Music
Subject Intent:
Our music curriculum fosters a lifelong love of music by providing children with a range of practical experiences that inspires creativity and self-expression. Children are given the opportunity to listen to a variety of musical styles and genres, from a range of cultures and time periods. Our curriculum provides learners with the skills and knowledge to be confident performers, creative composers and successful listeners. Music will be taught holistically, as research into musical development shows music should be taught using an integrated approach with singing, playing instruments, composing and listening to music (Spruce, 2007).
Implementation:
Our music curriculum has been designed as a spiral curriculum with three key principles in mind;
· Cyclical: Pupils are taught the same skills and knowledge over a range of year groups.
· Increasing depth: Each time skills and knowledge is revisited, the depth of knowledge is also increased
· Prior knowledge: When returning to a skill prior knowledge is utilised so pupils can build on previous skills and knowledge.
Our holistic approach to music means that individual strands are woven together to create an engaging experience for all learners. These strands are:
· Performing
· Listening
· Composing
· The history of music
· The inter-related dimensions of music
Each unit weaves these strands with cross-curricular topics designed to capture both pupils’ imagination and encourage them to explore music enthusiastically. Over the course of primary school, children will be taught how to sing fluently and expressively, and play tuned and untuned instruments accurately and with control. They will learn to recognise and name pitch, duration, tempo, timbre, structure, texture and dynamics. They will use these to work expressively to compose and improvise.
Lessons will use a range of approaches to engage the children and give them an enriched experience. They will work independently and participate in paired and group work. Lessons are hands-on and will also incorporate movement and dance, as well as make cross curricular links. Musical activities are drawn from a range of styles and traditions to help develop their musical skills.
Impact:
Each unit includes a performance element where teachers can make an assessment of their learning.
The impact of our Music curriculum is that the pupils will leave our schools equipped with a range of skills to enable them to succeed in their following education and to be able to enjoy and appreciate music throughout their lives.
In our schools our children will:
- Be confident performers, composers and listeners and will be able to express themselves musically.
- Learn to show an appreciation and respect for a wide range of musical styles from around the World and will understand how music is influenced by the wider cultural, social, and historical contexts in which it is developed.
- Understand the ways in which music can be written down to support performing and composing activities.
- Demonstrate and articulate an enthusiasm for music and be able to identify their own musical preferences.
- Meet the end of key stage expectations outlined in the national curriculum for Music.