Defining learning outcomes

The planning process should reflect your explicit expectations of learning for musical understanding, understanding features of elements and developing skills: what it is that you expect pupils to learn and demonstrate, and how the learning will be differentiated. These types of musical learning are progressive and therefore different from learning about a range of musical styles, genres and traditions (which is cumulative). It does not strictly matter whether pupils study film music before rock’n’roll – one is not intrinsically more demanding than the other. What will determine their order in the curriculum plan is the expectation identified within each unit about musical understanding, features of elements and development of musical skills.

Planned learning therefore needs to identify not only what will be learned, but also the expected outcomes for that learning. For example, a unit on adverts might contain the following expectations.

Understanding: understanding of music for adverts, related to the ‘identify and relate’ stage and outcome of understanding.

Pupils understand and can compare music for different advertisements, relating their differences to the products being sold and target audiences. They begin to identify how changes to (or breaking of) standard conventions for musical adverts can be used to create different expressive outcomes to surprise or influence listeners. They try this out in their own practical work, showing an awareness of advertisements’ purpose and controlling the chosen conventions of the music with the support of teachers or peers. All pupils will be starting to develop this understanding; some will be secure in their understanding; and a few will be starting to move beyond this understanding.

Note how this statement is generated from the ‘outcome of understanding’ column from the chart ‘Defining musical understanding: six stages of progression’. The chart’s generic statement for this stage of learning has been used as the template, and then ‘flavoured’ in each sentence with specific examples related to the type of music being studied (adverts). For example, the generic ‘Pupils understand a range of styles, genres or traditions, comparing and relating their differences to origins of time and place’ becomes ‘Pupils understand and can compare music for different advertisements, relating their differences to the products being sold and target audiences.’ This process is followed through for each sentence to create a statement of expectations that accurately describes the outcome of musical understanding for this stage of learning, but also relates it explicitly to a particular type of music.

Pitch: knowledge and understanding of how different scales are created and how they help to convey character.

• All pupils will learn that there are different scale patterns (major, minor, modes).
• Some pupils will learn how different scale patterns are created, and the expressive features of some scales that result from their intervallic construction.
• A few pupils will learn and understand the potential of exploiting specific features of scales (e.g. a minor 2nd) for compositional and expressive purposes.

Composing: developing ideas based around effects, chordal ideas and motivic development.

• All pupils will learn how to manipulate basic sound effects, mood clusters and fragments or motifs for a particular purpose.
• Some pupils will learn how to use appropriate combinations of effects, background moods and motifs, and some motif development for a specific advert.
• A few pupils will learn how to exploit one of these techniques well to promote the selling point of a product with advanced manipulations of a motif.

Developing this over time will enable effective identification of progression in learning: in Year 7 pupils learn (in unit X) how to use single fingered chords along with a melody; in Year 8 (in unit Y) they use fingered chords; in Year 9 (in unit Z) they use full keyboard mode to generate their own chords.

Task 13: Identifying learning outcomes (30 minutes)
Identify the range of learning outcomes you want pupils to achieve in respect of overall understanding, features of musical elements and development of musical skills. Add these statements to your unit plan.