Music for Lower Ability Students

Subject: Music
Level: Secondary
Age Group: 11-14
Order Number: 11065

This resource is for specialist and non-specialist music teachers of lower ability students in Years 7 and 8. It would also be suitable for teachers in special schools teaching lower ability pupils above these age ranges.

The resource aims to provide the teacher with practical activities and games. With the teacher’s guidance, the range of activities provides pupils with opportunities for composing, performing and appraising and will also help to develop the key skills of communication and working with others.

Initially, some photocopying onto card and cutting out is needed, but once done, the resources created will be reusable.

The booklet begins with simple composition exercises using percussion instruments and body sounds. These afford opportunities to develop the correct techniques for using percussion instruments, playing a regular beat and using dynamics (Loud/Quiet sounds). It progresses onto exercises designed to introduce the time value and names of notes, common time, playing a rhythm, notation and pitch. There is also an exercise examining the sections that make up an orchestra.

The games include one board game, 20 sets of Lotto cards that can be adapted to make an additional 3 games (described in the teachers instructions) and a set of 12 cards for a 'Play your cards right' game.

The only assumption that the author has made in producing this resource is that the teacher has access to a tambourine, a triangle, a pair of maracas and a drum. A teacher would otherwise have to make adaptations to a few of the sheets in the resource.