This collection represents a broad and diverse range of songs from different times, places and in different styles to experience, explore and recreate. Each song illustrates aspects of the new National Curriculum for Music inter-related dimensions (elements) and highlights the potential musical learning opportunities to include within your school music curriculum.
We’ve grouped some of the elements together: Pitch (melody and harmony), Timbre (sound quality) and Dynamics are one group; Pulse, Rhythm and Tempo are another. Structure and Texture are presented individually.
The column on the left lists the skills, knowledge and understanding children will develop within each element, such as ‘Developing singing voice’, etc. Reading left to right, the song material becomes more sophisticated. Each song is considered age-appropriate, although children of course have different talents, experience and tastes, so we will let you be the judge of what will work best with your group!
We hope you find this a useful tool to create your own music curriculum from scratch, enhance your existing curriculum or to bolster and extend Sing Up Music.
ELEMENTS | EYFS | KS1 |
|---|---|---|
Pitch, Timbre and dynamics | ||
Developing 'singing' voice | - Ring a ring o' roses (3 notes) | - Step back baby (3 notes) |
Vocal timbre | - Five fine bumble bees
| - Boom chicka boom |
Developing 'thinking' voice | - BINGO | |
Developing good listening habits through turn-taking | - Boom chicka boom | |
Pentatonic | ||
Minor | n/a | |
Major | - Tony Chestnut | |
Major/minor contrast | ||
Introducing harmony | n/a | |
Pedal/drone | n/a | n/a |
Triads & chords | n/a | n/a |
Instrumental timbre using backing tracks | - Shake my sillies out | - Minibeasts |
Loud, soft, louder, softer | - Rocking (soft) | - Creepy castle (soft) |
Pulse, rhythm and tempo | ||
Developing coordination | ||
Pulse actions | - Shake my sillies out | - The farmer in the dell |
2/4 & 4/4 (good to march to) | ||
3/4 (can feel like a waltz) | - Rocking | |
6/8 (can feel like a skipping rhythm) | ||
Syncopation | n/a | |
Irregular metre | n/a | n/a |
Fast/slow | - Baby beluga (slow) | - The change train (fast) |
Changing speed | ||
Structure | ||
Repetition (call and echo) | - Shake my sillies out - Witch, witch | - Boom chicka boom |
Question & answer | ||
Sequence | ||
Verse only | - Shake my sillies out | |
Verse/chorus | ||
Verse/chorus/middle eight | n/a | n/a |
Intro/outro | n/a | n/a |
Ostinato/riff | n/a | n/a |
Exploring chord patterns, e.g. 12-bar blues | n/a | n/a |
Texture | ||
Solo and unison | ||
Unaccompanied | ||
Accompanied | ||
Round | n/a | |
Partner song | n/a | n/a |
Multiple parts | n/a | n/a |
ELEMENTS | Lower KS2 | Upper KS2 |
|---|---|---|
Pitch, Timbre and dynamics | ||
Developing 'singing' voice | - Tańczymy labada (4 notes) | - Wonder and mystery (6 notes) |
Vocal timbre | - Plasticine person | - A young Austrian |
Developing 'thinking' voice | - BINGO | |
Developing good listening habits through turn-taking | - Hot Potato! | - Oleo |
Pentatonic | - Sakura | |
Minor | ||
Major | - Senwa dedende | |
Major/minor contrast | - Zoomah | |
Introducing harmony | - Moon round | |
Pedal/drone | ||
Triads & chords | - Nanuma | |
Instrumental timbre using backing tracks | - Hey, Mr Miller | |
Loud, soft, louder, softer | - Across the fields (soft) | - Scarborough Fair (soft) |
Pulse, rhythm and tempo | ||
Developing coordination | ||
Pulse actions | - Emmanuel Road | - Bungalow |
2/4 & 4/4 (good to march to) | ||
3/4 (can feel like a waltz) | ||
6/8 (can feel like a skipping rhythm) | - Oats and beans and barley grow | |
Syncopation | - Big Sing Up mambo | |
Irregular metre | - Thalasa | - Thalasa |
Fast/slow | - Tongo (slow) | - Touch the sky (fast) |
Changing speed | - Kalinka | |
Structure | ||
Repetition (call and echo) | - Tongo - Down by the bay | |
Question & answer | - Oleo (both Q&A and echo) | |
Sequence | ||
Verse only | - Hambone | |
Verse/chorus | ||
Verse/chorus/middle eight | - Wonder | |
Intro/outro | ||
Ostinato/riff | - Ken and Barbie beatbox groove | - Wish |
Exploring chord patterns, e.g. 12-bar blues | ||
Texture | ||
Solo and unison | - A Keelie | |
Unaccompanied | ||
Accompanied | - Tongo | |
Round | ||
Partner song | - Singing playgrounds | |
Multiple parts | - I wanna sing scat |