instrument/voice/app of their choice) of ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’. Currently it’s geared up for google suite, for example it says things like “upload your answers to google classroom” but this is easily adaptable for your softwares. I teach this live on google meet and share the PowerPoint with the students but it could be done entirely remotely. All scores/backing tracks for a variety of instruments/levels are included. Nb. If you have purchased my distance learning ‘musical theatre’ for KS3 then it’s a reworked version of that without the musical theatre focus so probably not worth a second purchase!

This is all the teaching materials I use to teach Section C: Contextual Understanding of the A-Level exam. I focus on AOS4 for this portion of the exam specifically, Claude-Michel Schönberg and Stephen Sondheim. This resource comes with the analysis of three pieces of music by each composer: Sondheim: Ballad of Sweeney Todd and Worst Pies in London from Sweeney Todd and Giants in the Sky from Into the Woods. (Giants in the Sky is not annotated as this is something that I get students to do independently with guidance, the score is there though). Schönberg: One Day More and Master of the House from Les Miserables and I’d Give My Life for You from Miss Saigon. In addition to this analysis you will also get some example essays (one only focussed on Sondheim as this is what I focus on in year 12). The synopsis for the shows are also included.

This is a scheme of work I use with year 9 (although it could be any KS3 cohort) to introduce them to a DAW, in this case FL studio although it could be adapted for any DAW. It requires students to design a basic platform game, compose a theme for it and then create different levels of the game (ie a water or forest level) using their initial melody and thus creating the variations. The first variation is a water level for all and looks at Aquarium from Carnival of the Animals and then the subsequent variation is a free choice. The key musical features covered, in addition to learning how to use DAW software is T&V structure, a variety of textures and timbres. Any stars within the PowerPoint have a link to a video attached.

This is a scheme of work I use with year 8 (although it could be any KS3 cohort) to introduce them to a DAW, in this case FL studio although it could be adapted for any DAW. It requires students to write a Hip-Hop song using Pachelbel’s canon bass line as a starting point in pairs with the key musical terminology being Ground Bass and Ostinato. Any stars within the PowerPoint have a link to a video attached.

This scheme of work is currently being taught to year 9 students. The scheme of work focuses on horror music and ways of creating tension in music. This project also introduces students to Sibelius for the first time, with the main project being scoring the music to a clip from the woman in black. All clips/videos should be embedded within the powerpoint, a cue sheet for the clip is also attached.