KS3 Music

Using sequences of questions to generate talk

Unit 4: Modelling in music (Good practice section, 'Use of questions' tab) describes how Bloom’s taxonomy can be applied to the use of questions. This section of Unit 4 indicates the sorts of question that might be used in music lessons to move pupils on to more advanced learning, reflecting a sequence of increasingly challenging thinking.

It is also possible to use this sequence of questions to generate more advanced exploratory talk by pupils, helping them to move beyond simple identification of musical features to more advanced thinking about how the music works.

For instance, asking pupils to talk about the names of instruments playing in a recording will produce limited, closed answers that simply require pupils to recall and identify. Asking pupils to talk about what would happen if the instruments were changed or played in a different way would require pupils to make predictions, using prior knowledge to make sense of a new context. At the more advanced stages of thinking, asking pupils to discuss the range of alternative chords they could use within a piece, and to reorganise the texture of the piece on the basis of these changes, would involve pupils in reorganising their ideas and talking about how to create something new. This open-ended type of question, with a diverse range of responses possible, would provide far greater independence for pupils.

Task 3: Using questions to promote advanced thinking (20 minutes)

Choose a series of two or three lessons you are about to teach that involve performing or composing. Identify for these lessons the essential points of learning you want pupils to address. Now plan a range of questions that can prompt pupils to discuss the learning in their pairs or groups as they work. For instance, if pupils are composing in groups, a ‘knowledge’-based question for them to discuss might be: ‘Can you identify what different parts of the texture are played by the different instruments you are using?’ A more advanced question might be: ‘How could you change the texture to include a greater variety of ways of playing the chords?’ Plan both the questions and the talking opportunities carefully in advance. Afterwards, reflect on what difference the process made to pupils’ progress: were they able to think about what they were doing more carefully and move on to more advanced issues more effectively, and did this improve their final ‘product?’