Key Stage 1 music · Interrelated dimensions of music

KS1 music: dynamics and tempo, a guide for parents

Dynamics and tempo are two more building blocks of music, which the curriculum calls the interrelated dimensions. Dynamics is how loud or quiet the music is, and tempo is how fast or slow it goes. In Years 1 and 2, children are taught to experiment with, create, select and combine sounds using these dimensions, and to notice how changing them changes the feeling of a piece.

Dynamics and tempo, explained

In Key Stage 1, dynamics and tempo are taught through play and movement. Children march quickly and tiptoe slowly, shout and whisper, and play drums as loudly and as quietly as they can. The aim is for them to hear the difference and to control it deliberately. “Dynamics” can sound technical, but it just means how loud or quiet. “Tempo” is the speed of the beat, the steady pulse that you could tap your foot to. Some schools introduce the Italian words, such as forte for loud and piano for quiet, but the plain English words are enough for this age.

Children soon learn that these are not just two switches. Between loud and quiet are medium sounds, and music often changes gradually: it can get louder little by little, or slow down at the end of a piece. Teachers use words such as “getting louder”, “getting quieter”, “getting faster” and “getting slower”. A class might play a drum starting almost silent and building up step by step, then fading away again. Controlling the change smoothly is harder than playing loudly or quietly, which is why it is practised.

The most important idea is that dynamics and tempo change the mood. A slow, quiet piece sounds calm or sleepy, a fast, loud piece sounds exciting or stormy, and a fast, quiet piece can sound creepy or sneaky. This is how children begin to make choices as composers and performers. If they want their music to sound like a sleeping giant, they play slowly and quietly; if the giant wakes up, they speed up and get louder. They learn to select the dynamics and tempo that fit the idea.

It also helps listening. When children listen to a piece, they are asked what happened to the volume and the speed, and whether either changed. They begin to notice that speed is not the same as loudness or pitch, even though all of them work together. By the end of Year 2 teachers hope children can describe a piece using these words, keep a steady beat at different speeds and change dynamics on request, which is a firm foundation for the more detailed listening they will do in Key Stage 2.

Words your child will hear

Dynamics: How loud or quiet the music is.
Tempo: How fast or slow the beat of the music is.
Crescendo: Getting gradually louder. At this age most children say “getting louder”.
Diminuendo: Getting gradually quieter. Most children say “getting quieter”.
Accelerando and ritardando: Getting faster, and getting slower. Most children say “speeding up” and “slowing down”.
Forte and piano: Italian words for loud and quiet, used by some schools.
Mood: The feeling the music creates, such as calm, scary or happy.

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 understand and explore how music is created, produced and communicated, including through the interrelated dimensions: pitch, duration, dynamics, tempo, timbre, texture, structure and appropriate musical notations.

Objectives from the National Curriculum in England, © Crown copyright, used under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Try it: a sleepy giant wakes up

A class has a drum and a shaker and wants to play a short piece about a giant who sleeps, wakes up and stomps off. How do they plan and play it with dynamics and tempo?

Split the story into parts. Part 1: the giant is asleep, so the music will be slow and very quiet. Part 2: the giant is waking, so the music gets gradually louder and faster. Part 3: the giant stomps away, so the music is fast and loud, and then it gets quieter and slower as he leaves.
Choose the sounds. A shaker played softly can be the snoring. A drum tapped lightly with fingers can be the first footsteps, and then a stronger beater for stomping.
Practise the steady beat first. A teacher counts out a slow beat. Children play on every beat, very quietly, and keep to it.
Practise getting louder and faster together, a little at a time. Every four beats, the group plays slightly louder and slightly faster. Some children find it hard to stay together as the speed changes, so they watch the leader’s hand.
Perform and review. At the end the class listens to a recording of their performance and answers: did it start quiet and slow? Did it speed up smoothly? Did the end fade away? They try again to improve one thing.

A good performance goes: slow and quiet (sleeping), then gradually louder and faster (waking), then fast and loud (stomping), then quieter and slower (walking away). The children can say which parts were loud or quiet and fast or slow, and can explain how the changes tell the story.

Common mistakes and how to help

Thinking loud means fast and quiet means slow

In everyday life excited things are both loud and quick, and calm things are both quiet and slow, so the two get mixed up. Children often speed up as they get louder when they play.

What helps: Play a steady beat quietly and then loudly at the same speed, and ask what changed. Then play it fast and slow at the same volume. A game of “same speed, different volume” and the reverse makes the difference clear.

Thinking quiet playing means stopping or hardly playing

Children think playing softly is a failure to play properly, or they stop altogether because they can’t hear themselves.

What helps: Show a soft but definite sound, such as fingertips on a drum. Say that playing quietly takes more control than playing loudly, and that the beat is still there.

Speeding up by accident when playing or clapping a beat

Children get excited and the beat runs away with them, particularly when the music gets louder. They can’t easily hear that they’ve sped up.

What helps: Play along to a steady tune or clock tick, or tap with a calm adult, and talk about keeping the beat even. Try counting aloud “one, two, three, four” at an even speed.

Thinking music has to be either loud or quiet, and either fast or slow

Early games use two opposites, so children think there are only two choices. In real music there are all the steps in between, and changes happen gradually.

What helps: Make a “volume staircase” by clapping five times, getting a little louder each time, and a “speed hill” by getting a little faster and then slower. Ask which step was the middle.

How to help at home

Statue game with a drum. Play a drum or tap a table. Your child moves fast when you play fast and slow when you play slow, and freezes when you stop. Add quiet and loud: tiptoe for soft, stomp for loud. Swap roles.
Whisper to shout. Say a sentence in a whisper, then slightly louder, up to a big voice, then back down again. This is the smooth change that teachers practise. Then try it with a song.
Same song, different mood. Sing a familiar song fast and loud, then slow and quiet, then fast and quiet. Ask your child how the feeling changes each time and which one they prefer.
Tell a story with sounds. Use pans, boxes and wooden spoons to tell a short story about a storm or a monster that gets louder and faster. Plan the parts first and then play it.
Notice it in music you hear. When a piece is on, ask whether it is getting louder or quieter, faster or slower. Even a pop song or a film theme will have these changes, and spotting them is real musical listening.