Key Stage 1 music · Playing instruments

KS1 music: tuned instruments, a guide for parents

In Years 1 and 2, children are taught to play tuned and untuned instruments musically. Tuned instruments, such as glockenspiels, xylophones and chime bars, play notes of a particular pitch, so children can begin to make tunes rather than only rhythms. At this stage the aim is not to read music or play a long piece, but to find out how notes work, play a few of them carefully and make up short tunes of their own.

Tuned instruments, explained

A tuned instrument is one where each bar, key or string plays a particular note. The most common ones in Key Stage 1 classrooms are tuned percussion: glockenspiels and xylophones, which are rows of metal or wooden bars, and single chime bars. Some schools also use keyboards, ukuleles or recorders, but the curriculum names no particular instrument, so this is a school choice. Percussion is popular because a child makes a proper note with the first tap and doesn’t need to learn how to blow or hold the instrument in a certain way.

The first big discovery is pitch. On a glockenspiel the short bars on the right are high and the long bars on the left are low, so children can see and hear the connection: the shorter the bar, the higher the sound. They also discover that notes have names, the letters A to G, and that the pattern then repeats. A teacher might begin by asking children to play low and high, or to make a tune that goes up like a ladder and down like a slide, before naming any notes. Many schools take away most of the bars and leave just three or five, so that however a child combines them the result still sounds pleasing.

Learning to play well is mostly about technique. Children hold the beater, called a mallet, loosely, strike the middle of the bar and let the mallet bounce off so the note rings. They learn to play with alternate hands, to pause between notes and to stop a sound by touching the bar. They also meet the idea of listening before playing: a child who plays a note and listens to it ring will make a more musical result than one who taps as quickly as possible.

Schools may introduce simple ways of writing music down, but children are not expected to read standard music notation in Years 1 and 2. Common choices include colouring the bars, using note letters, or pictures and lines that show whether the tune goes up or down. The curriculum’s overall aim does mention appropriate musical notations, and in Key Stage 1 schools usually take this to mean seeing that marks on paper can stand for sounds. Children also begin to compose: they play a question phrase, then an answer phrase, and decide how to end.

Words your child will hear

Tuned: An instrument that plays notes of a particular pitch, such as a glockenspiel.
Glockenspiel: A row of metal bars that you hit with a beater to make high, ringing notes.
Pitch: How high or low a note is.
Note: One musical sound of a particular pitch. Notes are named with the letters A to G.
Mallet: The stick, or beater, used to hit the bars.
Melody: A tune: a pattern of notes of different pitches.
Phrase: A short musical idea, like a sentence in music.

What the National Curriculum says

The programme of study for Key Stage 1 says:

Pupils should be taught to play tuned and untuned instruments musically
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: making a four-beat tune

A teacher gives a child a glockenspiel with only five bars: C, D, E, G and A. How might the child make up a short tune?

Explore the bars. The child taps each bar once, listens, and notices that C is the longest bar and lowest sound, and A is the shortest and highest.
Pick three notes. They choose E, G and A, and play them in different orders to hear what they like. These five notes belong to a set that sounds pleasant in almost any order, which is why teachers choose them.
Make a question phrase of four beats, for example E, G, A, G (one note on each beat). They play it twice to be sure they can remember it.
Make an answer phrase of four beats that goes the other way, for example A, G, then a long E held for two beats by letting it ring: one beat, one beat and two beats make four. Ending on the lowest of their three notes with a longer sound makes the answer feel calmer and more settled than the question.
Play the question and answer together with a steady beat, then share it. A friend describes what they heard: it goes up, comes down, and ends low and calm.

The tune E, G, A, G, then A, G, E (the last note held for two beats) is one possible answer. Any tune from those notes is fine as long as the child can play it again the same way, keeps a steady beat, and can say where the notes go higher and lower.

Common mistakes and how to help

Thinking the longer bar plays the higher note

Children expect bigger things to make the “bigger” or higher sound, or they link “higher” with taller. On a glockenspiel the opposite is true: the longer the bar, the lower the note.

What helps: Try tapping the longest bar and the shortest, with eyes closed, and say which sounds higher. Compare with a person: a deep voice is low and big, a squeaky voice is high and small.

Playing as fast as possible, from one end to the other

A quick sweep along the bars makes an exciting noise and children like it. But it is not yet a tune, because tunes need choice and control.

What helps: Say that a sweep is a good effect for a short time, but that a tune has chosen notes. Ask your child to pick just three bars and make a pattern with them.

Hitting hard, or holding the mallet tightly

Children think a stronger blow means a better sound. A tight grip and a hard hit make the bar thud or buzz instead of ring.

What helps: Show how to hold it loosely between thumb and finger, and strike the middle of the bar so the mallet bounces back. A small tap gives a longer, clearer note.

Thinking “tuned” just means “in tune”

The word sounds like it means only that the instrument has been set up properly. In music, a tuned instrument is one that plays notes of fixed pitch.

What helps: Compare a tuned and untuned instrument. Tap a drum, which has no set note, then a glockenspiel bar, which has. Hum along with the bar to hear the note you can match.

How to help at home

Play with high and low. Use a toy xylophone or a keyboard if you have one. Ask your child to find the highest and lowest notes and make a tune that climbs up and slides down. With no instrument, do the same with your voices.
Question and answer. Play a short phrase of two to four notes and ask your child to answer with another. Swap roles. This is composition in miniature, and it builds the ear.
Draw the tune. Ask your child to draw a line that goes up and down to match the tune you play, then play it back from their drawing. It is an easy way to understand that marks on paper can stand for sounds.
Hum before you play. Hum a tune you know and try to find the first note on an instrument, then the next. Even if it takes time, the effort of listening for the right pitch is the best practice.
Ask about the school instrument. Ask your child to show you how to hold the mallet and where to strike the bar, as if they were the teacher. Explaining is a good way for them to remember technique.