Music

‘Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord’

(Ephesians 5:19)

CURRICULUM INTENT

At Calow C of E Primary school we believe that music is a universal language that can be accessed by everyone. It can provide fulfilment throughout life by exposing pupils to diverse experiences and ignite a passion for music. It is a powerful form of communication that can change the way pupils feel, think and act. It brings together personal expression, reflection and emotional development. It is important in the learning about different cultures, the past and present and the wider world. Pupils can develop self-expression and creativity.

We want to engage and inspire pupils to develop a love of music and their talent as musicians. This should increase their self-confidence, creativity and sense of achievement. Children should gain an understanding of what music is through listening, singing, playing, evaluating, analysing, and composing across a wide variety of historical periods, styles, traditions, and musical genres.

These aims are intended for all pupils in school.

Music teaching should offer all children opportunities to:

• Develop understanding and enjoyment of music through experimentation with sound and musical composition.
• Control sound through singing and playing instruments.
• Rehearse and perform music with others.
• Appreciate a wide variety of music from different times and cultures, through listening, responding and appraising.
• Explore and express their ideas and feelings about music, using movement and expressive and musical language.

CURRICULUM IMPLEMENTATION

The music curriculum ensures children sing, listen, play, perform and evaluate. This is embedded in classroom activities as well as singing an composer of the week during collective worship, extra-curricular activities and the learning of instruments.

All musical learning is built around the Interrelated Dimensions of Music: pulse, rhythm, pitch, tempo, dynamics, timbre, texture, structure and notation. These dimensions are at the centre of all the learning.

In EYFS music is interwoven throughout the curriculum following the EYFS framework 2021. In the Prime areas of learning music is used to help support a child’s Personal, Social and Emotional Development by helping them feel safe and secure.  It is used as part of the daily routine which helps children express their emotions and self-regulate.  Musical patterns and songs support children’s communication and early language development.  Music aids children’s Physical Development by helping children develop breathing techniques and supporting their coordination. Music is also taught through the specific area of learning ‘expressive arts and design’ where children are encouraged to join in with songs and rhymes and explore a range of un-tuned instruments.

The Literacy curriculum in EYFS introduces many rhymes and rhythms which allow children to explore pitch, rhythm, tempo and speed.

Our school’s early phonics curriculum is very closely linked to music. In Phase 1 phonics children learn to:

• Discriminate sounds both environmental and instrumental.
• Explore body percussion.
• Develop their sense of rhythm and rhyme
• Explore voice sounds.

In Key Stage 1 teachers will deliver music by following the Charanga programme, supplemented with BBC Ten Pieces and Classroom 200.

In Key Stage 2 teachers will deliver music by following the Charanga programme. This will be supplemented with Musical Contexts, Musical Futures, Classics for kids, BBC Teach/Ten pieces and Classroom 200.

In the classroom children are exposed to a wide variety of tuned and untuned percussion instruments. Playing various instruments enables children to use a range of methods to create notes, as well as how to read basic music notation. Children learn how to compose, focusing on different dimensions of music, which in turn feeds their understanding when listening, playing, or analysing music.

Composing or performing using body percussion and vocal sounds is also part of the curriculum, which develops the understanding of musical elements without the added complexity of an instrument.

National Curriculum Statements

Key Stage 1

Pupils are taught to:

• Use their voices expressively and creatively by singing songs and speaking chants and rhymes
• Play tuned and untuned instruments musically
• Listen with concentration and understanding to a range of high-quality live and recorded music
• Experiment with, create, select and combine sounds using the interrelated dimensions of music

 Key Stage 2

Pupils should be taught to sing and play musically with increasing confidence and control. They should develop an understanding of musical composition, organising and manipulating ideas within musical structures and reproducing sounds from aural memory.

Pupils should be taught to:

• play and perform in solo and ensemble contexts, using their voices and playing musical instruments with increasing accuracy, fluency, control and expression
• improvise and compose music for a range of purposes using the inter-related dimensions of music
• listen with attention to detail and recall sounds with increasing aural memory
• use and understand staff and other musical notations
• appreciate and understand a wide range of high-quality live and recorded music drawn from different traditions and from great composers and musicians
• develop an understanding of the history of music

CURRICULUM IMPACT

Music enables children to develop an understanding of culture and history, both in relation to children individually, as well as ethnicities from across the world. Children are able to enjoy music in as many ways as they choose – either as listener, creator or performer. Children have the opportunity to discuss and share their own thoughts, opinions and ideas, acknowledging and respecting that these may vary and that this is positive. They can dissect music and comprehend its parts. They can sing and feel a pulse.

At Calow Church of England (V.C) Primary School children are provided with opportunities beyond the National Curriculum to further and support their understanding. These include extra-curricular activities, inviting visitors with a musical talent, concerts and school productions. Interests and talents are encouraged and showcased in class and assembly, ensuring that everyone is challenged regardless of previous musical experience.

Assessment and Recording of Work

Progress and attainment are monitored through pupil and staff voice, lesson observations and analysis of data which is completed on the relevant assessment grid at the end of each topic.

Teachers use formative assessment throughout lessons (e.g. observations and assessment) and adapt teaching accordingly to address any misconceptions that may arise. Also, at the end of the topic, teachers complete a summative assessment based on whether children have demonstrated that they have met the national curriculum objectives and progression skills for that term.

Children in the Early Years Foundation Stage (Reception and Nursery)

Children in the Early Years Foundation Stage are assessed using the Early Years Development Matters guidance and at the end of the reception years against the Early Learning Goals. EYFS objectives within the areas of communication and language development, physical development, personal, social, and emotional development, mathematics, understanding the world and expressive arts and design all contribute to laying the foundations for effective learning in Music throughout the primary phase. A variety of methods are used to make a record of music in the school including, video recordings, pictures, Pupil assessment sheets and school displays. Work may be placed in individual’s topic books or in the whole class floor books with the expectation that progression in learning should be seen across the different year groups within the school.