Key Stage 1 music · Composing
KS1 music: making up and combining sounds, a guide for parents
Composing in Years 1 and 2 means playing with sounds and then deciding which ones to keep. The National Curriculum asks children to experiment with, create, select and combine sounds using the interrelated dimensions of music, and its wider aims add that they create and compose music on their own and with others and use technology appropriately. Nobody expects written music at this age: the work is about listening closely, making choices and being able to say why.
Creating and combining sounds, explained
The four verbs in the curriculum describe a sequence. To experiment is to try things out and see what happens. To create is to make a sound, a short pattern or a little tune that did not exist before. To select is to choose the sounds that suit what you are trying to do and leave the rest. To combine is to put the chosen sounds together, either one after another or layered on top of each other. A lesson might focus on only one of these, and a child who has spent twenty minutes finding six ways to make a sound on a tin has done exactly what the curriculum wants.
The raw material is whatever the school has to hand: voices, body percussion such as clapping and stamping, classroom instruments, and everyday objects. The curriculum does not name any of them. Teachers use the interrelated dimensions as questions to prompt exploration: can you make it higher or lower, faster or slower, louder or quieter, longer or shorter? Children find out that the same shaker can whisper or rattle, and that the same drum can sound like a heartbeat or a thunderstorm depending on how it is played. This is the foundation of everything they will later learn about performing and composing.
Making music is usually given a purpose, such as a sound picture of the weather, a journey, an animal or a character in a story. A purpose gives children something to select against: if the piece is about a tiptoeing mouse, a booming drum is the wrong choice and a light tap on a tin is the right one. Children then decide on an order, with a beginning, a middle and an end, and where sounds should happen at the same time. They often work in pairs or small groups, which is where the “and with others” part of the curriculum comes in, and they learn to listen, wait their turn and agree.
Because most children cannot read music yet, ideas are recorded in other ways. A child might draw small dots for quick light taps and big circles for deep slow ones, or use coloured shapes in a line, which is sometimes called a graphic score. Many schools also use a tablet or recording device so that children can listen back and decide what to change, which is the sort of appropriate use of technology the curriculum describes. Children then perform their piece for the class and say what they would do differently. This sets up the Key Stage 2 work on improvising and composing for a range of purposes.
Words your child will hear
- Compose
- To make up a piece of music and decide how it goes.
- Experiment
- To try out different sounds or ways of playing to find out what happens.
- Select
- To choose the sounds that fit what you want your music to say.
- Combine
- To put sounds together, one after another or at the same time.
- Layer
- To add one sound on top of another so they play together.
- Graphic score
- A picture or set of symbols that shows what to play and when, instead of ordinary music notation.
- Interrelated dimensions
- The building blocks of music that work together: pitch, duration, dynamics, tempo, timbre, texture and structure.
What the National Curriculum says
The programme of study for Key Stage 1 says:
- Pupils should be taught to experiment with, create, select and combine sounds using the interrelated dimensions of music
- Aim: pupils learn to sing and to use their voices, to create and compose music on their own and with others, have the opportunity to learn a musical instrument, use technology appropriately and have the opportunity to progress to the next level of musical excellence.
Objectives from the National Curriculum in England, © Crown copyright, used under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Try it: a sound story about a mouse and a giant
Your child is asked to make a short piece of music that tells a story about a mouse and a giant, using sounds they choose themselves and recording it in some way.
- Experiment. Try out as many sounds as possible: fingertips on a small tin, a big beater on a drum, a squeaky high voice, a low rumbling one, a shaker shaken fast and shaken slowly. Do not choose yet.
- Select. Match sounds to characters. The mouse is small, so choose high, quiet, quick and short sounds, such as light taps on a tin. The giant is big, so choose low, loud, slow and long sounds, such as a drum and a deep voice. Notice that the choices use pitch, dynamics, tempo and duration.
- Combine. Decide the order. First the mouse tiptoes on its own, then the giant stomps, then they both appear together. Now there is a beginning, a middle and an end, and the last section is a thicker texture than the first.
- Record. Draw the piece as a line of pictures: tiny dots close together for the mouse, large circles far apart for the giant, and both together at the end. Anyone else should be able to read the drawing and play the piece.
- Perform and improve. Play it to the class, listen to their comments, and change one thing. Perhaps the giant needs a longer pause between steps to build up tension.
A strong result has sounds chosen for reasons, a clear order, and a child who can explain it: “The mouse is high and quiet because it is small. The giant is low and slow because it is heavy. At the end they are together and it gets scary.” There is no single right piece, but there should be clear choices.
Common mistakes and how to help
Believing that composing means writing music down and you must be able to read notes
Adults often picture a composer with a sheet of notes. Children who cannot read music conclude that they cannot compose.
What helps: Say that composers decide what the sounds are, and that writing is just one way of remembering them. Let your child draw pictures, record themselves or just remember it, and then perform it again to see whether it comes out the same.
Stopping after the first idea because it is “done”
Young children are pleased with their first attempt, and may not know that musicians try, listen and change things.
What helps: Ask open questions that invite a second try: “Can you make it sound sadder? What if the middle was slower? What happens if you leave a gap?” Praise the trying.
Thinking that everyone playing at once counts as combining sounds
In a group, the instinct is for everyone to play together as loudly as possible because that is exciting.
What helps: Talk about choosing: “Who plays first? Who waits? Who joins later?” Include a moment of silence on purpose. Combining is about making choices, not making the most noise.
Worrying that there is a right answer and asking an adult what to play, or copying a friend
Much of school is about giving correct answers, so open-ended tasks feel risky to children who want to get it right.
What helps: Say clearly that there is no wrong sound, only sounds that suit the story more or less. Ask, “Which do you like best, and why?” and then listen to the answer.
How to help at home
- A box of sound makers. Fill a box with safe, clean things that make interesting noises: wooden spoons, a plastic tub, a cardboard tube, a sealed tin or tub with some rice in it, paper to scrunch. An adult should seal the lids tightly so small items cannot spill out, and young children should be supervised.
- Sound story with soft toys. Give each toy its own sound, then act out a very short story and make the sounds as each toy appears. Ask, “Is this character high or low? Quick or slow? Loud or soft?” This is selecting sounds on purpose.
- Draw your music. After making a short piece, draw it together with dots, circles, wavy lines and colours. Then swap pictures and have a go at playing each other’s. You will quickly see which drawings explain the music clearly.
- Change one thing. Make a short pattern with a spoon on a tub, then change just one thing: slower, louder, shorter or higher. Ask your child to say what changed. It is a gentle way to practise the dimensions of music.
- Record and listen back. Use a phone or tablet to record a short piece, then play it back and ask, “What do you like? What would you change?” Hearing it from outside is a real skill, and it makes children more careful about their choices.
Related topics
Leads on to
- Key Stage 2: Improvising music
- Key Stage 2: Composing music
Updated .