Music
Follow this link to see some of the music taking place in school
Follow this link to find out more about individual and group lessons at school
Intent
Music is a fundamental human experience which crosses cultural divides. It plays a vital role developing spirituality, creativity and communication skills. It also enables children to participate in shared social experiences, which build cultural capital.
Music is a language and is the core of Music lessons throughout Ridgeway Education Trust. The Music curriculum is built upon acquiring a deep knowledge of musical language and applying it as practical music-making, analysing and evaluating. In Music, skill is the application of knowledge and is improved through effective practice. Children gain knowledge through interactions with teachers and their peers, and then practise and demonstrate this through performing and analysing in small groups or individually. Through all the key stages, children will learn to talk musically about music, demonstrate their knowledge of music through applied practical tasks in the form of performing and assess the quality and effectiveness of music from a range of contexts.
The language of music involves performing musically, describing music using key vocabulary, creating new music and discussing the effectiveness of music.
The Key Stages each build on the musical knowledge and skill acquired from the previous key stage, developing a strong foundation for all children. At each key stage, children will have the opportunity to explore instrumental knowledge and skills to readdress inequality; children who do not have access to instrumental lessons due to financial constraints will have the opportunity to learn the basics of instrumental skills and, more importantly, learn how to learn on their own so they can continue to learn outside of the classroom.
Implementation
To support our implementation, we use the high quality published scheme Sing Up Music as the basis for our planning. You can find out more about Sing Up Music by clicking here.
Sing Up Music has been carefully chosen as it provides our school with the foundation to deliver a creative programme of high-quality classroom music activity. It sets out the skills, knowledge, and understanding to be gained by all pupils at each stage of learning, including the Early Years Foundation Stage. Sing Up’s music curriculum, with a scheme of work for each year group from Nursery to Year 6, represents a progressive set of teaching resources that meets the requirements of the Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage (Expressive Arts), the National Curriculum for Music and suggested approaches of the Model Music Curriculum (Singing, Listening, Composing, Performance/Instrumental Performance). Covering a broad and diverse range of repertoire, approaches, and musical traditions, Sing Up Music supports a fully-integrated approach to musical development, connecting seven interrelated strands:
- singing
- playing
- performing
- composing
- improvising
- listening
- appraising
Foundation Stage
In the EYFS, music is experienced primarily through the Expressive Arts and Design elements of the curriculum. However, we believe music has links across the whole of the EYFS. A curriculum rooted in rhythm, spoken language and singing will develop children's language and social skills, and one which finds enjoyment in pattern will develop mathematical awareness.
KS1
KS1 aims to introduce students to the basic knowledge and skills required to listen critically, create and perform music in a range of styles. The concept of the scheme is to use the same musical language, concept and skills in each unit but increase the diversity and difficulty as it progresses.
KS2
KS2 aims to continue building on student musical knowledge and skills gained at KS1 and introduce them to performing, creating and listening to more complex music. They will continue to build their musical language and will expand their group performing skills. The concept of the scheme is to use the same musical language, concept and skills in each unit but increase the diversity and difficulty as it progresses.
Progression in music
Impact
KS1
Knowledge will be evidenced through teacher observations of children's participation in musical activity. Children show increased knowledge of ways to make and record sound, and participate with visible enjoyment.
KS2
Children's knowledge is assessed through classroom quizzes and their ability to use what they have learned in the practical aspects of music making. Teachers look to show increasing control of the sounds children make and how they participate with enjoyment.