Music: Key Stage 1

Lesson plans and teacher videos to instill confidence in your teaching of Music.

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Important note

Please note that the Year 1 and 2 units have been refreshed for 2024/25. The previous versions will remain accessible until the end of the 2025/26 academic year. For more details, refer to our Music: Long-term plan.

Useful resources for teaching Music

Useful resources for teaching Music

Equipment list - Music
Progression of skills
Y1 Knowledge organisers
Y2 Knowledge organisers

Choose your topic

We make teaching music simple with engaging lessons based on popular themes, from animals and seaside to to space and superheroes, all supported by teacher videos. We recommend you teach the units in the order they appear here. See our planning resources for further information.

Year 1

Music
*NEW* Keeping the pulse (Theme: My favourite things)
(5 lessons)
In this new unit, children explore keeping the pulse together through music and movement, by exploring their favourite…
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Music
Tempo (Theme: Snail and mouse)
(5 lessons)
In this updated unit, children use bodies and instruments to listen and respond to pieces of music with…
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Music
*NEW* Dynamics (Theme: Seaside)
(5 lessons)
In this new unit, children make links between music, sounds and environments and use percussion, vocal and body…
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Music
*NEW* Sound patterns (Theme: Fairytales)
(5 lessons)
This new unit uses fairytales to introduce children to the concept of sound patterns (rhythms). They explore clapping…
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Music
*NEW* Pitch (Theme: Superheroes)
(5 lessons)
This new unit helps the children learn how to identify high and low notes and to compose a…
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Music
*NEW* Musical symbols (Theme: Under the sea)
(5 lessons)
In this new unit, the children combine all the musical concepts learned throughout Year 1 for an underwater-themed…
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List of resources required for all topics

Year 2

Music
*NEW* Call and response (Theme: Animals)
(5 lessons)
In this unit, the children use instruments to represent animals, copying rhythms and creating call and response rhythms.
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Music
*NEW* Instruments (Theme: Musical storytelling)
(5 lessons)
This new unit helps the children learn how events, actions and feelings within stories can be represented by…
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Music
*NEW* Singing (Theme: On this island)
(5 lessons)
In this new unit, the children learn folk songs and create sounds to represent three contrasting landscapes: seaside,…
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Music
*NEW* Contrasting dynamics (Theme: Space)
(5 lessons)
This new unit helps children with developing knowledge and understanding of dynamics using instruments; learning to compose and…
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Music
*NEW* Structure (Theme: Myths and legends)
(5 lessons)
This new lesson helps the children develop an understanding of structure by exploring and ordering rhythms.
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Music
*NEW* Pitch (Theme: Musical me)
(5 lessons)
In this new unit, children are exploring the song ‘Once a Man Fell in a Well’, playing it…
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List of resources required for all topics

Sample lessons

Sample lessons 1

KS1 teacher skills videos

Music teacher skills KS1 dynamics
Music teacher skills KS1 tempo
Music teacher skills KS1 pitch
Teacher skills video: Beat and rhythm
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