This composing workbook is primarily aimed at those taking GCSE that are struggling with the composition tasks. This workbook gives the student a chance to try out some different approaches and develop their understanding of how to start a composition. The booklet focuses on improving understanding of harmony and guides the student through how to create pieces with a solid harmonic structure. It is written so that the whole process is covered, step-by-step. The students could use this resource alone, or with teacher support. It is not intended that the student will complete the composition workbook and end up with a fully completed and hand-in ready composition. This workbook focuses on getting the student started and developing the necessary tools to develop ideas further.

This is an activity sheet about the Musical, the types of song and developing listening skills. Pupils may work through this independently as cover work, or this could be used as part of a scheme of work to introduce the idea of the different types of song and song structure in a musical.

The 12-Bar Blues in the keys of C, G and D for guitar, ukulele and keyboards. All the chords shown are standard chords apart from keyboard where the 7th for each chord has been added. The 7th of the chord is shown in green rather than red. The keyboard sheet has two different versions, one of them shows root position chords and the other provides inversions to make the chords easier to play.

These four worksheets show th four chord trick for Guitar, Ukulele and Keyboard in the keys of C, G and D. The ukulele chords are quite tricky in the key of D, but I have added them so that the chords are the same for keyboard, guitar and ukulele. The keyboard comes with two different versions. On the first one, the chords are shown in root position. The second page shows the chords using different inversions so that they are easier to play.

A simple sheet showing all of the keyboard keys (including enharmonics for the black keys). Easy to print and laminate to give to pupils to save writing all over the keyboards!

This worksheet helps students to play 3 different Raga patterns with drone notes. They are then guided through a composition/improvisation task. They are able to choose one of the Raga patterns and develop a composition within a given structure. They are given the characteristic phrase to use and guided as to when to use it to develop coherent musical ideas. Note names are given and a diagram of the keyboard is given to help students find sharps and flats. Students will need to have space to write their ideas down as this is intended to be a handout that can be re-used by multiple students. A .pdf and .docx file have been provided to download.

This resource guides students through creating a serial composition using a prime row that they create and the rhythm of Happy Birthday. The piece that they create will is entitled ‘Happy Birthday, Schoenberg!’. The next resource will focus on developing this so that the retrograde version of the row is used with verticalisation.

A resource for teaching the 12 bar blues chord progression using the guitar and keyboard. The guitar frames use open chords C, F and G and the keyboard chords are in root position triads. The chords are shown as C, F and G.

This resource includes 4 worksheets to help introduce pupils to the guitar and can be used within a scheme of work on the guitar. The first worksheet shows the guitar labeled and provides a blank version for pupils to fill in The second worksheet gives details on how to read a guitar frame for chords The third sheet gives 2 pages showing an easy version of the G chord and then E minor, and on the second page the easy version of the G chord, Em and D. The last worksheet shows the four-chord trick in the key of G on guitar frames. Finger numbers in the left hand are provided as a guide

This contains a Power Point and accompanying worksheets to teach year 9 about serial music. It covers constructing a note row from the 12 semitones and crating a Prime Row. This is then put to the rhythm of the tune Happy Birthday. Pupils then learn about using this row in retrograde form. The worksheets help the pupils construct their own versions of Happy Birthday using the Prime rows that they have created. Pupils then create two note chords using the retrograde row and put this with their prime row version of Happy Birthday. This gives pupils a complete piece to play that uses verticalisation techniques in a simple way. This work can then be developed so that chords with 3 or 4 notes are created with the retrograde row or the melody and chords could be made up just using a single note row.

Very easy maths sheet for beginner groups with notation of rhythm

Here are some worksheets to use with pupils that explain the parts of the Ukulele and shows how to read a chord frame. There are then a few worksheets going through simple chords in the key of C and then in the key of G. This leads into the four-chord trick and the worksheets provide this in the key of C and the key of G. The reason for this is that learning the chords in C is easier, but if the chords are learned in G it means that this resource can be used with the guitar resources I have created.

Film Music topic, primarily aimed at use with year 9, but suitable for use with any year group. This is a blank template that allows pupils to draw the scene, add information about instruments, important rhythmic patterns and chord progressions. There is space to add the page number to the document so that additional scenes can be added as required.

A worksheet to guide pupils through the process of creating lyrics for a character within a musical. There is a focus on creating just the lyrics for the chorus and up to 3 verses. Help and guidance is given in terms of creating a story or journey for the character. This worksheet will work well as an introduction into writing lyrics and looking at song structure.

This worksheet shows the chords A, D and E and how to play them on the keyboard, guitar and ukulele.

A resource for the bass guitar in an ensemble performance of Three Little Birds by Bob Marley. The worksheet is in the key of A and shows the bass line notated in standard notation and TAB so that it fits with chords I, IV and V (or Chords A, D and E).

This is a cover sheet about Musicals that can be used with any year group or as part of a scheme of work on The Musical.

An information sheet for pupils to learn about the musical elements and understand their meanings. Useful as a quick reference sheet or revision of terminology. Can be used for GCSE pupils that are struggling with terminology and remembering important vocabulary.

Three worksheets for pupils to complete adding up note values. The first sheet is simple with easy note values and calculations. The second sheet uses doted rhythms and semi-quavers. The third sheet uses dotted notes, rhythms and dotted rhythms.

This is a sheet I use for performing the song ‘Three Little Birds’ when I do a unit on Reggae with my year 8 group. This worksheet helps pupils to locate the notes for chords A, D and E on the keyboard, guitar and the strings on the bass guitar.