Forest Arts Music Hub

Folk Songs in the Model Music Curriculum

Folk Songs in the Model Music Curriculum

EFDSS are very happy to contribute a collection of English folk songs for the new Model Music Curriculum. Here is a document to help you find them in their Resource Bank, along with supporting teachers’ notes and audio files.

This resource comprises a list of 24 English folk songs included in the Model Music Curriculum which appear in our online Resource Bank. The tables of songs – 8 each for Key Stages 1, 2 and 3 – are ordered according to Year and Key Stage. Each song is listed with a short description, title of the resource that includes it, the page number featuring the song, and a link to the relevant webpage of the Resource Bank.

The selection covers a range of different kinds of folk songs and topics – from sea shanties and work songs to narrative ballads and children’s ditties. We hope you will find plenty of inspiration for your classes and that you will continue to explore the wider offer in our Resource Bank!

The Model Music Curriculum is a non-statutory resource accompanying the National Plan for Music Education and is intended for use by teachers for Key Stages 1, 2 and 3. The individual resources included within the Model Music Curriculum pack have been written by different people over a number of years and can vary in style and structure.

Some of the recordings for our resources use different keys than the accompanying sheet music. In folk music it is common to choose a key that is comfortable for you to sing or play in; feel free to change the key and find your own way to sing the song.