Music

Musicians who made a difference: Ludwig van Beethoven, Aretha Franklin, Elvis Presley

Intent

At Weeth School, we want our children to receive a wide range of happy and rich memories in music, formed through interesting and exciting experiences. We believe that music is an ongoing process, not just a one-off event. We aim to engage and inspire our children to develop a love of music which in turn will increase their self-confidence, creativity and sense of achievement.

Our music curriculum allows children to develop their singing voices, use body percussion and whole body actions, and learn to handle and play classroom instruments effectively to create and express their own and others’ music. Through a range of whole class, group and individual activities, children have opportunities to explore sounds, listen actively, compose and perform.

Each Unit of Work within our music curriculum comprises the of strands of musical learning which correspond with the National Curriculum for music:

1. Listening and Appraising
2. Musical Activities
3. Warm-up Games
4. Optional Flexible Games
5. Singing
6. Playing instruments
7. Improvisation
8. Composition
9. Performing

Our music curriculum also acknowledges and develops the 5 core skills at the heart of social and emotional learning: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills and responsible decision making. Our music curriculum promotes self-confidence, self-discipline, empathy, appreciating diversity and respect for others, communication, team work and reflecting and evaluating their compositions and performances.

Implementation

Our delivery of music follows the National Curriculum and uses Charanga as a scheme of learning. The scheme provides many examples of music styles and genres from different times and places. These are explored through the language of music via active listening, performing and composing activities, which enable understanding of the context and genre

This is further embedded through classroom activities, weekly singing assemblies and various concerts (Christmas and Easter church visits) and performances (KS1 Christmas Performance and KS2 End of Year Performance) over the course of the school year.

The teaching of music is timetabled flexibly dependent on the lesson task and outcome. Where possible, music should be taught weekly for 45 minutes, however, this may be taught for a longer period of time every other week to facilitate the stage of the process.

Charanga follows a spiral curriculum, where all objectives are worked on in all year groups and units of work gradually increase in difficulty as the children progress through the year groups. A 45-minute music lesson is structured through a 15-minute listen and appraise, a 20-minute musical activity, followed by a 10-minute performance and/or sharing session.

Our children begin their journey with music in EYFS by developing their knowledge of nursery rhymes and some of the stories behind these rhymes. Children will be taught that they can move with the pulse of the music. They will learn that music can touch their feelings and they will start to enjoy moving to music by dancing, marching, being animals or pop stars.

In KS1, children will be taught about their voice, developing an understanding of different pitches and different sounds, knowing when to start and stop singing following a leader. They will be taught how to handle instruments and play their part in time to a steady pulse. They will be taught how to compose different melodies using three to five difference notes and begin performing, discussing how they felt about it afterwards.

In KS2, children will continue to build on the knowledge and skills learned in KS1. They will be taught to think about the message of songs and how to compare styles, using a growing range of musical vocabulary. They will develop their singing skills to sing in unison by listening to each other and being aware of how they fit into the group. They will be taught how to play a musical instrument with the correct technique and how their part matches the musical challenge as well as developing their confidence in composing, performing and evaluating

In KS2, Charanga is supplemented with Samba lessons taught through the Cornwall Music Service. Each class receives one half term of Samba, with Year 6 receiving a term. In Year 6, the children work towards two performances; the Christmas lantern parade and end of year performance in their leavers assembly. This gives the children the opportunity to showcase their Samba learning throughout their time at Weeth.

In addition to this, we offer our children the chance to take part in violin lessons.