Developing Composing at KS2 Holly Craven
Composition is one of my pupils’ favourite parts of music lessons, regardless of their age. When we start a new topic, and I hand out the booklet, they scamper through it, looking for the different composition tasks, throwing out questions as they flick through it “what’s binary form”, “what’s an ostinato” (sometimes they even say “oh wow, x” and it becomes apparent that they have taken on board an idea that has been discussed previously) and so on, as they eye the musical elements that we will be looking at.
I fully believe that teaching composition is a really personal thing; it’s not something that was even touched on when I did my teacher training (I’m secondary Music trained), but yet it is a major part of my teaching because I love giving children creative freedom whilst also developing their musical skills and understanding. I also think that it’s absolutely fundamental for all children to have this experience, and Key Stage 2 is such an exciting time to do it; the children soak it up and just want to ‘do’.
