John Betts Primary School
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Useful LinksMusic
In music at John Betts we learn a wide variety of music styles, listen to music from all over the world, play instruments together and, most importantly, sing lots!
We use the Charanga Music School, which focuses on a different area of music each half term, always leading to a class performance. From ABBA to rock, from The Beatles to jazz, we tour the world and ages on our musical journey.
We also follow the John Betts Listening Programme, which focuses on music from a different country each half term. We listen to a focus work each week, and develop our active listening skills through guided listening sheets.
Outside the classroom, we have a choir every week, sing at class assemblies and have the opportunity to learn instruments with one of our many visiting teachers.
Curriculum Overview
John Betts Listening Programme
| Week | Composer | Focus Piece | Genre | Forces |
Autumn 1
| 1 | Debussy | Clair de lune | Piano music | Solo piano |
2 | Satie | Gymnopédie No. 1 | Piano music | Solo piano | |
3 | Ravel | String Quartet in F | String quartet | String quartet | |
4 | Faure | Apres un reve | Solo song | Solo singer | |
5 | Bizet | Flower duet | Opera duet | Two singers | |
6 | Saint-Saëns | The Swan (from Carnival of the Animals) | Chamber music | Cello and piano | |
Autumn 2
| 1 | Copland | Fanfare for the Common Man | Orchestral fanfare | Orchestra |
2 | Bernstein | I want to live in America (West Side Story) | Musical | Cast of singers | |
3 | Glass | The Hours | Minimalism | Strings and piano | |
4 | Barber | Adagio for Strings | Orchestral | String orchestra | |
5 | Whitacre | Lux aurumque | Holy minimalism | Choir | |
6 | Gershwin | Rhapsody in Blue | Concerto | Piano and orchestra | |
Spring 1
| 1 | Monteverdi | Vespers | Sacred | Solo and orchestra |
2 | Verdi | Brindisi (from La Traviata) | Opera | Duet and chorus | |
3 | Corelli | Christmas Concerto | Baroque concerto | Baroque orchestra | |
4 | Donizetti | Una Furtiva Lagrima (from L’elisir d’amore) | Opera | Solo aria | |
5 | Palestrina | Sicut Cervus | Sacred choral | Choir | |
6 | Puccini | Nessun Dorma | Opera | Solo aria | |
Spring 2
| 1 | Mozart | Overture (from Marriage of Figaro) | Opera overture | Orchestra |
2 | Pachelbel | Canon | Chamber music | Baroque strings | |
3 | Bach | Air on the G String | Chamber music suite | Baroque strings | |
4 | Mendelssohn | Violin Concerto | Violin concerto | Solo and orchestra | |
5 | Beethoven | Symphony No. 5 | Symphony | Orchestra | |
6 | Offenbach | Cancan (from Orpheus in the Underworld) | Operetta | Orchestra | |
Summer 1
| 1 | Stravinsky |
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2 | Mussorgsky | Great Gate of Kiev (from Pictures at an Exhibition) | Orchestral suite | Orchestra | |
3 | Tchaikovsky | Swan Lake Finale (from Swan Lake) | Ballet | Orchestra | |
4 | Shostakovich | Symphony No. 5 – Finale | Symphony | Orchestra | |
5 | Borodin | String Quartet No. 2 | String quartet | String Quartet | |
6 | Scriabin | 2 Nocturnes | Piano music | Solo piano | |
Summer 2
| 1 | Vaughan- Williams | The Lark Ascending | Short Work | Solo violin and string orchestra |
2 | Purcell | Dido’s Lament (from Dido and Aeneas | Opera | Solo aria | |
3 | Britten | This Little Babe (from A Ceremony of Carols) | Sacred choral | Harp and children’s choir | |
4 | Dowland | Flow My Tears | Lute song | Lute and solo | |
5 | Byrd | Ave Verum Corpus | Sacred choral | Choir | |
6 | Elgar | Pomp and Circumstance No. 1 | Ceremonial march | Orchestra | |
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