Purpose of Study
Music is a universal language that embodies one of the highest forms of creativity. A high quality music education should engage and inspire pupils to develop a love of music and their talent as musicians, and so increase their self-confidence, creativity
Purpose of Study
Music is a universal language that embodies one of the highest forms of creativity. A high quality music education should engage and inspire pupils to develop a love of music and their talent as musicians, and so increase their self-confidence, creativity and sense of achievement. As pupils progress, they should develop a critical engagement with music, allowing them to compose, and to listen with discrimination to the best in the musical canon. The national curriculum for music aims to ensure that all pupils:
• perform, listen to, review and evaluate music across a range of historical periods, genres, styles and traditions, including the works of the great composers and musicians
• learn to sing and to use their voices, to create and compose music on their own and with others, have the opportunity to learn a musical instrument, use technology appropriately and have the opportunity to progress to the next level of musical excellence
• understand and explore how music is created, produced and communicated, including through the inter-related dimensions: pitch, duration, dynamics, tempo, timbre, texture, structure and appropriate musical notations.
By the end of each key stage, pupils are expected to know, apply and understand the matters, skills and processes specified in the relevant programme of study.
Key Stage 1
Pupils should be 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 inter-related 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.
• listen with attention to detail and recall sounds with increasing aural memory.
• appreciate and understand a wide range of high-quality live and recorded music drawn from different traditions and from great composers and musicians.
• improvise and compose music for a range of purposes using the inter-related dimensions of music.
• use and understand staff and other musical notations.
• develop an understanding of the history of music.
Music at Deanesfield
Our music curriculum focuses on the three main areas identified from the national curriculum: Performing, Listening, Composing. We also teach a wider knowledge and understanding of the history of music throughout these 3 main areas.
The learning in each half term will focus on a different key composer from history. We will study their unique styles, the period of history they lived in, find out what the purposes and meanings were behind their music and also learn what they were like as people.
In Reception, the children will be working on finding their voice through singing and listening to each other.
In KS1, the children will learn about the many different elements that make up the music we listen to; they will listen to and perform a wide range of music and will learn how to listen with attention and identify different aspects of the music.
In KS2, the children will work on reading musical notation, for reading and performing well-known pieces of music and also for writing their own original compositions.
Throughout the academic year, we hold regular opportunities for children to demonstrate their musical talents by performing something they have been working on. These performances should be something the children have been working on for (at least) the past few weeks. If they have learnt any pieces on their instrument for a grade exam, or if there is a song they know every single word to, this would be a good example of something they might be ready to perform. There is always an audition process for children who wish to take part in these events to ensure that they are ready to perform in front of an audience (which is a very daunting experience). If children are ready to perform, I make every effort to include them in the event; the only restriction is the number of children performing. We are very privileged to have many talented young musicians here at Deanesfield but this does unfortunately mean that not every one of them can perform at every event.
Our main performance opportunities throughout the year are: