Music

Listening, creating and belonging through music

Music enables children to communicate, collaborate and express ideas through sound. It develops careful listening, memory, coordination, confidence and creativity while introducing children to the musical traditions of different periods, places and communities.

At Waterloo, we want every child to see themselves as someone who can listen to, understand, create and participate in music.

Our curriculum is designed to develop:

enjoyment of music;
attentive and increasingly analytical listening;
confident and expressive singing;
control when using tuned and untuned instruments;
a secure sense of pulse, rhythm and pitch;
understanding of musical vocabulary and notation;
the ability to improvise and compose;
confidence when performing individually and with others;
knowledge of a wide range of musical styles, traditions and cultures;
awareness of how music communicates mood, meaning and identity;
perseverance through rehearsal and refinement;
respect for different musical preferences;
a sense of belonging through shared musical experiences.

Children learn that musical expression is supported by knowledge and practice. Confidence develops as children listen closely, learn techniques, rehearse, respond to feedback and experience the satisfaction of making music with others.

Our curriculum approach

In Nursery and Reception, children’s musical development is taught through Expressive Arts and Design within the United Learning Early Years Curriculum. This is supported by Kapow Primary’s Early Years music units.

From Year 1 to Year 6, Waterloo uses Kapow Primary Music as its principal curriculum resource.

Kapow follows a spiral curriculum. Important musical ideas are revisited in different styles and contexts so that children’s technical control, musical understanding and independence develop over time.

The scheme is organised through five connected areas:

listening and evaluating;
creating sound;
notation;
improvising and composing;
performing.

In specialist provision, music follows different pathways according to pupils’ developmental stages, communication profiles and individual needs. This includes engagement-based music within the autism provision and adapted Kapow teaching within the cognition provision.

Our curriculum is aligned with the National Curriculum for music. Children sing, play instruments, listen to live and recorded music, improvise, compose, perform and develop their understanding of musical notation.

Music from Nursery to Year 6

Phase	How musical learning develops
Nursery 2	Children attend and respond to music, move when they hear changes, explore their voices and join in with familiar songs and rhymes. They investigate instruments and sound-makers through shaking, tapping, banging and listening.
Nursery 3–4	Children listen with increasing attention, remember songs, match simple pitches and follow the shape of familiar melodies. They create their own sounds and songs and use instruments with increasing control.
Reception	Children listen, move and talk about music; sing individually and with others; follow melodies; explore different sounds; and create and perform simple musical ideas.
Years 1 and 2	Children develop pulse, tempo, dynamics, pitch, call and response and simple musical structures. They sing, use voices and instruments, explore sound patterns and begin to understand how symbols can represent music.
Years 3 and 4	Children develop singing and instrumental technique, compose in response to different stimuli, improvise, explore notation and study styles including ballads, jazz, rock and roll, samba and traditional music.
Years 5 and 6	Children use notation with greater confidence, compose and perform increasingly sustained pieces, manipulate musical elements and study styles including blues, African music, musical theatre, film music, Baroque music and theme and variation.
Specialist provision	Children develop musical engagement, communication, listening, movement, vocalisation and instrumental control through an appropriate engagement or adapted Kapow pathway.

What children study

The following overview identifies the principal Kapow units taught across the school.

Year group	Autumn	Spring	Summer
Early Years	Exploring sound; Celebration music	Music and movement; Musical stories	Transport; Big band
Year 1	Keeping the pulse: My Favourite Things; Tempo: Snail and Mouse	Dynamics: Seaside; Sound patterns: Fairytales	Pitch: Superheroes; Musical symbols: Under the Sea
Year 2	Call and response: Animals; Instruments: Musical Storytelling	Singing: On This Island; Contrasting dynamics: Space	Structure: Myths and Legends; Pitch: Musical Me
Year 3	Ballads; Composing in response to animation: Mountains	Developing singing technique: The Vikings; Pentatonic melodies and composition: Chinese New Year	Jazz; Traditional instruments and improvisation: India
Year 4	Body and tuned percussion: Rainforests; Rock and roll	Changes in pitch, tempo and dynamics: Rivers; Haiku, music and performance: Hanami	Samba and carnival sounds; Adapting and transposing motifs: Romans
Year 5	Composition notation: Ancient Egypt; Blues	South and West African music; Composition for the festival of colour: Holi	Looping and remixing; Musical theatre
Year 6	Dynamics, pitch and texture: Fingal’s Cave; Songs of the Second World War	Film music; Theme and variations: Pop Art	Baroque music; Composing and performing a leavers’ song

The themes provide musical contexts rather than replacing music with another subject. Children are taught the musical knowledge, vocabulary and techniques identified within each unit.

Music in the Early Years

Nursery

Young children are naturally responsive to sound, rhythm and movement.

Children are given regular opportunities to:

listen to music and environmental sounds;
respond physically and emotionally;
explore their voices;
join in with songs, rhymes and repeated phrases;
make rhythmical and repetitive sounds;
handle and explore sound-makers;
shake, tap, strike and bang instruments;
move in response to pulse, speed and mood;
anticipate familiar parts of a song;
notice differences between sounds;
create simple musical responses.

Songs are used throughout Nursery to bring children together, develop communication and support familiar routines. Planned musical teaching ensures that children also encounter new songs, sounds, instruments and ways of responding.

Adults model attentive listening, singing and safe instrument use. They repeat musical experiences so that children can anticipate, participate and become increasingly independent.

Reception

In Reception, children develop greater musical control and awareness.

They learn to:

listen with sustained attention;
talk about what they hear;
respond through movement;
sing familiar songs from memory;
sing individually and with others;
increasingly match pitch;
follow the shape of a melody;
keep a simple pulse;
copy a sound or rhythm;
select and combine sounds;
use instruments with greater control;
create music for a story, movement or idea;
perform to others.

Kapow’s Early Years units introduce children to exploring sound, celebration music, music and movement, musical stories, transport and ensemble music through its Big Band unit.

By the end of Reception, children have developed the listening habits, vocal confidence, coordination and musical vocabulary needed for the Year 1 curriculum.

How children develop musical knowledge

A helpful way of understanding progression in music is through three connected areas: technical, constructive and expressive knowledge. These are identified as pillars of musical progression in Ofsted’s music research review.

Technical knowledge

Technical knowledge enables children to produce and control sound.

It includes:

vocal technique;
breathing and posture;
singing with increasing accuracy;
coordinating voice and movement;
holding and using instruments correctly;
controlling tuned and untuned percussion;
maintaining a pulse;
performing rhythmic patterns;
matching and controlling pitch;
reading and responding to notation;
playing with increasing fluency and accuracy;
performing as part of an ensemble.

Technical knowledge is developed through clear modelling, repetition and practice.

Constructive knowledge

Constructive knowledge helps children understand how music is organised.

Children learn about:

pulse and rhythm;
pitch and melody;
tempo;
dynamics;
duration;
timbre;
texture;
structure;
patterns, phrases and motifs;
repetition and contrast;
call and response;
pentatonic melodies;
scales and simple harmonic ideas;
notation;
how musical ideas can be selected, combined and developed.

This knowledge enables children to listen with greater understanding and create more coherent compositions.

Expressive knowledge

Expressive knowledge enables children to communicate meaning and make informed musical choices.

Children learn to consider:

mood and atmosphere;
the character of a piece;
how dynamics affect expression;
how changes in tempo alter a musical response;
how timbre contributes to meaning;
phrasing;
style;
the cultural or historical context of music;
how an audience may respond;
how performance decisions communicate an intention.

Expression is not separated from technique. Greater vocal and instrumental control gives children more possibilities for communicating musical ideas.

The interrelated dimensions of music

Across the curriculum, children develop knowledge of the interrelated dimensions of music.

Pulse

The steady beat that runs through music. Children develop the ability to feel, maintain and perform in relation to a pulse.

Rhythm

Patterns of long and short sounds. Children copy, perform, create and record increasingly complex rhythmic patterns.

Pitch

How high or low a sound is. Children learn to recognise, match, follow and organise pitches into melodic ideas.

Tempo

The speed of music. Children identify and create changes in tempo and consider their effect.

Dynamics

The volume of music. Children develop control of loud and quiet sounds and use changes in dynamics expressively.

Timbre

The distinctive quality of a sound. Children compare voices and instruments and select sounds for a particular effect.

Texture

The way different sounds and musical parts are combined. Children progress from performing a single part to recognising and creating layered musical textures.

Structure

How music is organised. Children recognise and use repetition, contrast, sections, phrases and larger musical forms.

Notation

Ways of representing music. Children progress from physical and graphic representations towards increasingly formal rhythmic and staff notation.

These dimensions are taught in connection. A composition or performance may require children to make decisions about several of them simultaneously.

Listening and evaluating

Children listen to music from different periods, styles, traditions and places.

Listening is planned so that children learn to:

concentrate on a complete extract;
identify voices and instruments;
recognise changes in musical elements;
describe mood and character;
notice patterns and structures;
recall sounds;
compare pieces;
identify stylistic features;
express a preference;
explain a response using musical evidence;
connect music with its cultural or historical context.

Children are taught that it is acceptable to prefer one piece of music to another. However, an informed musical response goes beyond simply saying that they like or dislike something.

They learn to explain what they noticed and how particular musical features influenced their response.

Singing

Singing is central to music at Waterloo.

Children sing:

in planned music lessons;
during assemblies and collective experiences;
as part of classroom routines;
within performances;
through the school choir;
during community events.

Singing develops progressively. Children learn to:

sing familiar songs and rhymes;
use their voices expressively;
follow a leader;
match pitch;
maintain a melody;
control breathing and posture;
articulate words clearly;
respond to dynamics and tempo;
sing in unison;
maintain a part within a group;
rehearse and refine a performance.

Teachers select material that is appropriate for children’s voices and model healthy, confident singing.

Creating, improvising and composing

Children learn that composing involves selecting, organising and refining sound.

They create music using:

voices;
body percussion;
tuned and untuned instruments;
found sounds;
digital tools;
loops and recorded sound.

Early composition may involve choosing between two sounds, repeating a pattern or creating an accompaniment.

As children progress, they learn to:

improvise within agreed boundaries;
create rhythmic and melodic patterns;
select sounds for a purpose;
combine contrasting ideas;
create call-and-response phrases;
use motifs;
organise ideas into a structure;
represent ideas through notation;
rehearse and refine;
explain compositional choices;
perform and record completed work.

Improvisation allows children to explore possibilities in the moment. Composition involves retaining, organising and developing ideas over time. Both require increasingly secure musical knowledge.

Performing

Performance gives musical learning a purpose and audience.

Children learn to:

begin and end together;
follow visual and musical signals;
maintain a pulse;
perform an agreed part;
listen to other performers;
balance their sound within a group;
recover from an error;
rehearse difficult sections;
respond to feedback;
communicate mood and style;
perform with increasing confidence and expression.

Children may perform individually, in pairs, in groups, as a class, in the choir or as part of a larger school event.

Performance is handled sensitively. Confidence is developed through preparation, predictable routines and appropriately scaled opportunities rather than by requiring children to perform publicly before they are ready.

Our music pedagogy

Music is learned through music

Children need regular opportunities to listen, sing, play, improvise, compose and perform.

Written work may occasionally support musical learning, but it does not replace making and responding to music.

Clear modelling

Teachers model vocal sounds, rhythmic patterns, instrumental techniques and performance expectations.

New learning is broken into manageable components before children combine these within a complete musical task.

Repetition and rehearsal

Musical fluency develops through purposeful repetition.

Children revisit songs, patterns and pieces so that attention can move from remembering what comes next towards greater accuracy, coordination and expression.

Active listening

Children are given a clear musical focus before listening.

They might listen for a change in dynamics, identify an instrument, track a repeated motif or compare the structures of two pieces.

Gradual independence

Teachers initially provide strong guidance through modelling, visual cues, repeated patterns and limited choices.

Responsibility is gradually transferred so that children can rehearse, perform, improvise, compose and evaluate with increasing independence.

Responsive teaching

Teachers listen carefully to pupils’ singing, playing and musical responses.

Misunderstandings are addressed through further modelling, a slower tempo, a simplified part, additional rehearsal or revisiting prerequisite knowledge.

Musical styles, traditions and representation

Children encounter a broad range of musical styles and traditions, including:

ballads;
jazz;
rock and roll;
blues;
Baroque music;
film music;
musical theatre;
samba and carnival music;
South and West African music;
pentatonic music associated with Chinese New Year;
traditional instruments and improvisation from India;
music associated with festivals, stories, landscapes and historical periods.

Music is introduced in a way that respects its cultural context. Children learn about the musical features, instruments, purposes and communities connected with the music rather than encountering it as an isolated or decorative theme.

The curriculum enables children to see and hear musicians from different backgrounds and understand that music belongs to every culture and community.

Music beyond the classroom

Music helps bring the school and wider community together.

Children have opportunities to:

sing and perform within school;
participate in the school choir;
perform for families;
contribute to celebrations and special events;
visit and perform within local residential homes;
participate in community performances;
attend musical events and performances;
experience the enjoyment and responsibility of performing for an audience.

These experiences complement the taught curriculum. They do not replace every child’s entitlement to high-quality classroom music.

Music in specialist provision

Children in specialist provision share the same entitlement to experience and participate in meaningful music.

The curriculum is organised through two broad pathways.

Engagement-based music

Within the autism provision, music is part of both daily classroom life and planned weekly teaching.

Songs may support familiar routines and transitions, while focused music sessions develop:

attention to sound;
anticipation;
auditory awareness;
vocalisation;
imitation;
movement;
interaction;
cause and effect;
choice;
start-and-stop responses;
awareness of fast and slow;
awareness of loud and quiet;
copying a pattern;
exploration of instruments;
enjoyment of different musical genres.

A typical session may combine a familiar topic or action song, visual support, call and response, body percussion, instruments and calm listening.

Cornerstones projects may provide an accessible topic or song context. However, the musical focus remains clear.

Progress can include a child:

localising a sound;
responding consistently to music;
moving rhythmically;
repeating a sound;
anticipating a familiar phrase;
choosing an instrument;
stopping when the music stops;
copying a short pattern;
distinguishing between contrasting sounds;
describing music using simple terms.

Repetition and familiarity provide security, but children also encounter new sounds and musical experiences when they are ready.

Adapted Kapow pathway

Within the cognition provision, children access Kapow from the developmental stage most appropriate to their prior musical knowledge.

Teaching may initially draw on Year 1 and Year 2 content to secure foundations in:

pulse;
tempo;
dynamics;
pitch;
sound patterns;
musical symbols;
call and response;
singing;
instruments;
structure.

Lessons, units and activities may be condensed, repeated or extended according to pupils’ needs. Progression is determined by what children have secured—not simply by chronological age or the speed at which a unit is completed.

The aim is for children to develop increasingly secure musical understanding, communication and independence while experiencing genuine participation in the wider musical life of Waterloo.

Adaptation and inclusion in mainstream music

Music can present barriers relating to hearing, sensory processing, physical access, communication, attention, memory and confidence.

Teachers anticipate these barriers and may provide:

advance warning of loud or sudden sounds;
ear defenders or access to a quieter position;
visual timetables and musical cues;
repetition and predictable routines;
shorter musical phrases;
simplified instrumental parts;
colour coding or alternative notation;
adapted grips, stands or instruments;
additional modelling and processing time;
recorded examples;
signing, symbols and communication systems;
movement or gesture as a musical response;
alternative ways to demonstrate listening and evaluation;
careful grouping and peer support.

Adaptation should increase musical participation and independence. It should not routinely remove children from singing, playing, composing or listening.

A child may demonstrate strong musical understanding through movement, instrument choice, eye gaze, vocalisation, symbol selection or performance even when spoken or written explanation is difficult.

Vocabulary and oracy

Music has a precise and increasingly technical vocabulary.

Children learn terms including:

pulse, rhythm and beat;
pitch and melody;
tempo;
dynamics;
timbre;
texture;
structure;
phrase and motif;
call and response;
unison and ensemble;
improvise and compose;
rehearse and perform;
notation, graphic score and staff notation.

As a Voice 21 Oracy School, Waterloo deliberately plans talk within music.

Children learn to:

describe what they hear;
compare two pieces;
explain a musical preference;
discuss how an effect was created;
agree ideas within an ensemble;
explain a compositional choice;
offer constructive feedback;
evaluate and refine a performance.

Speaking supports musical thinking, but it does not replace musical demonstration. Children should also be able to show what they understand through singing, playing, moving, improvising and composing.

Assessment

Assessment identifies the musical knowledge children have secured and how effectively they can apply it.

Teachers use:

observation during singing and instrumental work;
focused listening questions;
performances;
improvisations and compositions;
recordings;
children’s responses to music;
use of notation;
Kapow assessment activities and quizzes where appropriate;
discussion and musical vocabulary.

Teachers consider whether children can:

maintain a pulse;
copy and perform a rhythm;
match or control pitch;
sing or play with increasing accuracy;
respond to a musical signal;
recognise and describe musical elements;
recall a sound or phrase;
read and use appropriate notation;
improvise within agreed boundaries;
organise sounds into a coherent composition;
maintain a part within an ensemble;
make expressive choices;
listen and respond to feedback;
refine a performance or composition.

Assessment is primarily based on musical evidence. Extensive writing or a completed worksheet does not by itself demonstrate musical understanding.

In specialist provision, progress may also be demonstrated through increased attention, anticipation, vocalisation, movement, imitation, consistent choice, instrumental control, communication or participation with others.

Our Music Development Plan

Waterloo maintains a Music Development Plan covering:

curriculum music;
singing and performance;
instrumental and ensemble opportunities;
co-curricular music;
inclusion and access;
partnerships and community links;
staff development;
resources;
future priorities.

Schools are expected to publish and update a summary of their Music Development Plan annually. Further guidance and a template are available from the Department for Education.

Download: Waterloo Primary School Music Development Plan Summary
[Insert download link]

What success looks like

Our music curriculum is successful when children:

enjoy listening to and making music;
see themselves as capable musicians;
sing with increasing confidence, accuracy and expression;
use instruments safely and with increasing control;
maintain a pulse and perform rhythmic patterns;
recognise and manipulate musical elements;
listen with concentration and attention to detail;
remember and reproduce musical ideas;
improvise and compose;
read and use appropriate musical notation;
rehearse and refine their work;
perform individually and as part of an ensemble;
discuss music using accurate vocabulary;
explain and respect different musical preferences;
appreciate music from different periods, styles and cultures;
participate in the musical life of the school and community;
make strong progress from their individual starting points;
leave Waterloo ready for the musical opportunities and demands of secondary education.

Above all, we want children to understand that music belongs to everyone. Through listening, singing, playing, creating and performing together, every child can develop a musical voice and experience the joy of contributing to something shared.