Breadth of styles, genres and traditions

Identifying the focus for musical thinking experienced within a style, genre or tradition will help pupils develop different ways of being a music maker, and to articulate different forms of musical understanding. Providing a range of styles, genres and traditions does enable pupils to develop one aspect of progression (i.e. breadth of understanding: see Unit 5: Challenge in music, for more), but individual forms of music are not necessarily more advanced than others: exploring music for dance is not necessarily more demanding than exploring gamelan. However, once the principle of a focus on these forms of musical thinking has been established for individual units, it is important to identify the balance provided across the whole key stage to ensure that pupils accumulate an appropriate breadth.

Task 3: Considering breadth and balance: styles, genres and traditions (20 minutes)

Look at your current scheme of work for Key Stage 3. Complete the grid below, showing for each year group the specific styles, genres and traditions covered. Styles Genres Traditions Year 7                       Year 8               Year 9             Is there a balance in each year? Is there a balance across the whole key stage? What areas might be over- or under-represented? The outcome of this review will be returned to later in the unit, but you might already begin to consider how any imbalances might be addressed: what styles, genres or traditions could you include to improve the range of experiences for pupils, or how could you adapt existing units to re-focus on a different form of musical thinking? If you wish to explore this notion in more depth, you can also look at Unit 5: Challenge in music, which explores how, over time, a department can build a more comprehensive range of styles, genres and traditions.