Curriculum Case Study: KS1 Instrument-focused curriculum

In this series of blogs Dr Liz Stafford discusses the curriculum design projects we have undertaken here at Music Education Solutions®, showing the different approaches used in order to fit the bespoke requirements of each brief.

Background:

In 2018, the team at Music Education Solutions was commissioned to create a free scheme of work that covered the KS1 National Curriculum for Music by Warwick Music Group, inventors of the pBuzz. This scheme of work was to use the pBuzz as its main method of delivery, and would be suitable for non-specialist teachers to use.

Curriculum Structure:

Due to this being an instrument-focused curriculum, we chose to approach it like a whole-class instrumental teaching project, with a specially composed piece of music sitting at the core of each half term unit acting as the focus for the learning. The curriculum begins with an introductory week of short bursts of learning, giving the children (and the teacher!) the chance to master the basics of playing the pBuzz. Then, over the course of KS1, each unit/piece in turn introduces a new note until by the end of Year One, all 6 notes have been learnt. The pieces for Year Two then utilise all or most of these notes in every unit.

Curriculum Content

There is, however, much more to the National Curriculum for Music than just playing an instrument! Rather than separating out the skills of performing (singing/playing), composing & improvising, and listening, we chose to design an holistic curriculum where these skills are integrated into every unit. The core pieces for each unit can all be sung as well as played, and the learning process always starts with singing to internalise the melody before transferring onto the instrument. Call and response sections are used frequently throughout the pieces in order to develop aural skills, and all the pieces contain ‘freestyle’ sections where pupils can improvise over the backing track. Listening and appreciation (and cultural capital) is provided for through the pieces themselves (each of which is in a different musical style) and through listening examples which are linked to the theme of each unit and which are used as inspiration for composition work. Each unit builds up towards a ‘performance’ including singing, playing, improvising and composing, as well as listening back to the performance and suggesting improvements.

Curriculum Progression:

In common with every curriculum we have designed (and most other people’s too!) we ensured progression by planning on a spiral. We chose to centre our curriculum spiral around the interrelated dimensions of music: pitch, duration, tempo, dynamics, texture, timbre, structure. These were introduced one at a time in Year One (with structure hanging over into Year Two!), and then revisited in Year Two at greater levels of depth. For example, in Year One ‘Pitch’ is limited to ‘high and low’ but in Year Two it develops into ‘melody’. The relevant interrelated dimension of music was written into the corresponding piece for the unit, at the required level of complexity.

Curriculum Support:

Whole-class instrumental-style projects are normally found in KS2, and usually delivered by instrumental specialists, so we had to adapt our approach to ensure that it would work for non-specialist delivery in KS1. We chose to provide teacher videos for each unit which demonstrate exactly how to teach each lesson, and an interactive prezi which provides support on understanding key musical terminology (such as the interrelated dimensions of music) and helps teachers develop their own musical skills. Full lesson plans, demo and backing tracks, sheet music and multi-media teaching slides for the pieces, and assessment proformas are also provided.

Curriculum Impact:

Two user trials of this curriculum were undertaken, the first with 10 primary schools, and the second with three primary schools once the adaptations to the curriculum suggested in trial one had been put into action. All schools involved reported significant improvement in pupils’ enjoyment of music lessons and staff confidence to teach music lessons as a result of implementing this curriculum. It has since been used extensively in primary schools and was awarded the Teach Primary Resource Award for Best Music Resource 2018.

Further information and support:

Click here to read more blogs about curriculum design

Click here to access our course on Curriculum Design in Music

Click here to access the pBuzz KS1 Music Curriculum Resources

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