January Music Reading Comprehension | 31 KS2 & KS3 Composer Activities with Answers

Explore a different composer every day throughout January with this collection of 31 music reading comprehension activities for Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 3.

Designed to develop reading, listening and musical understanding, each activity introduces pupils to a significant composer through an engaging non-fiction text, structured comprehension questions and a listening activity. Ideal for music lessons, English, cover work, tutor time and cross-curricular learning.

What’s Included

This downloadable PDF contains 31 daily composer activities. Each activity includes:

• A short, age-appropriate composer biography (recommended for ages 8–14)
• Five reading comprehension questions covering:

1. Retrieval
2. Vocabulary
3. Inference
4. Explanation
5. Summarising

• Full answer sheets
• QR codes linking to carefully selected listening examples
• Print-ready layouts suitable for classroom or digital use

Featured Composers

Pupils discover composers and musicians from a wide variety of musical styles, traditions and historical periods, including:

Johann Christian Bach, Barbara Pentland, Maurice Jaubert, Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, Elizabeth Cotten, Alexander Scriabin, Francis Poulenc, Andrej Očenáš, Vic Mizzy, David Bowie, John Lodge Ellerton, Väinö Aatos Hannikainen, Ami Maayani, Michael Arne, Ivor Novello, Tage Nielsen, Tomaso Albinoni, César Cui, Maria Teresa Agnesi Pinottini, Ennio Porrino, John Dowland, Irwin Levine, John Field, Friedrich von Flotow, Etta James, Phillip Houghton, Johannes Mozart, Acker Bilk, Daniel Auber, Thomas Tallis and Franz Schubert.

The collection introduces pupils to classical, folk, popular and early music while broadening their understanding of composers from different cultures and musical traditions.

Perfect For

• KS2 and KS3 Music lessons
• Reading comprehension activities
• Daily January starter tasks
• Cover lessons
• Tutor time
• Independent learning
• Homework
• Cross-curricular English and Music

Learning Outcomes

Pupils will develop:

• Reading comprehension skills
• Musical knowledge and cultural awareness
• Subject-specific vocabulary
• Listening and discussion skills
• Inference and explanation
• Confidence when analysing non-fiction texts

Supplied as a single PDF containing all 31 activities and answer sheets. No preparation is required, making it ideal for daily classroom use throughout January.