Listening and Responding
Describes and manipulates elements and structural devices, through playing back a phrase of music by ear (PK)

The teacher uses a song that has formed part of a study on music of the 1960s as a piece for class performance. He begins by involving students in aural thinking and practical problem-solving using keyboards, and gives the starting note of G. The students have diverse needs and varying backgrounds in music so he checks that everyone can find the starting note by asking them to play it.

He then plays a short phrase from the start of the song "Only Wanna Be With You" which they will learn to play and to arrange. The students listen as he plays a phrase, and work it out for themselves for a minute. The teacher asks if anyone has worked it out and a girl volunteers. She plays the phrase back perfectly.

Recognising that others are still working on the task, the teacher asks someone to identify the second note in the sequence. A boy says "D" and the teacher agrees, playing the phrase through again. The students all play back again and the teacher notices that one or two still have the odd note incorrect. He asks what the last note might be. A student says "A".

The teacher reinforces this correct answer by getting them to play the last note. He can then assess whether or not they are on the right track. He checks again and encourages them, saying, "Almost, one more try".

On the final playing the teacher evaluates the learning and praises the students: "I think everyone got it perfect that time. Well done."

Listening and Responding; Reading and Recording
Represents and interprets notations used in performance and composition, by organising bars of music into a score (PK, DI)

Continuing the aural learning in video clip 1, the students now encounter a problem-solving activity. This involves interpreting and organising bars of music to create a score. They have been given a jigsaw of the main melody from the song "Only Wanna Be With You" which they have heard in their listening programme.

As the teacher plays the melody on the piano, the students work in groups to put the puzzle together in the correct order. They support each other, using aural, reading and practical knowledge to successfully complete the exercise. Students can be seen and heard singing, tapping, and discussing the music as a check of their work. They think critically, reflect, and modify as they work to notate the music.

The teacher circulates, watching and supporting. He draws out ideas through carefully guided questions about the shape of pitch patterns, the look of the notation, and by helping them predict which card might come next in the sequence.

All groups achieve with success and finally check their completed task against the piano performance in the background.

Playing; Reading and Recording
Interprets notation used in performance and composition, using keyboards (PK, CI)

Students are put into groups to learn to play one of four parts of an arrangement of the song "Only Wanna Be With You". They are allocated parts and keyboard voicings – a different sound for each part so that they can be differentiated in performance. The parts are bass, melody, harmony, and an easy C part. As there are not enough keyboards for the whole class, some students are paired, taking turns to play, and supporting each other's learning.

They learn to read and interpret the music on the score in front of them and practise their individual parts. They work on their parts and play them altogether, with the teacher maintaining the tempo by conducting the beat on the claves.

Playing; Reading and Recording
Rehearses parts of an arrangement as an ensemble, with an accompaniment (CI)

The students rehearse parts of an arrangement on keyboards. The four selected parts (three melodic parts of varying difficulty, and one bass part) are played together. Each student performs as a member of their own group, and as a member of the larger ensemble. They listen carefully to each other, working cooperatively to ensure the performance is successful.

The players interpret the music with competence and keep in time with the pre-recorded sequenced backing track. All students manage to read and play their parts on the keyboards. Most are playing with appropriate technique and accuracy even though many have only classroom experience with keyboards.

Playing; Creating; Reading and Recording
Uses instruments and technologies to transcribe music (PK, CI)
Rehearses an instrumentation for classroom performance (CI, UC)

Each student has spent time transcribing, transposing, and interpreting parts from the keyboard version to suit their individual instrument. The class created an instrumentation of the song for the wide range of instruments played by the class members. Their version of the song (based on the arrangement from Into Music 3) includes several different rhythm parts, guitars strumming chords, vocalists singing the lyrics, and band and orchestral instruments playing melody and harmony parts.

The class rehearse their version which is conducted by the teacher. They demonstrate their ability to play non-keyboard instruments, many to an accomplished level, in this new setting. A video camera is recording the session so that they can all evaluate their work by reviewing and discussing it afterwards.

Analysing and Appreciating
Evaluates a recorded class performance, using appropriate vocabulary (CI, UC)

The students and teacher view the video recording of their classroom performance. The teacher begins the reflection in and on their action by asking "What could we improve? What went really well?" The first response was that the timing was good. Other responses included:

The teacher agreed, elaborated, and reinforced throughout. The teacher then asks, "If we were playing that piece again, what might we do differently?"

The teacher comments on how difficult it can be to balance instruments and vocals in a performance. He asks for ideas about how this might be solved. A boy suggests that the singers could be put in another room for recording. The teacher says that is what does actually happen in recording sessions and asks, "What about before a live audience?"

Students provide solutions showing understanding of both the complexities of arranging music and the acoustic complexities of performing music in a live setting.

The students are clearly developing the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and understandings required to arrange music to suit their instruments and the overall setting. They are able to use appropriate music vocabulary to describe their critical thinking about complex musical issues. Those exemplified demonstrate advanced musical literacies.