Schemes of Work for KS3: Great Composers and Musicians

Links with Key Stage 3 National Curriculum aims → to perform, listen to, review and evaluate the works of the great composers and musicians

Introduce your students to some of the greatest composers and musicians of all time with this fun and fresh approach to KS3 Music. Each resource contains 6 one-hour comprehensive lesson plans, which include a starter, main, plenary and homework task.

I would be delighted to have this resource supporting my teaching of this topic

E Russell, Teacher & Peer Reviewer (Baroque)

Activities include:
  • Applying imagination to pictures and images
  • Guided listening tasks
  • Group performances
  • Composition
  • Use of YouTube videos where performances can be seen as well as heard
Inspire your students!
  • Stimulating worksheets for every lesson
  • Varied activities support different learnings styles
  • Fun music-making tasks bring each topic to life
  • Lessons differentiated for a range of abilities
  • Strong cross-curricular links give context and relevance to classical music within each music period

The listening activities are good and varied...

...good practical activities - both performing and composing...

...Interesting for pupils and well-planned for teachers

N Squires, Teacher & Peer Reviewer

Effortless delivery!
  • Comprehensive lesson plans – ready to use or adapt to your class’s needs
  • Clear schemes of work closely linked to the KS3 curriculum:
    • Builds on skills and knowledge through performing, composing and listening
    • Uses staff notations accurately and appropriately
    • Develops a deep understanding of music and its history
  • All answers provided – perfect for AfL and speedy peer-assessment

What is there not to like?!

E Russell, Teacher & Peer Reviewer (Romantic)

Baroque: Explore the magnificence of music from the Baroque period with composers such as Vivaldi, Purcell, Bach and Handel.

Romantic: Introduce your class to the great composers of the Romantic period, including Mendelssohn, Schubert, Verdi and Elgar.

20th Century: Beyond pop! Acquaint students with the experimentation of twentieth-century art music including composers from Stravinsky to Schoenberg and Copland to Cage.

Classical: Help students get to know the classics: Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven and the period as a whole with six highly structured lessons.

What do teachers say about this resource? (9176)

I enjoyed reading through this resource. It has a lot to offer and would save teachers a great amount of time in finding listening examples and key information about 20th century composers. The lesson plan summary for each country/composer is clear and easy to follow and the resource as a whole is comprehensive, with a variety of engaging student activities and ready-made worksheets.

The resource is very clearly set out and provides a range of listening examples which are useful for teachers who are unfamiliar with this particular style or music of a particular country. I liked the range of activities which included listening, performing and composing, and the variety of pieces covered within the lessons.

It is important that students are exposed to a diverse range of composers and musical styles. This resource does just that in an appropriate amount of detail and covering key words suitable for KS3. The combination of listening, performing and composing makes this a valuable resource for the KS3 classroom whilst providing scope for the teacher to adapt and develop as appropriate to the class.

Thank you - this is clearly a well-researched and through resource which will be useful for the classroom.

R Shapey, Music Teacher & Peer Reviewer

The idea of teaching music from the 20th century to KS3 is fantastic. It gives students the chance to explore thoughts and ideas in both conventional and unconventional ways.

This resource picks out different countries and gives a brief overview of 20th Century music relating to those places. It is good that the resource considers different composers and picks out the more prominent musicians of the time.

The range of listening example is fantastic and the pieces of music focused on are brilliant.

It was good that this resource focused on the pieces that were prominent and important in the development of musical writing at the time.

This resource gives students a good chance to listen to a vast range of music from different genres. The resource provides clear guidance for meaningful and focused listening. Students explore a number of different 20th century genres briefly through listening and concise compositional exercises.

This resource will allow students to have a general awareness of the music of the 20th century. The lessons develop the listening skills of the students well. The resource allows students the opportunity to research, form opinions and discuss these ideas with peers in an informal but also more formal whole class setting. There is the opportunity for students to write down their ideas and thoughts which is an essential skill at GCSE level.

S Humphries, Teacher of Music & Peer Reviewer

What do teachers say about this resource? (8768)

A very interesting and well presented resource. The author is very knowledgeable about the chosen topic and the presentation is smart and professional... It is written with energy and enthusiasm and it is sure to engender a love of the subject in the students. The historical context very welcome... The resources shows consideration for all aspects of Music Teaching, namely notation, performance, written expression and composition. It balances the different requirements well. What is there not to like?!

E Russell, Teacher & Peer Reviewer (Romantic)

What do teachers say about this resource? (8767)

This resource is interesting, fun, adaptable with plenty of useful ideas and activities for the busy KS3 Music Teacher. It gives enough detail to create a dependable resource while allowing for the creativity and imagination of colleagues in the classroom. The activities will engage and challenge students and lend themselves to differentiation. Overall a delightful resource. I would be delighted to have this resource supporting my teaching of this topic.

E Russell, Teacher & Peer Reviewer (Baroque)

Good features.. I like the fact there was a lesson looking at Art and architecture of the time which links all the arts of that era together... Worksheets were very clear... I liked the focused listening to different Baroque Music every lesson. I also like how it tried to cover so many aspects of Baroque Music... It gives pupils a wide breath of knowledge about the Baroque era and Baroque Music.

S Barber, Head of Music & Peer Reviewer

Really good overview of Baroque music! The listening activities are good and varied, including well-known pieces. Good practical activities - both performing and composing. Composing activities for the Baroque period always tend to be based around ground bass so it is nice to see something slightly different with the programmatic tasks... Interesting for pupils and well-planned for teachers.

N Squires, Teacher & Peer Reviewer

What do teachers say about this resource? (11491)

I loved the range of listening examples – they covered a wide range of composers, musical styles... It not only shows off the composers of the time but also looks at the factors which effected the music which is important if you are going to understand the classical period as a whole. Pupils learn to identity a wide range of classical music... The starter worksheets were very clear and a nice way to start the lesson... The questions started of easy and progressively got harder... The lessons were clearly laid out and very easy to understand and follow.

S Barber, Head of Music and Drama & Peer Reviewer

There are some clever tasks... A fascinating insight for your more able students.

L Williams, Teacher & Expert Reviewer

The writing and the tasks are at an appropriate level... There is a good balance of listening, discussion and creativity.

T Scammel, Teacher & Expert Reviewer