Relating to the new specification GCSE Music for AQA. Area of Study 4 - Western Classical Tradition since 1910. Covers Malcolm Arnold and his "Tam O'Shanter Overture", Benjamin Britten and his works, "War Requiem" and "Peter Grimes", Peter Maxwell Davies and "The Yellow Cake Revue" and John Tavener with "The Whale" and "The Lamb". Two tasks - one halfway through to try to make sounds musically and second one at the end to develop one of these ideas into a piece. Learning outcomes at the beginning for schools that require this.

PowerPoint and skim and scan task for new specification AQA GCSE Music, African Drumming. Skim and scan starter (literacy skills) to highlight top ten key words or phrases and give basic information. Six part layered performance opportunity with key words linked and explained, followed by instruments and descriptions, ways of playing the djembe, explanation of griots, features of African music, rhythmic and vocal features and Arabic influences. This lesson took us two hours including the performance layering task, as we looked at the drums and how they are created as well. Learning outcomes and keywords are displayed for schools that need this.

Broadway Musicals 1950s-Present Day presentation. Links to AQA GCSE Music New Specification. Covers brief context of musicals, styles of musicals, types of voice and song, cross genres with books and films, themes and influences and lyrics. Task at the end for pupils to cover a song from a musical themselves. Including pupils making the musical number (we did a medley from "We Will Rock You"), took two hours. Suggested YouTube links are at the bottom of "Types of Song" page. Lesson objectives are at the bottom of each slide for schools that follow this policy.

Presentation on Minimalism to fit with new spec GCSE Music AQA - Area of Study 4 (Western Classical Tradition Since 1910). Covers roots of minimalism, John Cage, Steve Reich, Terry Riley and John Adams, and the suggested listening. Lists of features of minimalism and techniques used, with practical task at the end where students are given a melodic cell and told to develop in minimalistic style with suggested techniques. This was originally done on GarageBand, but could be done as a class ensemble. Learning objectives included.

PowerPoint and homework/class time essay task for 'Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds'. Fits with AQA GCSE Music New Specification. Learning outcomes on second slide for school's that need these. Analysis includes context, structure, melody, instruments, tonality and harmony, rhythm and metre, chorus, accompaniment and technology used. YouTube links and pictures removed for copyright reasons, but can be added easily. Took about two hours in class with written task as well.

Presentation and short test/revision/homework activity for AQA Music GCSE New Specification, Area of Study 2 - The Beatles "With A Little Help From My Friends". This, with the class performance and pupils making notes, lasted about 3 hours with the test in class at the end. Learning objectives are on the bottom of each slide so they do not need to be displayed on a board for schools that follow this policy. Chords and lyrics are not included for performance, or YouTube links to earlier works for copyright reasons, but are easily available online.

A PowerPoint with the analysis of Mushnik and Son, relating to the new AQA set works, starting teaching 2020. Each section has an edited audio from the Off-Broadway performance, showing which part is being analysed at that time. This includes information from the AQA teachers guide, as well as the CGP and Rhinegold revision guides. No activities are included, just the actual analysis.

Film Music presentation that looks at leit motifs and some examples, Mickey Mousing, why music is used in films, job roles, orchestration, tonality, tempo, features and techniques. Learning objectives are on the bottom of each slide to fit with school's that follow this policy. No images or YouTube links for copyright reasons but can be found easily. Blue background to suit some dyslexic pupils. Fits AQA GCSE Music New Specification. Few tasks in such as name films with leit motifs that can be used to break up the lesson or as short research tasks. Took just under two hours without using as a research task. Ten mark essay question about pupils' favourite film music with space underneath for essay - can be set as homework (as I did) or in lesson.

Fits with new AQA GCSE Music specification. Area of Study 2 - Popular Music - Rock Music. Presentation covering basic roots of Rock 'n' Roll, features of Rock, different types of the genre, what power chords are, popular stock progressions and a variety of guitar and drum techniques, including palm muting, hammer ons and rim shots. Suggested YouTube links in the notes at the bottom of some slides. Written description of each technique with a video suggestion that either demonstrates or gives an example of it. I will be using this to demonstrate initially the technique, and then giving each student a guitar and trying it for themselves.

Blues Music presentation and task for AQA GCSE Music New Specification. PowerPoint has starter of link between two artists and harmonic link (good for aural training), then covers context, instruments, rhythm, swung rhythms, shuffle beats, blues scale, melodic features, chord sequence, walking bass line, structure, 16 bar patterns and features of jazz. Performance task of playing 12 bar blues chords with drummers playing swung rhythms and vocalists making a mash-up of Mercy, Candyman and When The Love Runs Out (lyrics sheet provided). Took about two hours in our lesson. Learning outcomes and keywords provided for schools that need this.

Presentation on Computer Game Music for the new specification AQA GCSE Music. Covers features of early and modern computer game music, with an example of each, ways of developing motifs and a task for pupils to make their own game music with a suggested clip in notes or develop their ideas to help with composition. On a blue background to help some dyslexic pupils. Learning outcomes on each slide for schools that follow this policy. Wider listening link included. Took about an hour and a half with composition task. Images removed for copyright reasons.

A PowerPoint with the analysis of Feed Me (Git It), relating to the new AQA set works, starting teaching 2020. Each section has an edited audio from the Off-Broadway performance, showing which part is being analysed at that time. This includes information from the AQA teachers guide, as well as the CGP and Rhinegold revision guides. No activities are included, just the actual analysis.

A PowerPoint with the analysis of Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto in A major (K. 622), relating to the new AQA set works, starting teaching 2020. Each section has an edited audio relating to that specific section, showing which part is being analysed at that time. This includes information from the AQA teachers guide, as well as the CGP and Rhinegold revision guides. No activities are included, just the actual analysis.

An escape room activity with a focus on the three set works for Area of Study 2 (Popular Music) - Little Shop of Horrors. There is a PowerPoint for the teacher to use to set the scene and sheets for activities, one for each set work. Students worked in groups when we did this, and for an average ability class, it took an hour lesson. The key template was used to give students a key for each task completed and they had to rearrange into a four word phrase. I used the four word phrase “Don’t feed the plants” but any four word phrase could be used - just write one word on the back of each key and repeat for as many groups as you will have. The final task is to write a response in the style of the essay question.

Scheme of work for five lessons for Year 6 to Year 7 Transition (aimed at Year 7, half term 1). Has mind-maps to show prior knowledge and progress at the end of the unit. 5 lessons (1 - prior knowledge, 2 - problems you may come across and ways of solving them, 3 - current skills and qualities, 4 - development of skills and qualities, 5 - what have I learnt?). We have lessons for 20 minutes a week in form time, but with more discussion, this could go on for 30 minutes, or children could write down their ideas and then discuss them as a class.