Characteristic 1: Musical music lessons adopt an integrated and holistic approach

Integrated and holistic are understood in two ways here. Firstly, that music lessons in schools need to have cognisance of young people’s musical experiences and activities outside of school, or in a previous school, such as their primary school. These experiences should be integrated into what is planned in the music classroom, using them to develop young people’s musical understanding in ways that build on and extend these experiences.

Secondly, integrated and holistic refer to how the most musical lessons tend to be those that integrate the three main aspects of musical experience – listening to music; creating music; performing music – into common learning outcomes. This leads more readily to young people being immersed in music and, as Matthews says, reflects the way in which music is typically experienced outside of school:

Matthews goes on to cite examples from jazz, African township music and hip hop to reinforce this point. Similarly, if you take part in a karaoke session you will naturally integrate these activities: you will listen to the backing track and compose/improvise the ‘on the hoof’ cover version of whatever it is that you ‘perform’.

Activity 11

Timing: Allow about 1 hour

Part 1

Watch the video clip Bugs, which is taken from a key stage 2 whole class instrument lesson and note how composing, listening and improvisation are integrated into this lesson.

Download this video clip.Video player: exn885_1_2013_vid003-320x176.mp4

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Transcript

Bugs

[PIANO PLAYING]

[VIOLIN PLAYING]

TEACHER

What did she start with? What notes did she play? Atiya?

ATIYA

A?

VIOLINIST 1

No.

TEACHER

What did she start with?

VIOLINIST 1

Started with a D, that’s right.

TEACHER

D. What was the first line she played? You got it, Rosaria? [SINGING] D, D. Did she use a finger?

STUDENT

No?

TEACHER

Did she use a finger?

STUDENT

She used one with D.

TEACHER

Good girl, well done. She went [SINGING] D, D, one, one, D, D. Sing that with me. Ready, and –

[VIOLIN PLAYING]

VIOLINIST, TEACHER AND CLASS

[SINGING] D, D, one, one, D, D.

TEACHER

Then there was a little rest, two rests, and then she went what? Listen again. Next bit?

[PLAYING VIOLIN]

TEACHER

What did she do then?

STUDENT

Then she did the same as the first one, and then she went on to A.

TEACHER

Good. So she went D, D, one, one, A, A, A. What else did she do that was something that made it a bit more interesting?

STUDENT

Oh, she did this.

[PLAYS ACCENTED NOTE]

TEACHER

Great. The last note she played was a really short stab on the –? You did the right –

STUDENT

On the A.

TEACHER

On the A. How many As did she play? How many?

STUDENT

Three.

TEACHER

Three. And what did she do with those three As? Were they all the same? The last one was short. Did she do anything else? Play it one more time?

[PLAYING VIOLIN]

TEACHER

What did she do? How would you describe what she played? Yes?

STUDENT

She made it louder.

TEACHER

She made it louder. She started quiet. She went [SINGING] A, A, A. And a stab at the end. Try it, on your A string. One, two –

VIOLINIST 1

A string.

TEACHER

– three, go. [PLAYING VIOLIN]

VIOLINIST, TEACHER AND CLASS

[SINGING] A, A, A,

TEACHER

Start even quieter, and then you’ve got somewhere to have your stab – wait, wait, wait. If you start really quietly, you can get louder. One, two, three, go.

[PLAYING VIOLIN]

TEACHER

Let’s sing the whole thing once, and then we’ll play it. This is the chorus to Bugs. Let’s just try singing it once, then we’ll get ’round to playing it. Get ready.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

TEACHER

Singing now.

VIOLINIST, TEACHER AND CLASS

D, D, one, one, D, D, shh, shh. D, D, one, one, A, A, A.

TEACHER

Try playing it. Up you get. Violins up. Find your one on D.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

VIOLINIST

Starting with open D.

[PLAYING VIOLIN]

VIOLINIST, TEACHER AND CLASS

[SINGING] D, D, one, one, D, D. Shh. D, D, one, one.

TEACHER

Fantastic stab at the end. There’s a couple of rests there. Shall we bend, bend in the rests? It’s going to go [SINGING] D, D, one, one, bend, bend.

STUDENT

And then it goes D, D –

TEACHER

Off we go.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

[PLAYING VIOLIN]

VIOLINIST, TEACHER AND CLASS

[SINGING] D, D, one, one, D, D. Bend. D, D, one, one.

TEACHER

Fantastic. That’s our chorus. Now we need some verses. And it’s up to you now. What kind of creepy-crawly insects can you think of? Have a think. What could try and play on the violin? What creepy-crawlies can you think of? What can you think of?

STUDENT

Spiders.

TEACHER

Spiders. What can you think of?

STUDENT

Caterpillars

TEACHER

Caterpillars.

STUDENT

Cockroaches.

TEACHER

Cockroaches.

STUDENT

Beetles.

TEACHER

Beetles.

STUDENT

Daddy-long-legs.

TEACHER

Daddy-long-legs, fantastic. Daddy-long-legs fly as well, don’t they? And they’re very light. Let’s go with beetles, first. And it’s a really little beetle that moves very quickly. How could we play that? Listening partner, have a go. Have an experiment. What could you do? Both play to each other.

[PLAYING VIOLIN]

TEACHER

OK! Thank you. We’ve got one here. Do that again, right in the middle. Listen, listening.

[PLAYING VIOLIN]

TEACHER

Right. Which string? Do you want it on the E?

STUDENT

Yeah.

TEACHER

So we’re going to go on the E, tiny little bows. And we’re going to go really fast. Go.

[PLAYING VIOLIN]

TEACHER

Thank you! Thank you. If you hear this,

[PLAYING KEYBOARD]

TEACHER

That’s a bit – can you hear that?

[PLAYING KEYBOARD]

TEACHER

You stop. You take your bow off. So let’s hear beetles. Off you go, you beetles, and listen out for that thing to take your bow off. Go.

[PLAYING VIOLIN]

[PLAYING KEYBOARD]

TEACHER

Stop immediately. Let’s do it again. Beetles, go.

[PLAYING VIOLIN]

[PLAYING KEYBOARD]

TEACHER

Then we’re back to our chorus.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

[PLAYING VIOLIN]

TEACHER

[SINGING] D, D, E.

VIOLINIST 1

Let’s go with –

TEACHER

Daddy-long-legs. See if we can get the idea of them flying really fast, or buzzing. Off you go. Daddy-long-legs.

[PLAYING VIOLIN]

TEACHER

Something different. Something different.

[VIOLINS PLAYING]

TEACHER

Yeah, but daddy-long-legs, think of how they fly. Try doing that with your bow. Try getting it to go up and down. That’s brilliant. OK! Look at this! Just do what you did. These two have got one. Quickly. Listen and watch. These two have worked out one. Go.

[PLAYING VIOLIN]

TEACHER

Try it.

[VIOLINS SCRATCHING]

TEACHER

Great.

VIOLINIST 2

I like that one. Makes a funny noise, doesn’t it, James? What do you think?

[PLAYING KEYBOARD]

TEACHER

Stop. You didn’t hear?

[PLAYING KEYBOARD]

TEACHER

Daddy-long-legs have stopped. Get ready for the chorus.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

[PLAYING VIOLIN]

TEACHER

[SINGING] D, D.

VIOLINIST 1

Bounce, bounce.

TEACHER

Fantastic. You can see how we’re going to fit that piece together to play in the concert the end of term. We’ll do some more insects next time. I fancy having a go at caterpillars, definitely.

End transcript

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Part 2

Imagine that you are teaching this class at the start of their first year at secondary school and you want to build on their experiences of this holistic and integrated approach to composing at primary school.

Think of a topic that you feel would build on the pupils’ experiences and provide opportunities for continuity and progression. Then, using either this lesson plan [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] or one of your own choosing, note down some broad headings for the lesson, including:

1. the aims for the lesson
2. the activities that will support these aims and which:
   • integrate performing, listening and composing/improvising
   • provide a suitable level of challenge and opportunities for progression for the class, knowing their experiences at primary level.

Return to this lesson plan and amend it after each of the subsequent ‘characteristics’ have been examined and the activity completed.