At Key Stage 3, pupils develop performing, composing and listening skills. They develop vocal techniques. This could involve chants, choral singing or even rap and beatboxing. Pupils learn to perform with instruments and master specific techniques required. They create compositions working within a particular style, genre or tradition of music. At Key Stage 3, pupils identify the use of musical elements, devices (such as ostinato, call and response and cyclic patterns) and tonalities (including major and minor keys and scales).

The websites in this section offer audio clips that can be used in the classroom. Some planning is also available for activities. Audacity and Anvil Studio enable ICT to be used in composing music with pupils being able to record and edit sounds. Music Theory is a particularly useful resource as it provides information on the basics of musical notation, scales, chords and so on. This is invaluable for those wishing to refresh their subject knowledge, provide a starting point for creating paper-based resources or a source that pupils can be directed to in order to consolidate learning independently.