Progression of Skills

Year 3

Year 3 Unit 1

To maintain a steady pulse whilst singing or playing an instrument
To maintain an ostinato for a piece of music
To show our understanding of pulse by following simple performance directions
To suggest ways to improve our own work and others work using musical vocabulary
To be able to maintain a part in a piece and respond to cues
To be able to improve my work and others work using musical vocabulary
To complete a series of activities to re-cap what they have learnt in this unit

Year 3 Unit 2

To be able to sing accurately to a piece of music with an awareness of melody and pitch
To be able to perform following instructions: start, stop, tempo, dynamics
To perform confidently and have a clear understanding of pitch
To create your own graphic score
To create a graphic score to a familiar melody
To perform a Christmas song in groups and give feedback
To complete a series of activities to re-cap what they have learnt in this unit

Year 3 Unit 3

To understand rhythm and musical texture
To demonstrate a strong sense of rhythm and pulse
To identify rhythms in songs and use these as inspiration for their own music
To work as part of a group to compose a piece of music
To add body percussion and percussion instruments into our own pieces of music
To perform as a group
To complete a series of activities to re-cap what they have learnt in this unit

Year 3 Unit 4

To understand what the word pitch means and recognise high and low sounds
To explore high and low sounds by playing the melody to a song using a variety of both high and low sounds
To use graphic notation to demonstrate changes in pitch
To understand "motif" and demonstrate this using percussion instruments
To create rhythmic patterns with a variety of pitch
To perform compositions and offer feedback to other group
To demonstrate understanding of Pitch

Year 3 Unit 5

To understand musical form including the AB and ABC forms
To create a short piece of music using musical structure
To understand how to use music sequencing software
To use music sequencing software to create a piece of music in a given form
To edit our compositions on GarageBand
To assess a piece of music, giving comments and suggestions about the structure

Year 3 Unit 6

To understand the evolution of music throughout the 20th century
To recognise differences between genres
To appreciate an array of genres and identify them
To study the music of a 20th Century band
To learn a song by a 20th Century band
To perform a song by a 20th Century band

Year 4

Year 4 Unit 1

To be able to play in 4/4 and 3/4 using ostinato, drone and repeating patterns
To be able to perform and lead pieces in 4/4/ and 3/4 using drones, ostinato and repeating patterns
To maintain an independent part in a small group ensemble
To be able to perform a part in a group and offer improvements using technical terms
To be able to compose, perform and lead simple pieces in 4/4 and 3/4 using ostinato, drone, repeating patterns
To be able to offer comments for improvement about others work using musical terminology
To complete a series of activities to re-cap what they have learnt in this unit

Year 4 Unit 2

To learn to sing with awareness of breathing and pronunciation
To understand arpeggios and to create harmonies
To understand pentatonic scales and to learn to sing fluently with confidence
To sing together, record our work and assess it as a class
To create melodies using pentatonic scales
To perform as an ensemble
To complete a series of activities to re-cap what they have learnt in this unit

Year 4 Unit 3

To identify and discuss rhythm, texture, and dynamics
To demonstrate a strong sense of rhythm and pulse by creating and layering our own rhythms
To learn a pulse then a rhythm and put them both together to create a musical texture
To create ideas to compose a melody as a team, recording ideas using graphic notation
To add body percussion and percussion instruments into our own pieces of music
To perform as a group
To complete a series of activities to re-cap what they have learnt in this unit

Year 4 Unit 4

To understand what the word pitch means and recognise high and low sounds
To understand basic musical notes and how they have different pitches
To listen to and evaluate a song with a determined pitch and create their own composition of the same pitch
To listen to and evaluate a song with a determined pitch and create their own composition of the same pitch
To be able to sing in a variety of pitches with clear diction
To perform with clear diction with a range of pitches
To demonstrate understanding of Pitch

Year 4 Unit 5

To identify the musical structure of a song
To use voice, sounds, and instruments in creative ways.
To recognise, respond and use basic musical structure.
To record and edit our songs
To listen to popular music and recognise structure and form
To record and edit our pop songs

Year 4 Unit 6

To understand the evolution of music throughout the 20th century
To understand minimalism and listen and reflect on a piece of orchestral music
To compose a piece of minimalistic music
To create an ostinato
To play travelling ostinatos together as an orchestra
To perform minimalistic music as an orchestra

Year 5

Year 5 Unit 1

To be able to identify and play to the pulse of music
To create graphic notation to represent rhythms
To be able to independently maintain a part in a group performance
To read and play musical notation to create rhythms
To be able to help compose a group performance using either standard or graphic notation
To be able to perform a composed piece as part of a group
To complete a series of activities to re-cap what they have learnt in this unit

Year 5 Unit 2

To create sounds and interpret a graphical score using our voices
To work with others to maintain an independent singing part
To understand line and space notes on graphic scores
To follow a graphic notated score to sing an independent part
To create a group performance following sheet music
To create a group performance of Hallelujah
To complete a series of activities to re-cap what they have learnt in this unit

Year 5 Unit 3

To learn to identify a range of different notes
To play a rhythm and identify the timbre of sounds
To understand and play rhythms in different time signatures over different genres
To compose a melody as a team, recording ideas using graphic notation
To add body percussion and percussion instruments into our own pieces of music
To perform as a group: consolidating our knowledge on musical notes, timbre, texture and rhythm
To complete a series of activities to re-cap what they have learnt in this unit

Year 5 Unit 4

To explore sound and understand the meaning of pitch
To play a piece of music with a variety of pitches
To play a piece of music with a variety of pitches, playing two notes at a time
To learn what a harmony is and demonstrate harmonies in different pitches
To learn understand what a chord is and be able to play G and D chords
To confidently play chords C and G and amazing grace on either keyboard, piano or guitar
To demonstrate understanding of Pitch

Year 5 Unit 5

To identify the musical structure of a song.
To use voice, sounds, and instruments in creative ways.
To identify how structure can organise sounds and how it can be used to create a particular effect on the listener
To compose a piece of music using technology
To identify the musical structure of a song and use this to help compose a piece of music.
To compose a 12-bar blues song

Year 5 Unit 6

To understand the evolution of music throughout the 20th century
To understand minimalism and listen and reflect on a piece of orchestral music
To compose a piece of minimalistic music
To create an ostinato
To play travelling ostinatos together as an orchestra
To perform minimalistic music as an orchestra

Year 6

Year 6 Unit 1

To be able to maintain a strong pulse and recognise when going out of time
To be able to play rhythms while maintaining a pulse
To be able to sing / play regular (2/4 , ¾, 4/4) and irregular (7/4, 5/4)
To be able to maintain a strong sense of pulse and understand body percussion
To be able to maintain a strong pulse and recognise when going out of time
To be able to maintain a strong pulse and recognise when going out of time
To complete a series of activities to re-cap what they have learnt in this unit

Year 6 Unit 2

To understand the difference between monophonic and homophonic textures
To read graphic scores and perform them with confidence
To create their own graphic scores and perform them
To understand pitch and refine sound and pitch in their voice
To be able to maintain a part in an ensemble
To be able to offer self improvement and constructive feedback to peers
To complete a series of activities to re-cap what they have learnt in this unit

Year 6 Unit 3

To interpret and play a graphic score
To create a piece of Music with awareness of timbre and texture
To perform a piece of Music with awareness of timbre and texture
To create ideas to compose a melody as a team, recording ideas using graphic notation
To add body percussion and percussion instruments into our own pieces of music
To perform as a group: consolidating our knowledge on musical notes, timbre, texture and rhythm
To complete a series of activities to re-cap what they have learnt in this unit

Year 6 Unit 4

To recap what pitch is and understand "motif"
To understand differences in the characters in a piece of music
To play a piece of music with a variety of pitches, playing two notes at a time
To be able to play an arpeggio and describe the pitch changes within it
To be able to play arpeggios and know what Motifs/Leitmotifs are
To compose music combining rhythm, pitch, dynamics, timbre & tempo
To demonstrate understanding of Pitch

Year 6 Unit 5

To experiment with voice and create music which demonstrates an understanding of structure.
To identify the musical structure of a song.
To compose a piece of music using technology
To explore how musical structure can be used to create a particular effect on the listener
To manipulate and create sounds in a creative way using technology.
To recap everything learnt in this unit

Year 6 Unit 6

To understand the evolution of music throughout the 20th century
To study a 20th Century band and appreciate their music
To learn the lyrics of the song "Yesterday" by the Beatles
To learn how to play "Yesterday" by the Beatles on the glockenspiel
To add in percussion instruments to the performance and rehearse
To perform a song by a 20th Century band