At Key Stage 3, students will be given the opportunity to explore music of different genres and styles from a variety of cultures and periods of history. Music is taught in an active and hands-on approach and students are given the opportunity to explore sound through different instruments such as keyboards, ukuleles, guitars, voice and percussion.  The curriculum is built around the musical foundations of performance, composition and listening analysis, with a new topic and assessment point every half term.  Students are encouraged to build their resilience, team working and confidence as well as their musicianship.

Year 7

• Bridging the Gap: introducing students to music through vocal work, rhythms, keyboards and group performances.  Assessed using a listening test.
• Storytelling: students will write a story and compose music to fit it, looking at leitmotifs, modes and emotive sounds. 
• Band skills - The Beatles: working in groups, students will create a band performance of The Beatles ‘Let It Be’.
• Fanfares: students will explore the harmonic series and more complex rhythms, composing their own fanfare to fit a given occasion.
• Sea Shanties: students will explore and perform tradition sea shanties as a group.  Assessed using a listening test.
• Chromatic: students will explore the use of chromaticism in music and compose and perform pieces that utilise it.

Year 8

• Ground Bass: students will explore the piece ‘Pachelbel’s Canon’ and compose their own variation of the piece using chords and melody.
• Band Skills: students will create a band and perform music of different genres, including songs currently in the charts. 
• The Blues: students will explore the historical context of Blues music and create their own improvisations as well as performing already existing pieces.
• Song Writing 1: students will participate in different song writing workshops and explore how songs are created.
• Song Writing 2: students will compose their own songs as groups, writing their own lyrics, chord sequences and melodies.
• Reggae: students will explore the historical context of Reggae and perform well-known Reggae songs as a group.  They will also perform pop songs in a Reggae style, thinking about the stereotypes of the genre.

year 9

• Bank Skills - The Beatles 2: students will explore the piece ‘With A Little Help From My Friends’, looking deeper into musical analysis and exploring different genres and musical features.
• Music Tech: students will use the software Studio One to create their own dance track. They will explore loops, samplers and effects.
• Performing Skills: students will create a mini performance each week based on different musical genres such as rap, Samba and Film music.
• Musical Elements: students will explore musical features, such as texture, melody and rhythm, in more detail and compose mini pieces.
• Musical Mastery: students will focus on developing their musicianship across the keyboard, the drums, the ukulele and the guitar.
• Summer Concert: students create a performance of their choice to contribute towards a summer concert.

(EDUQAS EXAM BOARD)

The syllabus is as follows:

Music is a popular and successful subject at GCSE, with results of 100% A* to A in 2016.  Students will learn how to musically analyse pieces of different genres in a deep and succinct manner.  They will develop their musicianship in performing and composing, using either music technology or tradition methods to create their own pieces. Like Key Stage 3, the subject is taught in an active style.

GCSE Music is a practical subject, best suited for students who already play an instrument or those who have the passion and resilience to learn.  The course is a mixture of musical analysis of music across an array of genres, performance as a soloist and within a group and composition using music technology and other traditional methods.  Lessons are really spent sat ‘behind a desk’, with students getting the freedom to explore and experiment in their own ways.

The Music department offers a wide range of extra-curricular on a rolling schedule. These include:

• Choir
• Orchestra
• Guitar/ukelele club
• Samba group
• Grade five theory group

Students are offered instrumental lessons at Silverdale. We have 9 members of peripatetic instrumental staff. 5 of our teachers are from The Sheffield Music Hub along with 4 private teachers.

The school offers peripatetic lessons in piano, strings, woodwind, guitar, voice, drums, flute and brass.

• For Brass, Strings and Guitar, please contact the Sheffield Music Hub here
• For Piano, please either contact Brandon Petty via email or Karin Finney via email 
• For Woodwind (Clarinets and Sax), please contact Kim Storr via email
• For Drum lessons, please contact Andy Scott on 07813 453649
• For Flute lessons, please contact Jill Vincent via email
• For Singing lessons, please contact Sally Doherty via email

• Sheffield Music Hub