Curriculum
Music at Thorns is a vibrant and exciting subject which builds the core components of performing, composing, listening and appraising through a range of topics. Our stimulating curriculum ensures that all students are involved in practical music-making and through this they develop their knowledge of a variety of musical styles. Students have the opportunity to learn a variety of instruments in class time including the ukulele and the keyboard as well as access to numerous other instruments with peripatetic teachers one-to-one. Extra-curricular music is strong at Thorns catering to student interests including Musical Theatre club and keyboard club. Practice rooms are also available for students to use for independent rehearsal.
Key Stage 3
Year 7: 20 Weeks, 1 hour a week
The Elements of Music (10 Lessons)
Students arrive at Thorns with a variety of musical experience. This unit aims to introduce them explicitly to the terminology of the subject through the discipline of instrumental playing. Students learn about rhythm, dynamics, instruments, texture, harmony and tempo through chair drumming, ukulele and keyboard. During the scheme they will appraise, perform and compose using each instrument.
Programme Music (10 Lessons)
Students will delve into the world of programme music and music technology composing their own piece of music to describe the character from Harry Potter using their devises, BandLab for Education (a Digital Audio Workstation) and keyboard. They will develop understanding of ostinatos, drones, texture, instrumentation as well as timing and MIDI editing.
Year 8: 10 Weeks, 1 hour a week
The Ukulele (5 weeks)
Students develop their ukulele skills learning 2 pieces to a grade 1 standard reading TAB and chord charts.
Game Music (5 Lessons)
Students listen more deeply to music from iconic computer games and develop their composition skills further with a greater understanding of composing melodies and harmonies to fit a brief of their choosing.
Year 9: 20 weeks, 1 hour a week
The Blues (10 weeks)
Students develop their two-handed playing skills learning each layer of the blues on the keyboard. The 12 Bar Blues in G Major, the walking bass, improvising using the G Major Blues scale and learning a head melody. They will then combine these skills into their own paired blues performance.
Students will listen to a blues standard each week as well as new and fresh interpretations of it and examples of popular music using the 12-bar blues to understand it relevance to today’s music and its effectiveness as a compositional tool.
My Music Festival (10 weeks)
Students will develop their understanding of music career paths and select a role in planning a music festival looking at promotion, finance, structural planning, marketing and performing. Students will work in groups to compete to be the best planned festival.
Key Stage 4
Music is an option subject. Students are presented with the course through options assemblies and marketplace event. All details can be found in the options area of the website. Both pathways are offered with a final decision made based on the strengths of the class.
Eduqas GCSE Music
The course involves:
- 4-6 mins of performance including 1 min of ensemble (group) playing. This could also be a sequenced performance where students input most layers of a piece with one like being played live using a DAW. This is 30% of their final mark.
- 4mins composition portfolio. One is a free composition where students write their own brief fitting on of the areas of study. Students then select one of four briefs set by the exam board to create another piece. This is 30% of their final mark.
Both pieces of coursework are internally marked and externally moderated by the exam board.
Exam: Students sit a 1hour 15 mins listening exam based on the four areas of study;
- AoS 1 Musical Forms and Devices (Western Classical Music) including one set work Badinerie by Bach.
- AoS 2 Music for Ensemble (Chamber Music, Musical Theatre, Jazz and Blues)
- AoS 3 Film Music
- AoS 4 Popular music (pop, rock, bhangra and fusion) including one set work Africa by Toto
This makes 40% of their final mark.
Y10 Focus Day (5 hours): Students spend the day deep diving ‘Africa’ by Toto, one of the set works, understanding how it uses the musical elements and performing it as a class.
Y11 focus day (5 hours): Students will rehearse and record their ensemble performances.
BTEC L1/L2 Tech Award in Music Practice
This is a vocational qualification with two internally assessed units and one externally assessed unit.
Students are taught the content of the course before completing the assessments which are marked and sent for moderation.
Component 1: Exploring Music Products and Styles
Learners will explore the techniques used in the creation of different musical products and investigate the key features of different musical styles
Component 2: Music Skills Development
Learners will have the opportunity to develop two musical disciplines (composing, performing or producing) through engagement in practical tasks, while documenting their progress and planning for further improvement.
Component 3: Responding to a Music Brief
Learners will be given the opportunity to develop and present music in response to a given music brief. Learners choose from 10 songs and four styles to create their own reimagining of a song and a new genre. This can be done live using instruments or using a DAW.
Focus Days, depending on date, will be spent completing assessment work or in year 10 completing practical workshops for component 1 genres or developing chosen disciplines for component 2.