Music A Level AQA Set Works Wider Listening Aural Dictation Composition Musical Terminology Edexcel Set Works Wider Listening Aural Dictation Composition Musical Terminology Essay Writing Exam Preparation OCR Musical Terminology Wider Listening Eduqas Set Works Wider Listening Musical Terminology Aural Dictation Essay Writing WJEC All Specifications GCSE AQA CCEA Edexcel Set Works Wider Listening Aural Dictation Mini-Mocks Musical Terminology Cover Lessons Eduqas Set Works Wider Listening Musical Terminology Aural Notation Cover Lessons OCR Listening Homeworks Student Guides Keyword Activities Cover Lessons WJEC All Specifications KS3 Legacy KS3 BTEC Tech Award in Music Practice (2022) BTEC First in Performing Arts (2012) Music Performance Pathway (2012-2026) IB Diploma Grade 5 Music Theory Sheet Music Christmas

Starters and Plenaries for KS3

Activities include...
  • Engaging and varied listening exercises
  • Notation practice
  • Quick group performances
  • Short composition tasks
  • Theory revision worksheets

Keep your class busy all year with these packs of ready-made activities. With Listening Skills, Music Theory, Performing and Composing all covered, you’ll find something for every lesson. Packs available for Years 7, 8 and 9.

A first-class resource that every music teacher of Year 9 Music should have!

N Booth, HoD & Peer Reviewer
  • Comprehensive teacher notes contain everything you need:
    1. Suggested relevant topics, with clear learning objectives – for effective planning
    2. Timings and required resources – easy to prepare
    3. Detailed instructions and supporting resources – just pick up and teach!
    4. Differentiation ideas – adapt activities for your whole class

I would recommend it to my colleagues and be glad to use it in my own teaching

M Thiselton, Music Teacher & Peer Reviewer
  • Attractive student worksheets make supervision and assessment simple.
  • Handy overview table summarises each activity, making it quick and easy to choose a task to fit your scheme of work.

What do teachers say about this resource? (6873)

This is an absolutely brilliant resource! I love the ideas the author has come up with and I like the fact that activities mean that music and music making can take place from the very first minute of the lesson. The clear teacher guidance makes it an easy resource to use with very little planning required. I thought the different contexts of activities; listening, music technology, ensemble/composition and theory and notation is an inspiring idea! Fits the idea of the new curriculum extremely well. Moreover, I feel it serves as excellent progression to the new GCSE specifications. A first-class resource that every music teacher of Year 9 Music should have!

N Booth, HoD & Peer Reviewer

This pack really gives some fresh, inspiring ideas for how to kick-start your lessons and engage pupils straight away. When pupils are engaged from the start they are more likely to make better progress later in the lesson and meet the learning objectives.

R Shapey, Teacher & Peer Reviewer

A great resource for teachers to dip in and out of. Covers a lot of genres and styles of music which are commonly taught at KS3, and incorporates technology well. A lot of the activities will provide a good springboard for introducing a new topic. The idea of backing tracks for some of the practical tasks is good - this makes it easier for the teacher to go round students whilst they are working without having to provide the accompaniment. The listening tasks in particular are varied and interesting and provide a good springboard for the listening level and type of question at GCSE.

N Squires, Teacher & Peer Reviewer

Time has clearly been spent looking for song choices.

T Goodfellow, Teacher and Peer Reviewer

What do teachers say about this resource? (10878)

This is a great resource for Key Stage 3 and in using it with year 8s will have a positive effect on those choosing GCSE. The overall learning journey is clear and purposeful. The learning blocks provide scaffolding and build a secure musical knowledge and understanding... The activities are creative and innovative... Teachers instructions are clear and the inclusion of differentiation is valuable as the student ability has a wide range at KS3 in Music... This is an excellent precursor to GCSE Music. Questioning is engaging, topics that can be quite complex are approached in a simple but exciting way... YouTube clips are good and there is a good choice and variety of songs for listening tasks. Extension tasks will challenge students already doing music grades and keep them interested in GCSE Music for the future especially including a topic like intervals which the Steps and Leaps topic is a good introduction to interval recognition and melodic shape.

S Orme, Teacher & Peer Reviewer

I think this resource is excellent. The exercises follow a clear sequence and clearly enable progress which can also be evidenced.

The variety in the activities and the variety of topics which would really engage students and also provide a springboard for other activities or development.

The sheer range of topics is impressive.

I’m definitely going to use the roll the dice composition starter, what a superb idea!

These tasks are both simple and challenging and will surely engage students of all abilities. The breadth and variety of examples of a range of topics will certainly inspire teachers and students. Brilliant!

L Williams, Teacher of Music, soon to be Head of Music & Peer Reviewer

The main content of the resource has readily prepared activities which can be used with little or no preparation other than to read through and collect resources.

The activities are aimed accurately at the correct age of students. The preparation of the work has been particularly thorough so that students will have a thorough grounding in a range of areas. There is a lot of variety so that both teachers and students alike will be motivated. There is also the potential for many of these tasks to be extended into full lessons with appropriate extension work.

The range of activities includes topics such as blues, graphic notation, rhythm, treble and bass notation, texture, scales of the world, instruments, beatboxing and articulation.

I particularly appreciate the layout and clarity of this resource, and the imagination and design of the activities. It is also nice how the writer has used parallels such as constructing a melody from a selection of rhythms and notes is rather like a pick and mix; and the Dinnertime Rap which displays pictures of various sustenance plus a diagram of the rhythm of their names. The layout and imagination will keep students engaged.

This resource enhances learning effectively and efficiently. This is a well thought through resource that will be valuable to many teachers and students.

As students engage in the tasks their musical understanding and awareness will be strongly enriched.

I would recommend it to my colleagues and be glad to use it in my own teaching.

M Thiselton, Music Teacher & Peer Reviewer

What do teachers say about this resource? (10877)

Tasks were useful... Summary sheet at the beginning is clearly laid out and provides all the key information in one place... These tasks will allow the teacher to assess what pupils have learnt / remembered from topics covered so it is very useful for assessment... Worksheets are useful to topics taught in Year 7 and would be useful for a new teacher starting out.

S Barber, Teacher & Peer Reviewer

The resources covers a range of activities including theory, performing, composing and listening.

I particularly like the listening activities with some excellent excerpts being linked to.

I like the concept of teaching pupils how to rehearse.

C Kostromin, Head of Music & Peer Reviewer

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