Key Stage 2 · ages 7 to 11
Key Stage 2 music: what your child learns
In Years 3 to 6, children perform alone and in groups, improvise and compose for different purposes, and learn to read rhythm and pitch in staff notation. They train their listening and aural memory, and appreciate music from different traditions, great composers and the history of music. Which instruments, pieces and composers they meet is the school’s choice.
Guides for parents
Key Stage 2 music
Listening and aural memory
How Years 3 to 6 learn to listen closely and remember what they hear: echo games, learning tunes by ear, spotting details and easy ways to build musical memory at home.
Key Stage 2 music
Composing music
How Years 3 to 6 compose music for a purpose: choosing a mood or story, building a short idea into a structure, changing it, recording it and improving it.
Key Stage 2 music
History of music: early to Classical
How Key Stage 2 children study the history of music from medieval chant to the Classical period: what the periods are, how to tell them apart, and how to explore at home.
Key Stage 2 music
Ensemble performance
How Years 3 to 6 learn to sing and play in a group: keeping time together, listening, balance and holding a part, plus common problems and easy ways to help at home.
Key Stage 2 music
Great composers and musicians
What Key Stage 2 children learn about great composers and musicians, which ones schools choose, how they listen and respond, common mix-ups and ways to explore at home.
Key Stage 2 music
Improvising music
What improvising means in Years 3 to 6 music: making up music in the moment with a few chosen notes, question and answer games, common worries and ways to try it at home.
Key Stage 2 music
Music from different traditions
How Key Stage 2 children listen to and learn about music from different traditions around the world, what schools choose to study, and how to talk about it at home.
Key Stage 2 music
Pitch on the stave
How Key Stage 2 children learn to read pitch on the stave: lines and spaces, the treble clef, note names A to G, ledger lines, common mistakes and ideas for home.
Key Stage 2 music
Rhythm and note values
How Years 3 to 6 learn to read and write rhythm: crotchets, quavers, minims, semibreves and rests, counting beats in a bar, common mix-ups and how to practise at home.
Key Stage 2 music
History of music: Romantic to modern
How Key Stage 2 children follow the history of music from the Romantic era through the twentieth century to popular music today, with a worked example and home ideas.
Key Stage 2 music
Solo performance
How Years 3 to 6 learn to sing or play on their own with accuracy, fluency, control and expression, how to practise well, and how to help a nervous performer.
Everything in the Key Stage 2 music curriculum
The National Curriculum topics for Key Stage 2, in the order the National Curriculum lists them.