Music Express provides everything you need for teaching primary music, week by week. Written by leading experts in primary music education, Music Express has quality and engaging music lessons with careful progression built in, from Early Years to Age 11. It is easy to use for teachers with little confidence in music, and allows flexibility for music specialists.

It's not just lessons, either! There's also:

• over 400 songs, with audio tracks and synchronised lyrics displayed, to get your school singing
• a scheme of work for learning the ukulele as a class or in groups
• warm ups and bite-sized skill builders to develop strong foundations in beat, rhythm and pitch.

Take a tour of Music Express with this two-minute video!

A year's subscription to Music Express gives you full access to the following areas of materials:

• The Lesson Bank
  Hundreds of lessons with enough material for a year's worth of music teaching. There are lessons for every age group, from Early Years Foundation Stage up to the end of Key Stage 2 (age 10–11).


• The Song Bank
  Over 400 songs to learn and perform. On-screen karaoke-style lyrics give you a great way to teach a new song to a whole class, and full audio performances, backing tracks, and teaching tracks for specific sections provide everything you need to build a confident performance.


• Warm Ups
  Vocal warm ups, physical warm ups and focus builders will get your class started and in the mood to make music.


• Skill Builders
  Consolidate skills learnt in the lessons or improve areas of weakness with these bitesized exercises, divided into Rhythm, Beat and Pitch.


• Planning and curriculum resources
  In the lesson bank, you'll find year plans, unit plans, lesson plans and assessment sheets to support your teaching at every level. If you would like to see how your music lessons support learning across the curriculum, you can download our cross-curricular grid here.


• Instrumental Resources
  Our ukulele teaching scheme is ideal for use in groups or in the classroom, while the interactive xylophone can be used as a fun addition to any music lesson.

Music Express provides a completely new set of teaching activities to support the revised English National Curriculum from September 2014. Music Express also fully supports the National Curriculum for Wales and for Northern Ireland as well as the Scottish Curriculum for Excellence.

To see how Music Express can be across the wider curriculum, download our cross-curricular document here.

Devised especially for classroom teachers, whether generalist or specialist, Music Express is:

• topic-based
• cross-curricular
• musically diverse
• fully resourced
• accessible to non-music readers

The essence of Music Express is to create a topic-based, cross-curricular approach to support children's learning in music and across other subjects through music. A steady progression plan has been built into Music Express, both within each year and from one year to the next, ensuring consistent musical development.

By using Music Express as the basis of a scheme of work, schools can ensure that they are fulfilling the aims for musical learning stated in the English National Curriculum:
The English National Curriculum states 'That all pupils: perform, listen to, review and evaluate music across a range of historical periods, genres, styles and traditions, including the works of the great composers and musicians.'

Music Express includes many examples of music styles and genres from different times and places, including the classical Western canon. These are explored through the language of music via active listening, performing and composing activities, which enable understanding of the context and genre. Examples include vocal melodies from Medieval times, Tudor court music, Romantic ballet music, Twentieth century pop, as well as traditional and classical forms from across the globe.

The English National Curriculum states 'That all pupils: learn to sing and to use their voices, to create and compose music on their own and with others, have the opportunity to learn a musical instrument, use technology appropriately and have the opportunity to progress to the next level of musical excellence.' Music Express provides a classroom-based, participatory and inclusive approach to music learning. Throughout the scheme, children are actively involved in using and developing their singing voices, using body percussion and whole body actions, and learning to handle and play classroom instruments effectively to create and express their own and others' music. Through a range of whole class, group and individual activities, children have opportunities to explore sounds, listen actively, compose and perform. In some age 7–11 units the class ensemble can be extended using additional scores which are available for those children learning to play non-classroom instruments.

The English National Curriculum states 'That all pupils: understand and explore how music is created, produced and communicated, including through the inter-related dimensions: pitch, duration, dynamics, tempo, timbre, texture, structure and appropriate musical notations.'

Music Express builds experience and develops understanding of the dimensions (elements) of music throughout the scheme. Each unit has as its focus one process such as performance or composition, or one dimension, such as pitch, but the learning progresses within the context of all the inter-related processes and dimensions of music. A wide variety of notations, including picture, graphic, rhythm and staff notation are integrated, wherever appropriate, with practical music-making activities throughout the scheme. Notations are used progressively to promote understanding and use of the representation of sound in symbols by all children.

Download our supporting documentation to help with planning and understanding how skills are developed across the scheme.

Music Express Curriculum Maps

Music Express Skills by Year

Music Express Skills Progression

Music Express two-year rolling programme of units for mixed age-group classes

Music Express covers all the intentions of the MMC and is further backed up with solid pedagogy, attached to a framework of spiral learning with clear, scaffolded progression. You can read a full analysis in the documents below.

Music Express and the Model Music Curriculum – Introduction to Key Stages 1 & 2

Music Express and the Model Music Curriculum – Year 1

Music Express and the Model Music Curriculum – Year 2

Music Express and the Model Music Curriculum – Year 3

Music Express and the Model Music Curriculum – Year 4

Music Express and the Model Music Curriculum – Year 5

Music Express and the Model Music Curriculum – Year 6

Music Express and the Model Music Curriculum – Listening

Music Express and the Model Music Curriculum – Indicative musical features

SEND notes

Music Express is primarily aimed at mainstream settings and promotes inclusive values by including SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities) comments (‘SEND notes’) alongside the activities to offer teachers support. The aim is to give teachers suggestions for diversifying music activities with the purpose of improving inclusivity in the classroom.

The intentions of the SEND notes are to include as wide a range of additional needs as possible. Suggestions are made for how teachers can approach different barriers to learning with an inclusive lens. Focussing on barriers to learning instead of specific needs avoids categorising types of SEND, which can sometimes have preconceptions of what a child can or cannot achieve. Some children with additional needs have multiple learning needs. The spectrum of autism, for example, includes many different traits and can relate to the needs of a high academic achiever or a non-verbal child with low cognitive ability. Getting to know the individual child and exploring their particular needs is essential in gaining a better understanding of how to inclusively support those needs in their musical learning.

High-quality inclusive practice may require teachers to think creatively about their pedagogical approach and ways to include every child at their level of need. This could mean creating extra roles and music parts at an appropriate level to suit the needs of a child to enable them to join in with the whole class, while still setting high expectations for achievement.

Background statistical information on special educational needs in England

As of 2019/20, nationally 15.4 per cent of children have been diagnosed with an additional need, often referred to as a special educational need (SEN). 12.1 per cent of children are categorised as SEN+ meaning they require support to access learning in education. In addition, 2.3 per cent of children require a higher level of support, requiring an Education Health Care Plan (EHCP). The EHCP supports parental choice in accessing the best educational setting for their child, whether this is a mainstream or a SEND provision. Approximately 50 per cent of children with an EHCP are included in mainstream settings while the other 50 per cent attend a specialist provision.

Using the Music Express SEND notes

The below PDF provides a list of barriers to learning listed throughout the SEND notes in Music Express with brief descriptions of the challenges each may bring to the learning experience.

Using the Music Express SEND notes

Pedagogical approaches

The below PDF provides a list of suggestions of pedagogical approaches to explore in the music classroom for different barriers to learning.

Pedagogical approaches

Education and Special Education abbreviations

ADHD			Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder
APD			Auditory Processing Disorder
ASD			Autistic Spectrum Disorder
ASN			Additional Support Needs
BESD			Behavioural, Emotional and Social Difficulties
CAPD			Central Auditory Processing Disorder
DCD			Developmental Coordination Disorder
EAL			English as an Additional Language
EHCP			Education, Health and Care Plan
HI			Hearing Impairments
MLD			Moderate Learning Difficulties
PD			Physical Disabilities
SALT			Speech and Language Therapy
SEMH			Social, Emotional and Mental Health
SEND			Special Educational Needs and Disabilities
SLCN			Speech, Language and Communication Needs
SLD			Severe Learning Difficulties
VI			Visually Impaired

Kelly-Jo Foster-Peters, SEND Music Education Consultant & Technology Specialist

The Music Express SEND scheme offers a series of six topic-based units of work for use in special school classroom environments or for small group and individual intervention work both in special and mainstream schools.

These units can be found in the Lesson Bank, within Years 1-4. You can find them by scrolling to the end of the year group to find the units labelled ‘SEND’.

• Storytime (Year 1)
• Our bodies (Year 1)
• Water (Year 1)
• Animals (Year 2)
• Food and drink (Year 3)
• Recycling (Year 4)

The below ‘Introduction’ and ‘Assessment framework’ PDFs are supplied with each unit for ease of access, along with a ‘Unit overview and printable resources’ PDF.

Introduction

Assessment framework

To find out more about how to use Music Express, download our user guide . You'll also find some FAQs below.

How should Music Express be used?

Music Express is extremely flexible. It is specially designed for the current National Curriculum and can operate as a complete scheme of work for you to follow from start to finish: simply scroll through each year and unit in the order they appear for a guided route through each year of teaching. If you would like an overview of the complete teaching scheme, you can download plans for each year, unit and lesson, along with assessment sheets.

You might prefer, however, just to dip in and out of the material, or use the units in a different order to the one suggested – all of which is perfectly possible. Simply add the lessons, songs or activities you like to your 'Favourites' folder, or reorder units within each area by dragging and dropping the panels as desired.

Music Express also contains a wealth of songs, activities and instrumental teaching materials, which you could use to enhance your lessons. If you'd like to use music in other curriculum subjects, our cross-curricular document suggests how the units can work with other disciplines.

Do I need to be able to read music to use Music Express?

No. Music Express has full audio support for learning songs and music, so music reading is not required. Elements of staff notation and other notations are introduced throughout the course, and there are optional instrumental parts for some pieces, but knowledge of staff notation is not assumed.

I do read music. What will Music Express give me?

Music Express offers a great supply of resources to support your teaching and school music-making, all located in one convenient place. It has over 400 songs in a range of styles, recordings of classical, folk and new music for pupils to listen to and study, images and displays to support learning and capture the imagination, ideas for activities to extend a lesson, and collections of warm-ups and skill builders.

If you are leading instrumental teaching, you could try our beginner ukulele course, Ukulele Magic.

I use the songs in the old book edition of Music Express. Will I find them here?

Yes. Music Express was completely updated for the new curriculum, with entirely new lessons and songs. However, we realize that there were some great favourites in the old editions of the book, so while you won't find the lessons from these books, the songs are in the Song Bank. Just like the new songs, they have on-screen lyrics to sing along with.

How do I search for a lesson, song or other resource?

If you know the name of the song, lesson or other resource you are looking for, you can search for this using Search function in the top right corner of the screen. Results are categorised into resource type, e.g. 'Lesson', 'Song', 'Instrumental' to help you quickly find what you are looking for. You can filter search results by Year/age group and Resource type.

If you are trying to find a song to suit a particular occasion, year-group or musical style, use the song filter found in the Song Bank: you can filter by year, theme, style or season.

If I find a song or lesson I like, is there an easy way to return to it?

Yes. Simply click on the beside the song or lesson in question and you will be able to access the resource by going to your 'My Favourites' folder (located on the top right of the screen).

What instruments do I need access to?

You will need to have a range of classroom percussion instruments available.

Many activities suggest several members of the class playing instruments at the same time. If necessary, pupils can share instruments and take turns to play.

Although some activities recommend instruments, you should feel free to use the instruments that you have available.

For a class of 30 pupils, aim to have at least the following:

Tuned percussion:

• 1 alto xylophone
• 1 alto metallophone
• 1 set of chime bars
• A selection of beaters

A range of untuned percussion instruments, such as:

• Tambours
• Drums
• Wood blocks
• Cabassas
• Maracas
• Scrapers

Other interesting sound-makers, such as:

• Ocean drum
• Rain stick
• Whistles
• Wind chimes Suspended cymbal
• Electronic keyboard

Wherever possible, invite members of the class who are having instrumental lessons to bring their instruments into classroom music lessons. If you are not sure which notes particular instruments use, ask the child's instrumental teacher.

We'd like to say a big thank you to our fantastic composers: Helen MacGregor, Matthew Holmes, Stephen Chadwick, Ian Lawrence, Maureen Hanke, Sue Nicholls, Patricia Scott and Sally Hickman. Below is a little more about them all.

Helen MacGregor

Helen MacGregor is an award-winning music education author with many years' experience of teaching in primary schools. She has written many songs and units for the new editions of Music Express, as well as compiling all of the lesson plans. She is particularly passionate about working with schools to enhance music education for their pupils from Foundation Stage onwards, and has been Music Adviser for Southwark and Kent.

Helen has combined teaching in schools with working for the London Philharmonic, teacher training to MA level and writing or co-writing many classroom resources for Collins Music. Her classroom resources have included the Listening to Music series, Roald Dahl's Revolting Rhymes musicals, and the Singing Subjects series, such as Singing Phonics, Singing Maths and Singing French.

Matthew Holmes

Matthew Holmes is a children's music educator, professional musician and writer. His music features in the Music Express books as well as in Collins Music's Songsheets, including Viking Rock and Hot off the Press. His other works include the very popular musicals based on Terry Pratchett's Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents and Johnny and the Bomb. He is currently a music specialist in a special needs school in Staffordshire.

Stephen Chadwick

Stephen Chadwick is an award-winning composer with a broad interest in music: ranging from educational to classical music and from world music through to electronic and dance. He has composed music for many popular Collins Music titles, including the Music Express series and Singing French, as well as for Channel 4's Grid Club, the BBC's Bitesize series and Disney. Stephen collaborated with Helen MacGregor on Roald Dahl's Snow-White and the Seven Dwarves and on Roald Dahl's Goldilocks and the Three Bears.

Ian Lawrence

Ian Lawrence studied composition and trombone at The Royal Academy of Music from 1967-1972. He has worked as a freelance musician, teacher and music education consultant and has composed and arranged music for vocal and instrumental groups throughout his career.

His published works for Collins Music include: Singing Express, Ukulele Magic and Music Express.

Maureen Hanke

Maureen is a full-time student at Guildhall School of Music & Drama researching musician/teacher collaborations in education. She teaches on the PGCert Performance Pedagogy course at Guildhall and continues to lead workshops in the UK and abroad. She recently moved from Norfolk Music Education Hub, prior to which she was head of Music Education and Director of Continuing Professional Development for Trinity College of Music. Maureen sings in a community choir and with a church choir, she is a trustee of Music Mark, sits on the board of trustees of Inclusive Schools Trust and is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

Sue Nicholls

Sue Nicholls has worked as a music subject leader in many primary settings during her career as a teacher. She achieved the status of Advanced Skills Teacher in 2002, a role that has allowed her to develop her particular passion within music education: the support of generalist teachers. She has published several music resource books, for non-specialists, for Collins and OUP. She has also written programmes for a BBC Early Years programme and lectures on music modules for teacher trainees at two universities.

Patricia Scott

Patricia Scott began her music teaching career at a secondary school in Heywood, Lancashire in 1970. During the academic year 1973 – 1974 Patricia was Choir Director at a High School in Minnesota, USA and on returning to the UK became Head of Music at a secondary school in Derbyshire. In 1981, Patricia took up the post of Advisory Teacher for Music in Birmingham, a position she held until her retirement in 2007. During this time Patricia provided music in-service training for secondary teachers, primary music specialists and general class teachers as well as early years practitioners.

The privilege of working with children from ages 4 to 16 years and their teachers gave Patricia an understanding of a progression of learning through music as well as an awareness of the contribution and value of music in the intellectual and social development of young people.

Sally Hickman

As an Early Years Graduate, Sally ran her own Nursery in the grounds of a village Primary School where she was School Governor. Sally worked closely with parents and carers, planned and delivered the Early Years Foundation Stage for the children in her care and supported their transition into school. In 2000, Sally joined Rutland County Council as their Early Years Adviser and is privileged to be able to share her philosophy, practice and ideas with Early Years providers across the county.

Sally is an Early Years Author and Trainer supporting practitioners to develop all aspects of their Early Years Pedagogy. She is passionate about ensuring all children are included and able to access the individual support and opportunities they need to give them the best possible start to their early educational lives.