Lower KS2 (Years 3–4)
See exactly how the Year 3 and Year 4 projects combine singing, movement, rhythm, early notation, listening and retrieval across Reggae, Soul, Pop and Hip-Hop influences.
How KS2 music is structured in Kidstrument
In Kidstrument, KS2 music (Years 3–6) is taught through three terms of six sessions per year (18 per year; 72 sessions across KS2). Each session is built from a bank of short, classroom-ready activities rather than a single long task. Pupils move quickly between singing, movement, rhythm work, notation, listening, improvisation/composition and retrieval.
The journey is deliberately genre-based. Lower KS2 projects (Years 3–4) introduce styles such as Reggae, Soul, Pop and Hip-Hop, focusing on beat, call-and-response, melodic patterns and first stave reading. Upper KS2 projects (Years 5–6) extend into Rock, Funk, Motown, Disco and 1980s Pop, adding more complex rhythms, chords, intervals and scales and more explicit work on improvisation and structure.
From Year 3 upwards, pupils keep meeting familiar activity types – Vocal Warm Up 1–5, style-based dance, Rhythms 1–4, desk drumming, Rainbow Dots, Musical Morse Code, harmony games, Critical Listening, Music Detective, Musical Cabbage, Crosswords, Find the Words, True or False, Match and Order and Workbooks. The interface stays the same; the style, songs and difficulty level grow with the children.
This KS2 map is designed for headteachers, music leads and subject leaders who need the big picture: how Years 3–6 fit together into one coherent, inspectable curriculum that meets and exceeds the national programme of study for Key Stage 2 music.
Weekly lessons or shorter “bursts” all the way through KS2
Across KS2, Kidstrument sessions can be delivered as:
- Traditional lessons (for example, one 30–45 minute slot per week), or
- De-linearised “bursts” across the timetable — a song before registration, a listening game after break, a short movement or vocabulary task later in the day.
Because the curriculum is built from small, focused activities, you can adapt to mixed timetables, split classes or cover arrangements while still showing a clear, sequenced journey from Year 3 to Year 6.
Lower KS2 and Upper KS2 at a glance
The summaries below show how Lower KS2 (Years 3–4) and Upper KS2 (Years 5–6) fit together. Each phase has its own project songs and styles, but both use the same small, repeatable activity types so children feel confident as expectations rise.
Lower KS2 (Years 3–4) – building secure beat, pitch patterns & first notation
In Years 3 and 4, Kidstrument introduces KS2 expectations through accessible, groove-based projects. Pupils:
- Sing and move to class songs rooted in Reggae, Soul, Pop and Hip-Hop, developing steady beat, call-and-response, simple harmonies and stage confidence.
- Use Vocal Warm Up 1–5, genre-specific dance and early Rhythms 1–4 to secure pulse, rhythm copying and coordination.
- Begin desk-drumming and body percussion, matching simple patterns to the class songs and feeling how rhythms fit inside the bar.
- Extend their Rainbow Dots journey and first stave reading, linking visual patterns to sung and played phrases.
- Meet core KS2 vocabulary through Critical Listening, Music Detective and retrieval activities (Crosswords, Find the Words, True or False, Match and Workbooks) that keep language “sticky”.
By the end of Lower KS2, pupils can keep a steady beat, copy short rhythm and pitch patterns, read simple notation and talk about instruments, dynamics and tempo in age-appropriate language.
Upper KS2 (Years 5–6) – rhythm engines, harmony & intervals ready for secondary
In Years 5 and 6, expectations step up while the activity types stay familiar. Pupils:
- Work through Year 5 Rock and Funk projects, centred on Big Rock Blues and It Ain’t Easy, revisiting rhythm reading, note values, desk drumming, Rainbow Dots 5–9, harmony and chords, listening and retrieval.
- Follow Year 6 Motown, Disco and 80s Pop projects, built around This Time It’s Different, Just Dance and When I’m With You. These introduce the Minor Pentatonic scale, tones/semitones, intervals, advanced rhythm engines (Beat Blox, Beat the Grid, Forbidden Rhythms) and Konnakol.
- Refine desk-drumming and body percussion into tight, layered grooves that mirror real drum-kit parts.
- Use What’s the Pitch?, harmony clips, triad singing and accidentals work to connect notation with what they hear and sing.
- Engage in deeper listening and context work through Motown, Disco and 80s Pop artist studies and linked retrieval tasks.
By the end of Upper KS2, pupils can read and perform more complex rhythms, recognise and describe scales and intervals, understand chords and styles, and perform confidently in preparation for Key Stage 3.
How Kidstrument KS2 maps to the music programme of study
The table below summarises how the activities mapped into your KS2 grid (Years 3–6) collectively cover the Key Stage 2 music aims to ensure pupils: play and perform, improvise and compose, listen with attention and recall, use and understand notation, appreciate a wide range of music and develop an understanding of the history of music.
Play and perform in solo and ensemble contexts, using voices and instruments with increasing
accuracy, fluency, control and expression
Across KS2, every project is anchored to one or more class songs, with pupils singing, moving
and (optionally) playing classroom instruments alongside the recorded tracks. Repeated warm-up
and song structures mean accuracy and fluency improve over time, and style-based dance develops
confident, expressive performance.
Key KS2 activity families:
Vocal Warm Up 1–5; style-based Dance (Reggae, Soul, Pop, Hip-Hop in Lower KS2; Rock, Funk,
Motown, Disco, 80s Pop and Dance: Rhythmic Pyramid in Upper KS2); Watch / Perform / Karaoke
versions of project songs such as Big Rock Blues, It Ain’t Easy,
This Time It’s Different, Just Dance and When I’m With You; desk
drumming and body percussion parts that function as ensemble rhythm sections.
Improvise and compose music for a range of purposes using the interrelated dimensions of music
Improvisation and composition in Kidstrument are woven through rhythmic and pitch-based tasks.
Pupils re-use rhythms, riffs, grids and scale patterns from the projects to create their own
ideas, vary existing patterns and build short structures, always linked to a clear musical
purpose (for example, adding a new groove under a song, creating a call-and-response, or
changing the energy of a section).
Key KS2 activity families:
Rhythms 1–4 used for call-and-response and “make your own”; desk-drumming patterns in Weekly
Drum Routine 5–8 that can be adapted and extended; Beat Blox and Beat the Grid as building
blocks for creating new grooves; Forbidden Rhythms challenges that encourage pupils to invent
alternatives; Rainbow Dots patterns and Minor Pentatonic scale work used as starting points for
melodic improvisation; Konnakol (spoken rhythm syllables) to explore and vary patterns using the
interrelated dimensions of music (duration, dynamics, tempo, pitch, texture and timbre).
Listen with attention to detail and recall sounds with increasing aural memory
Listening and aural memory are built in small steps across KS2. Pupils copy back rhythms and
melodies, identify changes in texture, dynamics and instrumentation, and hold parts in their
head while they move, clap or drum. Repeated encounters with the same project songs mean they
recall riffs, hooks and drum patterns with increasing accuracy.
Key KS2 activity families:
Critical Listening and Music Detective tasks in all styles; echo and question–answer rhythm work
with Rhythms 1–4; Musical Morse Code Levels 2–3 for fast encoding/decoding of patterns; Skies and
Valleys and What’s the Pitch? for pitch direction and interval recall; Weekly Drum Routine and
Beat Blox / Beat the Grid where pupils must remember and reproduce layered parts; Konnakol
(call-and-response spoken rhythms) to sharpen aural memory.
Use and understand staff and other musical notations
KS2 notation work moves from simple patterns and symbol recognition in Lower KS2 to fluent use
of staff notation, note values, rests, scales and intervals by the end of Upper KS2. Notation is
always tied to real musical examples, not taught as stand-alone worksheets.
Key KS2 activity families:
Rainbow Dots across KS2; Parts of Notes and explicit note/rest value lessons (semibreve to
semiquaver); Skies and Valleys; What’s the Pitch? 1–4; Minor Pentatonic and scale work; Musical
Morse Code (symbol and pattern reading); Beat the Grid rhythm notation; Workbooks on staves,
lines and spaces, treble/bass clef notes, notes and rests, accidentals, simple time signatures
and musical symbols; Musical Cabbage for note-name retrieval.
Appreciate and understand a wide range of high-quality live and recorded music drawn from
different traditions and from great composers and musicians
Across Years 3–6, pupils encounter a broad set of styles and artists. Class projects and
listening tasks move from Reggae, Soul, Pop and Hip-Hop to Rock, Funk, Motown, Disco and 80s
Pop, with focused listening on how instruments, voices, texture, rhythm and harmony work in each
style. Short “Who is…?” clips spotlight influential bands and artists as great musicians within
these traditions.
Key KS2 activity families:
Critical Listening and Music Detective (Reggae, Soul, Pop, Hip-Hop, Rock, Funk, Motown, Disco
and 80s Pop); style explainer clips (for example, What is Rock? / Funk? / Motown? / Disco? /
80s Pop?); “Who is…?” artist clips (for artists such as Credence Clearwater Revival, Tina
Turner, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, James Brown, Ray Charles, Tower of Power, Chaka Khan, Diana
Ross, Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, Gloria Gaynor, Earth, Wind & Fire, Madonna, Whitney
Houston, Prince, David Bowie and more); opportunities to connect recorded music with live
ensemble performance in class and assemblies.
Develop an understanding of the history of music
KS2 projects are arranged so that pupils can see and talk about music changing over time.
Lower KS2 introduces modern genres and world influences; Upper KS2 then explores how Rock and
Funk grow into Motown and Disco and how 1980s Pop builds on earlier styles. Artist and style
clips provide short, age-appropriate historical context that can be revisited whenever you need
to evidence “music history” in the curriculum.
Key KS2 activity families:
Style explainer clips (for example, What is Rock? / Funk? / Motown? / Disco? / 80s Pop?); “Who
is…?” artist clips across decades; Critical Listening and Music Detective sequences that compare
recordings; retrieval activities (Crosswords, Find the Words, True or False, Match and Order)
that include world instruments, genres and forms; long-term project structure that moves from
earlier styles to later ones across Years 3–6, so pupils naturally build a sense of musical
development over time.
Progression across KS2 at a glance
This section shows how key strands develop from Year 3 to Year 6 so you can talk confidently about progress over time in curriculum conversations, deep dives and subject reviews.
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Rhythm & pulse
From simple patterns and beat to full rhythm “engines”.
- Year 3: keeping a steady pulse, clapping and speaking simple rhythms, first Rhythms 1–2 patterns linked to Reggae/Soul projects.
- Year 4: longer and more varied rhythm patterns, echoing and question–answer games, beat subdivision beginning to appear in Pop/Hip-Hop contexts.
- Year 5: explicit note values (semibreve to semiquaver and rests); Rhythms 1–4; Weekly Drum Routine 5–6; Musical Morse Code Level 2; Rock and Funk grooves on the desk.
- Year 6: Weekly Drum Routine 7–8, Beat Blox, Beat the Grid, Forbidden Rhythms and Musical Morse Code Level 3 in Motown, Disco and 80s Pop contexts.
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Notation, pitch & intervals
From first stave patterns to minor pentatonic and interval labels.
- Year 3: revisiting lines and spaces, simple patterns on a stave tied directly to class songs, early Rainbow Dots steps and picture–sound matching.
- Year 4: reading short melodic patterns more fluently; more Rainbow Dots work; recognising steps and small leaps by ear and sight.
- Year 5: Rainbow Dots 5–9; Skies and Valleys; What’s the Pitch? introductory tasks; Parts of Notes; note and rest values taught explicitly.
- Year 6: Minor Pentatonic; major/minor scales; tones and semitones; full What’s the Pitch? 1–4 sequence; intervals described and labelled in Motown, Disco and 80s Pop contexts.
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Harmony & chords
From simple layered parts to talking about triads and chord quality.
- Year 3: simple layered ostinatos, call-and-response, feeling when more than one note sounds at once without formal chord language.
- Year 4: more confident use of drones, ostinatos and simple two-part textures; optional early chord talk where appropriate.
- Year 5: What is a Chord?; What are Major and Minor Chords?; singing C major and C minor triads; Quickfire Chords; Harmony “Major or Minor?” variations and Musical Cabbage note-name games.
- Year 6: major/minor triads in context; Harmony “Major or Minor?” higher variations; Accidentals in Music; connecting intervals and scale degrees to chords in Disco and 80s Pop.
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Listening, style & vocabulary
From naming instruments and dynamics to style comparisons.
- Year 3: identifying loud/quiet, fast/slow, higher/lower and main instruments in Reggae/Soul tracks; basic descriptive language.
- Year 4: describing texture, changes in dynamics and tempo, and more detailed comments on Pop/Hip-Hop production.
- Year 5: Critical Listening and Music Detective for Rock and Funk; artist studies; retrieval tasks that embed vocabulary for dynamics, tempo, rhythm, notation and instruments.
- Year 6: Critical Listening and Music Detective for Motown, Disco and 80s Pop; “Who is…?” artist clips; Konnakol; retrieval tasks that revisit and extend all prior vocabulary.
Across KS2, a typical lesson uses 9–13 short activities in a familiar order (warm up, dance, rhythm/desk drumming, notation or pitch focus, listening, song performance and retrieval). The content and level change from Year 3 to Year 6, but the structure stays recognisable, making it easy for pupils and staff to see and explain progression.
Extra KS2 tools available in every year
The KS2 projects already include retrieval and written elements, but you also have access to a wider bank of KS2 extras. These can be dropped into any Year 3, 4, 5 or 6 lesson as quick starters, plenaries, cover lessons or additional evidence of learning.
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Crosswords, Find the Words & True or False
Literacy-friendly retrieval linked to all KS2 projects.
Use Crosswords (General Terms, Tempo, Notation, Dynamics, Instrument Families, Instrument Facts/Parts, Music Genres, Mixed Revision, World Instruments), Find the Words (General, Dynamics, Rhythm, Texture, Tempo, Pitch, Band Instruments, Brass Band, Orchestra, World Instruments) and True or False (General Terms, Dynamics, Tempo, Instruments, Instrument Facts/Families, Stave Basics, Musical Forms, Mixed Revision, World Instruments) to:
- Revisit vocabulary introduced in any KS2 project.
- Provide cover-lesson and homework options that still connect to core learning.
- Generate printable evidence for subject deep dives or moderation.
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Match & Order activities
Quick checks on symbols, pitch, tempo, rests and time signatures.
KS2 Match sets (Classroom Percussion Instruments, Clef Names, Dynamics Symbols, Notes on the Piano, Orchestral Families/Instruments, Tempo Words, World Instruments, Symbols and Instruments) and Order tasks (Dynamics soft to loud, Pitches Middle C to High C, Rests by Duration, Tempo slow to fast, Time Signatures) let you:
- Reinforce theory concepts that underpin all KS2 projects.
- Spot misconceptions quickly (for example, about note length or tempo terms).
- Offer 5–10-minute tasks that fit anywhere in a lesson.
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Workbooks & written consolidation
Optional written tasks whenever you need extra evidence.
The KS2 Workbooks collection (Staves, Lines and Spaces; Treble Clef and Bass Clef; Treble/Bass Clef Notes; Notes and Rests; Musical Alphabet and Solfeg; Accidentals; Simple Time Signatures; Music Symbols; Musical Instruments; Great Staff, Treble and Bass Clef; Musical Signs and more) can be used to:
- Model notation on the board, then let pupils try small written tasks.
- Capture evidence for moderation and subject review when appropriate.
- Provide extension and homework tasks linked to the main KS2 strands.
They support – rather than replace – the practical, music-first approach of the KS2 curriculum maps.
Where to go next in the KS2 curriculum
This KS2 page gives the overview. For term-by-term detail, use the year-specific and phase maps below.
Upper KS2 (Years 5–6)
Explore the Rock, Funk, Motown, Disco and 80s Pop projects in detail, including rhythm engines, harmony, intervals and listening sequences that prepare pupils for secondary music.