MUSIC

Long Term Plan: Single and Mixed Age Year Groups:

Structuring the Music Curriculum:

The TVED Curriculum for Music has three strands:

Substantive Knowledge:

In the TVED Music curriculum, pupils are taught substantive knowledge in two categories—practical and theoretical—to give them a well-rounded and meaningful understanding of music as both an expressive art form and an academic discipline.

Practical Knowledge (Substantive):

This includes the skills of making music—such as singing, playing instruments, performing, and composing. Through hands-on experiences, pupils learn how to control sound, respond to rhythm and pitch, and work collaboratively in musical activities. This practical engagement helps build musical fluency, coordination, and creativity.

Theoretical Knowledge (Substantive):

This refers to the factual and conceptual understanding of music, such as musical terminology, notation, key elements (like tempo, dynamics, and structure), and the historical or cultural context of musical styles. It helps pupils to understand what they are doing when they play or compose music and to articulate their learning using appropriate vocabulary.

Disciplinary Knowledge:

Pupils are also taught disciplinary knowledge, which involves understanding how music is studied, interpreted, and evaluated as a subject. This includes learning how musicians think critically, make creative decisions, and respond to music through listening and analysis of a broad range of music from different times, cultures, and traditions, exploring a variety of musicians, styles, and genres from around the world. It helps pupils understand that music is not just performance-based—it also involves judgment, interpretation, and inquiry.

Vertical Concepts:

Vertical concepts are the more abstract ideas or threads that build gradually and with increasing depth across the multiple contexts encountered by pupils as they move through our curriculum. In the context of the TVED curriculum, we have categorised all substantive and disciplinary knowledge into the two vertical concepts of: 

• Composing and Musicianship 

• Singing and Listening