Singing, moving and playing to a steady pulse
I can move, play and sing in time to the pulse.
Singing, moving and playing to a steady pulse
I can move, play and sing in time to the pulse.
These resources will be removed by end of Summer Term 2025.
Lesson details
Key learning points
- We warm up before singing so that our bodies, minds and voices are ready to sing.
- We can sing new songs together, keeping a steady pulse.
- We can identify when an instrument is a percussion instrument.
- We can play percussion instruments, starting and stopping together.
Keywords
Warm up - a sequence of exercises used to prepare the mind, body and voice for singing
Pulse - the regular, steady heartbeat of the music
Instrument - a device used to make a musical sound
Percussion - an instrument played by striking, scraping or shaking
Common misconception
We only warm up before a performance.
It’s really important to warm up the voice every time we are going to sing, to prevent injury and improve vocal quality.
To help you plan your year 1 music lesson on: Singing, moving and playing to a steady pulse, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your year 1 music lesson on: Singing, moving and playing to a steady pulse, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs.
The starter quiz will activate and check your pupils' prior knowledge, with versions available both with and without answers in PDF format.
We use learning cycles to break down learning into key concepts or ideas linked to the learning outcome. Each learning cycle features explanations with checks for understanding and practice tasks with feedback. All of this is found in our slide decks, ready for you to download and edit. The practice tasks are also available as printable worksheets and some lessons have additional materials with extra material you might need for teaching the lesson.
The assessment exit quiz will test your pupils' understanding of the key learning points.
Our video is a tool for planning, showing how other teachers might teach the lesson, offering helpful tips, modelled explanations and inspiration for your own delivery in the classroom. Plus, you can set it as homework or revision for pupils and keep their learning on track by sharing an online pupil version of this lesson.
Explore more key stage 1 music lessons from the Compose and Create: exploring and performing rhythm patterns unit, dive into the full secondary music curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.
Equipment
A wide selection of classroom percussion instruments
Licence
Starter quiz
4 Questions

Exit quiz
4 Questions
