KS2 Music: Macbeth

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Welcome to Macbeth. Whatever your musical experience this resource can help you and your KS2 pupils enjoy Music in the classroom while exploring one of Shakespeare’s most famous plays. We’ve created a special adaptation of Macbeth which you can watch in eight short video episodes; we’ve written eight songs based on the story episodes which Nigel Pilkington teaches in the tutorial videos; and we’ve also provided a to download, which you can use to stage your own musical performance of the play.

Full details in the .

Shakespeare's Macbeth

Shakespeare set Macbeth in 11th century Scotland. Macbeth is the Thane of Glamis, a successful soldier and loyal to King Duncan. However, he is returning from battle with his comrade Banquo when they meet three strange creatures on a heath - the Weird Sisters - who prophesy that Macbeth will become first Thane of Cawdor and later King of Scotland. When the first part of the prophecy comes true Macbeth becomes ambitious for power…and his wife, Lady Macbeth, is determined he should do whatever is necessary to seize the crown…

Using the Macbeth web pages

The content for Macbeth is structured on the eight songs to learn. Each song appears on its own dedicated page and includes the following resources:

Song tutorial video (in two parts, each 5 - 7 minutes in length)
Karaoke full vocal version of the song (for rehearsal)
Karaoke backing track version of the song (for performance)
A video of the story episode that links to the song
Lyrics to display or download
Music to display or download
A transcript of the story episode
Notes describing the content of the tutorial and how best to use it
The Pupils' Pamphlet with all lyrics, information and activities

Use the Tutorial video to begin learning each song: Nigel Pilkington guides pupils through each song methodically, giving extra attention to any difficult passages or activities in groups. Refer to the for each song to establish whether the class needs to be split into groups before starting the tutorial (for example to sing in harmony).

Use the Story video to watch an episode of the story. Each episode links to the song on the same page and is about 6 minutes long.

Use the Full vocal and Backing track versions of the songs to revise them in preparation for a performance.

Downloading the SFX files

You can and use the cues for your performance of our Macbeth musical. The cues have been labelled to match the titles used in the playscript.

If the SFX .zip file refuses to download you should be able to resolve the issue as follows:

Google Chrome. Right click on the download link and select ‘Open link in new window’. Make sure the link address is highlighted in the search window and press return.
Microsoft Edge. Click on the download link. When you see a message that the file ‘Can’t be downloaded securely’ click on the 3 little dots and select ‘Open downloads page’. On the downloads page click on ‘Keep’. When you see another message that ‘This file can’t be downloaded securely’ click ‘Keep anyway’.
Firefox. Click on the download link. When the dialogue box appears click the small arrow to the right of the file name and select ‘Allow download’.