In May 2024, we looked at short, bankable activities for KS3 that would set the composition ball rolling. As a follow-up, this resource will explore the next steps, looking at ways for your students...
Richard Barnard Teaching Materials
Though it developed out of binary form, sonata form is more like ternary form in the way that it presents thematic material, so a review of last month’s resource would be helpful to support students’...
Simon Rushby Teaching Materials
Just as a building needs plans and a journey needs a route, all music needs to have some sort of structure. Certain recognised structures crop up frequently in musical compositions, and two of the...
Simon Rushby Secondary
In this resource, we’ll see how minimalism began and quickly took hold, look at the music of its most prominent composers, and find out how it infiltrated the musical style of some notable pop artists...
Simon Rushby Composition
This resource will outline how to use composing tasks to create a vivid, dramatic version of Dickens’s A Christmas Carol with a KS3 group. The tasks will focus on moments and motifs from the story and...
Richard Barnard Composition
The main focus of this resource is to examine how notation can both inspire and hinder students in their composing. We’ll concentrate mainly on Western staff notation and its use in various styles,...
Richard Barnard Teaching Materials
This resource will focus on three iconic pieces from the first half of the 20th century, listed in OCR’s Area of Study 6 (Innovations in music 1900-present day): Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of...
Richard Barnard Teaching Materials
Nurturing confidence in composition is absolutely crucial. In this resource, we’ll look at different scenarios for KS3 groups with a range of composing experience. We’ll outline short ‘quick-win’...
Richard Barnard Teaching Materials
GCSE composing briefs tend to be fairly vague and... brief! In this resource we’ll explore what elements to focus on, how to use the given briefs to your students’ advantage, and how to choose the...
Richard Barnard Teaching Materials
It’s crucial for any non-experienced composer to understand specific steps to navigate their way to a finished composition.
Richard Barnard Teaching Materials
In this resource I’ll delve deeper into the development process, looking in more detail at techniques and suggestions to create sophisticated musical progression in composition from a starting idea.
Richard Barnard Teaching Materials
Composition is one of the crucial components of any music curriculum. Students need to be given the opportunity to compose, and the guidance to succeed. They also need to see how composition links in...
James Manwaring Teaching Materials