In this sixth book of the series the authors build upon the lower junior stage, and use a similar modular format. Designed to extend skill acquisition in performance, improvising and composing, listening and appraising, and notating music, pupils are challenged by increasingly demanding musical materials. At the same time there is an emphasis on pupils acquiring knowledge and expertise of the deep structures of a range of music, and a greater acknowledgement of musical purpose and context. Attuned to the range of National Curriculum experiences, particular features of this book are: a consolidation and deepening of vocal and instrumental techniques and performance; an integrated approach to improvising and composing, combining skills in listening and appraising, knowledge and understanding; a module focusing on aural observation, representation, recording and notation of sound; an active, analytical and frequently physical approach to listening and appraising; a focus on music in its social and historical context in relation to dance.